lawrence.whitaker

I'm really glad you like it. It was a labour of love for both Pete and I. Happy adventuring!

Yes, you can use the Elric II rules with BRP although there will need to be some conversion work necessary, and you'd need to decide how to use Resilience/Persistence under BRP (essentially CON and POW rolls). Skill names are a little different too, so you'd need to cross reference and make some conversion changes there. But otherwise there's a very high degree of compatibility, which has always been true with MRQ and BRP.

Certainly is. 'Fortress of the Pearl', 'Dreamthief's Daughter/White Wolf's Son/Skrayling Tree' and 'Making of a Sorcerer' (comic) all feature dream magic heavily. It falls into two forms: dream theft, whereby certain individuals steal dreams from others and sell them to those who can't dream or have a need for a specific type of dream; and dream questing, which is dreaming ones' self into a mythical reality where experiences can be gained with reduced risk, myths understood and legendary actions replayed. Its standard training for all emperors of Melnibone - the only way one individual can accrue the many lifetimes of experienced needed to rule the Bright Empire.

As Pete says, the core sorcery is as for MRQ1 Elric. What you will find though, is... More streamlined chargen and new race options Lots on the Unknown East Two new regions: Cesh and Sered Oma (both from somewhat obscure Elric short stories, but canonical) Tweaks to sorcery, and a beefing-up of dream magic Introduction of spirit magic (the only RQII core magic system that goes into Elric) A new demon Additions to the approach to Law and Chaos - one need not be tied to a specific patron god Consolidation of all creatures from Elric I and the Elric Companion Guidelines for developing campaigns outside the traditional milieu of Elric's wanderings. There's substantial new content although the key rules for sorcery remain pretty much as they were from the previous edition.

RuneQuest and Glorantha are both trademarks owned by Issaries Inc. Nothing using trademarks can be published without consent from Issaries. Issaries has two licensees: Moon Design (publishers of HeroQuest) and Mongoose (publishers of RQII). Both are licensed to produce works set in Glorantha. Third Age for Moon Design and Second Age for Mongoose. Game systems themselves cannot be trademarked or copyrighted so there's nothing to prevent a retroclone of Chaosium RQ2 from being developed as is the case with Glyphmaster; however it cannot carry any specifically Gloranthan content; nor can the text of the original rules be used verbatim. This means Glyphmaster will need the text of RQ2 to be rewritten in its entirety although the concepts and systems used can be replicated mechanically. There is, I think, a question mark over some of the Gloranthan monsters, such as dragonewts. These appeared in the Mongoose RQI SRD, so, if Glyphmaster is based on this SRD (but uses completely different mechanics, or variants of the SRD's mechanics - which it is very possible to do) then, in theory, Gloranthan creatures can be used. However it is obviously worth checking with Issaries, Moon and Mongoose just to check that no IP or trademarks are being infringed. Is it worthwhile? That depends wholly on your point of view. If you adore Chaosium RQ and can't afford to buy a copy of it on eBay, but have a group of players who would like that ruleset for themselves, then yes. If you're new to RQ in any form, or looking to try it out, then maybe: there are alternatives such as BRP quickstart, OpenQuest and MRQII. Will Glyphmaster allow you to take the Gloranthan Classics and play them As Is? Sure - although BRP, OpenQuest and MRQII will allow you to do as well, and very enjoyably, although there'll be some conversion work needed. What made Chaosium RQ2 so wonderful was its atmosphere and presentation. Glyphmaster may capture that. Having Glorantha as the tied setting helped RQ2 but, honestly, its very easy to divorce it from the rules and use RQ2 wherever you like. Many did and many still do. I don't think there are any right or wrongs here; just personal preferences. My system of choice, for obvious reasons, is MRQII, but that won't stop me getting, and enjoying, Glyphmaster when it appears (just as I have several editions of BRP and OpenQuest). I say good luck to the Glyphmaster team.

