Jason D

Several errors have been fixed in the updated .pdf (available soon) and will be present in future print runs. 

I'm paying attention to issues where there might be rules discrepancies, errors, or things that could use more clarity. 

It would be awesome to see these questions isolated from the background noise in this thread. I'm going to start a new thread for just that purpose. 

2 hours ago, Stephen said:

No such animal.  The designers of RQG have stubbornly refused to include any balanced encounter guidelines, an omission which I think will drive the final nail into the RQ coffin.  I just don't think the  designers understand (or more likely don't care) how absolutely crucial it is to have such a tool if you want to appeal to today's gamer.  I see RQG as a game about nostalgia, hopes, and dreams, but without the hero needed to save it from final judgement by today's gamers.  But in the meantime, until that final judgement day (which may arrive soon in the form of low sales of the hardback), me and the other grognards here will have some fun at least fiddling with the game (since I can't, much to my dismay, find any gamers under 40 willing to actually play it, and the only ones that will play it are RQ veterans who favor/are nostalgic for/ are stuck in the edition they played back in the day).

The Gamemaster Sourcebook, which is my highest prio right now, has a whole chapter on Encounters, specifically on scaling them to suit the needs of the scene and to provide the right degree of challenge for the adventurers. 

But if you'd like to claim that we're "stubbornly refusing" to provide such info, or that sales are poor, you can be wrong on both counts. 

If you're having trouble downloading the map, more information would be useful.

We have many people who say they've got no issues, and a few who are having problems. Could you provide information such as your device (PC/Mac, OS and version, browser and version).

Thanks! 

As I am deep within the guts of the RuneQuest Gamemaster Sourcebook and I think it's important to spotlight the voices of the many different gamemasters, their styles, and various bits of advice from veteran Glorantha-philes and RuneQuest gamemasters to those new to the setting and game. 

What I am asking for is this: 

1. A piece of advice presented as a "principle".

2. It should 80 words or less in total, and follow this format: 

Quote

The Stafford Principle: As a gamemaster, it is important to maintain a sense of wonder in the world. It is not possible for any mortal to fully understand the workings of Glorantha, and to do so takes away from the pleasure of the unexpected. A dragonewt won’t do the same thing every time you encounter one. Leave room in your campaign for the unexplained, the mystic and the mythic. No matter how much you learn and experience, there is always more to discover.

These would go into small sidebars or drop-quotes in various places throughout the sourcebook. They don't have to be big picture like Greg's... they can be smaller and highly specific, such as the following:

Quote

The Durall Principle: When a group has non-player characters with them, such as pets, allies, or other characters, put a sticky-note with each of their names visible on the gamemaster screen (or your notes). Every time it's appropriate, review them and see how they'd react to what's going on. Non-player characters should have inner lives and goals of their own. Make sure those are clear to you and manifest in the way they behave. 

I can't offer any payment, but will include your name in the thanks in the credits. I'll discuss with Mob and Jeff if there's anything else we can offer to those whose quotes we end up using. 

You can submit multiple entries, but I'm only going to use principle per gamemaster. 

If curious about what the Gamemaster Sourcebook will cover, here's a list of the chapters (in order): 

1. Introduction
2. Glorantha 
3. Adventurers 
4. Cults & Gods
5. Runes & Magic 
6. The Environment 
7. Guilds & Associations 
8. Goods & Services
9. Time 
10. Combat (includes personal, skirmish, mass, ship, sieges, etc.) 
11. Gamemastering (includes all manner of GM advice from soup to nuts, GM tricks & tips, etc.) 
12. Adventure Design (campaign/adventure/encouter design, etc.) 
13. Heroquests
14. Travel 
15. Encounters 
16. Treasure & Rewards 
17. Conversions (more conversion notes from RQ2/3, HeroQuest, other games, etc.) 

Suggestions about any of these topics are highly welcome. The majority may fall into chapters 11-12, but I would love to receive tips/principles about other topics, such as how you deal with downtime, travel, combat, treasure, character creation, encounters, and almost any aspect of gamemastering in the world of Glorantha or using the RuneQuest system (BRP also counts!). 

 Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. 

Thanks! 

29 minutes ago, Narl said:

Wow, great looking stuff! Looking forward to the adventures and the third one will be especially fun!

I did notice the art character sheet has a weird page setup that I am not really sure how to print. It would probably be better if it were four pages.

Noted. This was a mixup between the print and the download version of the sheet. We're taking notes about all glitches/typos, etc. and will be fixing them and updating the download. 

