Brave New World
So let me be right up front and address two areas of major concern about RuneQuest from Mongoose. If you don’t care about controversy you can skip down to Glorantha and get back to the world building and running campaigns!
RuneQuest from Avalon Hill (RQ3) Versus RuneQuest from Mongoose (RQ4)
The two major differences to me are as follows. One, RQ4 is in print and RQ3 is not (also Avalon Hill is now owned by Wizards and I’m sure I don’t want them to have made RQ4). Two, RQ4 uses modern game rules that I’m familiar with and enjoy. RQ3 uses a more “classical” design such as tables with cross-indexed numbers in rows and columns. So RQ4 is the game for me.
RQ4 versus D&D 3.5
Many of the complaints about RQ4 revolve around an SRD that is not updated, rules that some posters feel aren’t clear, and some emotional feelings about RQ3 that I’ll leave to posters to expound upon.
First up, the SRD for RQ4 doesn’t match the hardcover rulebooks. The rulebooks are better. Lest we blast Mongoose for this decision not to update the SRD regularly, please note my remarks on D&D 3.5 that follow.
Second, the rules themselves. I’ve played D&D so telling me RuneQuest has too many house rules being proposed doesn’t faze me. D&D usually doesn’t work without house rules (heck even Wizards makes house rules, oops excuse me Official Rule Changes I mean, and they wrote the damn game).
D&D is 960 pages of core rules, several sheets of errata, changes to core rules becoming official rules (polymorph and wildshape being the two biggest so far), and a mix-mash of 3.0 and 3.5 rules. Also, the SRD doesn't include the latest rule changes (like wildshape for instance). To play D&D you either gloss over rule subsets that hurt your head (polymorph, wildshape, AoO, and grapples to name a few) or you just bar them from your game. Even official RPGA run campaigns bar some core rules.
I can survive RuneQuest if I survived D&D and D&D is one of the bestselling RPGs around (and it is fun, even with the crazy rules). No system is close to perfect. What surprises me is how hard RuneQuest gets bashed when D&D has many of the same problems.
And now back to our regularly scheduled column.
Glorantha
My core books for Glorantha have arrived. The Player’s Guide has the rules and the Glorantha book has the setting. Having taken two days to skim some sections and read others I realize I have found the world I’ve been looking for.
Glorantha is the world I’d hoped Eberron was going to be. Glorantha has great rules that tie into the setting including various human cultures and creatures such as minotaurs and centaurs.
The world is also well designed. For instance, splitting the world in half with a large sea gives the setting a Mediterranean/ancient Phoenician feel. If you control the sea you command an empire.
My only surprise is that Glorantha isn’t better known and better showcased. I had to special order the books. I’d think the setting would sell well enough that even some book stores would pick it up, but I suppose it isn’t really geared to brand new players of roleplaying games.
You don’t need even need to use RuneQuest 4 to use the core Glorantha Second Age book. It is almost entirely rule free, containing instead details on cultures, people, and empires. It even tells you how you might think if you actually came from one of the described cultures, which is a great aid to roleplaying in a new setting.
Deciding on the Location for the Campaign
Glorantha is big. Two continents and hundreds of islands support dozens of cultures.
When I decided on where to set my game I didn’t have the main books yet. I was waiting for them to arrive in the mail. So I downloaded Ralios, a setting for Glorantha, as a PDF. After reading it, I decided to set my campaign there.
Dragon Pass and the Clanking City aren’t too far away and the EWF looms large over the area. The fallen Stygian Empire still haunts the myths of the people of Ralios. And Chaos creatures are more common in the area than in the rest of the Second Age world.
Also, Ralios supports parties of characters with diverse backgrounds. With players brand new to both RuneQuest and Glorantha, I thought a setting with wide open options for characters was a prudent choice.
Also, my players can afford Ralios if they choose to buy the PDF.
Play By Post
I take every summer off from table top roleplaying to spend time camping and vacationing with my family. I run a play by post campaign to keep things going in our campaign.
Mongoose Publishing has a section of their forums set aside for play by post games. And those using the section get their own sub-section, meaning only those involved in the PBP can post there and posters can start various threads.
This option greatly enhances my play be post. It is also yet another example of why switching to RuneQuest has facilitated my style of gaming and met my needs.
Since I can’t cover the entire campaign in one column, here’s a link to the forum:
I renamed the campaign Heart of Darkness after Joseph Conrad’s book for a couple of reasons. One, the God Learners treat the Orlanthi in a similar way that Europeans treat Africans in the book. Second, Ralios was home to the Stygian Empire. Ralios is literally the heart of darkness, the birthplace of this terrifying fallen empire.
The Characters
My players have no previous experience with RuneQuest or Glorantha. Therefore, character creation was based on ideas and concepts rather than rules. It went much more smoothly than I could have hoped. We ended up with four diverse characters.
