Jason D

You might use the magic rules from the BRP book in that case. They're a lot closer to Superworld and require even less work to create.

I don't have his character creation worksheet any more (my piles of paper go into the recycling bin periodically) but I didn't bend the rules for any of the pregens. If there are too many skills, it is inadvertent, not fudging.

That was an inadvertent copy/paste error from moving characters over from the old format to the new. It's been fixed in the original file and will go to print corrected. 1H Spear is the weapon category. Javelin, short spear, and lance are all in that category.

You could use the RQ core book and play with all of the Starter Set content. If you are a new player, you could almost play any scenario using the SS content, but would run into troubles where spells aren't described, etc. You could also not create a new character using the SS. The only instance where I just made things simpler/different was to just say fumbles are simply dropping a weapon rather than rolling on the table. The skills, combat charts and spell descriptions are otherwise identical.

The Quickstart rules were based on a still-in-development version of the RQ rules set. Some things ended up changing between that and the core book's release, just as we've had some errata and rulings that have changed since then. The Starter Set rules are an updated and expanded version of the Quickstart rules, but with all corrections and updates made. Aside from a few streamlined bits, it is current (and in some cases, slightly more accurate than) to the core book.

"This immortal dragon-man might be a bit unbalanced against other players. I'm wrestling with how to make one work in the context of a player character group." "How about a dinosaur... one that can use magic?" "Problem solved!"

The Starter Set presents a simplified, easier-to-grasp presentation of the rules and information, so Mago's spell list explains exactly what he can do with that spell. In this case, he can summon a small air elemental. It didn't make much sense to say "Summon Cult Spirit" as the spell and then have the player have to wonder what that meant. Adventurers can learn Rune spells - such as elemental summonses - other than those taught directly by their cult. It's surprisingly commonplace, though associated cults and though Spell Trading. In those cases, they would use the elemental's Rune.

There will probably be a dragonewt and a Fox Woman among their number as these one-off nonhuman adventurers. However, we're still wrestling with how to present dragonewts as viable longterm player characters for the upcoming Elder Races set. They may remain NPC-only. But as a single-use sort of character, they're not going to cause too much damage. 🙂

The core book is in error. Customs is not improvable through use.

He just fights with a weapon in each hand, but does not get two attacks per round.

You can summon your cult elemental with your cult's Runes, not just the Rune for the elemental. This is straight out of the rules (see page 317, et al):

The Starter Set is not a replacement for the core book. It's an introduction to the game and the world. All rules and Glorantha content, other than Jonstown, are in the core book in a much more detailed form.

The homeland writeups are very brief, just enough for you to get an idea of what they are and how they relate to one another. All are named. The descriptions are very short (a sentence or two). Deities who are not covered in the SS materials do not appear. You will not get a grand picture of RQ cosmology in the Starter Set, nor are there rules for promoting to Rune Master. That's beyond the scope of an already pretty-expansive Starter Set. The only spirit magic spells appearing are those possessed by the PCs and NPCs. Same with Rune spells. Sorcery is described in brief. Sorala is the only adventurer to use it, and her spells are summarized. The NPCs with sorcery have their spells named (for players/GMs with the core rules) but there is no need, in the Starter Set content, for the NPC sorcery spells to be defined. If one of the NPC Lhankor Mhy sages is somehow out of their temple and throwing sorcery spells, you have gone beyond the scope of the Starter Set. We also don't provide rules for naval combat.

The Starter Set, as the table of contents shows, can serve as an intermediary between the Quickstart and the full rules experience. You get an abbreviated set of rules (based on the Quickstart rules, with more added), a great deal more of the setting, a solo adventure, more pregenerated characters, a starting hub for adventure, and three full adventures, plus seeds for more.

That's an interesting coincidence, but utterly unintentional. I've never seen that image, I'd be surprised if Jeff has, and I'm pretty sure Andrey hasn't either. This is the source image we sent him:

Currently I'm at 12 nonhuman adventurers, each a unique race, and may increase the total to 14.

That would be a hell of a Starter Set scenario.

Some stuff has changed, some things are still the same. "Meet the new boss..."

Adding to this, I cannot even begin to count the number of times while working the booth at Essen, Gen Con, and Dragonmeet, fans looked at the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set and asked if we would be doing one for RuneQuest. When we said "Yes" the answer was always enthusiasm, often along the lines of "I'll buy multiple copies and give them away as gifts." It is also a very popular question with our foreign partners.

No spoilers here. 🙂

Working with Ossi has been such a treat. He's the first RQ artist to scale the pregens so that Vasana's SIZ 10 is relative to the others.

Paul gets it in one. That's an image from the Glorantha part of Book 2, which depicts a bit of Nochet.

https://www.chaosium.com/blogrunequest-starter-set-design-diary-2-cover-art-reveal-and-whats-inside-the-box/?

All will be revealed in future installments of the development blog.

There are two versions - one with labels and another without. We chose not to do a color-it-yourself version, but I suppose we could always make it a download.