It was an utter delight getting to see our German (and international) fans close-up in a more relaxed atmosphere then Gen Con, and to have so many friends, family, and newcomers to share our enthusiasm. 

Otherland were wonderful hosts, and afterwards some of us adjourned to an amazing Greek restaurant and continued our merriment until the midnight hours. 

On 7/29/2018 at 8:41 AM, jongjom said:

Page 57   "Runes: All dwarfs have the Earth and Stasis Runes at 80% or higher."       This is not compatible with:       Page 58   "Runes: All dwarfs have the Earth Rune as their primary Elemental Rune and take Stasis at least at 80%."     This is because a primary Elemental Rune is 60% (page 45 of RQ:G). Please change the text of one of these. 

Values for sample NPCs and starting adventurers are not necessarily identical.

It may be that the NPC is relatively inexperienced and the adventurer is much more extraordinary, or the reverse, with an NPC holding a lifetime of experience and the adventurer just getting started. 

The GM Screen Pack will have three adventures and a half-dozen or so scenario seeds, along with the hamlet of Apple Lane and the city of Clearwine described for GM and player use. 

All but the adventure book is laid out, and that will be available within a few weeks. 

On 8/8/2018 at 5:44 PM, Narl said:

You might want to consider holding off on ordering the expansion dice. I picked up two sets at Gen Con and the hit location die does not match with the hit location table. The die has an extra left leg hit with five chances, and is missing an abdomen hit with only two.

An unfortunate mistake, but otherwise, they look great!

I've verified and notified Q Workshop about the glitch. 

It slipped through approvals in a very confusing email chain discussing multiple issues. 

They only printed a small number for the conventions and immediate mail order, so as soon as they make more, general distribution will have corrected dice. 

To check in the future, just count the Abdomen sides... there should be three. 

If you have the incorrect dice, a simple workaround is that any time a roll of Left Leg comes up, roll a d10 and divide by 2. If the end result is a 5, it should be treated as Abdomen. 

++++++++

In other news, we have discussed the possibility for non-humanoid hit location dice, but the problem of identifying which one belongs to which remains a challenge of readability, and you'd be shooting for an increasingly small number of uses, given the wide variety of hit location configurations.  

27 minutes ago, DreadDomain said:

Still unsure if the answer was meant to be usefull or humorous. Of course runes won't be used but is there a plan to replace it with a similar mechanic? I would vote for personality traits myself.

I was being dead serious. Did you read the linked page? 

2 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

What about the Futhark? 

They're in Mythic Iceland.

The RQFE core book would present the core rules, character generation and improvement, combat, equipment, the role of faith, alchemy, a bit of a historical overview and some gazetteer material, and a few magic systems that would cover the majority of the suggested starting locale. Depending on how ambitious we get, it'll either have some animals/monsters and GM advice or those will be separate books. 

In-depth magic systems will be keyed to the appropriate sourcebooks. 

14 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

So the goal was to produce a RQ FE core book, is it still the plan (understanding that the plan might change again)?

Would you mind to elaborate on what it would look like? In RQG the absolute stand out, I believe, is how the runes bring a character to life by defining his personality, his magical affinities, etc. Runes would not be adequate for RQ FE but I would be curious to see if something else would fill the void. Personality traits à la KA perhaps?

No Runes. 

The bodily humors would be the obvious alternative. 

4 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Last I read, the creator of "Walking Dead" was adapting Amber to a TV series. Now we are talking Hollywood, and projects start, stop, and get lost in development hell, but maybe it's worth keeping an eye on in case it actually happens?

The last update was July 2016, so I'm going to guess " 'What is lost in development hell?' for $200, Alex." 

As a placeholder for myself, prior to this post I have implemented all the changes I'm going to make. 

We'll keep making corrections in the InDesign file until we're ready to send the print-ready file to the printers, so by all means, keep all relevant suggestions/comments/bugfinding coming. 

12 hours ago, hkokko said:

This would be different from the way RQ has always been and it even does not feel right. Monsters get experience too....  Same would go for training - why would training be different for person a who is pc and person b who is npc - you lift the same iron, you shoot the same bow, you parry the same trainer..

The point I was making is that monsters/NPCs aren't generally actively seeking self-improvement and adventure the way adventurers are. 

If the GM wants to have an NPC or monster who's actively training, adventuring, seeking out new experiences, etc. then by all means adjust the suggested values upwards. You should also adjust player character Reputation scores downward to compensate, as their own deeds will be less remarkable in a world where every single being is the equivalent of a full-time adventurer. 