Either will work well for such a campaign. Its perhaps a question of the effort you want to put into making the system work for the setting. BRP is a generic toolkit with hundreds of options for customising to a level of detail you want to achieve. You'll need to decide which components to include/exclude and tinker with to get the right feel. MRQII is specifically designed for gritty fantasy and will certainly fit a fanatsy/pseudo-historical celtic game very well. Again though, you'll want to make some choices regarding magic. MRQII has four magic systems: Common, which is local-effect charms and spells; Divine, which is chanelling a god's power; Sorcery, which is manipulating the nature of the universe; and Spirit, which is bargaining with and controlling all sorts of spirits. Of these, Divine and Spirit Magic are the only one that would directly fit into a Celtic campaign with minimal effort - although you may also want to tinker with Divine Magic spells to reflect the heroics of figures like Nuada Silverarm. Sorcery wouldn't fit if you're striving for a degree of accuracy or veracity. Common Magic may work, but, again, might need some limitations. However, all the magic systems are independent so picking and choosing which to use is very easy: you can exclude Common Magic, for instance, without any impact on the other magical traditions. MRQII combat simulates both gritty and heroic Celtic combats very well. If you then include Heroic Abilities (like dodging arrows, leaping shield walls and the like) then you have the right materials for simulating things like the Cattle Raid of Cooley. There's arguably less work to do with MRQII, but both RQ and BRP are very similar in many respects and you could easily blend the two together to make your own, unique system that does precisely what you want it to support. Its all a matter of the time you have available to develop the system and what components you want and need to include. Hope this helps!

This is true. I'd rather keep control of the back catalogue for Mongoose projects rather than have electronic versions available that could contradict things I might want to do later.

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting though: the strike rank system between MRQ1 and RQII is unchanged...

But, as I said, the world's moved on. You can't un-invent HeroQuest and a lot of old RQ players have embraced it wholeheartedly because it does emulate some of the epic magic and feats found in Glorantha with greater ease than RQ can. OTOH, many RQ fans remain fond of the grittiness of RQ and can't get to grips with HeroQuest - so which ruleset would you use as the base or inspiration? Also, bear in mind this: Greg, whilst being interested in RQ (any version) feels that HQ far better reflects his version of Glorantha, and as its creator, he would have to feel comfortable with, and sanction, this 'One System to Bind Them All'. Revising all the existing material to bring it into line with the One System would also take forever - meaning that new material would take a back-burner. And how many people really would spend money on revised supplements? I'm not sure there is a bonanza to be reaped. Well you're right there: it IS confusing. The best we can do is keep spelling out the differences and pros and cons. But surely introducing yet another system, that makes all others redundant and useless, would add even more to the confusion? OTOH, the fragmented approach has had the benefit of a lot of new material, with very different focuses, appearing in recent years. And, to be honest, a lot of it can be stripped of stats and used with whatever system you prefer to use. Its not difficult to convert RQ materials to HQ, and HQ materials are almost stat-free, so I don't think the fragmentation has harmed Glorantha at all. I think its strengthened it. I won't go into MRQII's differences here, but the old RQ2 from Chaosium can still be got for not hideous sums of money. I recently paid $40 CAD for an almost mint boxed edition of the American printing of RQ2. And, if the Gringles Pawnshop team produce their OGL Glyphmaster, then there'll be a free version of RQ2 available, solving this particular issue quite neatly. Alas, I think so. But its great to dream, and great fun to speculate. Watch out for 'Pavis Rises' then...

What makes you think there are axes to be buried? There's no rancour between Issaries and Chaosium; Issaries licenses RQ and Glorantha to Mongoose and Moon Design simultaneously. Mongoose and Moon co-operate heavily on projects by sharing information and ensuring consistency of product across the two lines, even though they're for different game systems. You have an updated RQ2 rulebook in the form of MRQII. Moon Design has the Classics line that has reprinted a great deal of the original Chaosium RQ2 material. What I think you're really asking for is for Chaosium to republish RuneQuest and Gloranthan material. I honestly don't see that happening. The license and copyright belongs to Issaries, for one thing, and, for another, I don't think Chaosium has the appetite to return to something it relinquished 25 years ago. If it did have, Charlie and Greg would no doubt have hammered something out by now. The world has moved on... If you want to replicate the old RQ2 feel you can do so with BRP. I know that Gringle's Pawnshop has its Glyphmaster project underway, which aims to produce an OGL set of rules that are, essentially, RQ2 with the Gloranthan references removed. So, if you consider what's out there between Mongoose, Moon, Chaosium BRP and now Glyphmaster, there's an abundance of riches. More Glorantha material, that is broadly cross-compatible with whatever system you want - any of the RQ variants, BRP and/or HeroQuest - has (probably) been produced in the past five years than at any point in RQ and Glorantha's history.

