Should there be ducks in the new RuneQuest?

[BWP]

Ducks? I'm not familiar with RuneQuest, but are we talking about waterfowl?

Sort of. The concept has mutated over the years since the duck legions were originally featured in the original boardgame White Bear, Red Moon (which in turn inspired the original version of RuneQuest, but basically ducks are a staple of the world of Glorantha -- built-in comic relief when viewed from one angle, tragic living examples of cruel deities when viewed from another. The old Howard the Duck comic may well have been an influence on their inclusion in the game.

They are flightless and basically humanoid in shape, and although small compared to humans they are much larger than real ducks, but in all other respects they are, well, ducks -- webbed feet, feathers, beak, etc.

One of the truisms of Glorantha is that ducks are always foul-tempered and ornery. There are a number of reasons why they should be -- they've been the whipping boy for many great (mostly human) nations -- but even when a duck has a comfortable life and everything he could want, they're still foul-tempered and ornery.

Now, all that being said -- they're very much a feature of the world of Glorantha. If we're talking about RuneQuest as a game system devoid of any particular links to Glorantha (which, after all, has its own game these days -- Hero Wars/HeroQuest) then it doesn't need ducks, and inherently they're pretty silly and difficult to justify in any "normal" fantasy world. But if this new RQ game is to have any Glorantha connection at all, then by all means it should include ducks!

 

[Goblyn]

Wierd facts about ducks:

1: Unlike most complex organisms, ducks can naturally travel over land, air, and water.
2: A duck's quack doesn't echo, and noone knows why
3: Cartoon ducks are commonly portrayed as obnoxious and/or overly curt (Howard, Duckman, Daffy, Donald, siblings of the Ugly one) with no real explanation given for the tendency.
4: When you point out a duck to someone the tendency is for them to quickly crouch.

Disclaimer: Given facts may or may not be as factual the word 'fact' as is understood depicts.

 

[Maldur]

Keet!

 

[Tonguez]

I heard that when the creators of Glorantha wqere looking at a map one small lake was marked as 'Duck pond'
somebody asked "what lives there?"
to which the reply was "well um Ducks"

and thus the Duck race was born...

 

[MonsterMash]

Ducks exist as a sapient race in my D&D campaign world. No, they weren't inspired by RQ, but rather by the classic Howard the Duck comic book. There was an instance, very early on, of Howard armed and armored like a Frazetta hero, rescuing a damsel from an evil wizard's tower. Great stuff. So, I'd love to see ducks as a PC race in any game.

I remember that too. In my Wilderlands campaign I have the N'gauk (duck folk) as a PC race. Certainly Gloranthan RQ would be wrong without the ducks, but I feel that they should be included even in a gateway setting.

 

[Garnfellow]

I once did a d20 conversion of RuneQuest ducks: http://home.gwi.net/~rdorman/frilond/rul/dm/duck.htm

 

[Plane Sailing]

Wierd facts about ducks:

1: Unlike most complex organisms, ducks can naturally travel over land, air, and water.
2: A duck's quack doesn't echo, and noone knows why
3: Cartoon ducks are commonly portrayed as obnoxious and/or overly curt (Howard, Duckman, Daffy, Donald, siblings of the Ugly one) with no real explanation given for the tendency.
4: When you point out a duck to someone the tendency is for them to quickly crouch.

Disclaimer: Given facts may or may not be as factual the word 'fact' as is understood depicts.

For the sake of factual facts, and for enlightenment and interest all round, I'd like to point out that the ducks quack DOES echo. Details to be found at Salford University for those interested

http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics_world/duck/duck.htm

Cheers!

 

[Plane Sailing]

More significantly - Mongoose publishing RQ? I hadn't heard about that. Excuse me while I pop over to the Mongoose site...

 

[Baron Opal]

There should be ducks if there is any connection Glorantha. They're classic!

Yes, they are a viable player race. They are laughable, until a squad of them suddenly turns on you and they all cast Fireblade on their shortswords. No, there's no laughing then, is there, lad? And then the lead duck is a Humakti Rune Lord and starts throwing around Sever Spirit. That's when the screaming starts, it is.

Or, worse yet, you run across a duck who dreams of flying. He joins the Orlanthi cults hoping to gain acess to storm magic so he can fly. But, instead he has learned the secrets of the Lightning Spear and toasts your Seven Mothers initiate who had all of the healing.

Stupid ducks...

 

[Henrix]

Gloranthan ducks were inspired by Howard the Duck, as Greg Stafford was very fond of the comic in question.
They fill their niche in Glorantha, both the ordinary sort and the keets.

As to ducks in other settings, I'm doubtful. The swedish RPG Drakar och Demoner has them, as it originally was (a very poor) translation of Fantasy World in Worlds of Wonder.

The fact that Mongoose will be publishing a new edition of RQ is declared here and discussed here on the RPG.net forums.