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I'll preface what I'm saying by being clear that Glorantha is interesting to me as a setting in which to play RQ. I'm here in the RQ forum, not the Glorantha one. Glorantha appeals to me on many levels including by being a coherent setting with its own depth; its denizens are not simply a bunch of 'extras' there to amuse or antagonise the PC's. My advice is not to worry too much, or to be intimidated. Because Glorantha has been around for so long and has such a committed fanbase the quantity of content is overwhelming. I'm no Gloranthan scholar but what I think can take a while for newcomers to understand is that there is often no one true answer to the way Glorantha "is". In many RPG's the setting information is a monoview universal truth. What we read in the published materials on Glorantha is how it is perceived through the eyes of the (imagined) narrator/reporter/scribe whose work we are reading. Another account may vary or contradict. In the Glorantha Sourcebook you can read one version of events in 'History of Dragon Pass' (pp9-37) and another slant in 'The Redline History of the Lunar Empire' (pp.153-189). I'm sure the Theogeny section is interesting but I haven't read it, I refer to it. I've dipped into the second half of the book and have enjoyed what I have seen but I haven't read much of it. I don't need to know it to run an RQG game. But... I've probably built up more baseline knowledge since 1981 than I care to think about. So... I would definitely recommend the GSB and tend to think of the level of relevance as starting high and waning as you progress through the book (to me at least) for a campaign set in Sartar. The History of Dragon Pass chapter is excellent. The sections on the Elder Races and the Theogeny will be great primers. By that stage you've read 128 pages on top of the RQG rule book and if your objective is to run a fun RPG session for your mates then I'd venture you're into the zone of diminishing returns by that stage in terms of reading up on the background. I do recommend the Adventures Pack from the GM Screen - this is first class and a credit to all involved. The early sections on the Colymar complement the History of Dragon Pass in GSB very well indeed. The setting information, the scenario hooks, the NPC's - this is exactly what an RPG product should be - high levels of playable content. All that I see tells me that the RQG Starter Set will be the same. What gave me the greatest 'feel' of Glorantha so many years ago were the 'Tales of Biturian Varosh' in Cults of Prax (https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-prax-pdf/). Whilst that is set in Prax, the commentaries on well known gods are first class. As a teenager I was bewitched and knew immediately that I was onto something that would offer me more than any AD&D scenario ever would. Horses for courses though... Overall my advice would be to read what you feel you need to run a game. Don't try and 'catch up' on background knowledge. Much depends on how much time you have available. My free time for gaming is limited and must be used judiciously. I find Glorantha very interesting and have to resist the urge to go down rabbit holes of research. The published works (GSB, G2G etc) are great references but are not 'required reading'. If you were going to commit to reading one, then make it the GSB (it's far shorter). In terms of 'other' scenarios/material - the Tales from Sandheart series is absolutely worth a look as it is set in Sun County which is a way from anywhere and its locals are quite content with having nothing to do with the outside world. Hope this helps. Other opinions are available etc.

The art is amazing. Glorantha allows some fabulous adventures to be had and tales to be told. And Runequest meshes so very well with the background. Particularly with the innovative new approach to character generation. The learning curve is sometimes steep but worth the journey. My friends and I were playing AD&D in 1981 (?) when I got the GW RQ2 boxed set, probably on the strength of a review in White Dwarf. We never played AD&D again after our first RQ session. Welcome.

Chaosium website is showing it in the Australian warehouse and took my order with local postage today. Remember your coupon. So the lag was about three weeks on this occasion. Not bad, really. Looking forward to getting hands on.

Scroll up…. This recent comment in FB on an unboxing of the Starter Set:

Great tip - will add this. Thank you.

I'd hazard a guess they will get round to it eventually but I'm pretty sure I heard Rick say at a recent ImpromptuCon that they (understandably) have very limited capacity, are somewhat beholden to Roll20 themselves and CoC is a priority. The Starter Set is an obvious first product to virtualise. I'd love to be proved wrong but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Are you planning to make your RQG character sheet available on Foundry VTT? It would be great to have access to one - RQG currently relies on fan support (an excellent character sheet) on Roll20 and has none on Foundry

The artwork is gorgeous, so evocative. A credit to all involved, the ghost of AH's art direction has been well and truly exorcised.

