lawrence.whitaker

A few observations. First Dale, I really like the Bronze Star. Its a great little fellowship organisation with a clear purpose, structure and hierarchy. You could slot it easily into many settings without coming across as 'vanilla'. I could see it working in Glorantha (Fronela someplace, or Seshnela), the Young Kingdoms (Jharkor), and mythic Europe. Nice job: clear, uncomplicated, and a great example of cult flexibility. Second, is there a market for generic cults? Contrary to what Paolo believes, I think there probably is. MRQ1 didn't pull-in that many new people and probably managed to alienate a fair few more. Cults in that iteration of the game were not handled well. The format was difficult, and the Cults of the Glorantha books Mongoose produced were deeply flawed. However, MRQII and Legend have brought in many new people who've discovered the 'RQ/Cults' paradigm for the first time and like what they see. The revised, MRQII 'Cults of Glorantha' PDF on the RQ Archives has been a top seller for Design Mechanism: that signals interest in using cults but not having the time or inspiration to develop bespoke ones. Another factor is the number of times people have, on the Mongoose forum, queried how to go about cult design, how to create them, use real-life examples as inspiration and so on. Yes, there's a market there. Yes, its probably the kind of market you're after. How big it is is the $64,000 Question. But to me, a book of generic cults, ranging in size and complexity and covering different socio-religious aspects would be a good thing. How could it not? The cults can either be used as they are and slotted into existing worlds; they can be tweaked so they do fit according to GMs' needs, and they can serve as inspiration for making your own. That's lots of utility. People do find cult creation either laborious, daunting or both. Having created more cults than I care to recall, I can fully appreciate their need for something that takes away the bulk of the effort. Paolo also wrote: I really don't understand what you mean Paolo. Just how are MRQII/Legend and, if you like, RQ6 meant to be played? I can tell you now that RQ6 will contain generic cult and other organisation examples designed to do what Dale's looking into. And, because RQ6 will be a generic ruleset, does this mean that I'm making a design choice that goes against how the game is meant to be played? I think you need to explain precisely what you mean by this statement. Loz

They've been on there since the start...

The RuneQuest Archives on DrivethruRPG have been a terrific success. Thank you to all our customers for making it so. By popular request we've added two additional titles to the Archives - both $1.00 each: Guilds, Factions and Cults (MRQ1): creating societies, guilds and building cults from scratch, including metagame rules for running such organisations within a campaign. Trolls: Guide to the Uz (MRQ1): rounding out the Glorantha races, this is an in-depth look at Glorantha's trolls, the Uz; their society, habits, species and gods. Do take a look - at these prices they're unmissable additions to the collection.

That's good to know Bob... We're in playtest and rewrites at the moment. I can't give a specific release date, but we're looking at Spring.

And who do you think obliterated the Obliterated God in the first place, oh blasphemous one? Had you but studied the 94 scriptures of Hrestol more closely you would know that all other gods are lesser gods created during the Fourth Realisation of Ordelvis's illumination. Phht and Pah. I can see that the Atroxic Church needs to pay you a little visit, to help amend your heretical ways...

It was clearly the Will of the Invisible God. Praise Makan!

Yes. They're now called Legend... Seriously, I've deliberately not ported across the MRQII rules. It would create far too complex a picture with Legend and, soon, RQ6.

The second edition of Glorantha: the Second Age is now available on Drivethru. All those who bought the bundle, and have email notification enabled, have been contacted offering them the second edition free of charge. If you haven't received an email from me, its likely because you have the email notification disabled. Please drop me a line at designmechanism AT g mail DOT com, quoting your Customer Order number for the bundle in the Header and I'll arrange for you to receive the discount code. Please note, emails without the Customer Order number will be ignored.

And you'll have it. Its an easy thing for DTRPG to port the second edition book across and they're in the process of doing so. I'll be following up with this tomorrow.

Yes, I wanted to focus on the fantasy books rather than include some of the older titles which I know Mongoose are in the immediate process of revamping for Legend. Vikings is just a plain awesome supplement anyway, which is why I included it, and Monster Coliseum has the gladiator rules which 'Monsters of Legend' has dropped (has more entries too). Does DM now own the text of these books? No. This is just a PDF publishing arrangement to keep some excellent titles available. Mongoose still owns the text, but we are in discussions about that. Yes, you're right. Drivethru ported to wrong version. That's being corrected and I'll be sending anyone who bought the MRQ1 edition the MRQII version free of charge.

Take a look at the News section on the DM website. We may have an outlet for just that...

