Book of Quests for RQ6

I recently picked up Book of Quests, a set of adventures published by The Design Mechanism, for RuneQuest 6. The book is softcover, 224 pgs. in length. It contains seven scenarios, including the introductory adventure, "The Caravan" which is available for free download from their website. Although designed for use with the RQ6 ruleset, Book of Quests is not set in Glorantha (although no doubt, it could be with minor adjustments). The genre is strongly sword-and-sorcery, which is also a clear departure from the Gloranthan norm. Magic is rare and sorcery, in particular, is almost unheard of by most people and greatly feared by those who do know of it. Hence, the common thread in the seven scenarios involves the rise of an evil sorcerer named Jedakiah. Acting behind the scenes, the sorcererous villain directs his barbarian allies to cause considerable problems for a civilized land known simply as The Realm. Throughout the series, the PCs slowly learn of Jedakiah's schemes and of dark secrets long forgotten.

In the end, of course, only they can thwart his evil machinations. The book seems to be well-written, with an excellent index (unusual for a book of adventures) and a decent amount of cultural background info, such that the setting can be fleshed out for further use. Of course, the final word can only be written through gameplay.

-Rognar-

Muskets in RQ6 - crunching the numbers

The guys at The Design Machanism have released a pdf on introducing firearms into RuneQuest 6th Edition. I don't care much for modern or high-tech weapons in a quasi-medieval setting, but I like black powder weapons, so this free rules supplement is of interest to me. In it, they include a suggestion on how to make black powder firearms attractive to players, give them armour penetration. Interestingly, however, they don't indicate how much penetration is appropriate for each type of firearm. I don't know if this was an oversight or intentional, but if it's the latter, it's a brilliant idea because it allows DMs to decide for themselves how powerful guns are in their games. So, I took it upon myself to crunch the numbers. I wanted to compare a flintlock musket, a longbow and a heavy crossbow with the goal of making each one ideal under certain conditions. Now assuming a typical character with two actions per round, a musketeer will get off a single shot in 9 actions (four rounds of loading and one more action to fire). During that same time, a heavy crossbowman will get two shots and a longbowman will get three. A flintlock musket does 1D10 points of damage as does a heavy crossbow, while a longbow does 1D8 points. So assuming no armour penetration, the crossbow will always be superior to the musket and the longbow will be superior to both except against very heavily-armoured opponents.

I then compared each weapon assuming the musket had penetration of 1, 2 and 3 points. In all three cases, the longbow was still superior for lightly armoured opponents (AP 3 or less). That is good, it means the longbow is not rendered obsolete by the other weapons and it allowed me to concentrate on the musket vs. the crossbow.

Assuming one point of penetration, the average damage of the musket was 5.5/3.6/1.5/0.6 against opponents with AP of 0/3/6/8 respectively. At twice the rate of fire, the crossbow rendered 11/5.6/2/0.6 points of damage across the same range of APs. The crossbow is equal to or, in most cases, superior to the musket across the entire range, so obviously more penetration is called for. For two points of penetration, the following damage results were calculated:
musket - 5.5/4.5/2.1/1
and for three points of penetration, it was:
musket - 5.5/5.5/2.5/1.5

Comparing these results to those of the crossbow, which of course, are unchanged, we can see that in the latter case, the musket is equal to or better than the crossbow at most APs except for the most lightly-armoured and that is the range where the longbow is superior to both. However, for a penetration of two, we see a nice balance. The longbow is best for the low APs, the crossbow is a bit better than the musket in the middle range and the musket is best for the walking tanks.

-Rognar-

What I'm looking forward to in 2013

As I write this, our friends in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania have already wrung in the New Year. Hopefully, if the US government can come to some kind of compromise over the fiscal cliff (sadly, not looking promising at the moment), we may start to see some signs of improvement in the global economy in 2013. Hope springs eternal.

On the gaming front, most of what I'm looking forward to is coming from The Design Mechanism and Mongoose. First from Peter Nash at the Design Mechanism, there is Monster Island for RuneQuest 6. Due for release early in 2013, Monster Island combines the features of a setting, a sourcebook and a bestiary in one book. Looks like a solid first supplement for RQ6. Following up later in the spring will be Book of Quests, a loose campaign of seven scenarios with a sword-and-sorcery feel.

