lawrence.whitaker

CoFE isn't even one of our books. It's being produced by Mindjammer Press under the RQ Gateway License and it's author is Sarah Newton.

First of all, I'm thrilled you've bought RQ and are liking what you're seeing. I really hope it gives you the play experience you're after. I'm a huge Stormbringer fan too, but I would offer a word of advice on including variable dice armour in a RuneQuest game. The variable armour was deliberately introduced to get around the idea that Stormbringer characters don't have hit locations - just a pool of hit points, and also to emulate the OTT combat of the Elric saga. For this, it works very well. Remember though, that RQ works on hit locations, and there's no central HP pool, so you'll be introducing a layer of book-keeping as you'll need to track the die code for each location. The other thing to note are the Special Effects in combat, particularly Bleed, Bypass Armour and Maximise Damage. Without a fixed armour value, Bleed and Maximise Damage may become much more devastating than they would otherwise be - even for fully armoured characters. When you read the descriptions of these Special Effects, you'll see why. Try it, and see how it works, but also try it RAW: you may find you don't need variable armour because the Special Effects tend to offer some considerable advantages regardless of the weapon type. Welcome to the RuneQuest Tribe!

Sariniya's Curse: Now Available! Iaxos, south of Meeros, is a mysterious island with a terrible reputation. When Trimostones the Gold needs to go there for reasons unknown, it's the characters he turns to for help. What challenges lie ahead? What dangers and what ancient secrets? Sariniya's Curse is an introductory adventure for RuneQuest 6. All you need is either the core or Essentials rules. The scenario comes complete with four pre-generated characters - or you can create your own. The scenario is free (or Pay What You Want) from DrivethruRPG and www.thedesignmechanism.com/downloads.

The Insanity rules that appear in Necromantic Arts were written by me and were designed for MRQ1. I'm not especially happy with them. If I was designing a new system for, say, RQ6, I'd base it around the combat mechanics and magic mechanics. Terrifying/sanity shaking events have a Potency and Intensity. Potency is a %-driven range, like a combat style. Intensity acts as a modifier to the character's Willpower. So Intensity 1 reduces Willpower roll from Standard to Hard, 2 to Formidable, 3 to Herculean and 4 to Impossible. Both sides roll: character vs Willpower, Sanity-Shaking Event against potency. Compare the results in a Differential roll. The number of levels of success higher the Event has over the Willpower roll introduces a number of Sanity Effects, similar to Special Effects. These range from shaken, through fleeing, to rolling into the foetal position and sobbing, to outright permanent insanity. Some Effects can only be gained if the Event scores a Critical success. Some if the character fumbles his or her Willpower roll. I might use Sanity Points, or Tenacity Points, based on POW, but the Effects might be enough without needing additional points book-keeping. That's how I'd do it if I was designing such a system. But I'm not. But I might. Could be useful for, say, a Luther Arkwright roleplaying game...

Hi Cloudlord, I'm going to shamelessly plug RQ6. Because, well, this is the RuneQuest forum, I'm a moderator, and I can... I would recommend that you download RuneQuest Essentials, which is a trimmed-down version of RQ6, but still contains an extensive and fully playable set of rules. It's free or you can Pay What You Like from Drivethru. While there, pick-up Land of the Samurai and Vikings from the RQ Archives: these cost $1 each, and are the direct predecessors of RQ6; you don't need to buy the Legend editions as the content is almost exactly the same. Land of Samurai was developed for Mongoose's first edition of RuneQuest but adapting it to RQ6 really is a doddle. RQ6 is extremely good at historical, Sword and Sorcery and Sword and Sandals roleplaying. But it will also handle high fantasy too. The game has a lot of options and the advanced magic systems (RQ6 Essentials gives you a taster with Theism) can easily model the high fantasy of D&D. If you enjoy RQ Essentials, then you can upgrade the full rules later. RQ6 varies a great deal from the previous iterations of the game. Although the core mechanics are similar, magic is handled much differently than in the Avalon Hill 3rd edition. Perhaps the biggest change is combat, which runs very differently, includes Special Effects that are an integral part of the combat process (and not penalty driven options), and works with a very different action cycle economy. Anyhow, by getting RQ Essentials, Land of Samurai and Vikings from the below links, you'll save yourself $23.00. We also have three full-priced books available too: 'Book of Quests', 'Monster Island' and 'Shores of Korantia'. All three are a mix of campaign settings and scenarios, Monster Island has an extensive bestiary of new, original monsters, and Shores of Korantia is very much inspired by the ancient, classical world. In short, there's a lot out there, at a great price. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?cPath=161_8136_8851 http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?cPath=161_8136_8230

Loaded question, Mr H... Here's a suggestion. Download it for free on our website (www.thedesignmechanism.com/products), take a look, and then you decide how much you'd like to donate, and then use the Paypal Donate button to make whatever donation you feel is fair, justifiable, affordable and relative... We're happy with whatever you're comfortable with - even if that's nothing at all...

