OK, this is my first review, so I will introduce myself before going any further. I am John Buckmaster, a long time gamer, and lurker on RPG.net. I am currently a member of both Pod Corps (Dream Pod 9's demo team) and the Chaosium Missionaries (Chaosium's demo team, obviously). In this review I will attempt to cover the big things in the game, namely the system, setting, and production quality.
First off, for those who didn't know, RuneQuest: Slayers IS NOT a BRP (Basic RolePlaying, Chaosium's house system) game like RuneQuest 1 through 3. For the sake of sanity, brevity, and not knowing all of the messy details we won't go into the reasons behind the change of system and why it was never published. The game is available for download in PDF form at www.threefates.com
The System:
The basic testing mechanics are very simple and elegant, although much more storytelling oriented mechanic than the BRP mechanic. Basically, you roll a number of ten sided dice, add them together, and try and get under your attribute. The more difficult the task, the more dice rolled. If you have a profession relayed to the task, you may reroll a failure a number of times based off of the level of the profession. Rolling all 1's is a critical success, and 2 or more 10's is a critical failure. All in all, a fairly clean and elegant mechanic, fairly easy to remember, and rather good for the "Epic Hero" feel. When you and the other players get into the game, the rerolls add a bit of drama and excitement. For example: A player needs to climb a cliff, and fails. He has 2 rerolls, and requires them both to succeed, just barely passing. The character might have grabbed a loose rock, slipped, lost ground and barely grabbed onto the ledge, and flipped himself over, as the crumbling bits of the wall fall down the side into the raging sea below.
There is also a neat bit where you write down any heroic tasks your character has completed. On any further tests or tasks similar enough to the heroic task your character has completed, you gain an additional reroll. This is rather neat, but we haven't had any situations where this came into play yet.
Fatigue is accumulated depending on the tasks the character performs tasks. The amount depends on the task performed, and once the characters fatigue total exceeds their Fatigue value they count as (what else?) Fatigued. Fatigued characters add in an additional d10 to their tests. Fatigue recovers after about an hour's rest. Surprisingly, Fatigue is very easy to integrate and does not get in the way. I was very impressed.
Often warriors will be faced with situations where their Courage (and stomachs!) are tested, for this, there are the Fear and Revulsion tables. Very neat, but at the same time, I would moderate this with common sense, as with any table, weird results can happen, but the system here seems very well thought out.
NPC reactions are dealt with on a table in the RuneMaster Section. The test surrounding the table is very well done, and shows that tables are not the be all and end all here. If the NPC is naturally suspicious, the NPC will remain suspicious, no matter what the table says.
Combat:
Combat runs differently than the basic testing mechanic. Basically, you start with 2 six sided dice and add more based off of having higher agility, weapon expertise, etc. If your opponent has a shield, you lose one or two dice, depending on the shield. Sixes are what is needed to hit. One six is a hit, 3 is a critical success, and if you call a vital or location shot, you need 2 sixes. Added to this are the stances: Strike hard and hold. Hold allows you to pre-empt the enemy attacking you, and strike Hard adds a die to your total rolled. Rolling all ones is a critical failure. Both critical hits and failures have tables for them.
Damage is based off of your characters Might attribute. Weapons add to your Might for purposes of figuring how much damage is dealt. Damage is also divided into Smashing, Carving, and Impaling. Smashing does nothing special, but Carving and Impaling do extra damage if they get through armour.
Fatigue also plays a part in combat. Every action costs fatigue. Once the Fatigue value is equalled or exceeded, or the character is severely damaged, all opponents gain an additional d6 to hit the character. If this additional d6 rolls a 6, the fatigued character falls unconscious. Once the Character reaches the "dying" level of damage, the fatigue die becomes the death die. If this rolls a six, the character dies immediately. Fatigue does not slow combat down at all, and actually adds a really neat dimension to the combat.
Weapon manoeuvres can be purchased by characters, giving more depth to combat. Each weapon has it's own set of manoeuvres, and each manoeuvre does something different without breaking the game. These were very well thought out, and are very descriptive.