From Mongoose, I'm mainly interested in the 2300 AD product line. I've been patiently awaiting the long-promised releases of French Arm Adventures and Tools for Frontier Living for several months now. Hopefully, my patience will be rewarded in the coming months.

-Rognar-

Skill use and combat in RuneQuest 6

Skills in RQ6 are based on percentiles. A roll equal to or less than the skill is a success, higher is a failure. However, 01-05 is always a success, while 96-00 is always a failure. Furthermore, a roll equal to or less than 1/10th the skill is a critical success, while a roll of 99-00 is a fumble. The implications of critical successes and fumbles depend on the skill being used, the circumstances and the will of the DM.  Skills can also be modified to account for the difficulty of the task being performed, with difficulty grades ranging from Very Easy to Herculean. There are two ways these modifiers can be applied, either a straight modifier (the easy way) or a multiplier (the hard way, but scales with skill level).

Opposed rolls are handled by first comparing the relative degree of success. For example, a critical success beats a standard success, regardless of the rolls. For two identical types of success, the higher roll wins. In some cases, both opponents may be successful, in which case the DM must adjudicate the result. For example, a critically successful Stealth check will beat a successful Perception check, but the guard is alerted and may get a bonus to notice anyone else following up.

Combat uses the same game mechanic as other skills, although the results of critical successes are more strictly defined and typically lethal. Each character has a set number of action points based on INT + DEX, with two being the most common number (although three is possible). These action points represent the number of actions the character can perform in a round. Actions include casting spells, attacking, parrying, moving, evading and outmaneuvering. Players have to decide how to allocate their precious action points and may God help the poor soul facing off against a heavily-armed combatant without an action left to attempt an Evade roll.

-Rognar-

Magic in RuneQuest 6

There are five different types of magic in RuneQuest 6th Edition, each involving a different approach to spellcasting and drawing upon different sources of power. The most common of these is Folk Magic, as it is potentially available to any character with a relatively modest expenditure of skill points. This type of spellcasting is governed by the Folk Magic skill, which is rolled to determine whether a spell is successfully cast and also to provide the opposed roll to any resistance roll made by the target of the spell. Folk Magic spells are generally weaker than spells from other magic traditions, being associated with hedge wizards and wise women.

The other magic traditions, Mysticism, Animism, Sorcery and Theism, are each governed by two skills and apply magical effects in different ways. Sorcery and Theism will be familiar to gamers with experience with D&D as they represent arcane and divine spellcasting. Sorcery is spellcasting in its most scholarly form. The two skills associated with this form of spellcasting are Invocation and Shaping. The former skill works much like the Folk Magic skill, it determines the degree of success or failure and also serves to oppose the resistance roll of the target. The Shaping skill determines how adept the sorcerer is at modifying spells. Spells can be modified or "shaped" in several ways, such as increased range, number of targets, duration or magnitude (a measure of spell effect). Multiple spells can also be combined into one casting. The degree to which such modifications can be applied is governed by the Shaping skill. There is no actual roll involved, but rather, the percentage of the skill determines the number of shaping points the sorcerer may apply.

Theism is the magic of priests. Like sorcery, there are two skills associated with this form of magic, Exhortion and Devotion. The former skill is the one rolled to determine success or failure and represents the skill of the spellcaster in convincing his god to grant his request for magical aid. Devotion is a measure of the priest's conduit to the source of his divine power. The higher his Devotion skill, the greater the intensity of his miracles. For example, an Intensity 1 Earthquake miracle would rattle the dishes in a large room, while an Intensity 10 Earthquake would level a city block.

The other two types of magic deal with the spirit world (Animism) and personal enlightenment through meditation (Mysticism). Like Sorcery and Theism, each are governed by two skills, although the way these magical traditions function is somewhat different from the more traditional spellcasting embodied in Folk Magic, Sorcery and Theism. The broad range of magical options for characters in RQ6 allows for a lot of experimentation, although it is important not to spread oneself too widely as it requires a lot of investment in a given magical tradition to achieve really awesome levels of power.

