The New RuneQuest - How It Will Use Runes

The fourth instalment in Jeff Richard's design notes about the new RuneQuest is available on the Chaosium blog. This latest blog entry is mostly devoted to Gloranthan Runes and to how they will be used in the new RuneQuest.

In my opinion, there are two salient points: (1) Rune skills, and (2) Rune points.

Runes, much like in the short-lived RuneQuest Adventures in Glorantha by The Design Mechanism, will be directly expressed in gaming terms by straight percentile skills, and quite high-level ones too.

Apparently the player will have to choose three elemental runes and receive interesting starting scores in them; the example mentioned in the blog entry is Air 60%, Moon 40%, and Fire 20%. RuneQuest Adventures in Glorantha usually envisioned a single elemental rune at start.

The other runes (see my earlier post) function in opposing pairs; their total being always 100%, the worst score in one of them is necessarily going to be 50%. Not bad for a starting skill.

Apparently Rune Magic has been singled out as one of the weak areas of RQ2, what with sacrificing your POW for single use spells. Apparently a new mechanism will be implemented: Rune Points. RPs will fuel Rune Magic spells just like MPs fuel Battle Magic spells. They will still be ‘bought’ by sacrificing POW; however, it seems they will be easier to recover.

News From The Design Mechanism

I always hesitate before publishing this kind of blog entry.... I reckon most people reading my blog also scour the various D100 forums and G+ communities. But, well, who knows, maybe there are people who only read my blog, so here are the latest news from The Design Mechanism for your enjoyment.

1) RuneQuest 6 will be re-named Mythras. The book will be re-printed with the same content and the same cover illustration; only the name will change.

2) The next supplement out is a much-revamped incarnation of the former BRP monograph titled Classic Fantasy. There is a preview here, and the cover simply rocks:

This is so Old School! I love it.

Apparently it will be much more than a mere Old School supplement for RuneQuest 6; with Mythras firmly rooted in the ancient world and the bronze age, Classic Fantasy will be the basis for faux mediaeval adventuring using the RQ6/Mythras rules.

3) Rumours are re-surfacing again of Chronicles of Future Earth by Sarah Newton being re-written for the RQ6/Mythras rules set. Stay tuned...

The New RuneQuest - A Candid Retelling of 2015

In his third instalment about the 'new' RuneQuest, Jeff Richard quite candidly retells the whole Chaosium/The Design Mechanism imbroglio from last summer. Even though I was quite shocked at the news of the demise of RuneQuest Adventures in Glorantha at the time, I have come to understand the reasons behind this business decision, which, given the success of the RuneQuest Classic Edition kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, was certainly a sound one.

The New RuneQuest - Snippets of Information (cont'd)

The second instalment on Chaosium's blog about the birth of the 'new' RuneQuest is here.

TL;DR

• A short overview of what makes RuneQuest RuneQuest.
• A short overview of why RQ2 is superior to RQ3 and hence used as the basis for the 'new' RQ.
• Globally, this last blog entry sort of answers the sceptical remark I made yesterday about the draft being available for Gen Con: the 'new' RQ is more like a RQ 2.5, hence its short-term availability.

The New RuneQuest - First Snippets of Information

The Chaosium have released the first real snippets of actual information about the new incarnation of their flagship role-playing game (no, it's not the Call of Cthulhu). You can click here to get to the relevant post. I am sceptical about the“launching at Gen Con this year” bit of the article. The Gen Con is in August; a launch in August 2016 is tantamount to saying that the game is almost finished and in its very final playtesting phase, yet Steve Perrin has just recently jumped on board, and it seems any playtesting at the moment is restricted to the Chaosium inner circle, so....?

Anyway, what has caught my interest is not the aggressive time-line, it is the picture of the hand-drawn player character sheet:

I like the fact that we're ending up with way more runes on the player character sheet than in HeroQuest Glorantha or in the short-lived RuneQuest Adventures in Glorantha.
I also like the fact that this feature directly reverts Gloranthan cosmology as presented p146-149 of the Guide to Glorantha (but what about the other Form runes?).

The Man Is Back!

Steve Perrin, the man behind most of the original mechanisms used for the RuneQuest rules, is back! Here is the press release from Chaosium:

Steve Perrin joins design team for new Chaosium edition of RuneQuest

In the spirit of bringing the band back together, Chaosium is delighted to announce that Steve Perrin is joining the design team for Chaosium’s new edition of RuneQuest. "We knew that Steve Perrin’s place at the table, as both the creator and lead author of the original groundbreaking ‘78 and ‘79 editions of game, was a natural fit that harkens back to the genius and originality of RuneQuest", said Rick Meints, President of Chaosium.

In late 2015 Moon Design Publications and Chaosium successfully Kickstarted the RuneQuest Classic Edition campaign, a triumphant reissue of the iconic 2nd Edition of the RuneQuest rules and the supplements produced for it: Cults of Prax, Pavis, Big Rubble, Griffin Mountain, TrollPak and many others.

“We want to usher in the newest exploration of Glorantha with a tribute to the masterpiece opus of work that has come before. Part of Steve's role is to help insure that this edition contains the best possible game mechanics while maintaining backwards compatibility with RuneQuest 2", said Jeff Richard, creative director at Chaosium.

The new version of RuneQuest maintains backwards compatibility with earlier editions, while also containing a number of unique innovations that resonate with Glorantha, Greg Stafford's mythical campaign setting where RuneQuest started and to which it returns. This new edition incorporates Runes directly into both your character and the magic system you use, including their passions and motivations.

"The rules reinforce immersion in the setting even more than the original RuneQuest rules did, and ideas experimentally brought forth in Griffin Mountain reach their fruition", said Richard.

Seizing this unique chance to get this right, Chaosium has brought in a team of notable game designers to support Chaosium’s rebirth of RuneQuest, including Sandy Petersen (Call of Cthulhu), Ken Rolston (Paranoia, Elder Scrolls, RQ3), Chris Klug (James Bond 007 RPG, DragonQuest) and Jason Durall (BRP, Conan).

A special pre-release version of the new rules will be revealed at Gen Con later this year, along with introductory scenario sessions. A wealth of all-new campaign material and supplements for the new edition will follow.