That's a shame. I'm GM'ing an RQG campaign on Roll20 and haven't had any issues at all - no 'mystery penalties'. The character sheet makes all the difference. Me too, but even that kind of thing takes time to organise and I have a lot of sympathy for the ambitious schedule of forthcoming RQG products of which we see and hear tantalising snippets here and there. That is wonderful news. I'm keen to use Foundry - it seems superior to Roll20 in many way (so far as I can tell) but lacks any support at all for RQG. Even having a workable character sheet would make a significant difference. I completely understand Chaosium focusing on getting CoC content onto Roll20 over RQG with whatever bandwdth is available to them. It's economically rational given CoC is c.10% of all games on Roll20 IIRC. It would certainly be a boon if the published RQG material facilitated adaption by the community for use in VTTs. For example, having a version of a map that doesn't have all the key locations marked on it that can be used as a virtual handout (I suppose that's true for face-to-face also). The isometric art of locations is wonderfully evocative but has less utility as a virtual asset if it is intended to be the scene of a fight. The illustrations of NPC's in the GM Pack, Pegasus Plateau etc are excellent assets to crop out and use as virtual handouts. I've found that by creating handouts with a bit of sourcebook material the players are reading it for themselves rather than having it read to them. All-in-all my group is very satisfied with the RQG experience in Roll20. As GM I'd like to pedal a little less hard to make the magic happen but it's not a showstopper.

Thank you - I will take a look.

I'm doing the same.. mostly as an exercise to relearn Excel VBA (which I last used about 10 years ago). I have a button press now that generates all the stats randomly, runes, skill mods, derived characteristics. I'm now reworking it to generate NPC stat blocks based on 5 levels of NPC archetype from "weak" through to "heroic". A bit like the idea in Six Seasons but with all (well, most of...) the gritty detail generated for you. It was interesting figuring out the cumulative density function for the total of 19d6 (+12 +3 for Elemental Runes). I rolled up the PC's for my players and reckon an hour or two is about right. Especially when you just just bash the stat values into a spreadsheet and it will do the fiddly stuff for you. I'm aware there's a soup-to-nuts spreadsheet too, which I expect is very good. I've simply been tinkering for fun. The story-based character generation is lovely and worth the effort, IMHO. It inspired me to read the associated passages in the Glorantha Sourcebook and the Duel at Dangerford Scenario. I feel I have a better grip on the unfolding heroic events now. Yes, my group found the concept of being newly minted characters being that accomplished (e.g. quite possibly having mastery of a primary skill) a turn-off. We've nerfed the character generation rules to have the characters start off a little weaker but able to advance more quickly. YGWV etc. See attached for the latest version in case of interest. I intend to figure out what this means for Step 2 (Family History) at some point but am most likely to leave it 'as is' since I rather admire it. HouseRules.pdf

much grinding of teeth... can't wait to get hands on!

Yep... my US edition (which I think I got for a Christmas present) is so well-used that it is pretty much a loose-leaf collection. I have the GW edition too. I suspect I bought this to replace my failing original copy. Even though it was nearly 40 years ago seeing your picture brings back the joy and wonder of reading that campaign.

Yes it was. Add it to the list of forthcoming RQG products that have been teased in various places. Let’s hope they double down in time for us all to buy ourselves lots of RQG products for Christmas!

There’s now a space next to the system-calculated Spirit Combat damage where you can add a modifier.

Thank you! @David Scott 😀

Thank you for sharing this. A very generous and fascinating miscellany. I dimly recall the RQ Digest blowing up in the early 90's over Elmal. I studiously avoided getting involved and in Sun County it didn't matter anyway. Your brief explanation of what all the fuss was about was very helpful. Thank you for that (and for making my 29 year wait for stress-free enlightenment worthwhile).

