New for RuneQuest Classic: 1992's Sun County returns

[MOB]

Sun County in Prax is a small enclave of staunchly independent farmers. Their stubborn ways have resisted nomads, famine and drought for centuries. Strangers are not welcome in the Land of the Sun, but many are drawn there by the promise of gold, fame, and adventure. Do you dare enter the Sun Dome lands?

New for RuneQuest Classic – Sun County is a Gloranthan campaign supplement for RuneQuest's 3rd edition, first published in 1992. This fully remastered version is available now in three formats:

• PDF (which of course didn't exist in 1992) – $11.99
• Soft cover with B&W interior, like the original version – $23.99 (price inc PDF);
• and a new special hard cover version with color interior, thanks to talents of Chaosium 'head of nostalgia' Rick Meints and community ambassador/guru Nick Brooke – $35.99 (price inc PDF).

RPG historian Shannon Appelcline (Designers & Dragons) has written a new foreword for the book. In it he describes how Sun County was "an instant classic" on release. It ushered in a short-lived but brilliant 'RuneQuest Renaissance" for the game's third edition, with a further five well-regarded Gloranthan titles released from 1992-1995 under the creative auspices of 'Rune Czar' Ken Rolston. Shannon also notes that such is Sun County's influence on Gloranthan creators, the themes and settings of the "RuneQuest Renaissance" are still strongly reflected today in Chaosium's Jonstown Compendium community content program.

What the reviewers say

"It feels a bit ridiculous to sit here in 2024 and have to say nice things about Sun County. Telling you Sun County stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the greatest RQ game books (or heck, game books in general) feels like explaining that water is wet and chocolate is really good. It feels like something we just all know. Yet RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha has initiated a lot of new members into the Glorantha Tribe, and they need to know how good this book was (and now "is")... Sun County is a must for Glorantha fans, particularly those who enjoy its spiritual successors like the Sandheart series or Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome." — Andrew Logan Montgomery.

"The new edition has been carefully crafted to maintain the integrity of the original while incorporating modern touches. Enhanced with color interiors in its hardcover version, it serves both as a nostalgic piece for long-time fans and an accessible entry point for new players. This edition includes scenarios, detailed cultural and historical notes, and contributions from a talented team of creators, including Michael O’Brien, Ken Rolston, and Greg Stafford, among others." — Tabletop Gaming News.

Note: as with our other RuneQuest Classic titles, Sun County has not been updated to use the current edition of the rules. Conversion notes are in the back of the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Core Rulebook or download the free conversion guide.

Sun County cover art by Roger Raupp

Edited December 9, 2024 by MOB

[AndrewTBP]

Huzzah!

[Bill the barbarian]

It’s stuff like the above the brought back the full love of RQ for me in the last millennium (age?)! Not that it ever went away. Thanks for bringing it back for th new age folks! I mean, just look at the legendary names on that book. I’m so happy!

WOW!

Edited December 3, 2024 by Bill the barbarian

[DreadDomain]

The remastered PDF looks really good! More RQ3 please!

Edited December 3, 2024 by DreadDomain

[Russ Massey]

My original copy is still in pretty good nick, eve though it gets a lot of use with the Sandheart campaign I'm running, but I might be tempted to get the hard back. Would it be possible to see an example of one of the interior colour illustrations?

[Nick Brooke]

There are very few interior colour illustrations, unless you count the blue space-fillers from the original edition. There’s a reproduced vintage colour advertisement at the front of the book, the back-of-the-book Templar (he’s now on page 21, since we relocated the colour map of Sun County to the back cover), and a spread of modern colour Jonstown Compendium adverts at the very end.

The colour layout uses a mix of blue and yellow text boxes, blue text headers and page-headers, and yellowish parchment backgrounds behind maps and handouts. The interior art is still B&W line art, exactly as in the original book. Why mess with a classic?

I think the colour hardcover is gorgeous, but I’m biased, because I made it.

[Brian Duguid]

The preview PDF on DriveThruRPG gives a very good idea of what's in the colour layout, I think. It does look lovely.

[Russ Massey]

On 12/3/2024 at 6:15 AM, Nick Brooke said:

There are very few interior colour illustrations, unless you count the blue space-fillers from the original edition. There’s a reproduced vintage colour advertisement at the front of the book, the back-of-the-book Templar (he’s now on page 21, since we relocated the colour map of Sun County to the back cover), and a spread of modern colour Jonstown Compendium adverts at the very end.

The colour layout uses a mix of blue and yellow text boxes, blue text headers and page-headers, and yellowish parchment backgrounds behind maps and handouts. The interior art is still B&W line art, exactly as in the original book. Why mess with a classic?

I think the colour hardcover is gorgeous, but I’m biased, because I made it.

Oh - thanks. I misinterpreted colour interior as meaning that the b&w illusctrations had been coloured. My bad.

[MOB]

Wow, my RuneQuest 3rd edition sourcebook Sun County got to #6 on DriveThruRPG's bestselling titles list (just behind our newest Call of Cthulhu release, Cthulhu by Gaslight). Pretty amazing for a reissue of a 32 year old book!

 

 

All credit goes to my Chaosium colleagues Nick Brooke and Rick Meints who, as part of our RuneQuest Classics line, did a brilliant job OCRing and restoring the 1992 layout. The original Sun County was softcover with a B&W interior, and is now, thanks to Nick and Rick, available as a glorious colour hardcover! It also predated PDFs, and you can now get it in that format too! What a fascinating modern age we live in.

Edited December 8, 2024 by MOB

[Nick Brooke]

Hey, why not have a look at the pages? Here's what the digital and hardcover editions of the remastered Sun County look like; the softcover is a cheaper B&W alternative. (Those parchment backgrounds behind handouts and maps can be toggled off in the Layers menu while you're perusing or printing handouts from the digital edition.)

[Malin]

Just got my hardcover in the mail, and damn, it is gorgeous! Even nicer in the flesh than in the of (though less searchable). Love it!

[brionl]

I bought the PDF. I had a lot of 1st & 2nd edition RQ stuff, but not much 3rd edition.

Although, it was my last time playing RQ "in the wild". At a con in the mid 90's we played the Rabbit Hat Farm scenario using the books characters. IIRC, we barely killed the [spoiler], entered the tunnels and encountered the [spoiler] only to perform a tactical withdrawal when we could barely scratch it. Then since time for the scenario was running out we decided that it was above our pay grade and reported back to HQ for reinforcements. 

[MOB]

"What a setting supplement this is! [The full color hardcover] sits very appealingly next to my Games Workshop hardcovers, like it’s an artifact from a parallel universe where Games Workshop never stopped putting out Chaosium RPGs under licence."

 

— Refereeing and Reflection takes a detailed look at our new remastered edition of Sun County.

 

https://refereeingandreflection.wordpress.com/2024/12/19/sun-county-dawn-of-the-runequest-renaissance

[Malin]

Having finally have time to reread it over the holidays, I found new sections! The adventure suggestions towards the end, and the suggestions of useful Jonstown compendium books really added to it! Such a smart move for people wanting to expand.

[MOB]

12 hours ago, Malin said:

and the suggestions of useful Jonstown compendium books really added to it! Such a smart move for people wanting to expand.

As I commented on the Refereeing and Reflection blog, including the plugs for the JC stuff is also a nice call back to the original 1992 edition, where Avalon Hill generously let us include an ad for Tales of the Reaching Moon*. (That ad is replicated in the new version too, on p.121).