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creativehum

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Everything posted by creativehum

  1. There are some amazing game stores out there with deep shelves. And then there are many, many others that don't. (I live in Los Angeles, and across Los Angeles County I have a mix of both. So I'm not saying the kinds of stores you describe don't exist. I'm saying they are rare -- and awesome.
  2. Okay, this explains at least part of my confusion. The notion that having an RPG on the shelves of a brick and mortar store is vital to promoting it is, in my estimation, off base. First of of all, most stores will only carry D&D 5th, and if they carry any other games at all it will be a small selection of game lines, and even then not fully supported. D&D is simply the go to game across the United States. It is the default, with a vast market share that most other games can't compete with. Assuming that another RPG line is going to get a lot of shelf space, apart from a few unique circumstances in a few specific stores, is a kind of fool's errand as far as I can tell. Second, while some people don't like to buy products online (which is fine) the fact is most RPG retail that doesn't involve D&D takes place online. There's no way around this. Between POD (One Book Shelf, Lulu, and others), game companies with their own retail machine (Chaosium, Evil Hate, and countless others), and secondary sales (eBay, Noble Knight, Amazon, and others)... most games are purchased online and shipped to buyers. I'm looking at my RPG shelves right now and I don't think a single book staring back at me right now came home in my hands from a store. Chaosium is promoting RQG online via their website, social media, RPG forums... which is what you do these days. Because this media will contain links, which will lead to their online store, which leads to sales, which is how most RPGs are (again) sold these days. The media can contain images from the books, quotes from reviews, links to PDF samples and more. The fact that anyone can easily download the free PDF of the RQG Quickstart with a couple of clicks on links and buttons is how promotion works this days, it is now people can sample the game, the images, the text, and so on without ever having to buy anything. I suspect that none of this is anything that interests you -- which, again, is fine. But especially for new players, which you seem particularly concerned about, this is how players new to RuneQuest and Glorantha will come across the game. Anyone wanting to see "what else is out there" will enter the wilds of the Web, come across forums, game focused groups on Facebook or G+ , blogs, and so on, and stumble across news about RuneQuest Glorantha as they fall down various rabbit holes, see images, read reviews, and see people talking about it with passion. The RPG hobby is thriving and busy with the exchange of ideas and content online (as well as playing online, which does wonders for people who do not live in gamer-dense areas). And most of the purchasing is happening online as well.
  3. That's true of all RPGs in all situations. I believe I am becoming confused by what your concern or problem is.
  4. First, for clarity, I'm not in "awe" of RQG. I've never played RQ, and have only played a little bit of HQG. (That said, one of my favorite convention games was a one-shot I ran of HQG a few years back.) So I'm curious about RQG. It looks great. As a huge fan of Pendragon I love the integration of the Passions/Runes in RQG and looking forward to seeing if the game as a whole will work with my group. I think it will fly, but we'll see! So, I want to make it clear that the mechanics/rules really are very important to me. It sounds like the game might be a tough sell for your group. I'm not really sure wha the game/setting could do to change that. Though, as has been mentioned, a free, complete, and interesting introductory Quickstart that introduces the rules and the setting certainly seems like a way to test the waters. As for my group, I've been running a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game (essentially Basic D&D), and we have played Cyberpunk 2020, the Shadowrun setting using the HeroQuest rules, a fantasy Rome game and a kids-in-a-magic-school game both using Powered by the Apocalypse engine, Unknown Armies 3rd Edition, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying 1st edition, among others. I'm probably running a Classic Traveller mini-campaign in a few weeks. So, by definition, we're willing to try lots of things. For this reason I think RQG might work. The thing that's holding me back is me. I'm currently reading Herodotus' The Histories, want to read Gilgamesh, and want to track down a copy of Four Thousand Years Ago for a reasonable price... because I know I'll be responsible for guiding my Players into a certain mindset... and I want to do it well. And that means steeping myself in a certain kind of thinking, culture, and worldview that is alien to most of us.
  5. My Monday Night Group plays lots of different RPGs. (We rotate GMs, and people run what they want.) Most of them have had no exposure to Glorantha, and none of them to Runequest. If I want to run RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha for them, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to place RQG, the RQG Bestiary, and the RQG GM book, and the Glorantha Sourcebook on the table and let them flip through them. The art is going to be a major influence if they are excited and interested in playing. What else could hook them on an intuitive and gut level? The mechanics will matter, but me babbling about mechanics for half-an-hour will pale in comparison to that amazing image of Orlanth striding across the land in the Glorantha Sourcebook, the tatted-up warriors in RQG, and so on. Glorantha, for better and worse, is a alien and strange place. Without the art to help draw new players in, and help get everyone on the same page, I'm not sure exactly what would inspire people on a whim to get excited and focused on what roleplaying in Glorantha is supposed to be like.
  6. All of this is personal and subjective (of course)... But I don't want a "pared down" Runequest Glorantha version of any kind. The point of Glorantha is that it is Glorantha. The point of Runequest (now, at least) is that it is a game fully integrated into the setting of Glorantha. If I want Glorantha I want the whole deal. I want the rules that reflect the setting completely, and I want enough setting material (ranging from cultures to hero quests) to let me play the game. If it takes three volumes and a $150, so be it. The buy-in for Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is going to be a lot more than $150. It will be the time and energy devoted to reading up on the setting, investing in the ideas of the setting, and digging into all that in play. Either one wants a "deep-end setting" -- or one does not. If one does, it sound like the three volumes of RQG will deliver that. If not, one shouldn't be picking up the game. If I want lighter version of Glorantha (or Runequest, for that matter), there are a half-dozen easy to acquire options of this nature. But that isn' t what RQG is about. It's been clear since 1999 that the push from Team: Glorantha has been to make game lines and setting products that bring GLORANTHA to the gaming table -- as big and unwieldy as that might be.
