Sumath

I don't think it's possible for Chaosium to do all this, which is why Jeff said in the Heinz Con video that they were deliberately focussing on Dragon Pass first before expanding to Kralorela etc. Creatively and commercially I think this is the right thing to do - as well as old-hands, they're bringing in a lot of new artists and content creators some of whom have never worked on Gloranthan material before, so getting them to work on a well-known area for which there are previous releases to refer to, makes things easier. But they are producing original content (Smoking Ruins, Pegasus Plateau) as well as revising old material like Pavis and Big Rubble, so this should appeal to veterans and newbies alike. The sourcebooks outside of Dragon Pass will come later, and personally I'd rather wait for an excellent product than have Chaosium over-extend themselves on too many projects, or release something that later needs revision because of the way things panned out on other projects. I agree, I'd buy these but they're not a priority. Having said that, one thing that would be really useful is a range of paper/cardstock miniatures for Gloranthan adventurers and monsters. Paper miniatures are colourful, cheap, portable and potentially easy to replace. But it's very difficult to find commercial quality paper miniatures that fit with a fantasy bronze age setting, and Gloranthan monster types are even harder to find. This is the sort of thing that Chaosium could licence out to a third party, like they have with their other miniatures.

That's a good shout, thanks, I'll see if I can find that story thread. I have an idea for a (tragic) storyline in which a clan member accidentally kills a relative.

Thanks for the clarification. So exile would deal with removing the offender from the clan, but would it deal with the spiritual crime that would attract Chaos? Is there anything else that a clan would need to do? Also, when you say no atonement, would that include Heroquesting? Could a kinslayer undertake some form of redemptive Heroquest?

I read somewhere that the Cheyenne have sacred arrow bundles used in a cleansing ritual for those who have killed a member of their own tribe. This got me thinking: a) Would there be something similar for Heortlings? b) The act of murdering a member of your own clan or tribe would leave you spiritually impure - could this result in an impairment (e.g. a mechanical effect) for that character that the ritual would remove?

All great news, and lots of stuff to look forward to in the medium and long term. Extra kudos for swigging Bitburgers during the press conference.

This is awesome, thanks.

This is the first time I've heard about material being released set around the Smoking Ruins. That's intriguing...

The idea of herd-men gives me the creeps, but that's what I like about it too. It's the right kind of weird.

Ah, that's right, Alter Creature can reverse the process as well. Even so, you'd have to have some dedicated friends/clan to come rescue you from that fate and restore you to sentience. The insidious part of it is that Morokanth always looked relatively harmless to me too...

I've always felt that one of the worst fates in RuneQuest is being turned into a herd-man by Morokanth - this is much worse than slavery as you even lose your sentience, so no prospect of future liberation either.

@g33k I agree with your third point, but am yes/no on your second. Like many modern companies, Chaosium seem to be very interested in what their customers have to say, and do respond (on these forums, on Facebook, at conventions, via Dustin's emails etc). That's not to say that their release schedule will be influenced by a handful of gamers' opinions, and I wouldn't take this survey too seriously - it was intended to gauge what others were excited about in Chaosium's pipeline, and it's been interesting to read opinions on that. The amount of time that Chaosium spend responding to their customers is actually pretty impressive when you consider how much they have going on right now. They are a business, but one made up of games enthusiasts who are a part of the role playing community. So, yeah, I'd say our opinions matter in that respect.

I'll probably buy anything that Chaosium publish for RQG right now, but I was interested in what matters most to people. Could have made it a multiple-choice question, but then people would just choose everything and that doesn't tell you anything useful. Frequency of releases will be just as important as the ratio IMHO, so the question is will we get to a point where there's enough writers/artists working on RQG to produce regular new content (e.g. every quarter)?

Yeah, I remember that (and milking old campaign material for everything it was worth), and I'm really hoping that Chaosium get to a point fairly quickly with RQG similar to Call of Cthulhu, where there is new content coming out every few months (and also from other publishers).

I did consider including 'Rules clarifications e.g. combat examples, actual play videos' as an option, but as those aren't product releases as such, decided against.

