smiorgan

Glad you like it! Too bad I lost the original in a computer crash!

Correct. There is much gore in the Elric saga, but not much Elric! in GORE.

Seems mostly correct to me. Except "Renaissance" is an OpenQuest derivative (OQ1) rather than a direct descendant of MRQ1. Ringworld was mostly its own branch from RQ2.

Exactly

BRP Gold Book takes a lot of stuff from Elric!. Basically its entire default combat system, most spot rules and the sorcery rules. So, it should be linked also to Elric!

So, the game they will translate into English is not the BRP-based version? Smiorgan

1. I have to get the Guide when they reprint it. 2. I'd really love to have that style of Jar eel picture on the cover of the new RQ. It reminds me of classic RQ covers (warrior woman in ancient-world armor) and conveys the idea that this is a truly Gloranthan edition of the game.

A bit on a tangent on these designer notes... WHO does not love Jar-Eel the Razoress? http://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-5/ I certainly do love this picture. Is the other hand Harrek's? It should, given the bear claws. Can we, please, have Jar-eel on the cover of the new Rune Quest?

Points taken. And yes, it's not really clear how to model it in SB4. Also because nobody has really seen a Lormyrian axe and knows how exactly one fights with it, The description in SB says it's the YK equivalent of a poleaxe, but also that it has double blade, a "massive" (!) counterweight at the base of the haft and that it is swung "as if chopping down a tree". Ah, and the top half of the haft is encased in iron! Not really fun to deflect bare-handed.

That would definitely be in the spirit of SB4. By the way, parrying a *ucking Lormyrian ax with your bare *fists*... is beyond ridiculous! The character should have tried dodge... In contrast, if the character wants to grab the ax with his hands, I'd ask for a successful dodge AND rolling defender's DEX vs rolled damage on the resistance table. If the defender fails the resistance roll he gets the damage despite the successful dodge. In case of success he can wrestle the ax out of the attackers hands with a STR vs STR resistance roll.

Yes. INT can rise above 21 but the only way is "exceptional response". And INT:INT contests are not very frequent.The chess idea makes sense, Yet, in a game with no EDU I'd definitely allow training INT. Studying makes you smarter, I think this is not in the rules, though. I don't think you can train INT per the rules as written. Best, Andrea

You're right. I was mislead by page 53: "The normal maximum for human beings is 21.". Where it discusses increasing characteristics by special response, which is the only way to increase INT, as far as I know.

This. I wholeheartedly agree. One thing I have never understood about the OSR thing is the worship of badly designed character sheets. RuneQuest was a breakthrough game in that respect. In my view this goes together with a monster design principle on the GM's side: If a monster can do something, put it in the monster stat block! Pathfinder is very stressful for the GM because you have to look up dozens of spells and little rules to run the critters. In contrast, D&D4 monsters were very well designed in view of the limited goals of a combat-heavy tactical rpg. You don't have to look up anything outside the stat block. Admittedly, RuneQuest was the first game were monsters were built like characters and were wholly customizable - something tha was later embraced by D&D3 and then Pathfinder. It will be nice not to loose this specificity of RQ. But a compromise is possible: monster write-ups could contain short improvisation notes for the narrator about 1-2 typical things that a typical individual will do, without any need of looking up spells. That is especially useful for sandbox games and improvisation.

Well, Pathfinder is a solid game! But I doubt they want the new RQ to be that complex. And those design principles don't seem to me very Pathfindery. When you play PF players and GMs are supposed to know a lot of complex rules that are NOT guessable from the character sheet AND there is not much in Pathfinder rules that helps you figure out the place of your character in the game world or support immersive role-play. There are some well done "flavor" rules but a lot of rules are mechanical stuff to play the minigame of character optimization.

Sure, they are! You can see very clearly that there is a direction and a lot of thought going into it.

