RuneQuest: Glorantha Starter Set in the works?

[antro]

Hi!

Does anyone know if there is a starter set coming out for RQ:G? I'm intigued by the world and like big parts of the system, but as it is now I don't feel comfortable GM:ing for my players. I understand that you can introduce things as you go, but there is still a huge amount of frontloading information for the players. I wish that when the character creation backstory reached the PC:s it would provide som scenes to play out so everybody could gradually get acquainted with the world and the system. Doing things like: Working with your parents, practicing weapon skills and combat, getting initiated into your cult, worshipping, casting rune magic for the first time. I would love to have those kinds of smaller things that you spend maybe your first 1-2 sessions doing, getting to know both the world and the system. It would also make it easier for the players to get some grounding in the world and know what that 80% Loyalty (Homeland) means.

[PhilHibbs]

Apparently yes there is a RuneQuest Glorantha starter set - at least I assume it is Glorantha, but it might be setting-neutral. That would be awkward since Gloranthan runes are so tightly woven in (most fantasy settings only have 4 elements, for instance), so that's why I assumed.

I have no idea if it is scheduled for this year or not though!

[g33k]

In another thread, Jeff just confirmed this.

It's currently 3rd in the queue; NONE of the products have ETA's/dates attached.  Vagaries of artists and authors & other publishers' banes being what they are, it's always possible that it will come out in a different order than 3rd; but it's where the smart money goes today.

 

[antro]

Thank you for the answers! Since ETA of the starter set is unknown I'll probably try to devise something akin to what I wrote in the OP. Just need to read up and work out the details of stuff like social customs and daily life for a suitable clan that my players will belong to.

[g33k]

On 6/25/2019 at 5:01 AM, antro said:

... I wish that when the character creation backstory reached the PC:s it would provide som scenes to play out so everybody could gradually get acquainted with the world and the system. Doing things like: Working with your parents, practicing weapon skills and combat, getting initiated into your cult, worshipping, casting rune magic for the first time...

Note that this calls for you to suspend the character-creation process & produce a (temporary) playable character-sheet, then play the "get acquainted" scenes, and then resume your character-creation-process to finalize your sheet.  It seems to me like it takes the already-substantial process to new levels of complexity and is much more time-intensive.

I really like your basic idea of these little "slice-of-life" scenes, however!

I would, honestly, probably do the entire sheet before beginning play, then run your scenes as "flashback" moments.  Pick the PC's apex-skills & strongest runes, look at their backstory (& the life-events from character-creation), and consider what their early exposure to those skills would have been like, what growing Rune-affinities would have been like.  Work out some standards by which to "nerf" the PC back to roughly 12yo, 14yo, 16yo (initiation), 18yo.

Heirloom sword & a (surviving) war-hero ancestor?  Play out the first time Grandpa/whoever allowed them to wield that sword (obviously, after learning with various beaters & lesser weapons).  Movement-Rune Affinity?  Play out the time they Crit'ed an Rune-Augment (that is to say, don't roll that one roll, fiat the Crit) to chase after a runaway cow, and ran it down on foot.

 

I observe that this looks like it might involve a lot of 1:1 scenes between GM/NPC and proto-Adventurer.Even in the same clan, they won't usually be learning the same lessons at the same time.  4 scenes that take 30m to play through (and if part of the plan is to teach the rules, 30m is an optimistic timeframe) is 2 hours.

Per character.

If you have half a dozen players at the table, that's a LOT of time for each of the other players to be sitting around with -- effectively -- nothing to do!

 

[Lordabdul]

8 hours ago, antro said:

Since ETA of the starter set is unknown I'll probably try to devise something akin to what I wrote in the OP. 

You could also consider the Quickstart Rules & Adventure?

[antro]

4 hours ago, g33k said:

Note that this calls for you to suspend the character-creation process & produce a (temporary) playable character-sheet, then play the "get acquainted" scenes, and then resume your character-creation-process to finalize your sheet.  It seems to me like it takes the already-substantial process to new levels of complexity and is much more time-intensive.

I really like your basic idea of these little "slice-of-life" scenes, however!...

...I observe that this looks like it might involve a lot of 1:1 scenes between GM/NPC and proto-Adventurer.Even in the same clan, they won't usually be learning the same lessons at the same time.  4 scenes that take 30m to play through (and if part of the plan is to teach the rules, 30m is an optimistic timeframe) is 2 hours...

I'll have to look at it closer, but as you are pointing out it won't be feasible to just take the current char gen process and just try to play in the middle of it. Something to what you're proposing sounds much better!

 

Thanks for the great ideas of what those slice-of-life scenes could be. My regular group is myself and 3 players so the downtime isn't quite that much. But I'm thinking that I'll probably do one of two things:

1. Play out the scenes as 1-on-1 sessions between myself and each player. We do this in other games and it works great.

2. Vastly reduce the number of slices that you're looking at and just create scenes that involve them all. That wouldn't let the players explore how the characters got the way they are; but it would allow me to have scenes that's basically training for me and the players. For example: "You are 12 yo and a 3 year old girl has gone missing in the fields, everyone needs to help look for her." or "You are 14 yo and some rival clan has both raided your cattle and made them scatter like the wind, help to herd them home." During such segments I could make up a plausible scenario for why the characters would be together (or in the vicinity of each other) and it would provide an opportunity for us to explore things step-by-step. Say: 1. Basic skills+augmenting. 2. Combat with melee. 3. Combat with ranged and melee. 4. Magic+combat with magic.