-Rognar-

RuneQuest 6 - chargen

I will illustrate the process of character generation in RuneQuest 6 by going through it step-by-step. Anyone who has played Mongoose's RuneQuest II will recognize the procedure is pretty similar. My character is Kassar, an infantry soldier from Polmaro, a city-state with a culture similar to Late Imperial Rome. Deciding on these sorts of details early helps later on when making decisions regarding skill selection.

The first step is generating attributes. There are several ways suggested, but I will go with point-buy since that is the approach we typically use in our games. There are seven attributes: Strength (STR), Constitution (CON), Size (SIZ), Dexterity (DEX), Intelligence (INT), Power (POW) and Charisma (CHA). Most of these are pretty self-explanatory except POW, which represents a character's magical potential and luck. Anyone interested in playing a spellcasting character will want to have a high POW score. Each attribute will have a minimum and maximum value to begin. For humans, the maximum for each is 18. The minimum varies depending on the attribute. INT and SIZ have a minimum of 8, all others have a minimum of 3. You have 80 points to spend on a one for one basis including the points necessary to buy up all the attribute scores to their racial minimums. So, in the case of humans, 31 out of the 80 are already encumbered buying up to the minimum for each attribute. At this point, I should talk about optimization. My gaming group includes a couple of notorious min-maxers (you know who you are), and all of us engage in it to some degree, so we're all cool with it. RuneQuest is not a game that provides a lot of opportunity for min-maxing, but point-buy attribute generation is one place where you can optimize. This is because there are a lot of secondary characteristics that are generated from attributes. Typically, these result from the sum of a couple of attributes which are then compared to a table of brackets. For example, action points (in effect, the maximum number of actions possible in a round) are derived by adding INT and DEX. If the total is less than 12, the character gets one action point, 13-24 provides two, 25-36 provides three and so on. So, an optimizer would try to set his INT + DEX near the bottom of one of the brackets to ensure few points are wasted. Adding to the potential for optimization, SIZ + STR determines damage modifier, while SIZ + CON determines hit points, so some manipulation of the numbers is needed to get the best use of your attribute points. After crunching the numbers, I came up with the following set of attributes for Kassar:
STR 18 CON 13 SIZ 18 DEX 9 INT 8 POW 7 CHA 7

Now, to generate the secondary characteristics: INT + DEX = 17, giving me 2 action points. STR + SIZ = 36, good for a +1D6 damage modifier. CHA = 7, giving me a zero for my experience modifier. This means when it comes time to make experience rolls, Kassar will get no bonus rolls for high CHA, but won't be penalized for having an especially low CHA either. CON = 15, giving Kassar an impressive healing rate of 3, which he will need in his chosen profession. Strike Rank is the average of DEX and INT. It is a modifier that is added to one's initiative roll. Kassar's strike rank is 9. Kassar also receives magic points equal to POW. This is important because even though Kassar is not a dedicated spellcaster, all characters are able to utilize some minor magic in this game. Hit points are provided for each hit location based on SIZ + CON. Kassar ends up with:
Head = 7, Chest = 9, Abdomen = 8, Each Arm = 6, Each Leg = 7.

The next step is the selection of skills. All skills are defined by a percentile. The base value is equal to two relevent attribute scores added together or a single attribute score doubled. There are a subset of standard skills that all characters have. These include physical skills such as Brawn or Swim, social skills such as Deceit or Influence, knowledge skills such as First Aid or Customs and combat skills such as Unarmed or Combat Style. Combat Styles are a bit more involved than mere weapon proficiencies. They usually incorporate a couple of weapons and are, to a certain degree, defined by the culture from which the character derives. There are also other skills, professional skills and magic skills that may be acquired at this stage based upon character background and concept. Starting with standard skills, even though every character gets all the skills, he or she can only add starting skill points to a select few of them based on the character's cultural background. Being from a city-state, Kassar is civilized. I will assume also that he is of the default Freeman social class. The standard skills for a civilized character are Conceal, Deceit, Drive, Influence, Insight, Locale and Willpower. He may also select three professional skills from a list of suitable choices. Kassar will have Streetwise, Lore (Monsters) and Craft (leatherworking). He will also take Combat Style (Polmaro Militia), which allows him to use the shortspear and target shield combination typical of his home city's militia. Finally, all characters get a base +40% to Native Language and Customs. 100 points may then be distributed among this list of skills with each point equal to one percentage point.

