RuneQuest?? Tell me about it.

[Blood axe]

Any RuneQuest fans out there? Which is the best edition? I think there are six now. I had some old RQ books a long time ago, but they are gone.

[Vile]

My favourite edition is Chaosium's RQ2. There's a forum dedicated to it (although all editions are welcome): http://gringlespawnshop.proboards.com/index.cgi where you might run into some familiar faces (or avatars, anyway).

I like this edition because, to me, it seems the most internally consistent. RQ3 is probably more comprehensive but it seems less focussed, somehow, and a lot of the changes are not improvements in my opinion. RQ2 is a nice, compact, tight rulebook that has everything you need in a very small package. It assumes the "everyone has weak magic and priests get powerful magic" trope of most RQ editions, but that's easy to modify to taste or you could port in the magic World rules from Worlds of Wonder which are 100% compatible.

It's pretty much wedded to Glorantha, although Glorantha back then was a lot easier to digest than it is today. But don't let that prejudice you, I've used the rules for every imaginable setting and era.

[Blood axe]

Thanks Vile! What books do you recommend? There is a lot out there.
Ducks? Dragon newts? Are those player races too?

[seneschal]

There's a shiny new edition, RuneQuest 6, from the Design Mechanism. It's a massive tome (hardback, softback, PDF) with lots of fantasy options and divorced from the traditional Glorantha setting, now owned by Moon Design Publications. Both Design Mechanism and Moon Design have energetic creative teams who are pumping out lots of fresh material you might find attractive.

http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/

The previous version of RuneQuest, by Mongoose Publishing, is also in print as Legend (the PDF is $1!). Mongoose, too, is putting out support material.

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/legend.html

D101 Games publishes a light D100 game with common roots called OpenQuest with has attracted many fans overwhelmed by the options in traditional RuneQuest.

http://d101games.com/books/openquest/

Chaosium, RuneQuest's original publisher, still provides its venerable Basic Roleplaying system. There are multiple fantasy flavors to choose from: Magic World, Chronicles of Future Earth, Lords of Tarsa, The Green, Swords of Cydoria, Classic Fantasy -- each with its own style.

http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_inf ... ts_id=6878

Finally, there's Cakebread and Walton's Renaissance Deluxe, which updates the setting to the black powder era.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1 ... nce-Deluxe

Why RuneQuest 6, you ask? Well, the game has had a complicated publishing history, and rights have changed owners multiple times. For details, your best bet is peruse the discussions at Basic Roleplaying Central.

http://basicroleplaying.com/forum.php

So pick your poison!

[Blood axe]

So many books & editions. I need some advice, and to do some research myself.
Im intrigued by the Durulz, the Ducks.

[seneschal]

So many books & editions. I need some advice, and to do some research myself.
Im intrigued by the Durulz, the Ducks.

Me, too. Unfortunately, they were left out of RuneQuest 6 as too odd. The authors felt that that aspect of RQ's Gloranthan heritage might drive off new RuneQuest fans who felt it was weird or silly. The Durulz did make an appearance in Mongoose RuneQuest I; Mongoose even published a specific supplement for them. Since they're a Glorantha thing, they aren't in the current version of Legend, either.

http://www.amazon.com/Ducks-Durulz-Rune ... uest+ducks

There's also an adventure pack for RuneQuest 3:

http://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Duck-To ... uest+ducks

I believe Ducks originally made their appearance in the first Dragon Pass supplement. There's an 2003 updated version for HeroQuest, a different game system:

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Pass-Gazet ... n+Pass+rpg

... but Moon Design is putting out even more updated material.

Stats for Ducks appear in the (free) Mongoose RuneQuest I Deluxe SRD, downloadable at BRP Central. They also appear in Chaosium's Basic Creatures, a poorly edited reprint of RQ3 critter stats.

The good news is that with the free stats from the Deluxe SRD or one of the Duck supplements, you can insert the Durulz into any D100 campaign. I even used them to write up Darkwing Duck for Superworld.

No current RuneQuest family member includes Glorantha material. However, supplements from Mongoose, Issaries, or Moon Design can easily be adapted as background. As far D100 game systems and products go, most of them are 80-90 percent compatible with each other, with only minor tweaks for such things as whether you're using hit locations or a hit point total for characters. If you want depth and crunch, RQ6 is the Cadillac of the bunch; the softback would be hard for a troll to tear in half and costs about $60. Legend is much less expensive and a much more compact book, but you'll have to buy the bestiary supplement separate. And like RQ6, it doesn't have a setting included in the main book.

Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying (known as the Big Gold Book) is a thick rules toolkit for multiple genres and costs $40-$45 softback. However many of the supplements (monographs) such as Swords of Cydoria and Chronicles of Future Earth can provide a setting. For that matter, you could grab a setting and use it with another version of the rules, if you wanted to. Magic World is a stand-alone product that includes a rudimentary setting.

If you want to keep it simple, rules-wise, OpenQuest might be the way to go. It's got setting and adventure supplements in the pipeline.

Keep in mind that both the RuneQuest I SRD and the Renaissance SRD can be downloaded for free. That way, you can get playable versions of each game to examine, giving you a chance to decide if you like this whole post-RQ3 thang:

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=6

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php? ... _id=169435

Just to complicate things, there's also Fire and Sword, an RPG by RQ's co-creator, for free:

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=11

Sooo ... you could grab the basic rules for free, then add whatever Glorantha and/or Duck material you wanted to create your own RuneQuest campaign. (What can I say, I'm a cheapskate.)

[Blood axe]

Well, a free download seems the best way to check it out, thanks! Maybe I can bring a Duck class to LL sometime.
I found another old rpg on my search. Swordbearer. Never heard of it. The bunrab?

Thanks for all the links & info.

[seneschal]

Yeah, the Glorantha Ducks are something gamers either love or hate, few fence-sitters. I figure, you've already got elves, owlbears, lizardfolk, bearmen, and all sorts of other bizarre races and creatures running around. Why not Ducks, too? Science fiction has its share of avian races; why not fantasy? I guess because hawkmen are considered cool but ducks are a source of humor (Daffy, Donald, et. al.). Which is kind of the point of Ducks in Dragon Pass. The humans laugh at the diminutive Durulz, who are in reality a grim warrior race kept busy protecting mankind from the horde of zombies lurking on the other side of their swamp.