Runequest

OP's version is the original RQ2 (which was RQ with a functional layout and typeface). It was the ur-BRP system, which is still alive and still good today.
RQ3 was an updated RQ2 - some good updates, some bad updates, and no longer Glorantha-centric.
MRQ was a Glorantha-centric fucking mess of an IP-revival.
MRQII saw the mess cleaned up when Mongoose hired some competent designers.
RQ6 is (was) bloody brilliant, as it took MRQII's base and made everything better.
RQ4/7/fill-in-number-here seems to return to its roots of RQ2, with bits of RQ6 and Pendragon to buff it out.

Setting books, man. Setting books.

So I got RQ6 (as well a bunch of mrq 1 & 2) and pretty much all of 2nd on PDF

What would be the best way to sit down and game RQ6 or this RQ4/7 thing?

>RQ2

Very crunchy and mechanical. Percentile scores for most abilities that you roll under to achieve particular tasks. Lots of fiddly mechanics (requirements to join cults, hit locations, weapon degredation, etc).

>Heroquest

Very narrative-driven system. Uses a roll-under D20 system with player-created skills and abilities, a la FATE. Very focused on creating the feel of myths and legends.

>RQ6/Mythras

Can't say, never played with it.

Step 1: chuck MRQ out the nearest window. Unless it has some setting info you want to salvage, then copy it first and then chuck it out the window.
Step 2: determine if you up for a) playing a crunchy sword, sandal & sorcery game now, or b) a less crunchy Glorantha focused-game sometime in the future.
If a): play RQ6
If b) wait for the new edition from Chaosium

>chuck MRQ out the nearest window
Only kidding. You shouldn't chuck books out windows. It can sit in a box in the back of the closet you never use.

bump

Have you looked at the new Runequest being developed? That will have a lot more setting material, and will also be a more modern game. If you want to play in Glorantha, that's probably your best bet.

If you're happy with RQ2, though, I would suggest looking at Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes produced by Moon Design Publications. Technically, it is for the Heroquest game system, but Heroquest is such a light system that most of the book is fluff.

mediafire.com/folder/y04313bvarr1v/Glorantha
This might help.

>Mongoose hired some competent designers.
I call bullshit.

Thanks. I'll take a look at those.

Is there a release date on the new version?

Sadly not. An open "beta" of the new rules is supposedly on its way, and the full release should be sometime this year. An exact date is not forthcoming.

I've read through the RQ6 book several times and it does look the most compelling of all the "universal" systems in this particular niche.
I'm still hung up on several very personal issues - such as Characteristics, or some of the aspects of Combat - but the game is very much a toolkit. I'd still like to try it out even largely unchanged.

Congrats.

Basically, all the praise towards Runequest is basically bullshit. You can ignore this thread and play a system that's not in desperate need of a compassionate trip behind a shed with a shotgun-toting farmer.

There's nothing wrong with Runequest that couldn't be fixed by turning it into a d20 system.

And it was supposed to be out this month - not a terrific sign from Chaosim.

Really? When did they say that?

The skill system is a mess.
And the combat makes me want to avoid combat.

When it was first announced it was supposed to be a RQ6 update coming out in July/August 2016 with more setting information.

As of July 2016, it's based on RQ2 with no firm release date and the RQ6 team is disappointed with the direction. (IIRC disappointed was the word they used)

How so?

This bait actually got me to reply. How could you possibly think the skills are a "mess" and the combat sucks?

To be fair, that was Runequest: Adventures in Glorantha, a different product.

So, Pendragon?

savage bump

It seems that a fair number of older products are basically dungeon crawls. Mainly, Big Rubble. Does Runequest work well for that?

I think that's more a product of it's primary competition (D&D) than a strength of Runequest's system.

You can do it, but I think it has much more to offer.

I don't think I'd want to do it. The interesting parts of both RuneQuest and Glorantha seem to be conflicts between two groups of heroic figures in some great struggle, not wandering around a ruin stabbing goblins.

Are those old dungeon crawls, like Big Rubble, any good as dungeon crawls, or are they just there to have them?

Honestly, I don't know; I've never played any of the old material.

As you say, Glorantha can be many things. Its strength is in the depth of its cultures, and the relationships between them. Rootless dungeon crawling deprives your game of those advantages.

>after two bad Mongoose editions
I never read the first, but I don't remember the second mongoose edition being that bad. What made it bad?

Is Chaosium's new Runequest going to be more like their newest edition of CoC? I haven't read the rules but it has one thing I think I like (% stats instead of 3-18) and one thing I'm not sure about (advantage/disadvantage is apparently roll the tens twice and take the lower/higher?).