We are releasing RQ6 in a much-reduced, introductory PDF edition called RuneQuest Essentials. Designed for those who want to try RuneQuest before migrating to the full rules, it offers a great way of getting to know one of the most celebrated roleplaying game systems out there. What's more, RuneQuest Essentials is free. You can download it from www.thedesignmechanism.com/downloads (or via DrivethruRPG and our publisher page there). If you feel we're being overly generous, then there's a Donate button you can use to make a contribution of whatever you feel appropriate - or, at Drivethru, you can Pay What You Want. What we want is for you to try RuneQuest. We'll be publishing an introductory scenario, Sariniya's Curse, very soon, and there's already a wealth of additional free material available on the Downloads page. So if you've never tried RuneQuest before, there's no better time, and no better way, than with RuneQuest Essentials.

With all due respect Antalon, this forum isn't the right place to discuss (possible) problems with another forum. As noted on the DM forum, a ticket has been raised with the owners of freeforums.org. If you install an ad blocker on your browser, it should help enormously; however, freeforums.org uses advertising to provide a free service to small companies like Design Mechanism. But really, discussion like this should be held there. Not here. If your concerns are more deep-rooted, well, you know where to reach me.

It is. Fred designed the core RQ6 layout template for us, and we've been using it as the signature style ever since, hence it still carries his name. Aside from that, Fred doesn't have anything else to do with Design Mechanism - although he's always been very helpful and supportive whenever I've had to ask him questions about content and marketing.

Taking RuneQuest Campaigns to the High Seas and Fields of Battle! http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/products Ships and Shield Walls offers additional rules for Games Masters and players, taking RuneQuest characters onto the oceans and seas, and into pitched conflict. Ships & Seafaring gives you the tools for defining and managing ships of all kinds, including encounter tables, sample vessels and two new sea creatures from myth and legend. Shield Walls & Battles provides semi-abstract rules for handling large-scale clashes of warriors and weapons - from shield walls and phalanxes, up to entire regiments. The rules include handling character actions during the battle, and the rewards one can expect from glory! At 32 pages, Ships and Shield Walls is concise and focused, but detailed and guaranteed to offer an extra dimension to any RuneQuest or d100 campaign. Prices Print & PDF, $7.95 PDF only, $3.95

Let's go back to the rules... Page 62... 'First Aid may be applied once only per specific injury', so you would need two separate First Aid rolls for each of the two wounds. No, because what you have to bear in mind in the underlying realism. If it were possible to apply a Healing roll and then immediately after a First Aid roll to negate all Serious or Major Wound damage, it wouldn't be realistic. Although not explicitly stated, the different wound categories are there to differentiate the recovery thresholds, as much as anything else. So, if at -1, and brought up to 1 via Healing, it really signifies that the wound has, again, been stabilised enough to allow natural recovery to now speed-up and take effect. Correct, which is what I was saying (and you were probably anticipating) in the earlier example. So, it's all about when the healing is applied - and, really, as soon as possible is the best answer!

The real answer is, it depends on when First Aid is applied. Let's take that character with -1 in the leg, the results of the same combat. Each is a different wound, but the cumulative effects of the damage have turned it into a Serious wound. This means that the most First Aid can do is stabilise the leg so that natural healing can take place: ie, you're going to prevent infection. However if, after the first two small wounds, the character had retired from the fight and either sought first aid or self-administered, then he would have had the opportunity to restore 1d3 to each minor wound, perhaps negating the chance of a Serious Wound altogether. But bear in mind that each First Aid attempt takes 1d3 minutes to apply - so stopping to treat a minor wound in this way may well mean that a combat is over once you've finished. Make sense?

Yes, we will.

The scenarios are varying in complexity and length. I'd say that you'd get 2-3 sessions from 'Caravan', 'Beneath the Black Water', 'Raid on Yagelan's Bluff' and 'Reckoning at Distaff Peak', and about 3-4 from 'Chaos Mother's Chalice', 'Shadows Behind the Throne' and 'Curse of the Contessa', depending on how you run each scenario. I reckon you have a minimum of 15 sessions if you run the whole lot.

