Rq Design Notes - Part #9

[Guest Vile Traveller]

I'm sure a lot of us here* would have liked to see an updated, streamlined generic BRP as the first product and core of future games from the revitalised Chaosium. But it look like we will get that book at some point, so I'm willing to wait. RQ7 will be for the Gloranthaphiles, other BRP games will cater to those of us who have lost (or never had) interest in that setting. My only concern is that there will be little support for RPG lines outside CoC and RQ, but time will tell.

*The clue is in the name of the forum.

[MOB]

12 hours ago, Vile said:

I'm sure a lot of us here* would have liked to see an updated, streamlined generic BRP as the first product and core of future games from the revitalised Chaosium. 

*The clue is in the name of the forum.

Just like last the initial time Chaosium produced BRP, RuneQuest will be coming out first...

[g33k]

19 hours ago, styopa said:

Between generic and setting focused, well...it's not my company, and it's easy to quarterback from the sidelines.  But it seems that if you're already serving a niche of the gaming public (and as much as I've loved RQ for 35 years, it's a niche game), it seems odd that one would design a "new version" so tightly tied to a single setting (no matter how great that setting is) that it is more or less unplayable for any other purpose, thus subdividing the numbers again?  And then to exclusively select a specific locale of THAT setting, further atomising the list of potential customers?

 

Note however that it appears highly-likely that anyone who WANTS to play in a different Gloranthan location / timeframe will be able to create the setting-bits for their preferred milieu relatively-easily.  I fully expect a plethora of high-quality fan-sourced background-rules within a few months of release... probably downloadable here on BRPCentral!

[g33k]

15 hours ago, Vile said:

...My only concern is that there will be little support for RPG lines outside CoC and RQ, but time will tell ...

I suspect (VERY strongly) that a big part of this will come down to what sort of work the freelance writers pitch to Chaosium / MD ...   Also the reputations of those making the pitch, of course!  I'm *sure* that they'll give more weight to the proposal that comes from an author with a proven track-record of quality product produced within deadline, and to those with whom they have a good pre-existing relationship.

I don't know whether to expect -- or to what extent -- their future publications to be RFQ'ed vs just picking from freelancers' pitches/sumbissions.

 

[Falconer]

Since this appears to be the logic…

      ● RuneQuest 1
      ● RuneQuest 2
      ● RuneQuest 3
               ◦ Mongoose RuneQuest I
               ◦ Mongoose RuneQuest II
               ◦ Design Mechanism RuneQuest 6
               ◦ Design Mechanism Mythras
      ● RuneQuest 4

…then the naming convention is actually rather respectful, IMO, and not so sinister as people seem to suggest. It couldn’t be more clear that people wanting to continue to play the Mongoose/Design Mechanism “fork” of the game should go with Mythras.

In fact, if they named the new edition RQ7, that might be painted as an attempt to trick Design Mechanism fans into “upgrading” to a game that is not, after all, based on RQ6.

This “fork” phenomenon is not something created by the naming convention; it’s a reality that already exists, which the naming convention in fact acknowledges — i.e., the continued existence of Design Mechanism Mythras vs. the continued existence of a game based on RQ2 and RQ3.

Well, that’s one way of looking at it!

[TrippyHippy]

The Design Mechanism's Mythras isn't RuneQuest, though.

Mongoose RuneQuest I and II, and The Design Mechanism's RuneQuest 6 were all officially licensed editions of the game, and in fact, none of them were rdirectly related in terms of a design thread to RuneQuest 3. 

 

[styopa]

To kind of go back to the generic/specific topic, I find it curious that Greg's original creative impetus of Glorantha - where it was born - was in the West, with Prince Snodal's stories and the tales of the survivors of Seshnegg.  You'd think (at least I would) that these original tentative steps into worldbuilding would leave that area the creative heart of the game?

Yet in all of its official rules incarnations, the game itself has more or less ignored the West.  

RQ2 didn't even have sorcery as a thing, while it was only in (latter, when it came back to Glorantha generally) RQ3 that we started to see our first hints of Malkionism.  Is it possible that the first non-Lunar/Orlanthi/Praxian character officially presented wasn't until Arlaten, in Strangers in Prax?

http://www.staffordcodex.com/overview

[Joerg]

16 minutes ago, styopa said:

 Is it possible that the first non-Lunar/Orlanthi/Praxian character officially presented wasn't until Arlaten, in Strangers in Prax?

The Third Eye Blue smith of Apple Lane and Ethirist are neither members of the aforementioned groups nor of resident minorities (like Balazarings, Grazers or Pelaskites - although Ethilrist created one with his Black Horse Troop). Piku did get full RQ3 stats.

Then we had troll characters in significant numbers...

The Sartar Free Army as per Dragon Pass boardgame has a few Westerners in its ranks, and Sir Rikard the Tiger-hearted did at least catch my attention when I started playing around with Heortland. But then the West gained an immense publicity boost by 1994's How the West Was One freeform.