Can some one explain to me how the mechanics work in RQ6? How well suited would they be for an established homebrew world? I'm using a DND like system right now. not 100% sure I'm happy with it.

The basic mechanics are a simple roll under percentile system. Combat is an extension of this, where rolls are just skill rolls using opposed weapon abilities. If you succeed, then you hit. If you succeed and the other guy succeeds his parry, he gets a small bonus to defense. You add up your damage, roll for hit location, and apply it to the location hit. Health is based on hit points by limb, and one or two hits can be crippling.

If you want another layer of complexity, after rolling your combat roll, you can apply one or more special effects based on how much you succeeded. These can be things like tripping, impaling, feints, taunts, etc. They're derived from your weapon and can add an extra level of depth to combat.

Any sort of magic in the system?

Three different kinds. Petty magic, which are small charms, animism, which is summoning I think, and some other that's more traditional big magic. To be honest, I have never used any of the magic systems for my settings. Different kinds of magic are a huge deal for the game, though, and interestingly you can allow, depending on setting, everyone to have access to some small form of magic, even if it's just petty charms.

Nice I'll definitely have to check it out then!
Magic is really important to my world so I'll have to see how they handle it.

Folk magic: little spells that everyone can use.
Divine magic: spells powered by the pact you have with a god or goddess.
Spirit magic: summoning and binding spirits. More or less the nature magic of RQ.
Kung fu: I forget what it is called, but there is also a martial arts magic of some kind.
Sorcery: your basic arcane magic. One of the more flexible options. Spells can be manipulated to have greater range, duration, or other effects.

Legend has a bunch of expansion systems, blood magic and elementalism. I think the bundle of holding site still has a package deal on the Legend PDFs.

bumpan

I think those were the designers that went on to make RQ6, so yeah, definitely competent.

I think he was calling bullshit on Mongoose, not the designers. Totally understandable.

Is the Kung Fu magic in the core?

Yes, it's called Mysticism. You can boost stats, skills, etc. as well as learn some sweet Wuxia moves like clinging to walls or blending into shadows or running along thin branches.

In the fan-made Star Wars conversion it was made into a really good representation of force powers.

These are the actual names:
>Folk Magic
>Thiesm - prepared spells called miracles, strongly tied to cult ranking
>Animism - you command spirit NPCs to do stuff, and there is a pretty expansive spirit bestiary in the book
>Mysticism - see my post
>Sorcery - a series of moderately strong spells you invest additional power to while casting to make a very customized effect.

No. One of their stated key goals of RQ7 was that it should be immidiately compatible with RQ2. So they (probably) wont pull some stupid shit like that.

>say my name

FFG BTFO

I really wish this had the setting books because I'm a poorfag that really doesn't want to pay, but probably will anyways as the guide to Glorantha has piqued my interest.

In some ways I think you can also sum up the magic systems as:

Mysticism - Magic from self improvement.
Theism - Magic your god works through you.
Animism - Magic you get a spirit to do for you.
Sorcery - Magic from manipulating the fundamental forces of the universe.

Folk magic isn't the sort of thing that has a D&D equivalent, maybe cantrips, but well... folk magic is far more common than that. It's the everyday magic you use in your job.

Well, the guide is THE setting book. It details everything, albeit with more width than depth.

If you want something more detailed, pick up Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes. It details the Dragon Pass area.

You really should just skip the setting. Glorantha is more like a student's pet project than anything else, a neurotic exercise that produced something so bland and tasteless that it even managed to strip away the fun and excitement that you could have found in a more generic setting.

I think you mean more specific setting. Glorantha is *the* kitchen setting that Forgotten Realms and even Golarion can trace its roots back to.

Nah, Glorantha is cool, but it is being smothered by its own weight.

I think you don't really have any clue what you're talking about.

What would you recommend as a setting? I don't really know RPGs as my Veeky Forums experience is tabletop wargames (historical or otherwise) but Glorantha seemed like less of a clusterfuck than some others.

Play what you enjoy.
I'm a fan of the setting, he's not, but it's up to you what you want.

And of course, nothing stops you from using RQ for other published settings.
Combine the Isle of Dread and Monster Island for some really old school style wilderness crawling on an overgrown hellhole.

What's wrong with mrqii? It seemed to work pretty well to me.

And while I wouldn't use mrq1 core rules, I've used some stuff in guilds, factions, & cults.

Combat and magic.

Character creation is also improved.

I really love the Combat Style mechanic. Can come up with some neat ideas with it.