  7. For some reason the post double posted--I have deleted this one!
  8. SoCal is... big. (Because all of Cal is big!) I'm in Los Angeles. (West Side, specifically.) The chance to check out your game is enticing. But driving to Orange County is maybe more of a commute than I'd want, given that I have a regular gaming group on Mondays... and plenty of other gaming I could pick up here as well. (And that traffic back north on Sunday night can be brutal!)
  9. I don't suppose anyone who has gone through the RQG book carefully has made up a list of any differences in the rules presented in the Quickstart and those found in RQG? (From what I've read so far on forums it seems as if there are some changes... but I haven't done my deep dive into either yet.)
  10. That I am having to parse words this carefully makes me sad and is kind of weird, but for the record: O'Brien never makes a claim for "distinct features." In both the thread title and the post he claims RQ has four features that help make the game distinct from other games. In other words, the game is distinct, not the features. Does RQ have the four features named? Yes. Do these four features in combination in the same game help make RQ unique among other RPGs? Yes.
  11. This is, I suppose, off topic... But if the players don't state what Rhein PCs are doing... how do you know what the PCs are rolling?
  12. Oh, awesome. And thank you for the clarification. Do you know when the GM Book is being released? (PDF/Hardcopy) I'm pretty sure I own enough Glorantha material from across different RQ2/HQ/HW/HQG lines to come up with my own scenarios and situations. But very interested in having the back half of the rules along with the Bestiary.
  13. Wait. HeroQuesting isn't going to be covered in the Gamemaster Pack?
  14. Also: It might have been mentioned elsewhere, but can anyone list what will be contained in the Gamemaster Pack beyond scenarios? Thanks!
  15. The thing is, there is now so much material a Referee can grab from almost two decades worth of published material to hack together something if he or she wants. Certainly the Heortling clan backgrounds are usable straight out of various HW/HQ publications. And if one wants to create one for a group of Lunars, the Heortling questionnaire serves as an example. As for the family histories: Agreed. Certain Homelands with light information would certainly require a bit more elbow grease. But even in these situations, as you say, rummaging through the Guide to Glorantha and then confidently extrapolating from those details could provide the Referee with enough material to create family history tables. After all, the Referee is playing in areas the are not yet developed. By definition, it is up to the Referee to fill in the blanks as desired. (That is a bug or a feature, depending on how one views it.)
  16. I, too, haven't picked up the book yet, but I too mapped the family history background to Pendragon. It's elaborate, but it can be done. I also assume there are elements for building Clan history or such as found in the HeroQuest products. But it might be much, much more involved than I'm assuming!
  17. I get that. But from my point of view, if the Referee wants to focus his PCs on a Homeland, and he is going to build his or her version of the homeland (which is the only sane and healthy way to handle such an undertaking) it is a chance for the Referee to sort out the historical details of influence that matter to that Homeland and to the PCs. Notice what I'm saying: I'm not talking about getting it "right." I'm talking about the Referee nailing down the history of his or her history his or her group will be playing. Keep in mind this doesn't have to be done at all. The rules let anyone jump past this process -- and my guess is many people will. But for those who are drawn to such rules for character generation, making up myths, historical details, and more for their version of that homeland for their version of Glorantha seems like it would be valuable, even if an involved process.
  18. Again, thank you. To follow up, there Homeland then is Lunar Trash. But if one wanted to hack together PCs back in the Empire further north, one could probably do so, yes? (My guess is there is enough material about Lunars from different game lines and books to piece together how to set up such a game, while using the HQG rules. But I'm looking for more information on that.)
  19. First, thanks for the reply. I'm really not sure how to respond to this.... Certainly if my Players have a group of Heortling PCs and they encounter some Lunars, they might well consider them "bad guys." (I'm not asking about Lunar sorcery, for what it's worth.) What I'm trying to sort out is if there is enough material in the new rules to run a Lunar with Lunar magic? More to the point, you seem to suggest that the rules contain enough material to make Lunar Player Characters. Is this the case? This would be great! (The reviews seem to suggest the game focuses on Dragon Pass homelands, so I had thought the the Lunars might have been shorted on details. But the book is nearly 500 pages, so I'm assuming they haven't covered everything in detail and I'm only getting a quick glimpse at the material. Money is tight, I'm tempted to pick up the PDF, but I also would rather know more about what I'm getting.)
  20. Following up on this: Does this book contain rules for Lunar magic? I can hack together stats for Lunars, sure, but are the specifics for Lunar magic detailed in this book so I can make encounters with Lunars specific to Lunars? I'm assuming Lunar magic rules should be as unique and specific as the treatment of the other magic I've been reading about.
  21. This is one of the reasons I was asking about the timelines of Glorantha products in another thread. For people who want to use the family history rules for character creation, hacking together generational details for different starting dates will be part of the prep. After all, I'm seeing some people online saying RQG is the game that is making them interested in playing in Glorantha for the first time. They may want to go back a decade -- or more! -- to explore interesting things that they didn't get to play out.
  22. Has anyone put together a list of all Glorantha related products across different game lines according to the historical years each product covers. Examples: Sartar Rising: Orlanth is Dead (1613-1625) Red Cow: The Eleven Lights (1618-1625) RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (1625- ) And so on. i ask because there is an incredible amount of material scattered across many books. And if someone wants inspiration for setting up games in different time periods it would be very useful to have. i believe some books are no longer "canon" -- but for the purposes of this thread I'm ignoring that. Does such a list exist? Could such a list be cobbled together?
  23. I think you meant for this to go in the RQG core book corrections thread. This is the QuickStart corrections thead.
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