Which one is better, The Red Cow or Six Seasons in Sartar?

[Thoror]

Pretty self-explanatory, but yeah, now that we have the two complete Sartarite sagas (The Coming Storm-The Eleven Lights and Six Seasons in Sartar-The Company of the Dragon) I was wondering which one is your favourite, if you even have one (maybe they're equally awesome), and why is it.

[Bill the barbarian]

Question number one, do you need RQ stat blocks. If so, I reluctantly say the excellent Six Seasons is better (again this is if you need RQ rules) based on all the opinions I have heard. But the Red Cow Saga is written by a genius (yes I like his work a lot) by the name of Ian Cooper. It was written for HeroQuest so, it is very rules light and does not have RQ stat blocks. So, if you do not mind having to come up with your own stats I would say Red Cow, if this is a problem and you want to start as a teen using RQ with many examples of how to play this out go with the critically acclaimed Six Seasons.

[mal]

I’d love to see people who have both compare and contrast company of the dragon with eleven lights ... I’m not concerned about the RQ HQ thing. I can create stats for HQ senarios if I want to run them in RQ or just run it in HQ as I’m one of the strange ones who like both systems fairly equally!

[Bill the barbarian]

2 minutes ago, mal said:

I’d love to see people who have both compare and contrast company of the dragon with eleven lights ... I’m not concerned about the RQ HQ thing. I can create stats for HQ senarios if I want to run them in RQ or just run it in HQ as I’m one of the strange ones who like both systems fairly equally!

Heretic!

😃

[Rodney Dangerduck]

You can eat the cow.  Yummy.

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Thoror said:

I was wondering which one is your favourite, if you even have one (maybe they're equally awesome), and why is it.

They are both very good, interesting campaigns.  I can't say that I'd choose a favorite, but more likely I would choose a setting and then leverage content from both for that setting.  What both offer are interesting interludes/episodes with which to fill in the campaign years.  For instance, I was just looking over the Dwarf Competition in CotD yesterday.  While it is designed to offer potential tools to the Company of the Dragon, it could just as easily provide tools for the Three New Stars/Eleven Lights cult. 

So a few comments about what I like with each.

Coming Storm/Eleven Lights

• Very well-detailed clan (Red Cow) and well-detailed neighbors (Dolutha, Emerald Spear, Two Pine, Telmori, and the Lunars at Stonegate).  A great cast of characters to draw from and incorporate in any episode.
• Strong story arc taking you through rising tensions with the Lunars and the Telmori to the Great Winter and then the formation of the Three New Stars/Eleven Lights. 
• Ends with the taking of Jonstown and the Battle of Dangerford and positioning for the coming of Argrath.
• Gets you into the heart of clan/tribal politics and clan feuds.

Six Seasons/Company of the Dragon

• Great intro taking you through the initiation of young adults and their part in the fate of a clan.
• Covers the transformation of what remains of a clan into classic Sartarite rebels - those outside the bounds of clan and tribe.
• Very freeform story arc that incorporates the challenges of the Great Winter, interactions with draconic powers, staying alive and striking against the Lunars.
• Ends with participation in the Dragonrise, and well positioned for subsequent RuneQuest adventures.
• Gets you into life as a rebel, as well as what it means to be part of an outsider "community", i.e. a warband.

There are a lot of parts in each that could be mixed-and-matched.  If you want rites of adulthood to introduce your Red Cow characters to the clan, use the Six Seasons initiation and add subsequent events as personal story arcs.  If your Red Cow characters are forced into exile, they join a warband (there are several noted in the Coming Storm, but maybe they join the Company of the Dragon instead).  Or you're running Six Seasons/Company of the Dragon, and are seeking allies/aid - and are sent off to the Red Cow clan and they get enmeshed in the story there.  Lots of good story hooks either way.

[mal]

Thanks jajagappa! This was a really helpful breakdown. Since I really love the rebel aspect of the time period, it sounds like Company of the Dragon might be the way to go for me... but it also sounds like it would be really fun to run them with 2 groups and bring them together at the dragonrise! (As if I could actually have 2 groups)

[jajagappa]

19 minutes ago, mal said:

Since I really love the rebel aspect of the time period, it sounds like Company of the Dragon might be the way to go for me...

I think that's the biggest factor - which storyline best fits the story you want to tell as a GM and suits the interests of your players.

Location can be a factor as well.  Red Cow/Eleven Lights is focused on northern Sartar, just northeast of Jonstown.  Six Seasons/CotD is focused in southern Sartar, largely in the line/gap between the Quivin Mountains and the Storm Mountains.  Which means the other resources which may be useful to draw upon may vary.  Some of the content in Sartar Companion or the old Trollpak would fit nicely with the Coming Storm (and the Jonstown Compendium work, Duel at Dangerford).  But some of the scenario settings in SKoH (though less likely the scenarios) would fit with CotD.  So, definitely stuff to draw upon with more in the pipeline.

[Pentallion]

We are currently playing CotD.  Most of the same group played 11 Lights.  If I could only have one, I'd take 11 Lights.  But CotD is really good.

11 Lights, paradoxically as it is a narrative system, goes into way more detail than CotD does in it's adventures, its NPC's, their factions and motivations.

It creates a more dynamic world.

[OrlanthRex]

Any plans on generating RQ stats for 11Lights? Our group is currently playing in Six Seasons and are having a blast. 

[g33k]

On 4/30/2021 at 8:44 PM, OrlanthRex said:

Any plans on generating RQ stats for 11Lights? Our group is currently playing in Six Seasons and are having a blast. 

In general, I believe Chaosium frowns on people offering their IP in this manner; IIRC it's explicitly verboten on the DTRPG JC.

However, I believe Chaosium is open to such projects being "pitched" to them directly, for them to publish.

Personally, I'd love to see RQ-adaptation doc's for the HW/HQ/QW Glorantha stuff !!!   <hint, hint>