I agree and have a feeling that will be a widely-held opinion, although in terms of what I need next for getting an RQG campaign off the ground (apart from hard copies of the bestiary and GM screen I've ordered) I've gone for campaign/area sourcebooks as my top choice, as these just make things so much easier for a GM. If the Heroquesting rules can come out in time fro when my players need them then that would be kushty.

I'd say disengaging is done on the combatant's DEX SR.

Please select one only, but feel free to post about why it's your top choice.

@Jeff What should the entry for Whitewall's market say? That sentence is unfinished in the post above.

Question: if I order another hardback RQG rulebook now, will it definitely be a second printing (i.e. with corrections and lighter illustrations)?

If Second Sight gives the capacity to see entities with POW in the Middle World that might not mean that everything will be instantly recognisable (no more than everything material in the Middle World is instantly recognisable to the human eye). A GM could still ask for a Scan or Search roll to find the aura of small creatures, rocks etc, or to make out the entirety of the environment around them. Second Sight could be like someone taking an acid trip - it could be sensory overload, and being able to process the information is something that would continue to require either perception or knowledge skills. The GM could rule which ones would be relevant in any given case.

Well, we know he had hits with singles such as 'Stand and Deliver' and 'Prince Charming'. Right, pop-pickers?

There aren't really any fumbles in 5E, are there? Nat 1s are an automatic failure, but that's it, unless the GM makes something up I have time for 5E and play in a regular game, but I agree with g33k that 5E was a missed opportunity. There are still so many things that they seem to have been preserved to make it look like D&D rather than provide any benefit to the game. Why are prime stats still being generated when they're not even used in-game, only their modifiers are? Why not just generate modifiers? Then there's Initiative, which is still almost totally random. Apart from a few subclasses, the classes provide very little customisation - one wizard will be pretty much like another in terms of spells. They've tried with the background system, but it's far too shallow to generate unique, interesting characters. The hit point system still means that PCs are amorphous blobs in terms of combat mechanics, and can carry on fighting unaffected until they run out of them entirely. Consequently, I rarely find 5E combat satisfying beyond the short-term buzz. It just doesn't have enough weight to it to make me feel like I've achieved something, and I think that's a problem for a game that is so combat-centred. On the other hand, it's magic system makes characters feel very powerful, and there is fun to be had in working out tactics that coordinate spellcasters and fighters. As someone who last played D&D in the BECMI days it's also good to see that levelling is more even across the classes, with every class able to contribute something, even at first level, using cantrips or class abilities. There is a feeling of invulnerability you seem to achieve once you get to 3rd or 4th level (which doesn't take long). Our GM has thrown some fairly meaty wizards, dinosaurs and dragons at us, and we've been able to bat them aside pretty easily. Maybe we've just been fortunate on dice rolls. My only other gripe is the DMG, which has got to be the biggest waste of time and money I've ever encountered in a role-playing system. Endless uninspired random tables, and lots of fluff. The description of the various planes of existence is yawn-inducing, and only goes to emphasise how vanilla the default D&D universe is. If I was going to run a D&D game I think I'd go with an indie game world (Necrotic Gnome's Dolmenwood setting looks pretty cool, although it's intended for OSR systems).

Heh, heh

Actually, given that Jeff recently said that RQG was now one of the pillars of Chaosium, I'd expect most Gloranthan releases to be RQG compatible. Certainly it's easier to convert a RQG scenario to HQG than the other way around.

In the original Facebook post (Sept or Oct 18), which was specifically about Runequest releases, two Trollpak volumes were mentioned, so I'm assuming that all three will be for RQG. Not so sure about Praxpak though. There were some other items mentioned for which there was no solid plan and which "may go somewhere or be in development for years. Or be vapor." These were: Elder Races Adventurer Pack RuneQuest Grimoire "The Great RuneQuest Campaign" Lunar Empire Sourcebook The Invisible God Sorcery Book There was also mention of the fact that half a dozen RQ Fantasy Earth books were in development, but there were no specifics on these.