New user and first RQG session with my current gamegroup. (Might contain starter set spoilers!)

[Topi.242]

Hi all!

First time posting here and though i'm not usually very good with forums, i decided to stop just lurking here and joined in after an amazing first RQG for our current group. We are playing the Starter Set and Gamemaster Screen scenarios starting with Rough Landing and we were able to reach the point where the Krarshtkid makes an appearance and stopped there for a cliffhanger.

All the players are from my former Call Of Cthulhu group and we just finished Horror on Orient Express and switched to RQG and everything has been running smoothly, except the intense brutality of the combat surprised us all. None of the characters are pure warriors nor do they have much armour, so they have been very fragile and taken lots of damage. Still with the help of a large Dehori they have killed four scorpion men which is pretty good for mostly non-combat characters.

When it comes to rules it actually surprised me how smooth the combat was to run even with the heavily increased complexity from very rules loose CoC to way more crunchy RGQ. It really was a blast and can't wait for the next session and to introduce more social interactions with the downtime between the campaigns and in the Fire In The Darkness.

But anyway, was an amazing session 1 and massive thanks to Greg, Steve, Jeff and others for an awesome game and fantasy world to explore! 🙂

EDIT: Typos

Edited June 19, 2022 by Topi.242

[andyl]

Yep it is very good - I am just getting to the end of 6 weeks of running for a new group.  A Rought Landing and A Fire In The Darkness.  The best scene was when the player playing Dazarim decides he is going to try and spot anyone suspicious running through the streets and chose Eurmal's Hill as his spypoint.  I asked if he was sure, if he remembered me saying that Eurmal was the Trickster and a bit of a dick - even to his friends.  Yep It is a bit of a hill I will be able to see more was his rationale, and the Upper City and Merchant's Quarter was a bit too much and would be slower to get into the action.  So he was up on Eurmal's Hill and he cast farsee on himself and was feeling pretty good.  I then asked him to roll his Scan and he got a 100.  So as soon as he looked at the streets his vision blurred and he could see nothing.  If he looked at his hand or the temple on the hill then it was perfectly in focus. When he looked back down into the city - blurred again.  Which just goes to show - don't try and tempt the gods and especially don't tempt Eurmal.

[jajagappa]

On 6/19/2022 at 3:17 PM, Topi.242 said:

First time posting here and though i'm not usually very good with forums, i decided to stop just lurking here and joined in after an amazing first RQG for our current group. We are playing the Starter Set and Gamemaster Screen scenarios

Welcome to posting on the forum, and great to hear about your experiences with those scenarios!

On 6/19/2022 at 3:17 PM, Topi.242 said:

Still with the help of a large Dehori they have killed four scorpion men which is pretty good for mostly non-combat characters.

Dehori are very useful against scorpionmen!  One of my players used similar tactics with a Dehori against scorpionmen - blocking a doorway to help escape them.

 

[Topi.242]

One of the reasons I am especially looking forward to the Fire in the Darkness is that one of the characters is a Lunar Tarsh lesser noble and a firm Fazzur loyalist travelling incognito in Sartar due to assassination attempts against him in Tarsh. Should be fun to see how he interacts with the Seven Mothers cultists in that scenario.

[Brian Duguid]

If you can edit your first post, there's an "eye" icon in the post editing toolbar which allows you hide text containing any spoilers for the scenario.

 

Edit: oops, saw you had it in the topic title, didn't see that when following a link to get here though.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Brian Duguid

[Topi.242]

Yeah, I tried to put some sections into spoiler sections but it was tough to find clear spoiler areas so I just put the spoiler warning on topic and that's it. But I can hide some sections if needed of course!

[Jape_Vicho]

Hi and welcome

Starting with the Starter Set is a very good idea indeed, they link well with the GM pack adventures, and don't forget to take a look at the Quickstart, The Broken Tower, available in the Chaosium page, and the free adventure, The Rattling Wind, also in Chaosium page, if you haven't already.

For when you get to the GM's pack I recommend reading through these reviews by Skull Dixon, they offer very interesting knowledge and ways to improve the games. 

Spoiler

https://monstersandmusings.blogspot.com/2021/05/runequest-adventure-review-defending.html https://monstersandmusings.blogspot.com/2021/05/runequest-adventure-review.html https://monstersandmusings.blogspot.com/2021/06/runequest-adventure-review-dragon-of.html

 

[svensson]

Well first off, WELCOME!

Always room on the RQ Party Duck 😁

As for solving your combat problems, there are three solutions:

1. Avoid combat [Running or staying to fight is a choice. Choose wisely.]

2. To quote Herger from '13th Warrior', 'Grow stronger!' [i.e. develop your combat skills, buy better armor and spells, etc.]

3. Generate a designated meat shield to handle some of the heavy lifting.

The other advice is more tactical:

- Dodge or Parry. A lot.

- Magic in RQ is THE lifesaver. 'Power up' before fights [Bladesharp, Protection, whatever], don't be afraid to use your Rune Points, and look at the uses for the Common Rune Spells [Cure Wounds will keep you alive].

- Augment skills with Passions and Runes.

- If all else fails, Divine Intervention can also help you out.

There is an excellent solo adventure on the Chaosium site called 'The Battle of Dangerford' that will show you many of the rules that are unique to RQ. You can play it from your browser, and I suggest that you do.

Again, welcome. All us grognards are here to help... even when we're not helping 😁. And at the end of the day, Your Glorantha WILL Vary. The only way to do RQ 'wrong' is to not have fun with RQ.

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by svensson

[Topi.242]

Thanks all for a warm welcome!

The way i've been thinking of running the starter set and GM screen scenarios is to start with Rough Landing and Fire In The Darkness. Then based on how badly the players mess up their social standing in Jonstown (and based on previous CoC campaign it will propably be very badly), i either keep the games centered on Jonstown and add more political intrigue and scheming around the Malani tribe and the Issaries temple or use the Cattle Raid scenario as a devise to get players out of Jonstown and into Apple Lane.

And I have to say i am a bit of a grognard myself as I started with the RQ3 and have quite a bit of material for it, which is also why I DM. Rest of the players apart from one are completely new to RQ and kinda new to roleplaying games overall. This was the first session with this group and my second session with the RQG rules overall (ran the Smoking Ruins on discord during pandeming). Actually even though I really love all the new published material for RQ I kinda am also looking forward to getting to modify stuff like Trollpak or Sun Dome County to RQG with all of their absolute weirdness. 😀

[DreadDomain]

On 6/20/2022 at 5:17 AM, Topi.242 said:

When it comes to rules it actually surprised me how smooth the combat was to run even with the heavily increased complexity from very rules loose CoC to way more crunchy RGQ.

I was about to say this was very refreshing feedback from a newcomer. More often than not, newcomers struggle with the strike ranks, the attack vs parry matrix and the wound levels per hit locations. However...

On 6/22/2022 at 6:23 AM, Topi.242 said:

And I have to say i am a bit of a grognard myself as I started with the RQ3

... this here might explain it ;).

Welcome back!

[Topi.242]

Heheh, yeah, I was more worried for my players since they were much more beginners. But everything flowed smoothly. The Strike Rank Counter table in the Starter Set is a great tool and visual aid to figure strike ranks out. On top of that I also explained the combat as less of a "Attack roll = 1 attack" and more like "Attack roll = 1 combat situation". There was acually even some praise for the combat mechanics.

Another aspect that got a lot of praise was the character creation how deep and realistic it is. Altough there was complaints also how long it takes and how much stuff there is to track especially with magic.