Haha, yes. Firefox, Discord, Word, Adobe Reader and Excel (just in case). Plus a couple of beers lined up (GM perk when its your evening and the players are having a morning coffee). Funnily enough I only referred to the RQG rulebook once in the entire session, to check out whether there was anything I needed to know about Detect Spirit that I mgiht have forgotten. Enjoy!

Inspired by Chaosium, this forum and the Grognard files podcast I ran my first game of RQ in over 20 years today over Roll20 from Sydney for my former schoolmates back in Blighty. Neither of my players had used Roll20 before. As it turned out we had a few AV challenges which we solved by using Discord. This proved to be useful as one of our players was able to continue to participate verbally while he drove his teenage daughter into town. Life was so much more simple in 1982... Roll20 worked very well as a medium for RQG. The excellent character sheet makes ALL the difference by simplifying the whole experience of dice-rolling. A debt of gratitude is owed to its developer. I think RQG will work very well for us over Roll20. Of course, we forgot all about doing skill augments but we'll get into the habit. Actually running the Broken Tower I can appreciate how well crafted it is as an introductory scenario. The steady build of skill rolls, the encounters with Carthalo and Lannike's ghost work very well. That was as far as we got given the overlap of our timezones but it was a very enjoyable session. The years just fell away. It was a delight to be actually playing again rather than buying the books as a melancholy tribute to teenage years. We will be playing again next week. Long may it continue.

You're spot on. This is a fascinating thread as it reveals quite a lot about where we like to focus (as players and GM's) that I hadn't thought much about before. There are many luminaries who have generously contributed to this thread having made great arguments for keeping NPC detail minimal as it gets in the way of where they do want to focus i.e. the setting and the grand drama of Glorantha's epic stories and settings. I agree with those points intellectually but not so much emotionally. For me and my players the setting was always interesting but what was most appealing was the micro detail, including of individual NPC's. Perhaps why RQ2/3/G appealed to us was because the system facilitated detail in a way other systems did not. So whilst I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with NPC stat blocks they are essential for my group in providing a very rich layer of micro detail in which the players are typically no more or less exceptional than the NPC's with whom they interact. Frankly, I'm glad it's the "big picture" GM's who are running the joint, acting as stewards of the canon and curating JC. Left to the likes of me it would be a turgid, detailed mess. MGDV (My Glorantha Does Vary) not so much in the sweep of the setting but in where I choose to shine the spotlight as a GM. RQG and Glorantha work seamlessly to enable that approach without me feeling like I have to go find another system or setting to use. IMHO no one approach is better or worse than another; it's simply a matter of preference and RQG allows for them all.

That’s a great point. There’s far less in print about Skyrealms of Jorune and that’s a damn sight harder to get into than Glorantha…

Hi there, Lots of good advice in this thread. Your reaction is very reasonable. It is quite possible to respond that way to the richness of the material available and to feel a little overwhelmed. My encouragement is to give it a go and to not worry whether you are "doing it right" or doing justice to the setting. Chaosium encourages you to "make it your own" - the principles of YGWV and MGF. Glorantha allows you to go deep if you wish but there is no compulsion to do so. I've spent my RPG years skimming the surface of Glorantha and going deeper when I feel the need arises. I don't feel like I need to "align" to the published material but the wealth of it out there makes my task as a GM far easier as there is so much I can pick and choose from. Practically, I would also recommend the campaign Six Seasons in Sartar as its approach to NPC's is quite ingenious and will cut down your workload considerably. Don't buy it just for that though. I haven't read it fully yet so cannot comment on the campaign itself but it is certainly very well regarded. If you were to buy one thing, the GM Pack is a worthwhile investment. Not only is it gorgeous, but also it has many useful stat blocks for NPC's, some locations and encounters too. The scenarios it includes are an excellent introduction to the feel of the setting. There are lots of other resources for NPC stat blocks should you need them. For example, this post has lots of stats you can use: Good luck. Enjoy RQG.

I'm in. I'm about to start a campaign with it this weekend.

The character sheet is there and available for use - create a new game in Roll20 specifying RQ. I'd hazard a guess that Chaosium's priority right now is producing physical products as those have a larger addressable market. Roll20 RQG users is a subset, for sure.

Thank you