RQ2 leatherette cover design

[Zac]

Does anyone know if there were more than one leatherette cover for the RQ2 rules? 

I have found this image

but I could have sworn that the version I had also had a gold rune on the front cover. 

[SDLeary]

Calling Dr. Meints @Rick Meints

[g33k]

1 hour ago, SDLeary said:

Calling Dr. Meints @Rick Meints

Yes, Rick will likely have the authoritative info.
I think the pictured version is the "Reston Publishing" edition.

 

3 hours ago, Zac said:

... but I could have sworn that the version I had also had a gold rune on the front cover. 

I suspect you are conflating a memory or image of the Mongoose "MRQ2" edition.

[Oracle]

22 hours ago, Zac said:

Does anyone know if there were more than one leatherette cover for the RQ2 rules? 

I have found this image

but I could have sworn that the version I had also had a gold rune on the front cover. 

This is the picture given in the Updates for the RuneQuest Classic Kickstarter describing the Leatherette version of the rulebook (Update 5) :

Edited October 14, 2023 by Oracle

[Jens]

This is the leather-bound Mongoose RQ2 volume which may be causing the confusion-

And here's the RQ:G Leatherette-

Edited October 15, 2023 by Jens

[Jens]

Interestingly the 2019-2021 Chaosium Leatherettes look much more like the Mongoose book than the RQ Classic and Glorantha Sourcebook Leatherettes.

[g33k]

4 hours ago, Oracle said:

This is the picture given in the Updates for the RuneQuest Classic Kickstarter describing the Leatherette version of the rulebook (Update 5) :

That image looks *incredibly* close to the one from Reston (according to what I find on Google).
I can only presume it was done intentionally as an homage to the older product (as indeed much of the RQClassic KS was!)

I presume the front matter distinguishes them!  😉

[Zac]

On 10/13/2023 at 10:37 PM, g33k said:

I suspect you are conflating a memory or image of the Mongoose "MRQ2" edition.

Until someone posted a photo of it here I had never seen it so that probably isn't the case. I also tend to avoid anything Mongoose produces. 

[Zac]

Based on everything posted here I have to assume that a) I was imagining it and b) that I really wish I had picked up a KS version of the RQ2 rules as the commercial copy I picked up at my FLGS has a very large gold image on the cover. I do rather like the simple Reston cover instead. 

So we can probably turn off the Meints Signal as people are probably tired of seeing that giant Issaries symbol illuminating the night sky. 

[Rick Meints]

Chaosium licensed the production of the hardcover RQ2 rulebook to Reston Publishing in the early 1980s. Reston did one print run of the book, with dust jacket. It never had a rune on the cover (below left). The gold colored embossed RuneQuest logo with the author names below it is all that was on the cover. 

The Kickstarter hardcover leatherette (below, right) has a lot more gold foil on the cover, as we did a version of all the cover art. It is a bit more overwhelming to look at.

On a slightly related note, one thing I am wondering is if Reston used two different materials for the book cover. The cover made of Leatherette material is all I have in my collection, but I could have sworn that around 20-25 years ago I saw the book with the cover made of a slightly lighter shade of red cloth. I wonder if they possibly did the cloth material version for libraries...

I've never seen one since, and my memory isn't 100% on seeing a cloth bound version. I keep looking.

[Zac]

1 hour ago, Rick Meints said:

The Kickstarter hardcover leatherette (below, right) has a lot more gold foil on the cover, as we did a version of all the cover art. It is a bit more overwhelming to look at.

I opened my retail copy and took the cover off and the light from my Ikea LED lamp hit the gold foil and almost blinded me 🙂