All in all, combat runs smoothly, but requires a bit more description than in some systems. Almost everything needed for combat can be found on the quick reference. The focus of combat, while still "realistic" is much more oriented toward the epic battles and heroic actions than the BRP system. I like it, but those who want hard and fast gory details may not.
Character Creation:
Character creation is fairly simple, especially with the quick reference. Different races have differing abilities, and get differing amounts of hero points to spend on building a warrior. Also, the Warclans have different viewpoints, and allow a great room for roleplaying. The system also is fairly balanced, as I have not found any way to sufficiently twink out a character yet (and I live in the munchkin capital of Canada). Any combat specific character can be easily dealt with in roleplaying, as they are lacking the professions, and even in combat, they are still no match for an expert. Very cool. One problem is the need to buy armour pieces individually, as there are no full suits listed. On the other hand, the equipment chapter has almost everything you need, including horses, herbs, and "Ale on me!"
Runes:
Magic in RQ: Slayers is based off of Runes. Each rune has individual power and not all runes will work together. The runes seem fairly balanced, and all are very cool. However, not all runes can just be carved onto something. The Warclan Runes can only be gained by collecting the Glyphs of the Warclan. Each glyph (10 for each clan) represents one aspect of the clan. Glyphs are only obtained through acting in accordance with the glyphs. Each "adventure session" players are given a randomly determined glyph from their Warclan. This glyph is to be incorporated into their character's actions and personality. Note that this DOES NOT mean override their personality. If the player successfully pulls this off, they gain both the glyph and many hero points (XP). Once they gain enough glyphs, they gain rank within the Warclan, as well as a Warclan Rune. The choice of runes is very important, as there are 4 runes for each Warclan, and choosing certain runes preclude the abilities of others. For example: If Jim chose Rune A, and then gain Rune B, he would not gin the powers of both Rune A and Rune B, but rather have the power of Rune A, and Rune AB. It's a lot simpler than it looks, trust me.
This system of Glyphs is a really neat way to encourage roleplaying and mysticism, and seems to work very well so far.
Setting:
RQ: Slayers comes with 2 settings: Krahgmar and the Glacier Rifts. They are both dark, "Sword and Sorcery" style worlds with an "after the fall" feel. One problem: both sections are only 10 pages long, and while offering lots of room for GMs, doesn't give quite enough info for any in depth world info. Also, I seem to get the feeling that they may be linked, but I can't say for certain. This is the biggest drawback to the whole game. Both settings are very cool and fairly original, but there's just not enough info.
Production Quality:
This book is gorgeous from front to back, even with the downgrade in quality when transferred into PDF. The Computer Art looks a bit dated as the game was originally supposed to be released in 1998. The rest of the art is way above average and the layout is very easy to follow. Almost 50% of the art is of females! There is one problem: the quality of the book, and the fact that it is full colour makes it very difficult to print at home, and very expensive to print at a printer. The darker colour sections with text may not print out very well in b&w, but I have yet to test this out. Also, there is no index, but at 230 pages, it's not that big of a deal, especially with the layout.
Overall/ Conclusion:
For a basic RPG, this is great. For an in depth Roleplaying experience, it can be very good. For those who like every skill to be detailed out, or like rules-intensive games, this is probably not the game for you, but the system seems to be well thought out, and, more importantly, is fun. I cannot remotely convey the depth of this game in a simple review. Almost everything my players have thrown at me is covered or is easily extrapolated. There is a feeling of "Dungeon Crawl" in the basic system, but that fades after going through the section on Runes, and even with a simple "Dungeon Crawl" feel, it has a great basis for expansion.
The game has and still has the potential to be a classic. Unfortunately, with the cancelling of the project the future does not look that good. It also carries the stigma of the name RuneQuest. Many people didn't like RQ when it was around, and this carries through. Also, some die-hard RQ fans go "It's not RQ!" and refuse to acknowledge it. I believe both views to be shameful. The least people could do is try the game, ignoring the name. This is not to say that everyone should like the game as much as I do, but at least try it, and come to your own conclusion. For me, it still kept the feel of when I played RQ3. Anyway, I'm off to try and get a good copy of this printed.
-John
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