We're delighted to announce that Design Mechanism, Issaries and Mongoose Publishing have reached an agreement that allows us to continue making available RuneQuest and Glorantha titles (originally published by Mongoose) through DrivethruRPG and its affiliated sites. Under the RuneQuest Archives you'll be able to buy a special selection of the very best of the old Mongoose RQ and Glorantha titles at only $1.00 per book. This means that certain titles that would have disappeared are now available at a really great price. The titles are split between the first and second editions of Mongoose's RuneQuest iteration (MRQ1 and MRQ2 respectively). Get Into Glorantha for Only $10! It also means that, if you've ever hesitated about getting into Glorantha because the cost has been prohibitive, you can now take the plunge at a nominal cost. The entire set of these Glorantha titles, bought as a bundle, costs only $10 and includes: An extensive but accessible guide to the world A comprehensive and detailed guide to Glorantha's Second Age cults Two complete campaigns A highly detailed deep-dive into the culture of the God Learners A complete overview of one major Gloranthan region (Fronela), including a starting scenario. The titles available through RuneQuest Archives are: RuneQuest RuneQuest Empires (MRQ2) Monster Coliseum (MRQ2) Vikings (MRQ2) Land of the Samurai (MRQ1) The Price of Honour (MRQ1) Glorantha Glorantha: the Second Age (MRQ2) Cults of Glorantha (MRQ2) The Abiding Book (MRQ2) Pavis Rises (MRQ2) Dwarfs (MRQ1) Dragonewts (MRQ1) Ducks (MRQ1) Elfs (MRQ1) Blood of Orlanth (MRQ2) Dara Happa Stirs (MRQ1) Fronela Both MRQ1 and MRQ2 books will be highly compatible with RuneQuest 6th edition and, of course, MRQ2 books are fully compatible with Mongoose's Legend system. All these books contain a wealth of background information, history, cultural detail and ideas that are, of course, system agnostic. The Glorantha titles in particular include some information unexplored in any previous Gloranthan works and, in the case of the four races books, provide huge and detailed insight into their respective species.

Precisely this. Chaosium's RQ, before Avalon Hill, evokes such fond memories because, for its time, it was a more complete game, with a different atmosphere to its contemporaries, and focused very heavily on creating high-quality, detailed, equally evocative supplements (Cults of Prax/Terror; Griffin Mountain; Borderlands; Pavis, etc). It doesn't matter they were tied to Glorantha - the sheer scale and quality of these supplements marked them out from the crowd. RQ never needed a book filled with arms and kit, or a monster manual, or half a dozen new spell/magic systems. It still doesn't, AFAIC. We'll put those bells and whistles into the core book and then focus our attentions on different products. We want to get back to the brand's values - which are far more than just the RQ name. Its an approach and ethos that deserves to be kept vibrant. I think a lot of that has been lost and Design Mechanism wants to try to recapture that. Its not simply nostalgia; it is about offering quality - both in the execution of the rules, and the supplements we then produce to support them. I have no interest in doing an Arms and Equipment book. I've no interest in producing a conventional monster manual ('Monster Island' is intended to be as much a campaign setting as it is a bestiary). I have tons of interest in producing setting and campaign packs, and books of good, standalone scenarios, that hark back to Chaosium's most innovative days.

Nothing wrong in it at all. Perhaps it is a tactic levelled squarely at Design Mechanism. Perhaps it isn't and Mongoose would still have priced the PDF at $1 even if we hadn't been around. It offers a spirited challenge though, and Design Mechanism's quite up for that.

Hi Dale, As the RQ license holder why don't you drop me a PM and then we can discuss licensing for RQ and so on? Look forward to hearing from you, Lawrence

From the get-go I knew I wanted to reference the original cover which is, I still believe, one of the best covers for an RPG ever.

http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/news.php It speaks for itself...

I was sadly forced to remove them for licensing reasons. Sending me a PM works just as well though.

117 pages. Published 2010.

Its safe to say there'll be some divergence. To what degree? You'll have to wait and see.

RQ6 will not feature Glorantha as the default setting. We will, in time, produce some dedicated Glorantha material. This is likely to be a combination of both Second and Third Age materials, thus taking RQ back to the classic Glorantha era and also continuing the wonderful work begun under Mongoose. There is a possibility that we will be able to reach an arrangement with Mongoose to reprint/revise some of the books produced for both MRQ1 and MRQII for RQ6 - but at this stage, nothing is agreed, just some tentative options explored. There is also a high likelihood of us producing conversion packs for Moon Design publications so that their HeroQuest Glorantha books can be used with RQ. No books will be dual-statted; its easier to produce a free PDF conversion kit instead (and HQ is very stat-lite already). I'm already considering a conversion pack for Harrek Saga, my current project for Glorantha under HQ. After that, we'll see. But, although the RQ rules won't be Glorantha-centric, our license with Issaries and unique friendship with Moon Design means that there are all kinds of possibilities. Its all good.

I've posted a few of my convention scenarios - mostly Eternal Champion - on the Design Mechanism's Downloads page. All are BRP-based so easily convertible to the d100 system of your choosing. One scenario is actually for HeroQuest (the Hawkmoon scenario A Year and a Day) but you shouldn't have much trouble BRPing it.

I know. Its a pain. The upgrade costs are not cheap and so I'm hesitating to do so, pending Moon Design's new, improved site. I'm reliably informed that it should be in the next couple of months and, if so, I'll hold-off on upgrading the DM forum. If it looks like being pushed-back then I'll improve the DM site's functionality.

I really don't see this as an issue for 2nd Age Glorantha. You have the God Learners mucking around with myth all the time and its quite reasonable for some truly atrocious Lovecraftian type cults to spring-up, all because the God Learners have been screwing around with some poor, previously innocent cult's myths.

I would hope so.