Jeff

Always keep in mind a person with a 90% or even 120% skill is not a Hero. A Hero is someone who has bridged the mortal world and the Gods World through their deeds (pretty much always through heroquesting). And given the reality of magic in RuneQuest a character with a 75% combat skill but with 6+ Rune points with a war god (Babeester Gor, Humakt, Maran Gor, Orlanth, Storm Bull etc) is likely going to beat the character with 125% combat but only 3 Rune points (a starting character has 3 Rune points).

I rarely see a character made with more than one skill above 80%. Two if from a nomadic culture (Ride gets high very easy for nomads, as it starts at 40% instead of 5%, and if you add 30% as a professional warrior, plus put the maximum number of personal points into it that gets you to 90%), but since Ride is primarily a limiting skill (your other abilities are limited by your Ride) it needs to be very high if you do everything while mounted. But more often what I see is characters picking one skill they want to be really good at, and then a cluster of 2 or 3 skills in the 65-79%range. Then a bigger cluster in the 55-65% range, with the rest being in the under 50%. So frex, a Lunar dart warrior character started with one skill at 92% (2H Spear), two skills at 77 (Dagger and Composite Bow), and a cluster of skills between 51 and 77 (Climb, Hide, Sneak, Scan). Her passions were quite strong with her loyalty to the Red Emperor being 85% and her Fear of Dragons being 80.

Once you are over 100% (and yes, you can improve beyond 100% although it is slower), you can split attacks (useful against multiple unskilled opponents) and you get a steadily improved chance of special and critical attacks. And this is Glorantha - when two characters with combat skills of 95% meet each other in battle, the one with better magic usually wins.

As an aside on this, I don't believe that a 21 year old in Glorantha - or in any ancient setting - is a novice dirt crawler. Now my parents both grew up on farms, and I have a lot of farmer relatives, and believe me when I say that a 15 year old who grows up farming can be remarkably skilled at that. Same thing with young scribes. I think we project modern Western assumptions about youth onto ancient settings. And we consider our youth to be unskilled and largely useless (that being said, I have met soldiers who were only 19 or 20 years old who were amazingly skilled at what they do). In the pre-modern world, we have more examples of people who were already "heroes" at a remarkably young age. Alexander was 22 years old (a starting RQ character) when he fought the Battle of the Granicus - do we really think he did not have a mastery of Battle, Orate, Ride, or Lance attack? Napoleon was 26 when he conquered Italy. Harald Hardrada was a noted warrior at 15 years old. And by age 18 was one of the most successful captains of the Varangian Guard, having fought all the way to the Euphrates. Edward the Black Prince was 16 when he commanded the vanguard of the English Army at Crecy. Now those are all extraordinary characters, but they are the sort of characters imagined in RQ. Additionally, RQ2 was quite explicit that your adventurer was not the "ordinary, average Joe" - you were the stuff who might "become a Hero, to take one's place in the Hero Wars." And the rules stated it is Perfectly All Right to throw out any character whose characteristics were across the board average or even slightly above average. I've always liked being able to start with characters who can be good at what they are supposed to do (even if what they are good at is useless in adventuring - something I love about Call of Cthulhu) and the new RuneQuest will reflect that.

You are correct. There was NO 75% cap in the Experience By Occupation rules. The cap was in the Quick Experience System.

Why not? And for what it is worth, that's a Mike Mignola piece he did for Chaosium many years ago.

Simon is spot on correct. The God Time is eternal and always. The events of the God Time are occurring and reoccurring now, yesterday, and tomorrow. Think of it like Eliade's Eternal Return or the distinction in Egyptian mythology between neheh (the continuation of the cosmos in temporal terms and the perpetual passage of heavenly and earthly events that accumulate as history) and djet (the eternal basis of divine action and initiative that enabled the creation of the cosmos and the possibility of its continuation).

Of course roleplaying games are art - just as storytelling is art, comedy is art, short stories are art, comic books are art, etc. Nearly everything we do that is creative and imaginative can (and probably should) be considered art. Clearly Zak S's parties are art (mine rarely have much planning beyond making sure there is booze and food - and thus lack the creativity and imagination, although some have certainly resulted in moments transformed into art by later storytelling). But saying that roleplaying games are art simply acknowledges that they are valued (at least by us) moments of creativity and imagination.

It has been that way in all the Chaosium editions. No reason to change that.

I'm sure somewhere where Heler is more important (and worshiped independently), he is worshiped as one of Ernalda's many husbands. But his cult is not terribly important. Remember, for the most part Heler is worshiped as an accoutrement of Orlanth. Elmal is just treated as another variant of Yelm or Yelmalio by most Ernalda temples. Which is kind of right.

