Odd RQ Find

[1d8+DB]

So I came across something I wasn't aware the other day on the used shelves of my local game-store, an AHRQ campaign book for a non-Glorantha setting called Daughters of Darkness. The whole thing takes place on the Menetia peninsula, with a milieu that reminds me of a cross between medieval Scotland and renaissance Italy.

The good: some good maps and oodles of NPCs.

The bad: the cults provided seem somewhat generic. Altogether the setting seems a little bland; nothing really grabs me and makes we want to explore the setting.

[frogspawner]

Don't know it myself, but is it the one I've heard of as being ceremonially burned at RQ conventions?

[smiorgan]

Yes it is.

It is not as epically bad, as the ritual burners would have you think.

It has some good scenario ideas that are salvageable.

But generally it is bland.

And it has epically bad art. Walktapus picture, I'm looking at you!

It's companion in RQ infamy, the lost city of Eldarad was a far better adventure module though. Eldarad's capital sin was simply not being Pavis' Big Rubble.

But if you forget Pavis, Eldarad is not bad at all. Not great. But not bad.

Edited April 1, 2013 by smiorgan

[frogspawner]

...salvageable. ... ...Eldarad is not bad at all.

I quite like trying to salvage duff stuff. I'll hope to find un-burned copies to see for myself, and maybe have a go... Thanks.

[RosenMcStern]

Think carefully before using it. Not because it cannot provide you with some fun - ultimately, it is up to you to make the setting lively - but rather because they are running out of "flammable" copies for Eternal Convention, so it might bring a good price if sold "for that other purpose"

[soltakss]

Both the "bad" Avalon Hill RQ supplements were OK, just nowhere near as good as the good Gloranthan ones. I think we were used to cream and got powdered milk in a glass.

[MrJealousy]

I think RuneQuest, at the time, was 'Glorantha' and Eldarad and Daughters tried to spin a generic fantasy twist from the RQ ruleset. I have both of those books somewhere but I keep them more as curiosities than as something that I intend to actually use. I may be imagining it, but didn't a Thieves World book appear at around the same sort of time? Consider that along with Stormbringer and Ring World, who would pick generic fantasy supplements when you could jump straight into some excellent mythology contained in those other products (you will notice that I haven't highlighted ElfQuest... which is also on my shelf...).

[SDLeary]

I think RuneQuest, at the time, was 'Glorantha' and Eldarad and Daughters tried to spin a generic fantasy twist from the RQ ruleset. I have both of those books somewhere but I keep them more as curiosities than as something that I intend to actually use. I may be imagining it, but didn't a Thieves World book appear at around the same sort of time? Consider that along with Stormbringer and Ring World, who would pick generic fantasy supplements when you could jump straight into some excellent mythology contained in those other products (you will notice that I haven't highlighted ElfQuest... which is also on my shelf...).

The Thieves' World Box set was released in '81, so it was firmly an RQ2 supplement, as opposed to the others which came out half a decade later and were RQ3 focused.

Why would one use them? My guess would be for the same reason that DnD GMs use dungeon modules. For quick or pickup short games with minimal time investment. Stormbinger is focused, and not everyone likes the Moorcock stories, Ringworld is SciFi; and while both are good games and settings, they do not use the RQ3 ruleset. Also, Glorantha with its ultra-rich background (by comparison with most worlds) and the hyper-scholarly discussions by many of its adherents put many a newcomer off of delving into that world.

SDLeary