I did give a warrior an OP one. He was an armor smith, and I gave him a Melee version of the Marksman style trait. He would automatically shift the hit location to any connected hit location with les armor, but couldn't choose not to

Yes, one of the more compelling aspects. Could use some streamlining and expanding simultaneously - apply the DH-style DoS "cost" to each maneuver, with some more realistic maneuvers for cheaper, and more outlandish for high costs - here go your Cleaves and acrobatic strikes. The latter may be allowed only with a specific Combat Style even.

Also, I think the game can be relatively ease changed to use only a single type of dice? Most people wouldn't care, but it's my pet peeve.

Runequest had a kickstarter? Didn't know that.

Is it better than Mongoose RQ? I bought a copy, I remember people were upset with high end skills and thought M Sprange's maths was off.

The Kickstarter was to reprint 2e

A single type of dice would be easy, just do average damage with attacks.

Judging by the responses in this thread so far, I'm guessing 2e is vastly superior to MRQ, which is the version I own.

Well, most of the complaints about MRQ are about things like the setting, the formatting, the art, and the terrible fucking indices.

I don't think the rules themselves are too different. You can check out this stripped down version of RQ6 to compare.

I don't like 2e personally, I like RQ6 which is like MRQ3

It's being smothered by the fact that the only guaranteed release in the lifecycle of an edition is Sartar. Fucking again.

Where my goddamn Uz at?

The original Second Edition is the best version, hands down.

Well..you just said you did what I said the other user should do...
And while MRQII did well in attempting to drag Mongoose's line out of the crud, it got stomped by RQ6.
If you're sitting on copies of RQ2, MRQ, MRQII and RQ6, two of those are going to lose out (and they both have an "M" in their name).

Why is it better than RQ6?

They're having a party!

But MRQ has all sorts of stuff that rq6 doesn't, so even if you're using rq6 for your core book, MRQ still has lots to offer you.

Plus, MRQii is a dollar, if your the kind who wants to pay for their PDFs.

Different user here. Inquiring minds would like to know. Does it also have combat styles and special effects?

What is stupid about those changes? Unless you mean stupid when their goal is to make it immediately compatible with RQ2 so they can reprint those old supplements without any work and just watch people buy in because nostalgia.

Does anyone have the media fire link anymore?

I heard in a podcast interview that Trollpack is just waiting for art... For Heroquest: Glorantha that is. But that was when Adventures in Glorantha was still going to be a thing so... who knows what is going on.

And you can toss out RQ2 and use OQ2 instead.

Nobody has ever given a reason why one edition is better than the other. What advantage does OQ2 have?

It's simpler. It's the OSR of runequest.

What is OQ2? Original quest?

Openquest. Now I will be honest and say that I miiight have made up the RQ2 thing since I don't know that system, just going off things I've read and I don't really remember where.

d101games.com/books/openquest/

>more outlandish for high costs - here go your Cleaves and acrobatic strikes.
I've already had combat resolved the first turn when the attack was Perfect and the defense a fumble, resulting in Choose Location: Head, Impale and Bypass Armour.

Or how you stab a Bretonnian knight through the eye slit and instantly murder him.

I started with RQ3e and there were a lot of boxed sets and books for Glorantha. It seems people weren't fans of it but 3e has a chunk of nostalgia for me. Also Trollpak has rules for Troll Ball, which I think might predate Blood Bowl.

...

...

Anybody thinking of getting a game going, say, online? RQ6, HQ:G...it's hard to find groups unless you live on like, Jeff Richard's front lawn.

And is a General in order?

I might be interested. There were these guys I had briefly hooked up with who were playing on IRC a few years back. I had only dropped in a hand full of times before I got distracted by horrible IRL things and then forgot the name of the channel.. I was looking forward to playing a Durulz too

I'm hesitant to lead a game b/c after two years of owning the Guide I still feel utterly clueless in RE: Glorantha, and much less how to make it playable. There's plenty of intro and lore threads on Veeky Forums and elsewheres but ze niche, she is strong. But playing would be nice...these are some big, heavy books

Related: elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2016/07/brp-blues.html

The guide is more a masturbation aid for the Glorantha-scholars than a usable RPG sourcebook. Look at the Glorantha Classics-reprints and HeroQuest-supplements instead.

Is there a good place to get your hands on all the books? Or to just get an idea of what all the books are.

Find the Heroquest book about Satar. It's only a small part of the setting but it's made as am actual guide for playing in the setting rather than an anthropology book.

>Look at the Glorantha Classics-reprints and HeroQuest-supplements instead.

Which are still more masturbation aids for the Glorantha-scholars than usable RPG sourcebooks.