RuneQuest Rules Q&A

[Scotty]

If want to report mistakes or ask questions about our RuneQuest Glorantha products, this is the thread. Question and Answers where appropriate will end up here as official corrections. Although centred around RuneQuest, corrections and questions about the Guide to Glorantha (GtG) and the Glorantha Sourcebook (GS) are welcome too. The current product line is:

• Roleplaying in Glorantha Quickstart (RQQS) 
• Roleplaying in Glorantha (RQG)
• Glorantha Bestiary (RQB)
• Gamesmaster Screen Pack (GMSP) 
• The Red Book of Magic (RBM) and Rune Spell Reference (RSR)
• The Smoking Ruin & Other Stories (TSR)
• The Pegasus Plateau & Other Stories (TPP)
• Starter Set (RQSS)
• Weapons & Equipment (W&E)
• The Prosopaedia
• Lightbringers (LB)
• Earth Goddesses (EG)
• Mythology (CoR-M)

First and foremost, it cannot be stressed enough that the rules are guidelines for the gamemaster and must occasionally need to be interpreted when a question arises. No set of rules can accommodate every permutation and interaction between the various sub-systems, nor should they.

When there’s an potential conflict or unclear area, it is the gamemaster’s job to adjudicate, revising later if necessary. When in doubt, make a decision and move on.

The play is the thing, not getting it “right”.

Please post your entries in the form of a single simple, direct question, with book and page references.

Please take any arguments, complaints or discussion to another thread. 

Before you post, please make sure that you have:

• the most up-to-date version of the book and/or PDF.
• checked the book and rules fully.
• Checked the RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
• Please be aware that, Sorcery is presented to allow Lhankor Mhy adventurers to be created. Future supplements will detail sorcerers from other cultures and provide more details of the sorcery system.

New answers in this thread are moved to the Q&A when a full page is reached.

When in doubt, make a decision and move on.

See Jason Durall talking about when it's important to lean into or away from TTRPG system rules (YouTube)  

Edited March 12 by Scotty
updated 12 March 2024

[Psullie]

Can we please have a clear statement, with examples, on how boosting spells with MP's is intended to work. 

[Scotty]

4 hours ago, RandomNumber said:

A map error has been ported across into the updated Map Pack for the GM Screen.

That's for spotting this. I'll fix it asap.

[Scotty]

16 hours ago, Dragon said:

Not positive if this is the correct place to note an error, as it is not the Red Book of Magic itself, but the Rune Spell Reference additional download.

Yes this is the place, I've added the Rune Spell Reference to the initial post.

16 hours ago, Dragon said:

In the Rune Spell Reference, the spell Arrow Trance is listed in Fire/Sky spells correctly. It is erroneously missing from Plant Spells, and is erroneously included in Truth Spells.

I mentioned it in another thread, and the author agreed. He stated that I would have to notify you as he had turned over the source materials to Chaosium control. I just wasn't sure where.

I find the Reference quite handy, and appreciate the work that went into it. Thank you.

Thanks for spotting this. We will correct it asap.

[Bren]

Apologies if this is addressed elsewhere. I looked on the corrections for Runequest Roleplaying in Glorantha and didn't see anything addressing this. In the section on Coins on p. 151

Quote

Bolg: 300 per ENC

That would be 3.3 grams per bolg. This sounds a bit light. Should this have been 30 per ENC?
 

Spoiler

My reason for asking is that on p. 18 we read, 

Quote

The lead bolg is unique as a unit of money, for it is designed for use as a sling stone as well as handy cash.

So a lead bolg should weigh about what a sling stone weighs. An article in Scientific American gives the weight of a Roman sling stone as 30 grams and 30 grams gives us pretty close to 30 bolgs per kilogram.

 

[Scotty]

38 minutes ago, Steve said:

Do the general rules for boosting magic cover a Rune spell boosted with magic points vs defensive magic though?

They will. There is a question in the queue (see page 1) about clarifying boosting.

[Scotty]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:13 PM, Steve said:

Core Rulebook p.357, Discorporation

Edit again - I've now found the entry in the WoD on p.365 on this. The wording is not correct if the WoD gives the correct answer. That's not sensing "the POW to within 10 points". In that case the wording needs correcting, e.g. to "sense the POW as to whether or not it's within 5 points of their own".

The wording "the shaman can sense the POW of entities to within 10 points, 5 points above or below their own" is confusing for me. It's the "their own" that doesn't make sense to me.

I thought that it's saying they can sense POW +/- 5 pts. So the GM can pick a number that is within 5 of the actual figure and give the player that number. E.g. two entities have POW 10 and 14, and the GM tells the player they sense POW 8 and 16. The player knows those two values are each within 5 of the real values, so the two POW values are within the ranges 3 to 13, and 11 to 21. That doesn't have anything to do with the "their own" wording though.

Isn't it within 5 points of the entity's actual POW? "Their own" reads as a reference to the shaman's own POW, and I can't reconcile this with what they sense exactly. But maybe I'm missing something - otherwise how does it work, is it the same as Second Sight? It's not worded like Second Sight though, and Second Sight doesn't sense POW to within 10 points. I take it that this is more precise than the shaman's innate Second Sight ability, hence why this only kicks in while discorporate.