Yep. The bonus has to relate to the circumstances. However, as an alternative, 'Love Roman Empire' might give you a bonus no matter who you're fighting. Depends on how specific the circumstances and the passion.

Its usually the skill's critical range (so Love Myshella 50% would offer +5%), but different passions can stack, too, so you could gain some quite high augments depending on what passions are in play and how they're being used.

The Passions used in 'Elric of Melnibone' are a little like the Pendragon passions and traits, but a lot more freely applied. They work, more or less, like this. A passion can be for anything: Love Myshella; Love Tanelorn; Love Freedom; Hate Pan Tangians; Hate Jagreen Lern, and so on. They can be taken as part of character creation or developed during play. Each passion is ranked exactly like a skill but with different starting values depending on how the passion was forged and its type. They can be increased using Improvement Rolls or through specific events: if Myshella kissed a character with 'Love Myshella' you'd expect an immediate and significant improvement. You can then use your Passion to augment other skills, as long as there is direct relevance; use it as a skill in its own right for various circumstances; or use it against others who might have an opposing passion. Generally though, it reflects your depth of feeling about something: the higher the % then the greater that depth of feeling and the more it should be roleplayed accordingly.

Its not referred to as such in the stories where it is mentioned, but maps of the YK have traditionally located it on the coast. Also, given its wealth, its makes sense...

Its all about gaining advantage and success. In the case of a successful ties (where both characters roll precisely the same dice result), then there are two possible ways of handling things: 1. Have them re-roll. The chances are, and biased towards the highest skilled character, that one will emerge with some advantage. 2. Rule that the character with the highest skill secures the advantage. If you have two characters with identical skills both rolling the same success result, then, again, you could rule for a re-roll of the contest. Alternatively, you could rule that the character with the highest base value (ie, the sum/multiplier of the characteristics that determine initial values in the skill) secures the advantage. I think, though, that these circumstances will further complicate the absolute math needed for your calculations.

The Grimoire skill covers all spells contained in that grimoire. It is true that some grimoires will have differing numbers of spells and its also true that beginning sorcerers will not have access to all spells in a particular grimoire (plus there are INT limits for holding spells in memory). But once a spell is known, its cast at the Grimoire's skill level.

I agree. Its quite a neat way of handling things.

There was a detailed design philosophy behind RQII's magic which went kind of like this: 1. How to support all Glorantha's magical traditions? 2. How to represent, mechanically, what a specific magical tradition is about? 3. How to integrate magic, culture and the above 4. How to allow players to achieve a certain degree of power without waiting until pensionable age. Pause for a second or two to consider what the higher magical forms are about: Divine - becoming like your god and channelling divine power Sorcery - manipulating the raw fabric of the universe and hacking its cheat codes Spirit - bargaining and controlling spirits and ancestors who have transcended or changed, to work magic through you or on your behalf If any of these are to be successfully and satisfactorily represented - and be flexible enough for both Glorantha and other settings - then the way magic works and the powers achievable through it must be ramped up from previous editions. Your sorcerer should be able to sit in his tower and smite foes a few miles away. Your Rune Lord should be able to heroform his god to take on an advancing army (or tower-bound smiting sorcerers). Your shaman should be able to command his bound spirits to rip your soul free of this mortal coil and beat it to buggery on the spirit plane. But what we did with RQ magic was a sea-change. We knew it would be and playtested it as carefully as we could, as well as combing the way it works mechanically to ensure that, although powerful, each higher magical tradition is reasonably balanced against the others and, whilst working slightly different mechanically, are all based on a similar structure (all higher magic uses two skills and one of those skills provides a check and balance on the level of power commanded). The proof's in playing it through. My own group, playing in Glorantha, has a shaman and a Zorak Zoran Death Lord: both command some quite powerful magic between them, but almost got their arses mulched by two spirits and a vampire recently. And, in a group melee, even a Berserking Dark Troll can be taken-down with some tactically used Common Magic and a decent spear thrust.