Maximillian is an Imperial Commoner Alchemist of the God Learner Empire. “Man is not complete until the pathetic flesh has been replaced by Metal” is the theory that Maximillian holds as a tenet for life. He is slow tempered though once riled he is slow to calm. He prefers to approach foes and dismember them in hand to hand combat hoping to learn anatomy better by dissection so that his own grafts will progress in a successful manner. He has learned much about mechanisms to aid in this as well. He has joined the Cogs order of Zistor as they shall teach everyone where their place in this world will be, and to find out exactly how high his potential will take him.
Tallyn Trueshot is an Orlanthi hunter from Lankst, an area of temperate plains and warring clans. He left the Orlanthi clan of Roldoling to explore the world at the age of fifteen. Two years later he has returned as an adventurer ready to guide explorers who mean his people no harm into his homeland. He has not forgotten his peoples’ new weapon of war the chariot or Chieftain Asbor’s desire for tribal unity in Lankst.
Finkon Fidstok Zimzasok (aka Scrappy) is a duck, a race of either ducks cursed with bipedalism and intelligence or humanoids cursed with avian feature. A peasant, he became a runecasting warlock in hopes of gaining great power. He doesn't much like to talk about where he's from. Generally he likes to tell people that it's because he's more concerned with where he's going. The truth however, is that he got banished for causing too much trouble. The definition of trouble in this case being a series of ducklings from various mothers, most of them married.
Finkon has the admirable distinction of having never once backed down from a fight. This is not due to any exaggerated sense of bravery, but rather that by the time he stops running his mouth it's too late to run with his legs.
Alone and adrift in the world, Finkon now seeks to prove to himself that he is at least half as good as he tells everybody he is by making a name for himself as a great adventurer and powerful runecaster.
James ‘Bones’ Kelp is an Imperial Lower Class citizen of the God Learner Empire. To escape poverty (and swing a really big axe) he became a Knowledge Quester. Knowledge Questers seek out myths about other cultures’ gods so that God Learners can enter those myths and gain power.
Adventures so Far
I adapted Mongoose’s free game day module, Fisticuffs at O’Malley’s Place, to Glorantha. The PCs were caught between brawling Pentans and Praxians who mutually despise each other.
I found combat running smoothly with many tactical options available. In addition, the combat was not as abstract as D&D with each action taking place blow by blow rather than by the gradual wearing down of hit points.
Tactical options the PCs tried included clambering on a table for a +20% bonus to Unarmed attacks and hitting with beer steins instead of fists for more damage. Finkon the duck didn’t fight at all, opting instead to charm a clansman of the Unlucky People in an attempt to find a guide to possible future treasure.
I’m including a snippet from the ongoing adventure. It demonstrates how combat went. In addition, it illustrates the roleplaying going on. The dialogue of Bones and Finkon came from the players and I felt they really got into character both in action and in word.
Adventure Snippet
Maekeoes the God Learner priest, surrounded by Bones and Max, stops at the door. Everyone in the tavern watches as a duck says to the clansman of the Unlucky People, "My friend, help me subdue this barmaid, the future of your tribe depends on it!"
He hurriedly turns to the barmaid still threatening the barkeep with a knife. A bright light and a howling noise surrounds them. He says, "Please my love, we must subdue him without bloodshed!"
The clansman of the Unlucky People grabs her arm. She stops her attack on the barkeep, Marcel.
“Amazing isn’t it?” Maekeoes says. “We three God Learners bolt for the door and the rest of the Praxians here just stop and stare. But one duck steps forward to try to stop the bloodshed.”
The duck steps back and with another burst of light and sound fades from sight.
The Praxians start yelling, “That duck is using witchcraft on the barmaid! We have to stop him!”
Maekeoes shakes his head. “Fools,” he says. He looks at Bones. “Will you help the duck?”
Bones says "Ok, stay here I’m going to end this."
He finds a new, unbroken table to get on near the duck and barmaid. He gets up on top and pulls out the Axe. He starts yelling "Next person that gets near me is going to meet God!!"
The barkeep turns toward the back door. The barmaid pleads with the clansman to stop him.
The barkeep finds Maekeoes and Max blocking his way. He stops.
The rest of the tavern stands down. None of them seem willing to die today over a spilled ale. They stare sullenly at each other as they help wounded comrades out the door.
Next Month The play by post rolls on. We continue to test a new rule system. I gradually reveal more about Glorantha to the players and their characters.
Also coming up soon, the PCs face two challenges, the search for a magic rune and a magic axe. Both items offer significant challenges with no clear-cut solutions. In the case of the axe, a dangerous fachan, a creature the PCs probably cannot defeat in close combat, guards the treasure. Will the PCs get the axe from the creature without getting themselves killed? Will they come up with a clever plan to gain the treasure? As soon as I find out, I’ll post the answer here.
Charli
