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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bluenose" data-source="post: 6073396" data-attributes="member: 49017">Runequest 6The Design Mechanism456 pages Laurence Whitaker and Pete Nash have written other RQ material when they worked on Mongoose Runequest, and Pete has the Ennie award winning Rome supplement for BRP to his credit. Now they’ve teamed up to produce the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] edition of Runequest. The core is the complete rules, with nothing relegated to supplements. There are three chapters on characters, a rather large one on combat, chapters on the five magic systems (Common, Animism, Theist, Sorcery, and Mysticism), and then chapters on creatures, equipment, and one on running the game. They fit a lot into the book, but perhaps could have included a wider variety of creatures. Notably there’s no chapter describing an assumed setting, though throughout the book there are examples which are set in a version of “magic Earth” – also, an ancient world setting rather than medieval, which is in keeping with the art throughout the book where a hoplite would be much more appropriate than a knight. Mechanically it’s going to be mostly familiar to old Runequest/BRP players. Skill based, location based hit points, armour as DR, opposed checks. If you last played Runequest in the 1970s, much of this will be familiar to you. It worked then and it works now, and remains a very elegant system in play. Though as always, not as quick to resolve as many other games. There are some innovative elements, mysticism is a new system of “magic”, and they’ve also included rules for passions similar to those in Pendragon which don’t really feel as well integrated as the Pendragon ones. Theist magic has seen a rather large change, which I’m still a little doubtful about. Apart from that area, it’s very compatible with everything previously produced for the various versions of Runequest and/or other BRP games. If I’ve got one major criticism, it’s that they really need a better index. Or perhaps an appendix defining the terms being used. Or better cross-references. There are some things which are described in parts on several different pages, without always indicating where the rest of the description is. So is this the perfect version of Runequest? No, not yet. Probably the best so far, though, if you’re happy with the amount of crunch involved. It’s a good fit for Conan, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Beowulf, Jason and the Argonauts, fantastic versions of the ancient world, or Glorantha.  It’s would be less good for medieval King Arthur, for the more fantastic versions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, for many D&D settings (though I think you could do a very good version of Birthright), and actively bad at something like Exalted’s creation.</blockquote>

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