The latest supplement for RuneQuest 6, Shores of Korantia, is available to pre-order. This setting and campaign book is based in the world of Thennla, first introduced in Age of Treason: the Iron Simulacrum. With completely new content designed specifically for RuneQuest 6th edition, Shores of Korantia focuses on the many city-states of the Korantine Empire and is a comprehensive, yet accessible, introduction to Thennla. It contains rules for character creation, social class, Korantine magic and cults, ships and sea combat, encounters for both land and ocean, and three scenarios that form a linked campaign. Shores of Korantia is a must-have addition to the growing RuneQuest catalogue. 240 pages, fully bookmarked and indexed, and only $30 for the hardcover+PDF, or $15 for the PDF on its own. Visit our store at http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/products.php#!/~/product/category=5186110&id=36451441 to order your copy. Delivery of the finished book will be (approx) 10th June 2014.

Pete and I will be at GenCon this year, and, as well as being more than happy to meet people at the Moon Design/Design Mechanism booth, we'll also be running Monster Island and Mythic Britain scenarios, plus hosting a RuneQuest panel where we'll talk about what we're doing, plans for the future, and answer any questions you might have. The events calendar has just been made live, and attendees can find details of the scenarios and seminar at https://www.gencon.com/events/search?utf8=✓&event_type=&commit=Search&game_code=&keyword=RuneQuest&title=&game_system=&wed=true&thur=true&fri=true&sat=true&sun=true&hour= Bit of a long link, but it should give you the day-by-day summary of proceedings. We're very much looking forward to seeing you - either as friends, customers, players in one of the scenarios, or at the panel discussion.

RQ6 will be supporting Glorantha and Moon Design/Design Mechanism have been talking about adapting some of the old AH and Chaosium material to RQ6. 'Shadows on the Borderlands' and 'Borderlands' would be two ideal areas for an RQ6 overhaul. Indeed, it's on our radar.

I would comment more, but because I don't have 'Advanced Sorcery', I don't know what changes may have been introduced since the system was first presented in 'The Unknown East'. So it's really pointless me contributing unless I can do so from an informed position.

Harshax is right: there was never any armour restriction on magic in The Unknown East supplement. I don't have 'Advanced Sorcery' so I don't know if the authors have written some form of restriction into the other forms of magic, but UE magic didn't have any armour-based limitations.

RQ6 will be in Spanish, French and Italian, for certain. There's also a German translation and we're working hard to get that turned into a physical product. There's been some discussion of a Swedish edition, and I'd be very keen to see RQ in a Scandinavian language.

Hot on the heels of the Runa Digital Verkami crowd funding campaign... The Design Mechanism and Alephtar Games have reached an agreement to publish an Italian translation of RuneQuest Sixth Edition, the traditional roleplaying game which Design Mechanism developed under license from Issaries/Moon Design Publications. The RuneQuest brand is one of the oldest in the history of roleplaying games, having been created originally in 1978, and Sixth Edition renewed and improved many aspects of that venerable game while remaining true to its peculiar, distinctive feeling. Alephtar Games have published the only expansion for RuneQuest in the Italian language so far, and has produced a considerable amount of supplements for D100-based games since 2007. "Italian gamers have shown a deep appreciation for the previous edition of this game and it would be a pity to not let them play this new little gem in their native language", says Paolo Guccione, owner of Alephtar Games. We are really looking forward to this Italian edition of RQ. There will be a crowd funding campaign and we will publish more details here. Loz

I'm toying with that as an option. However, it's not necessarily just a case of yanking-out the core rules to leave the additional material behind: it also requires separate layout which results in double the effort, then additional proof-reading, editing, etc. But, it's something I'm considering. I won't make any decisions until the final manuscript is complete, reviewed and we're in a position to judge whether it's worthwhile. However, the reason why we decided to have a complete book is because RQ:CF appeals to a particular kind of gamer and is heavily structured towards a particular style of play. There are many gamers out there who don't like BRP-based games because they're so far removed from a style of play and system that they're used to, and really RQ:CF is aimed at them - although there's a lot of fun to be had in old-style dungeon crawls whatever your core gaming preferences.

Yes. Classic Fantasy is a complete rulebook. It contains a heavy re-reworking and re-structuring of the RQ6 rules to create a more Old School Dungeoneering experience. Rod can elaborate more, but you won't need to buy RQ6 as well to use this book.

It's not that it didn't work out - it was enormously successful - but we don't view BoH as something that you regularly repeat. It should be something special, offer value to both old and new customers, and not be viewed simply as a chance to grab a bunch of cheap PDFs. So we won't look at repeating the Bundle until we have substantially increased the range of books we have to offer.

Just to manage some expectations... We don't intend repeating the Bundle of Holding in the foreseeable future. There are a number of reasons for this, and sorry to have to disappoint, but it will be a while before we offer another. As to a BRP bundle... I do believe that Chaosium turned-down the chance to join a wider d100 Bundle, as did a couple of other publishers, because we did explore this when looking into the RQ Bundle. Perhaps that will change in the future, and obviously Chaosium and others had their reasons, but I can't see a wider BRP bundle happening in the near future (although will be very happy if proved wrong).