13 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Does that mean there is some sort of "Bible" that tells them what they can and cannot alter?

No hope for Amber then?

There is no setting bible at this time, but Jeff and I are about 100% in agreement about what a RQ Fantasy Earth core book would look like. 

Having seen multiple runs at the license, knowing the difficulties there, and knowing the extent of the entrenched Amber community and their commitment to the diceless RPG, I can say two things: 

1. I would love to do it

2. It would be a struggle, unless some external factor (TV series, movie, etc.) made the license more visible outside the existing community 

13 hours ago, g33k said:

re: RQ/FantasyEarth...

I just wanted to clarify... is this planned as a single volume (presumably titled "Fantasy Earth")?  Or as a series of interlocking / mutually-playable (but each also fully standalone) individual RPGs (of which, presumably, Mythic Iceland would be the first iteration)?  Or something else/undecided/etc ... ?

The realities of schedules being what they are, the goal was always to have a RQ Fantasy Earth core book and game line. The existence of Mythic Iceland in a nearly-ready state meant that Pedro's book will have its own rules set and will be the foundation for a line of associated books in the umbrella of the Fantasy Earth line. Now that the RQG core book is in print, the Bestiary available in .pdf, and the GM Screen Pack well into layout, we can start shifting our attention to getting more trains out of the station, so to speak. 

11 hours ago, seneschal said:

Obviously we need to think outside the box on this one.  Since role-playing itself and many of our favorite properties are 1970s things, a logical license is ... General Hospital.  Luke and Laura!  Larceny and lechery!  Streetwalker nurses!  Gangsters, assasins and Bond villains!  Betrothal and betrayal!  Dastardly deeds at the disco!

After all, if someone can turn "Dallas" into a rpg why limit ourselves to nighttime soap operas?  😁

 

If someone wants to pitch us a soap opera/romance/melodrama RPG using a streamlined RQ/BRP engine, we will be ALL OVER THAT. 

11 hours ago, SDLeary said:

But, I'm all down for a proper hard Sci-Fi treatment. Something along the lines of The Expanse or Traveller 2300/2300AD. Space Opera/Space Fantasy is nice, but somewhat overdone in my estimation. And I'm not really into the transhumanism (ala Eclipse Phase) thing  outside of minor things you might find in a Cyberpunk setting. 

Well, we do have Mr. Spivey under contract to do an original sci-fi setting for us... 

1 hour ago, hkokko said:

with long lived opponents (elves, some dwarves, jolanti?, gargoyles, spirits, some giants, dragonewts...) with more than 100 or hundreds of year of life the opponents should be very very deadly in their main skills.

Player character adventures are exceptional individuals, and non-player characters do not follow the same rapid advancement as do player characters. The operative word is "adventurer"... it is assumed that most PCs are engaged in actively improving themselves, training, learning, growing in experience, while most non-adventurers are doing their jobs, living day-to-day, etc. 

The same is true of the aging rules. 

On 7/11/2018 at 7:46 AM, SDLeary said:

The Expanse

SDLeary

Green Ronin's Kickstarter launched yesterday. 

On 7/11/2018 at 4:39 PM, ORtrail said:

The Jorune: Sholari Guide and the Jorune: Player Manual.  Probably need to combine these into one large book versus two separate ones.  Later add a 'Jorune: World Book' to explore all the other areas not covered initially. 

I would love, love, love to bring Jorune into RQ/BRP-land, but I believe that the rights are pretty tangled and have been told that there's almost no possibility of a new RPG. 

On 7/11/2018 at 6:13 PM, Richard S. said:

Runequest: Fantasy Earth has been announced to be in the pipeline.

Early pipeline. 

On 7/11/2018 at 6:17 PM, Atgxtg said:

Yes, and I'd like to see it get out the door this time. I think we have to consider just how many lines they can support at one time. Three or four, maybe. Or do we just want a lot of one off stand alone games? Maybe a mix? say they support RQG and Fantasy Earth, but pretty much the rest are one-shots?

The Chaosium team grows all the time. 

On 7/12/2018 at 11:26 AM, RosenMcStern said:

I suppose this is one of Jason's taks as line manager: keeping things consistent, while allowing them to vary enough to adapt to different settings.

Yep. 

As for literary IPs I'd love to see brought over to RQ/BRP/Chaosium: 

Obviously, Stormbringer again. 

Ringworld, again. 

