Mongoose's Runequest, Anyone have it?

[Knightfall]

Mongoose is doing Lankhmar with their new RQ rules, should be interesting, and good to have lankhmar back in action.

And for that reason alone I'll be taking a long hard look at Runequest. I've never tried the system before. [Actually, besides the various incarnations of D&D (and a few OGL games), as well as Alternity and Earthdawn, I've never seriously considered another ruleset, period.]

But with Lankhmar comes too many possibilties to ignore.

Cheers!

KF72

 

[Glyfair]

Was the duck race the only humorous thing in RuneQuest? Were there other similar creatures? Did they make it to the latest edition?

Well, this was created in the late 70's, when humor in RPGs wasn't something to be avoided (I blame Castle Greyhawk for swinging the pendulum ). There are a lot of semi-humerous things in Runequest, but nothing quite so glaring for most people as ducks.

However, there were definiitely a huge amount of in-jokes in Glorantha. If you look at the original maps of Dragon Pass & Prax, you'll see a lot of them. From the town of Will's Church (named after the map's artist William Church), to the shape of the Storm Hills (look at it from the side).

 

[johnsemlak]

And for that reason alone I'll be taking a long hard look at Runequest. I've never tried the system before. [Actually, besides the various incarnations of D&D (and a few OGL games), as well as Alternity and Earthdawn, I've never seriously considered another ruleset, period.]

But with Lankhmar comes too many possibilties to ignore.

Cheers!

KF72

So how is Lankhmar entering the picture? Is there going to be a separate Lankhmar setting book? Will it be covered in the main Runequest book? I was looking at Mongoose's upcoming releases and I can't find a Lankhmar-releated release.

 

[Staffan]

The way they're doing it is that they're releasing a setting-neutral RuneQuest core book, with separate books for Glorantha and Lankhmar.

I did a little searching on their forums, and it seems they're aiming for a November release of Lankhmar.

 

[GAAAHHH]

They are also talking about releasing a Conan setting book for Runequest.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They are also talking about releasing a Conan setting book for Runequest.

If this Runequest is anything like the classic version, that's a match made in heaven. (No offense, OGL Conan fans.)

 

[GAAAHHH]

I'm pretty sure they are going to continue the OGL (d20) Conan line in addition to this, so nobody panic.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They'd be fools not to continue it.

 

[Huw]

Was the duck race the only humorous thing in RuneQuest? Were there other similar creatures? Did they make it to the latest edition?

Plenty. Don't know how much'll be in Mongoose's edition, but in previous editions there were:

Nasambaumie (spelling? Don't have Elder Secrets handy): upside down monsters who walk with their four flexible noses and attack with clawed feet.

Jelmre: The first created race. They're marsupials with big cute eyes and the ability to control their emotions.

Elves are plants. That's not funny, but they come in a number of varieties. Brown elves are deciduous, green elves are evergreen.

Details of the dwarvish reproduction process (Elder Secrets again). "The two dwarves are issued by their supervisor with a pestle and mortar. Three weeks later they emerge with the newly formed dwarf."

 

[Faraer]

The way they're doing it is that they're releasing a setting-neutral RuneQuest core book, with separate books for Glorantha and Lankhmar.

This is something that may not be clear to those unfamiliar with RuneQuest and Glorantha.

The things people are associating with RuneQuest in this thread are:

-- Greg Stafford's secondary world of Glorantha, one of the three greatest in existence, served by the superb HeroQuest RPG, board games, and a computer game as well as the old RuneQuest RPG

-- Steve Perrin's RuneQuest rules, one of the rulesets that appeared in the 1970s as a response to D&D, motivated in part to be more 'realistic'; appeared in three editions, one of which was not by default set in Glorantha

The new Mongoose RuneQuest (MRQ) has some features of the old game and not others, and doesn't have a built-in setting. The Glorantha setting Mongoose is publishing is set in the Second Age, rather than the more-familiar-to-RPGers Third Age. Anthropomorphic ducks (durulz) are a (very minor!) aspect of Glorantha, not of RuneQuest in particular.