TrippyHippy

Not got mine yet either. They may be, apparently, going through each backer individually.

Honestly, if I were to do another Chaosium-based Supers game, I'd use the HeroQuest ruleset. It scales better and the use of key words and narrative tropes actually suit the genre better..

There are Voodou rules in the Blood Tides sourcebook (pirates). Very good they are too.

The authors of Ars Magica, Mark Rein-Hagen and Jonathan Tweet have both cited RuneQuest as a major influence on the design of Ars Magica in various interviews, blogs and the like. The system and setting deviate, obviously, but the notion of 'Mythic Earth' and other ideas have anticedents in RuneQuest ('Splat' affiliations like Houses/Cults for example, or the iconisation of magic as in Arts/Runes). Both were long term RQ GMs before they embarked on their own games. The main system designer was Jonathan Tweet who was critical of the limitations of a roll-under system, and wanted to try something different for Ars Magica. Jonathan Tweet's own words: "I never could have done D&D 3E without a lot of pro experience. RuneQuest in particular was a big influence on me and my design approach. I'm very happy with how well the gaming audience has responded to my work on 3E. For years I thought that D&D was a bad game, and I wanted my games to be better. Working on 3E gave the the opportunity to see what is actually really strong about the game. I used to hate hit points. Now I think they are good for play. With 3E, we could eliminate what I disliked most about the game and emphasize what was good about it. And we really played up the D&D feel and heritage." https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/29o071/i_am_jonathan_tweet_i_was_a_designer_on_dungeons/

To me, the 'foundation document' really still has to be the original D&D (brown box rules) as we can see from the original stat base (Strength, Dexterity, etc) which was largely adopted by other games. Traveller and RuneQuest then built the second wave of systems which established pretty much most of what went down for the decades that followed. You could argue that The Fantasy Trip established another fundamental idea in the Points Buy system, which reached fruition with Champions. I'd argue that another alternative path was established with the Amber Diceless RPG, which was very minimalistic and a prototype 'indie narrativist' system although this is disputable (as is everything else). For me, the genealogy of games after RQ includes: RuneQuest --> Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, Worlds of Wonder (BRP et al), Paranoia (though not it's most recent edition), WFRP (and following on Dark Heresy et al.), Pendragon, Ars Magica, Vampire: The Masquerade et al., HeroQuest, D&D 3rd Edition, d20/OGL/Pathfinder et al, Delta Green, Kult, Unknown Armies, Aquelarre, etc. That's quite significant. Traveller's influence was more subtle in some ways, but it can be seen in GURPS, Cyberpunk and Shadowrun amongst others and even things like Fiasco to a degree (all those generation tables). And it's not all about system, either. The seminal idea in RuneQuest is really about the human connection to myths and mysticism. The World of Darkness games (Vampire, et al) attempts the same idea through a modern context, but the influence is clear. The seminal idea in Traveller is the notion that the universe can be codified and explored - hence it's clear connection to GURPS for me.

I'm not really sure we are disagreeing as such. Maybe we are, but my major point is that I wish the BRP community would stop cannibalising itself. I've no problem with having a degree of competition with a variety of games, and note that different developments in systems would come of that, but when you have competing 'core rules' it just lends to confusion. Especially, as you note when there are multiple editions in a short period of time. It's not a case of wanting their to be less game brands, like RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green or whatever - I want more of those - it's just when we see games trying to set up varying system brands that are actually 90% the same as the others. I'd like more games to be made standalone, with maybe just some recognisable icon on the cover to indicate they are 'BRP' or percentile ('D100'?).

Honestly, I only wish there was just one communal brand for all the disparate BRP/D100 games out there. Individual games could vary the system in different ways, but the consumer would still be informed of the genealogical ties. I get that RuneQuest is a standalone setting and game now (again!) and that is fine by me, but I'd like BRP Essentials to be a unifying force as much as anything. I'm tired of seeing more and more core rule books for the same basic language. Make more standalone games, linked by one all encompassing brand.

StarQuest?

Last product I bought using the Renaissance rules was Dark Streets. Last product I bought using the OpenQuest system was Rivers of Heaven. Both are standalone products. Makes my point for me. Legend only continues to sell because Mongoose practically give it away at $1. I cannot recall the last supplement for the game that even registered (Mongoose focus much, much more on their Traveller line these days). Neither Savage Worlds or Fate have to compete against more 'official' versions of themselves. RuneQuest/BRP/Legend/OpenQuest/Renaissance/d100 Revolution/TDMs New Game doesn't really get that luxury. That's the problem. Make new games, not new system references, and let the qualities of the complete games stand on their own two feet. Anyway, just setting off now to go on my Xmas hols. Wish everybody the best till New Year!

The thing that I don't really get is that, on the Glorantha website, the "Required Reading" lists a bunch of Classic Mythology texts from a variety of cultures, along with fictional fantasy too. It's basically suggesting that you ought to look into a variety of myths and fantasy novels to fully appreciate Glorantha as a setting. Yet, this is pretty much what is being offered up by TDM and others via the generic set of rules. Surely having these titles all being compatible with RuneQuest/Glorantha would enhance it's value? Anyway, I'm due to travel soon so I guess the last thing I'll say is this: It's now clear that BRP/RQ can never be a fully unified set of rules but hopefully the moniker of it being a 'family' of games will continue without acrimony and tribalism. I hope that we see more standalone products in the future rather than more "generic core rules books", to cut out all the issues of varying creative visions and business plans. If people happen to recognise that rules and systems are similar then all great but my personal model is titles like Clockwork and Chivalry which gave up trying to associate itself with a third party set of rules and just made a whole game with its own rules. Independent and complete. OGL/Open License/Unified systems simply don't work that well for RQ/BRP based on all the evidence we have seen over the last decade or so. Have a nice Christmas everybody!