Here's the most common list (God Learnerized): The Husband-Protectors Wherever Ernalda is found, her local husbands give her a Rune spell as protection. Orlanth is always one of Ernalda’s husbands, but in many places he shares that honor with one or more of the following deities. In Esrolia, all the following husband-deities are present; Ernalda’s priestesses there gain Rune spells from all. Orlanth: Orlanth is universally worshiped as Ernalda’s husband, even among people who do not worship Orlanth. Argan Argar: Argan Argar is only worshiped as Ernalda’s husband in Esrolia and among the rare Darkness-worshiping cultures that respect the Earth deities. Flamal: Flamal is worshiped as Ernalda’s husband primarily among the elves. Magasta: Magasta is Ernalda’s husband in Esrolia and in some island cultures. Storm Bull: The Storm Bull is worshiped as Ernalda’s husband in Esrolia and by the rare Ernalda worshipers of the Wastes. Yelmalio: A minority of the tribes in Dragon Pass and the south Pelorian hills worships Yelmalio as one of Ernalda's husbands. She's got others as well. In Saird, she is known to count Lodril AND Yelm among her husbands - along with Orlanth.

Both RQ2 and RQ2 have skill base values and characteristic modifiers for skills classes. The new RQ uses something more like RQ3 than RQ2 (since RQ2 only did characteristic modifiers in 5% increments).

Shoot, I typed too fast - Plant, INFINITY, Plant. Don't let me type on four hours sleep.

The God Learners would say Plant, Harmony, Plant. The cult in Sartar for HQG purposes uses magic based on Plant and Harmony.

Yep. And that is explicitly called out in the rules. It makes having a strong connection to one rune or another pertinent and playable.

Most characters will want to have some spirit magic - they are less powerful than Rune spells, but don't require you to have any particular affinity to anything to cast (just the POW and magic points needed). They also replenish MUCH faster than Rune points - you get your magic points back each day, but you need to participate in a Worship ceremony to replenish Rune points. The more significant the Worship ceremony, the more you get back. Priests, god-talkers, and rune lords get Rune Points back much faster than mere initiates.

Nope - the use of the Runes to augment actions is to correspond with a character's inherent affinities with the cosmic Runes. They do not form an independent magic system - but part of the "physics" of the setting. Rune Magic takes this a step further - by giving part of yourself to one of the Gloranthan gods (sacrifice of permanent POW for Rune Points) you call call upon some fraction of the god's power (aka Rune spells). Rune spells have a much greater mechanical effect than a successful Rune augment and have no downside when you fail to call upon the god (other than the spell not happening). Additionally Rune affinities *only* augment or act as personality drives - even if you have 100% with the Air Rune, you can't summon Air elementals or Fly without Rune magic. Rune magic is POW (as in you need to sacrifice permanent POW to create those Rune points) and Rune based. The Battle Magic of old is Spirit Magic - the use of spirits to perform an effect through use of a foci or charm. Bladesharp, Heal, Second Sight - all are spirit magic spells.

Labyrinth and Mote in God's Eye both had a big impact on how I view the Mostali. The caste MOST often seen by humans are the Iron Dwarves - since human communities are always potential threats. Regular collection of resources with reciprocated product might well get handled by Iron Dwarves (this is not "trade", just part of the scripted resource collection procedure needed to maintain the collective). Those few communities that maintain regular - and unscripted - contact with humans likely interact with a Gold Dwarf (usually called "King of the Dwarves" by the humans). So every year your community might present 500 kg leather hides, 100 kg of identically shaped river rocks, and a 15 meter high 1 meter diameter tree trunk (stripped of bark) to the Iron Dwarf "market". They present you with 10 axe heads and 5 broadswords, plus one hauberk of scale mail. Every year is exactly the same. No bargaining - and if you don't have exactly the right specifications, the Iron Dwarves give you nothing. That's not even Openhandism - the dwarves need those resources to maintain their facilities. The weapons are given so that the humans will massacre each other and the other Elder Races. Many - perhaps almost all - of these "agreements" date back to the Dawn. Openhandism is where the dwarves make *new* bargains with humans. "If you give us 1000 identical logs, we'll assign the Canon Cult to you for one season". Or "if you wipe out the trolls of Battle Valley, we'll let you use the the Alchemical Transformer to do it." Or even crazier "if you give us a certain regular supply of magic points via these ceremonies performed each season, we'll build you your city."