Very interesting read. It seems clear that except for "combat styles" you don't want to go in the direction of RQ6's very detailed and complex combat. Personally, I am fine with a simpler combat engine, but I know special effects have their fans. But, since you go for simpler combat may I suggest to Jeff to have a look at the 1993 Elric! combat rules. The attack-parry matrix has its fans, multiple dodges and parries make the combat slightly more heroic in feel without taking away the deadliness, weapon hit points and shield hit points work, the spot rules are nice guidelines for improvisation. Much of these combat rules were later incorporated in the Big Gold Book and Magic World. But, don't look at Magic World! You might be distracted by the dubious art and layout. Just look at the sleek and slim 1993 Elric! book. One of Chaosium's later gems. Just my two cents. But I feel that combat engine is not that far from the simpler combat you are looking for. Maybe there is one or two things you can steal from it.

Each spell, rune, summoning or invocation just occupied 1 INT slot. For instance, the Exorcism (10) spell occupies 10 INT in MW, but it just occupied 1 INT in Elric! In general, this made easier to have very powerful sorcerers PCs or NPCs without ridicoulusly high Intelligence. Additionally, in MW human intelligence cannot go beyond 21. Which makes very powerful human sorcereres simply impossible by the rulesbook.

I must say I much prefer the old Elric! rules for INT-space to the updated MW rules.

By the way, the BGB softcover is back on the Chaosium website... http://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-softcover/ I doubt it has been reprinted. Maybe it's some remaining stock. Get it while you can...

The elemental runes up there remind me of Nephilim's character sheet. The ones under the Man rune are Pendragonesque, obviously. Strike rank is back. I like it. Skills are characteristic + characteristic. Like. Passions. Like. AND THERE ARE BOXES TO TICK!! Love it. That looks pretty close to my ideal Gloranthan RQ. Very promising. (And, by the way, if you get Mythic Iceland 2 right, there will be also a great Viking-RQ)

The same with me. If the pdf has been distributed it has not reached me.

Sorry for contributing to the off-topic. The Balazar site rocks. There is no such a thing as too much Balazar. I'm all for giant-built, sun-worshiping, pig-herding megalithic citadels. I've run an entire campaign in Balazar without the *faintest* idea of what was going to happen to the characters next. It was just letting the player character go places, meet people, rolling random encounters and letting the story unfold. Ralios would rock as well.

- It has western Malkioni influences so it was more medieval in its RQ3 presentation (and kind of Renaissance Italy in MRQ). I guess a new Ralios campaign pack won't have that feel. - It's more temperate than Prax, a more European climate. - It has Elves, Dwarves and Trolls. Except that Aldryami, Mostali and Uz are not your generic demi-humans. So, superficially, Yes. It might look a little bit more generic fantasy even if actually it is not,

Another "condensate" setting that I hope Chaosium could develop for RuneQuest is Safelster and the wilder parts of Ralios. You have bizarre henotheist cults, trade and city intrigue, Trolls, Mostali, Aldryami, Orlanthi with bizarre taboos, Telmori werewolves, broos from Karia (where Dorastor is just a Kartolin Pass away) and the shadow of Arkat looms large on the region. It's Glorantha in all its richness (except ducks), but still in a manageable size. The Second Age Mongoose material on Ralios was good and very sandboxy - albeit mostly staless and under-developed. I'd love to see Chaosium doing something for Third Age Ralios. I'd honestly prefer to game there than in the more iconic Dragon Pass/ Sartar or the familiar Pavis/ Prax.

Yes, players can quickly become the Big Heroes in Balazar. And the sandbox is eminently gameable. There is just Balazar where you start and then the Elder Wilds to explore. Pavis/ Prax is also an isolated backwater and sandbox in a way, but is already a much bigger world with connected but very distinct sub-settings with no obvious order of play. - New Pavis - The Big Rubble - The River of Cradles: Sun County - The River of Cradles: Borderlands / Lunar Grantlands - Prax proper, west of the River of Cradles - the Wastelands, east of the River of Cradles There are at least four starting points/ home bases: New Pavis, Sun County, Borderlands (Duke's Raus fort) and the nomad tribes themselves.