RuneQuest 'Gateway'?

[svensson]

OK, so I love the RQG rules. I like the Passions rules, I like the linking magic forms with the Runes.

So has any thought been made as to expanding the RQG rules set beyond Glorantha?

I ask because there are certain specifically non-Glorantha fantasy elements that I'm considering for my 'Atlantis, sort of' game.

And if anyone has a good source for non-Gloranthan RQG monsters, I'd like to see it. I'm specifically thinking of cultural monsters that would be defined as Glorantha 'Chaos' without Chaos Features and other Glorantha specific rules attributes.

[Jeff]

I am reluctant to brand something as "RuneQuest" unless it has:

• Runes (or their equivalent)
• Strike Ranks
• Hit Locations
• Same system of calculating hit points, characteristic modifiers, damage bonus, etc.
• Similar magic system

If we get away from any of those, then it is better off letting it be its own thing, built off the BRP chassis. 

[svensson]

13 minutes ago, Jeff said:

I am reluctant to brand something as "RuneQuest" unless it has:

• Runes (or their equivalent)
• Strike Ranks
• Hit Locations
• Same system of calculating hit points, characteristic modifiers, damage bonus, etc.
• Similar magic system

If we get away from any of those, then it is better off letting it be its own thing, built off the BRP chassis. 

I'm completely fine with including all of that.

BRP is a great generic system, but it lacks a certain detail and 'crunchiness' that I like in RQG.

What I'm talking about is cultural conversions... for example, a Celtic World conversion where even professional magicians are illiterate, where 'fachans' and 'selkies' are running around, where a 'HeroQuest' can give powers like Cu Cuchulain. Or a Japanese one where 'purity' is a vital issue for spellcasters, 'gaki' and 'kami' are present, and the HeroQuests give you abilities like Musashi or Benkei.

You could translate Gloranthan Runes into different traditions, Hermetic or Nile for example, or alter the struggle of Order versus Chaos. Or even advancing the technology to higher levels.

 

 

[smiorgan]

14 hours ago, Jeff said:

I am reluctant to brand something as "RuneQuest" unless it has:

• Runes (or their equivalent)
• Strike Ranks
• Hit Locations
• Same system of calculating hit points, characteristic modifiers, damage bonus, etc.
• Similar magic system

If we get away from any of those, then it is better off letting it be its own thing, built off the BRP chassis. 

Vikings/ Mythic Iceland ticks all your boxes. I'd love to see the second edition of Mythic Iceland published as RuneQuest.

The magic system in Mythic Iceland is not mechanically derived by RQ _at least not directly- but conceptually it's powered by the runes...

On the other hand I doubt I would like some sort of "it's like Glorantha except it isn't" like RQ2 Questworld or  RQ3 Griifin Island or Eldarad...

 

 

[DreadDomain]

On 1/17/2022 at 12:04 AM, svensson said:

OK, so I love the RQG rules. I like the Passions rules, I like the linking magic forms with the Runes.

How runes and magic work is very specific to Glorantha. Of course Runes can be easily rebadged for say runes in Mythic Iceland or Arcana in Artesia's Know World. For the former, I do not know if they will use RQG as frame or not. For the latter, we have an example of what it could be in The Last Barrow and apparently Mark Smylie is thinking of using RQG to create the next edition of the Artesia RPG, Swords and Barrows. In both examples, I am not sure if magic would or should be connected the same way to Runes/Arcana.

On 1/17/2022 at 1:04 AM, Jeff said:

I am reluctant to brand something as "RuneQuest" unless it has:

• Runes (or their equivalent)
• Similar magic system

Hmmm... interesting, what is RuneQuest? Well for me RuneQuest and Glorantha have long been synonymous and the Runes system, how it connects with magic and the specific magic systems, it all screams Glorantha. 

Having said that, we used RQ in the past (way back) for other things. RQ3 was actually very useful to do just that with the 4 generic cultures and the many professions in the core book (and sometimes the more specific gloranthan cultures in the Genertela box). At the time we used it for RQ3 Hyborian Age, RQ3 Harn, RQ3 Talislanta, RQ3 Fantasy Earth, RQ3 "create your own world". It worked for everything. RQG is more Glorantha specific that RQ3 (which I believe is a positive) but I am fairly certain we could distill it to a core RQ that would work for a lot of things. Which brings me to this: 

On 1/17/2022 at 1:04 AM, Jeff said:

• Strike Ranks
• Hit Locations
• Same system of calculating hit points, characteristic modifiers, damage bonus, etc.

To me this is the core (with the few others below). There are variants on how Strike Ranks, Hit Locations, Hit Points, Skill Category modifiers, damage bonus are calculated (which is absolutely fine) but they need to be present for it to be RQ. I would add to this list:

• Cultures (generic as in RQ3 when it comes to world building or specific as in RQG and for a specific world)
• Previous experience in character creation that takes age into consideration (an area where RQG is not super developed)
• Experience checks, training, research and generally growth over time without XP or point cost (here I believe RQG really nailed it)

Edited to add: RQ is really the game that hooked me to rpg and framed my vision on how a character was created, a race (mostly human), a culture and connection to community, a background, a profession, a religion/belief system, but also how they grew through experience, training, research. Any games lacking these elements always left me wanting more.

Edited January 22, 2022 by DreadDomain