Similar wording is used in the Discorporation rune spell (CR p.326 and RBOM p.43) and on CR p.365.

Edit - I see that the Second Sight (Enhanced) shamanic ability on p.361 also has a specific reference to the shaman's own POW with similar wording about the range. I really don't get what this whole range thing is trying to say. I can think of various possibilities, but the current wording doesn't clearly tell me which is the correct interpretation.

The key word is within, within that range 

If a shaman has a POW of 18 they can sense POW within the range of 13-23:

• A spirit of POW 7 is below their range - What's the POW of the spirit? - it's below your range (or weaker).
• A spirit of POW 14 is within their range - What's the POW of the spirit? - it's within your range (or similar).
• A spirit of POW 25 is above their range - What's the POW of the spirit? - it's above your range. (or stronger)

 

[Steve]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

The key word is within, within that range 

If a shaman has a POW of 18 they can sense POW within the range of 13-23:

• A spirit of POW 7 is below their range - What's the POW of the spirit? - it's below your range (or weaker).
• A spirit of POW 14 is within their range - What's the POW of the spirit? - it's within your range (or similar).
• A spirit of POW 25 is above their range - What's the POW of the spirit? - it's above your range. (or stronger)

 

Thanks for the clarification. However, sorry to be a pain but that's not what the rules wording actually says.

It doesn't say that they can sense whether the POW is above or below their range. It says they can sense it within that range (possibly sensing exact POW) and nothing about what happens if it's outside that range (I would have extrapolated that they sense "outside your range", not "above" or "below").

Taking the existing rules wording and your example, POW 7 and 25 both return nothing (or perhaps "outside your range").

What POW 14 returns with the RAW is debatable. Taking the "within 10 points", that sounds like a range of POW that is 10 points wide, containing the actual POW (e.g. 8 to 18). The "5 points above or below their own" bit is confusing because it's not clear if "their" refers to the target or shaman - and even if that was specified as the shaman, that doesn't really go together with the "within 10 points wording" since the latter reads as the spirit's POW and not the shaman's.

I suspect that it might be hard to understand where I'm coming from for anyone who knows the intention extremely well, as opposed to just trying to figure it out from the wording as I was doing.

IMHO it would be a lot clearer to say something like this: "The shaman can sense which of the following three categories the target's POW falls into: within 5 points above or below their own; more than 5 points above their own; more than 5 points below their own".

Sorry for going on about this, but I feel the current wording is very unclear.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Steve

[Scotty]

On 3/26/2022 at 3:54 PM, Steve said:

Core Rulebook p.23

In the intro text, last paragraph, it refers to the GM Screen Pack having a quick adventurer generation system. I don't think that's the case, is it? Perhaps the GM book?

Yes, but the final name has not been announced.

[PhilHibbs]

Pictures were taken from an old version of the PDF, my apologies I didn't think the PDF had been updated. It now matches the printed book. I have updated this post to reflect outstanding queries about the latest version only.

Weapons & Equipment p.13:

Is this Hu-metal (bronze)? It has the Air rune on it and is crafted into a weapon.

Is this Ga-metal (copper)? It's been minted into clacks.

In the PDF, this used to say Ur-metal, iron. Was that correct? The updated PDF and printed book however this as Hu-metal (bronze). The handle looks like bronze, but the death rune on the ingot clearly indicates that the illustration is supposed to be the iron blade.

Very minor point, the M of "metal" is in capitals whereas all the others are lower case.

[JRE]

It is a minor nitpick, and harder to correct, but the colors of Sa-metal, quicksilver, and Lo-metal, aluminium, do not correspond to the typical descriptions, which are green and red rather than grey and white.

[Scotty]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, Oracle said:

Do I miss something here, or is the corrected version not available indeed?

The RQ Starter Set Corrections 26 Jan 2022 PDF, incorrectly states that the correct PDF is available.

[Scotty]

On 8/16/2022 at 6:25 PM, Oracle said:

Any plans to make the corrected PDF Starter Set PDF available in the near future?

On 8/17/2022 at 10:48 AM, Oracle said:

Book 2 - Glorantha section in corrections document for RQ Starter Set from 26 January 2022.

First bullet point reads

Is this corrected version of the map available anywhere?

Yes, once the second printing PDF is out.

[PhilHibbs]

Starter Set, Blank Folio

Craft has a tick box, but the two lines underneath for filling in two different Craft skills do not. Remove tick box, and place two on the lines underneath it.

Same with Speak Other Language, a single check box doesn't work for two separate skills.

Also, Cult Lore should not have a tick box. Customs (Local) should.

Edited August 28, 2022 by PhilHibbs

[Cassius]

Are the updated and corrected versions of the Starter Set books available anywhere ? When I re-downloaded the Book 2 yesterday at Chaosium website, where I bought the Starter set, it contained no corrections.