 

I know that it's not a huge problem to begin just playing fully made characters, I've tried it out. It's just that both me and my players would feel more comfortable with layering on at least magic at a later stage (choosing spells would take forever for my players, since we would have to talk through the rules for magic+they would want to read what every spell that they could choose do). For that I can of course just say, you don't begin with magic, but making small scenes of their lives growing up just seems like a great opportunity.

[antro]

2 hours ago, lordabdul said:

You could also consider the Quickstart Rules & Adventure?

I've looked at it and the adventure is nice but the rules don't accomplish what I want: Gradually layering on the mechanics of the system. If you are an experience GM of the system I'm sure that it's no problem to let the players choose pre-gen characters, give them a brief introduction and then help them out along the way. But for me that is new to RQ and Glorantha, the quickstart has a bit too much going on at the same time.

[Bill the barbarian]

15 minutes ago, antro said:

I've looked at it and the adventure is nice but the rules don't accomplish what I want: Gradually layering on the mechanics of the system. If you are an experience GM of the system I'm sure that it's no problem to let the players choose pre-gen characters, give them a brief introduction and then help them out along the way. But for me that is new to RQ and Glorantha, the quickstart has a bit too much going on at the same time.

Well judged. 

I don't care what the others say. I found it a slog, and I have run games for years, many campaigns across a vast swath of the Pass and beyond with the same core Orlanthi group. I compared it to wrestling a 747 off the ground, a slog and it looks impossible but once in flight it soars. It was a beast to run for those eager new faces at Free RPG days in '17 but I did like it, and so did they (I hope I had a little to do with that). 

Cheers

[klecser]

I'm also a brand new player and completely new to Runequest. I've had early success with the Gamemaster's Screen Pack (now available stand alone), but I think that the adventures included are ordered less optimally than I desired for a gradual release. I almost fell into the trap of "Defense of Apple Lane is first in the book, so I should play it first!" Luckily, my general experience GMing helped me to avoid what would have been a disastrous decision.

I think Cattle Raid should be any new group's first scenario. I think Cattle Raid provides a great opportunity to give a gradual release of core mechanics, all within a single session or two. Here is my report:

Of particular note is how I used Brightflower to introduce aspects of the social rules of the world, and how I used Heortarl to introduce augments. This world is indeed, incredibly complex, so players need to see modeled examples of "how this works."

Cattle Raid is significantly less complex than either Broken Tower or Defense of Apple Lane. It offers a display of some of the core culture of Glorantha. It allows for logical use of Devotions and Loyalties. It allows for the critical establishment of the ability to Bargain as critical. It also showcases the need to be wise about combat.

If I were to do it for the first time again, I would have: 1) maybe included a "sparring" section to introduce battle concepts and/or 2) had one of the herders participate in the combat to showcase more how it works. My players pretty much just walked about and attacked things and there wasn't a lot of the augmentation and spell-casting that could have happened.

I am also eagerly awaiting the Starter, but I think that judicious application of the GM pack means that you don't need to wait.

Edited June 30, 2019 by klecser

[antro]

That's some great advice @klecser! I won't be waiting for the starter set, so your reflections and tips are highly illuminating. We are currently playing other systems, so RuneQuest will be some time in the future; until then I will prepare.

[Lordabdul]

On 6/30/2019 at 6:11 AM, klecser said:

maybe included a "sparring" section to introduce battle concepts

That's a typical thing I do whenever I introduce a new game world to my players, even if it's using a system they know because it's likely used differently than they're used to.

It can be a scene where they're training/sparring with other kids in the village but, usually, I do the equivalent of the cliche "kill the rats in this basement", but re-skinned differently... for instance, they're on herding duty but some low-powered pests or wild beasts (still figuring out which, suggestions welcome!) try grabbing one of the cows... basically something where it doesn't matter much if they win or lose, and something that will be followed by some narrative ellipse so that if they didn't fare too well, they can heal before going out to the real adventure (and, also, reflect on what went bad, even potentially re-adjusting their characters if they realize the party isn't well balanced). And you can still somehow integrate it to the broader narrative, like "since you kids did so well protecting the herd, you get to go on a cattle raid!".

Of course that's only possible when you start a campaign -- for one-shots and convention scenarios, there are completely different tricks to use.

[Bill the barbarian]

8 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

That's a typical thing I do whenever I introduce a new game world to my players, even if it's using a system they know because it's likely used differently than they're used to.

 

That's pretty cool, thanks of sharing.

[albinoboo]

On 7/2/2019 at 1:25 AM, lordabdul said:

That's a typical thing I do whenever I introduce a new game world to my players, even if it's using a system they know because it's likely used differently than they're used to.

It can be a scene where they're training/sparring with other kids in the village but, usually, I do the equivalent of the cliche "kill the rats in this basement", but re-skinned differently... for instance, they're on herding duty but some low-powered pests or wild beasts (still figuring out which, suggestions welcome!) try grabbing one of the cows... basically something where it doesn't matter much if they win or lose, and something that will be followed by some narrative ellipse so that if they didn't fare too well, they can heal before going out to the real adventure (and, also, reflect on what went bad, even potentially re-adjusting their characters if they realize the party isn't well balanced). And you can still somehow integrate it to the broader narrative, like "since you kids did so well protecting the herd, you get to go on a cattle raid!".

Of course that's only possible when you start a campaign -- for one-shots and convention scenarios, there are completely different tricks to use.

I use the preparation for initiation into adulthood.  The local clan ring serves as a method of exposition to show different game mechanics and introduce some mythology. As to a threat I use foxes, they take lambs and chickens. Foxes aren't hard to defeat and you won't be using a full fledged warrior to guard against foxes. A success might mean duty against wolves, and wolves are not always what they seem, in Dragon Pass.