The Worm Oroboros, by E.R. Eddison  

The Night Lands, by William Hope Hodgson  

Throne of Bones, by Brian McNaughton 

On 7/10/2018 at 2:05 PM, Jakob said:

Me, I'd be intrigued by China MIeville's Bas-Lag at Chaosium. I'd actually consider it a good spiritual sucessor to Stormbringer in a broader sense, in that like lots of Moorcocks work, it's Kind of part of the "Mervyn Peake" tradition of English fantasy (as opposed to the Tolkien tradiiton).

 

EDIT: BTW, I really think that BRP could handle races like cactus pople or mosquito men as player characters better than most other Systems out there.

Mieville does like BRP/Call of Cthulhu, and has said he'd be happy to see it adapted with that rules system. A long while ago, Adamant Publishing had the rights to do a Bas-Lag RPG. I was in communication with them and was slated to do some work on adapting it for BRP as the game engine, but the Far West Kickstarter situation made them put it on ice. I gather that it's since gone to another publisher, but I'll let them be the ones to announce it. (Hint... not Chaosium!) 

7 hours ago, TrippyHippy said:

They only produced three thousand copies, before it was pulled as a limited release. They sold out in minutes, from memory. I recall buying my own copy, and the seller (at gencon) actually tried to put up the price when selling it, on the grounds that he knew it would be worth a load as a collectors piece when he sold it. If you buy it from eBay now, it costs.....oh.....let's see: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dune-Chronicles-of-the-Imperium-Core-Game-Limited-Edition-NEW/253715007118?hash=item3b1297c68e:g:6HUAAOSw-3FZAtAD

And you will only prize my copy out of my cold, dead hands.

On 7/20/2018 at 8:22 AM, Questbird said:

Hyboria: R. E. Howard (d. 1936)

Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs (d. 1950)

Middle-Earth: J. R. R. Tolkien (d. 1973)

Dune: Frank Herbert (d. 1986)

Lankhmar/Nehwon: Fritz Leiber (d. 1992)

Hârn: N. Robin Crossby (d. 2008)

Tékumel: M.A.R. Barker (d. 2012)

Lyonesse: Jack Vance (d. 2013)

Earthsea: Ursula LeGuin (d. 2018)

 

The Hyborian Age/Conan (pedantically, there was never a "Hyboria" in his works) is a highly successful RPG line run by a quite nice, if overworked, editor. 

Bersoom/John Carter of Mars is an upcoming RPG and minis line from the same publisher. 

Middle-earth is available in two flavors - The One Ring and Adventures in Middle-earth.

Lankhmar/Newhon is available as a Savage Worlds game line and another line for Dungeon Crawl Classics. 

Harn/Harnmaster is still in print and active development with a company called Kelestia. 

Tekumel just had a new game, Bethorm come out two years ago, and may have more releases since. 

Lyonesse, as mentioned, is a Mythras game in the making. 

Earthsea, I believe, will never be an RPG as the rights to the setting have been tied up with the film and television rights. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Which leaves only Dune. With the new movies in development, the likely case is that anyone licensing it will either: a) license the entire IP through the Herbert Estate, or b) license just the 1st book and the film material through the movie studio. 

18 hours ago, Jon Hunter said:

OK with PC's for different races it is unclear what to do about passions and runes, I can put something together based off the rules but i'm guessing and it seems inconsistent. 
Clearer consistent direction would be helpful.

The cultural and professional skills seems better, except for the dwarves where I assume  they are combined for each caste, however this is an assumption and clearer signposting would help.

I've clarified the bit about new Runes in the rules. 

Skills follow the same procedure as in the core rulebook... the "(XX)" value replaces the skill's base chance, and the "+XX%" is added to that. 

19 hours ago, g33k said:

Not a mod here, but finding the physics-vs-mythic simulation of falling (& rules about all that) REALLY off-track for the Bestiary Corrections thread.

NormallyI'd consider this WELL within the bounds of "reasonable" thread-drift, but (a) we aren't gonna see the Bestiary promulgate a new RQG Falling Rule, & (b) we're trying to keep THIS thread serving the specific purpose of correcting the Bestiary within a (very limited) pre-printing timeframe...

Thank you. 

Please take any discussion of falling damage rules in RQ (and RPGs in general) to another thread. 

Thanks for all the feedback thus far! 

16 hours ago, filkertom said:

P. 8 — flying:  a creature will fall its SIZ in meters each round if conscious? If unconscious... it will fall faster, as determined by the GM? Um... really? Does the physics bear that out? 

(The Falling rules in RQ:G do not mention the time taken to fall.)

It's not gravity. A conscious flier is generally attempting to not fall, such as flapping wings, gliding, etc. vs. an unconscious plummeting without any effort to stay aloft.