The newest segment of the RuneQuest Designer Notes is up at the Chaosium mainsite http://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-5/ Designing the New RuneQuest - Part 5 Posted by Michael O'Brien on April 27, 2016 By Jeff Richard A few thoughts on RuneQuest combat... RuneQuest combat is a fundamentally different experience than in most other roleplaying games. First, and I think most commonly talked about, the actions in a RuneQuest combat correspond with what we imagine might actually happen in a melee - someone swings a sword at you, you are in big trouble unless you can parry it with another weapon or shield or get out of the way. Unlike level-based games, in RQ all human beings have more or less the same range of hit points, unless increased as the result of magic or from heroquesting. People often call this the "realism" in RuneQuestcombat mechanics. However, I think that misses the point. The realism of RQ combat IMO is not in the values given for hit points or the specific spread between hit locations, or how skill values are calculated. It is from the results of combat - from the inherent dangers in resorting to violence. Combat always poses a risk in RuneQuest. I was playtesting the new rules recently with a group of players that included Rob Heinsoo. What everyone noted is how deliberate the decision to resort to violence needs to be in RuneQuest - battle is dangerous, and not something lightly undertaken. Not only that, but RuneQuest is not balanced in the traditional sense. Your characters will regularly encounter things that are simply more powerful than they are and the only sensible response to these encounters is to flee. The Crimson Bat, Cwim, heck even some Full Priest dragonewts and their followers, could wipe out whole parties of rune lords and rune priests. Some monsters are so dangerous that the only way to have a chance is to first quest into the Gods World to find some mythological vulnerability or bypass. The result of this is a sense of fragile mortality that is utterly unlike most other RPG experiences. In HeroQuest, you play the protagonist of a narrative, in 13th Age, you play an epic hero - but in RuneQuest, no matter how mighty you are, defeat and disaster is always just around the corner. You could say it is anti-heroic heroic fantasy. No matter how it is sliced, RuneQuest is crunchy. But granularity that is not used in play can be discarded. A lot of the RQ3 granularity read better than it played, and I've gone through and tried to hack it out. Remember, rules that don't get used shouldn't be in the book. As we continue to fine tune the new Chaosium edition of RuneQuest, more and more I find I'm stripping rules down to about RuneQuest 2.5, and then we're working in the consequences of Runes and Passions. The new combat rules are primarily derived from RQ2, including how certain attributes such as hit points and weapon characteristics work. However, Runes and Passions have a potentially big impact on combat mechanics - but not on the combat results. Both Runes and Passions allow the character to be inspired within certain limitations. For example, the Air Rune is the rune of violence and destruction. A character in the midst of a melee combat may try to call upon the primal powers of Air to get a bonus to their sword skill. A character strongly loyal to their temple may try to inspire themselves when carrying out a cult mission. In playtesting, people have strongly role-played their Runes and passions and have a game incentive to do so. But inspiration can and does fail, resulting in penalties across the board. There are no hero points or luck points to bail the adventurer out - and in the end even your Rune Lord-Priest with their heroquest gifts will face mortality's sharp bite!

You are correct. Almost all merfolk can stay underwater for about an hour at a time, but must then surface to breathe. Even the surface hating Malaps. And yes, even in modern texts, Malkion is held to be the offspring of Aerlit and Warera. From the forthcoming Sourcebook: Malkion Aerlit was one of the demigods of Air that followed Vadrus in the Gods War. Aerlit spied Warera the Triolini sunning herself upon the shore of the Neliomi Sea. Rather than rape, he carried her away with love, as is befitting the Sea Goddesses. Their child was Malkion. Malkion travelled to the Citadel of Thought where he received the revelation of the Invisible God, Creator and Preserver, the force behind the gods. Malkion taught people to use reason and logic to define and master the rest of the world to obtain liberation from their troubles. This would allow them to shape the universe without enslaving oneself to the gods and deliver them to Solace, a state of inner peace or mystical ambience. With the goddess Britha, Malkion had four sons, Dronar, Horal, Talar, and Zzabur, and one daughter, Menena, and he taught each secrets, duties, and responsibilities. Thus to Dronar, he taught the arts of labor and making; to Horal, he taught the arts of fighting and warfare; to Talar, he taught the arts of rule and mediation; and to Zzabur, he taught the arts of sorcery. Malkion was killed in the Gods War, but his teachings still form the basis of Malkioni philosophy. Adherents include the immortal Brithini and Vadeli, the nations of the West, and the God Learners of the Second Age.

Pete, turn the book on the side and look at the spine.

Correct! Only MRQ2 and TDM's RuneQuest 6 deviated from that tradition - and that meant that there was a version titled RQ2 followed immediately by a version titled RQ6.

There have been three versions of RuneQuest produced by Chaosium (RQ3 was published by Avalon Hill but copyright of Chaosium). Mongoose did its two versions of RuneQuest - Mongoose RuneQuest (called just "RuneQuest"), and Mongoose RuneQuest 2 (called on its cover "RuneQuest 2"). The Design Mechanism did a version as well but (called on its cover "RuneQuest 6"). The fourth Chaosium edition will simply be called "RuneQuest." Given that it builds off 2 (with a few elements from 3), it makes sense that we at Chaosium think of it as RQ4.

It is RuneQuest. The 4th Chaosium edition.

I'm just finishing up version 2.6 for internal review. I then plan to let version 3.0 go out for a broader playtest. I'll be running RQ4 sessions at Chimeriades, Eternal Con, UK Game Expo, and GenCon. In the playtests so far, the Runes, Rune Points and passions have worked wonderfulyl, and the Family Background in character generation allows deep immersion into the setting for newbies (and lots of wonderful rewards for old time Glorantha-philes). The core rules engine is RQ2 (with plenty of modifications, of course - frex, Attack and Parry uses the same skill) - and conversion with RQ2 scenarios is very easy (basically only when it comes to listing available Rune Magic).