Brave New World
RuneQuest provides me the opportunity to break new ground by trying out what is to me a completely new game system and learning about a completely new world (Glorantha). This month I’m going to talk about the rules, the world of Glorantha, the characters my friends created, and finally the play by post we’re running for our new campaign.
Over the next few dozen columns I’ll continue to build both our new world and the campaign and characters that make it spin. Along the way I’ll make notes on what using a new system is like for me and how Glorantha works for the campaign.
Where I Started
I found RuneQuest because Shannon Appelcline conducted an interview here at RPGnet with Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing. I went to Mongoose’s website. I checked out the free rules, looked at samples, and posted on the forums. A great game with a great community. I bought RuneQuest because Mongoose supports the game, the rules are elegant, and Glorantha is an interesting world.
Glorantha books are not easy to find here in western Michigan. Titan Games had several that I wanted but not all of them. Ordering new books usually takes about two week or so. RuneQuest books are quickly delivered but Glorantha books are not.
But that’s okay. The wait is worth it.
While I wait for the main Glorantha books I provided background for my players. Along the way I discovered Ralios, a PDF supplement for RuneQuest. Strangely, Mongoose doesn’t advertise this product which is too bad because it is great.
With my core Glorantha books still not arrived, I decided to set my newest campaign in Ralios. In fact, the players in my campaign are making characters without the core rules for Glorantha being available at all.
The great thing about RuneQuest is that new characters don’t have to make long-term game decisions right at character creation. PCs can join various cults, try out different runes, and develop various skills before focusing in on one particular set of rules.
Deciding on a World
I chose Ralios for three reasons. One, my players were making a diverse group of PCs and Ralios is the perfect setting to support that style of campaign. Two, the PDF is cheap at $5 so my players might actually buy it. Third, I don’t have the core Glorantha books and couldn’t wait any longer to get started!
Making Characters
Two of my part-time players had already created D&D characters for our play by post. I converted one to an Orlanthi hunter and the other to a duck warlock (witch). The conversion was easy enough and I got some practice making characters.
The Orlanthi are nomadic clansmen who are beset by two great empires. Ducks are cursed beings, half duck and half human. Warlocks are runecasters with spells of secrecy and sneakiness in general.
I have heard back from two of my four full-time players. One wants to play a God Learner sorcerer (magic learned as both science and religion) and the other an “old school druid who has to fight to advance” which I translated into an Orlanthi shaman.
The God Learners are one of the empires oppressing the Orlanthi. They steal the nomads myths and Hero Quest on another plane by copying adventures based on those myths. They receive powerful magic that way. Some Orlanthi clans hate them but most hate the Empire of Wyrm Friends more.
The EWF is changing Orlanthi gods to make them dragonlike. They seek to convert the Orlanthi from regular god worship to reverence of the Great Dragon.
Play by Post
With such a diverse cast of characters to GM, I was glad to find Ralios. When I sat down to plan the first quest (what I’m now calling adventures now because it makes me feel like I’m a Hero Quest) I knew it would be play by post and would need to cover a lot of ground.
I decided to call our RuneQuest game the Breaking New Ground Campaign (anticipating playing more campaigns somewhere down the line). I decided to have the first quest revolve around a lot of roleplaying and exploration.
Not only would this approach vary strongly from our previous hack and slay D&D campaigns, but it would also allow the players to learn more about the setting. And roleplaying works better in a play by post than combat does.
The First Quest
My first quest would not resemble previous D&D adventures at all. No dungeon or list of wilderness encounters run like a dungeon.
Instead, I created a list of many activities a PC might want to do when starting out in RuneQuest. I decided to make encounters for these various activities and allow the PCs to encounter them as they wandered through the setting for the first time.
My list:
- Coin earning
- Cult joining
- Gathering party for a Quest
- Gear buying
- Quest for Darkness rune
- Quest to protect the Unlucky People
- Seeking mentor for divine magic
- Seeking mentor for shamanism
- Seeking mentor for sorcery
- Skill mentor
- Skill researching
- Spell buying Darkness spells.
Once the PCs get comfortable in the setting I believe they will seek out a way to make money and then seek out fellow adventurers to help them earn that coin. Once they make some money, they can come back to the town of Fiesive to buy gear, spells, and the service of mentors as well as research skills and join cults.
I posted this list at Mongoose’s forums and received a lot of feedback on more adventures I can offer. I’ll put some of these quests ideas out through NPCs.
The Joy of Creating My First Quest
The biggest joy in creating this first quest, for me, was this. I’m not responsible for making sure the PCs’ every need is taken care of!
In D&D, the DM has to make sure each PC has the right amount of gold at each level. When the PCs level up they just get to pick stuff: feats, spells, skills etc. with a nod toward roleplaying if training rules are used (which really just costs time and gold).
In RuneQuest, the players will decide what runes to quest for, what cults they want to check out, and what spells and gear they’d like to buy. Skills are better taught if a mentor is found and mentors are easier to find if a character joins a cult. The same applies to learning new spells.
Sure the GM has to keep an eye on each character to make sure no one PC gets too powerful in game terms or a roleplaying sense. But the whole procedure is organic and group structured rather than purely mathematical and mechanical. The players are given more responsibility as well, as they need to work with each other and the GM to balance the game, and this added facet to the game encourages the players to be more involved in the game as well.
The whole RuneQuest ruleset for improving characters rewards interaction with the world and can lead to further quests. A character who receives his first three advances could simply improve some skills he used on his quest. Or he could seek out a mentor, for an increased chance of gaining more skill points. That mentor may then offer the character another quest. And so on.
I don’t have to make Excel spreadsheets with gold piece values for magic item division any more. I feel like I was just made Runelord of my gaming group. Joy!
Next Month
Our play by post will be up and running and I can share the decisions and first few fledgling steps of the brand new PCs are road to adventure and glory. As I flesh out the setting and NPCs I’ll add details on that as well.
Charlie