I wonder who get's ownership of that marvellous RQ6 cover art?

So the short story is that Chaosium have decided to release a RQ7 instead of trying to do the admittedly tricky job of rewriting RQ6 from a generic system into a setting specific one, in no more than 350 pages (from an original 450pages + AiG). Well, for me a few questions then: 1) Will the work done by Loz and Pete on Mythic historical settings be broadly compatible with RQ7? Not in the nitty-gritty detail, but more in the notion that the stats will be similar enough to see how cross compatibility could happen? Or will it be it's own beast? 2) Will the system be organic enough to work without table referencing? Will the game be simple to run, by modern standards? 3) When will we get some real, nerve settling detail about this game? I know it's still a work in progress and you want to control information releases but what are the design goals? Will it be directly supportive of GtG (in terms of physical design and encyclopaedic referencing)? What sort of supplemental and alternative mediums of game (eg miniatures) will support it? What is the direction of this game? My intention is to continue with TDM releases as they stand, because I know where they are heading. I'm not clear where Chaosium are heading as it stands.

I'll have to process this a bit more, but to me there is irritation on a number of fronts: 1) I feel that Pete and Loz are getting screwed over. They've done more to promote the RuneQuest brand than anyone over the last few years, and I don't think that is being acknowledged at all by Chaosimoon. 2) It feels like we are about to just get yet another new version of the RQ/BRP rules. How many is that now? Moreover, if we are getting a new version of the old version of the game again, it simply feels like 35 years of development has been for nothing. Flatly, I don't want to play in a game that was cutting edge 35 years ago, but still clings to table-referencing combat and the like. I want to play with a system that has evolved.to where we are at now. 3) If it's a case of needing to use RQ2 style rules to get the most out of Guide to Glorantha, well, I'm starting to think that perhaps the easiest thing now is just to sell up my GtG and be done with it. My initial draw to the RQ system was actually towards the historical/mythic settings. I've been holding out for the RQ6 rules to give me an intro into this setting with a ruleset I wanted for a solid couple of years, but not at the expense of the historical settings. I feel messed around on the matter. 4) There hasn't been any clear communication from Chaosimoon about this situation - just communication from the third parties affected. Once again, I feel like the customers are not being communicated with well, and my gaming preferences are in limbo.

And I guess this means we can start to call this new edition RuneQuest 7 after all.....

Yeah, just read up on it. Strange turn of events. I'm still excited for what The Design Mechanism are coming up with. I'll be interested in the new Chaosium RuneQuest, but will make a judgment on whether to buy based on what they do. If they go with some loose expansion on RQ2 (what's the point?) or CoC7E (rubbish rules), I'll give it a miss.

Actually, my fear is the opposite. For me, I am a happy backer of the Guide to Glorantha, RuneQuest 6 (via Indigogo, anyway) and now RQ2. I have HeroQuest: Glorantha now also, but it's not my preferred system. I will be backing, or preferably just buying, Chaosium's new RuneQuest edition, with the hope that I can use GtG and other Glorantha material with my preferred RQ6 system. There is plenty of it, but till the nominal Adventures in Glorantha was due to come out, I had no real clue about how to go about using it. The point is that I am mainly interested in using currently latent material I already have in abundance with the new RuneQuest book, rather than adding to it a massive range of extra supplements. However, I also want to use RQ6 for other things, and it's important for me that TDM have the time to make and support new titles in the Mythic range (Mesapotamia, Greece, Britain, Constantinople, etc), rather than exhausting their talent writing loads of supplements for Glorantha in any given time frame. If Chaosium want to get Pete and Loz to aggressively support the new RuneQuest then it will compromise their time to do anything else. I do recognise that slow release schedules are frustrating, but for the RuneQuest and Glorantha lines, quality is more important than quantity. If I get maybe one Chaosium Glorantha book each year, and maybe two or three well researched Mythic books per year - that'd be about perfect for me.

Same here. I'm really looking forward to getting hold of RQ2 from the Kickstarter, and will leaf through it immediately with enthusiasm. However, when the dust settles, the fantasy rpg of choice for me, and the game system I am invested in, is the RQ rules written by Pete & Loz. This is not only because of the quality of design, which is high, but also the direction they are taking the game. I'd love to see a range of well researched Mythic titles to pick and choose (and mix?) from. I'm hoping that we see a lot more consolidation and stability from 2016 onwards regarding Chaosium and the rest, which will then actually allow all these lines to flourish. I'm also hoping to introduce the RQ game to a lot of younger D&D players next year too, as they are getting thicker on the ground again in recent times.

I'm in! Just waiting to see how high this thing goes.

I think the various labels and logos issues probably won't be fully standardised until various current licenses have run their course.

I am curious as to why anybody thinks people used to run Call of Cthulhu through adjudicating or memorising any set of situational modifiers at all? It simply didn't happen in any game I've ran or participated in. The dependency of 'Rules-As-Written' is overstated.

666 made comfortably enough.....

No worries. Keep it up! (And if you can spare any time for Mythic Constantinople.........)

So, depending on the nature of the postage and delivery, it should be on our doorsteps early January? Good news, and the physical qualities do look good in the photo.

One of the main selling points for me, along with my purchase of the Classic Traveller earlier this year, is just how concisely written everything is. It's a stark reminder that you actually don't need a massive page count to make a good game. I love my RQ6, soon to be Chaosium RuneQuest, but Classic RuneQuest will certainly be a treasure too.