[Oracle]

On 7/31/2023 at 10:30 AM, Cassius said:

Are the updated and corrected versions of the Starter Set books available anywhere ? When I re-downloaded the Book 2 yesterday at Chaosium website, where I bought the Starter set, it contained no corrections.

see

and

 

[Scotty]

12 hours ago, The Lonely Khan said:

Is there cannon that The Spike and The Block is adamant or truestone? Adamant makes no sense, as the Storm Bull followers protect and gather the fallen pieces of The Block after it bounced over The Plains to strike and pin Wakboth. And those pieces are truestone. 

The words are used interchangeably (see Mythology (PDF), pages 23, 44, 47, 49). Only the Dwarfs or a sage can likely tell the difference. 

[Scornado]

Runequest Starter Set in books 2 and 4 and Jonstown Map) - Jonstown has a "Merchant's Quarter" - should that be more than one merchant, as in "Merchants'"?    Similarly, for "Crafter's" and "Scholar's".

Edited November 29, 2023 by Scornado

[Brian Duguid]

On page 314 of the RQG core rulebook:

Quote

"Rune magic spells always take effect at strike rank 1"

But on page 194:

Quote

"If more than 1 magic point is used to boost a Rune magic spell, or otherwise increase its effects, 1 strike rank is added for each additional magical point after the first."

I believe page 194 is correct, so it may be worth adding a clarification to page 314 to the effect that:

"Rune magic spells always take effect at strike rank 1, unless more than 1 magic point is used to boost the spell; see page 194 for further details".

[Scotty]

11 minutes ago, kiryamo said:

Hi, could you please point out the link? I can't find it in DrivethruRPG...

Hi, it was taken down about two years ago as the first printing is sold out and the corrections are in the second printing. If you have a first printing, it's still available here: CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Second Printing Clarifications, Corrections and Additions 1.0.1

[Scotty]

17 hours ago, Stephen L said:

Cliff Toad Movement - p109 Bestiary:

The Bestiary lists the Move of a Cliff Toad as:

    1/3 per D6 of SIZ (Hop) 

This is very slow, a vast 9D6 toad would have a move of 3.

Perhaps it should read:

    Walk 1, Hop 3 per D6 of SIZ

It should read:

 1(3) per D6 of SIZ (Hop) 

[Scotty]

On 3/15/2024 at 4:49 PM, Gamesmeister said:

Couple of questions regarding skills

If a skill is base chance 0%, we know category modifiers can't raise it above 0 until it's been trained or increased in some way.

Yes

On 3/15/2024 at 4:49 PM, Gamesmeister said:

Does the same apply to augments i.e. can I apply a runic augment to a 0% skill to have a chance of success?

No, you have to have a base above zero to add it to. 

On 3/15/2024 at 4:49 PM, Gamesmeister said:

Same question, but in this case a negative category modifier has reduced my chance of success to 0%. Can I augment it above 0% to give myself a chance to succeed?

No, you have to have a base above zero to add it to.

Don't forget that that if your base chance is 10% and your category bonus modifier is -15%, you are effectively at -5% which is read as 00%. To get your skill up to 1% you need to train/research 6% to reach +1% (-5+6=1%).

If you managed to augment this, with for example +20%, it would be -5+20= 15%, rather than fiddle with numbers, just say no.

As usual GMs are free to do want they want in their own games.

[Scotty]

36 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Oh! I thought that that was different to a skill with a 00 base like read/write or martial arts. I always thought that a modified skill of zero could be rolled at 5% chance and learn from experience. Is that wrong?

No. You can certainly give it a go, the other question was about augmenting. I would not let players augment those rolls.

36 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

The only context in which the "until the skill rating is increased to above 0%" rule appears also says "Once the skill increases above 0%, the skills category modifier is applied", so the language heavily implies that this only applies to skills with a base chance of 00% and not to skills modified.

Yes.

[Scotty]

28 minutes ago, Geoff R Evil said:

Now Broo don’t carry multiple disease spirits so each wound they inflict passes on another spirit I believe. So in fact they are carrying an infection? I assume this is not a spirit?

However it acts, treat the result as a disease spirit. 

28 minutes ago, Geoff R Evil said:

So….the key question is what form is the Broo disease that it carries?

The broo is a disease carrier (per Carry (Disease) RQB 93 / RBM 24). It just carries the disease, with infection caused by a disease spirit. There's no explanation of how this actually works (as it's magic), but perhaps the broo acts a disease spirit vortex and its carved runes are a portal to the Middle World, or perhaps it carries a giant disease spirit that buds off smaller ones, or it attracts disease spirits that hover around it as a cloud and infect those it come into contact with...

(added to Q&A)

[Scotty]

On 3/31/2024 at 8:17 AM, Gamesmeister said:

Is the Find (substance) rune spell the same as the Command (species) rune spell in that you specify the substance (or species) up front when you acquire the spell?

Yes, eg Find Gold, Find Truestone, Find Water

On 3/31/2024 at 8:17 AM, Gamesmeister said:

Or can you choose the substance each time you cast the spell?

You can of course run it this way, but note the Rune varies depending on substance.