Friends, Its been a fraught couple of months, but I'm delighted to be able to confirm that Continuum won't be cancelled and IS going ahead as planned. Its all thanks to you. The people who responded in the wake of my original doom and gloom message have made it possible, as well as those who had, obviously, already committed to coming along. We will have reduced numbers this year, but in some respects that's no bad thing in that it will make certain things easier (like fighting your way to the bar). So we're Good to Go, and here's some of the cool and marvellous things Continuum will be offering... Some serious tabletop gaming... from RQ to Savage Worlds; HeroQuest to Wordplay Some serious miniatures set-pieces, courtesy of our good friend Greg Privat... Some excellent freeforms: Serenity/Firefly, Fall of the House of Malan and others... Some excellent exhibition real-weapon combat, courtesy of Fools and Heroes: will the Continuum Champion, Pete 'Jurgen Peregrinus' Nash be able to beat their champion for the honour of the con? Some terrific seminars and panels: Mongoose, Moon, Cubicle 7, and many others Some great guests and friends: Messrs Richard and Meints from Moon; Messrs Sprange and Abranson from Mongoose/C7... Zombie Attack! Icebreaker. Get your best undead make-up and rotting carcass clothes out of storage and shamble into the bar in the best 'Sean of the Dead' style to see how much beer you can leak... We're really looking forward to seeing you all, and plan on staging a great con. Thank you all once again. More updates as we develop the programme. Loz

Does the missus know that you're in the habit of inviting strange people from websites to meetings in hotels in Leicester?

Thanks Simon - as you're one of my Living Glorantha GMs, attendance is is a must for you... ;-)

You could call it 'Condominium'...

I've posted this message on several lists today, but wanted to post here too. Friends, There's no easy way of saying this so please forgive me for being blunt. As things stand, not enough people have signed-up for Continuum to make it a viable financial proposition for running the convention. We are in the position of assessing our options and one of those is cancellation completely if we do not secure enough numbers. To date, we've had about 100 of you register. This is a good 30% down on previous conventions and, as the University of Leicester charges us on a minimum commitment of attendees, we are in the position of seeing a large gap between what we'll have in the bank and what we need to pay the con's bills. I have today arranged a deal that will, I hope, allow the con to go ahead as planned. However it relies on numbers and, therefore, you. You make the con happen, make it what it is, and always make it a success. This is an appeal to that spirit. If you haven't yet signed-up, for whatever reason, we need you to register and pay by May 6th. The level of registration we get by this date will help us negotiate a suitable 'Go Ahead' deal with the university. Its essential that we know we can meet the minimum number the university has agreed to us having, hence the urgency of this message and the need for registration. I know that many of you often wait until the month before the convention before registering, and with very good reason for doing so. In previous years that's been fine because we've achieved our minimum number well ahead of schedule. This year, that isn't the case. By May 7th we have to decided if it will be possible to run the convention at all, and it all depends on committed sign-ups. I also realise that many of you have been hit by the economic downturn and may therefore be unable to commit or are waiting until you're in a position to pay before doing so. We understand this: we're in that position too. If you want to come, intend to come but are having trouble finding the finances (and I know Continuum's not the cheapest con) then please contact me directly. We can talk! You, like me, and the rest of the committee, look forward to our biannual celebration of gaming, friendship and socialising. We know times are tough. Perhaps we need that biannual celebration a bit more, now, more than ever. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask. But please - May 6th... a crucial date for Continuum. Loz

It still does. We just tend to elect them into political office rather than hunting them down like we should.

I've been running a playtest with my little group for quite a while now, and they don't get boring. What I've found is that the players think a bit more about their foe and what they might face in terms of CMs used against them; that then helps decide possible key CMs and responses. My players are, for instance, very wary of anyone with a missile...