Next, the character profession is selected. Kassar is a Warrior. As such, he gets a second list of standard and professional skills from which to choose and another 100 points to distribute among them. In most cases, there will be some overlap in the lists of cultural and professional skills. Finally, there is a pool of bonus skill points based on age. They can be used to top up any skills already on the character's list and/or add one new professional skill representing a personal hobby of the character. For Kassar, this bonus skill will be Folk Magic. So, applying the base values, plus 100 cultural skill points, 100 professional skill points and 150 bonus skill points, here is Kassar's final skill selection:

Standard Skills: Athletics - 32% Boating - 31% Brawn - 51% Conceal - 15% Customs - 56% Dance - 16% Deceit - 15% Drive - 16% Endurance - 71% Evade - 63% First Aid - 17% Influence - 24% Insight - 25% Locale - 16% Native Tongue - 55% Perception - 35% Ride - 16% Sing - 14% Stealth - 17% Swim - 31% unarmed - 37% Willpower - 49% Combat Style (Polmaro Militia) - 82% Combat Style (Polmaro Archers) - 62%
Professional Skills: Lore (Monsters) - 26% Lore (Strategy and Tactics) - 21% Craft (Leatherworking) - 27% Streetwise - 34% Survival - 25% Folk Magic - 29%

More to come...

-Rognar-

RuneQuest 6th ed. - first thoughts

I thought for sometime on whether to invest in RuneQuest 6th Edition, before deciding to buy it. I already own Mongoose's RuneQuest II, a similar iteration of the classic game written by the same authors, Peter Nash and Lawrence "Loz" Whitaker. Even after reading several positive reviews and interviews explaining what improvements have been included in RQ6, I remained skeptical that the differences were sufficient enough to justify the purchase. What finally changed my mind was the apparent lack of interest in tabletop rpgs being demonstrated by Mongoose. That's not to say they've abandoned rpgs, but their publication frequency has dropped considerably in recent months and with so many properties to support, it seems unlikely there will be much coming out for the Legend and Elric of Melniboné product lines any time soon. The guys at The Design Mechanism, however, seem committed to enthusiastic support of RQ6.

It's a massive tome, weighing it at 456 pages. At over $60, I would have liked to see it in hardcover, but it's a small company and so, I'm a little more forgiving. I can't say I'm overjoyed with matte finish of the cover, however. It really shows fingerprints and they don't just wipe of like they would on a glossy finish. The cover art is nice. It shows a female warrior named Anathaym battling a reptilian humanoid called a slargr. Sidebars throughout the book describe the story of Anathaym in order to illustrate many game concepts. As one can deduce from the style of Anathaym's equipment, the default setting for RQ6 is more of an Ancient Greece/Rome style than the typical medieval Europe we're accustomed to. Nonetheless, the rules are flexible enough to play in any setting from ancient times to the renaissance. The interior art is sparse and without colour, but what is there is decent and appropriate. It should be noted that there is little in RQ6 that ties directly to Glorantha. There are no Ducks or Dwarfs made of metal in the bestiary. Although future Glorantha supplements for RQ6 are planned, the basic rules are intended to be generic. There is so much to discuss about this game, I will have to spread it out over several postings. Stay tuned for more thoughts in the weeks to come.

-Rognar-

RuneQuest 6 - Do Not...tempt me further!

I must say up front, I do not understand the sudden resurgence of interest in the game known as RuneQuest. It is a great game. In fact, it may be the greatest tabletop frpg, but who plays it? I own several incarnations of the basic game system, including Mongoose RQII, Legend (i.e. son of MRQII) and Elric! (RQ rules, Moorcockian setting), but I must confess, I've never played it (except in my own mind). The closest I've come are brief flirtations with Call of Cthulhu and Basic Role-Playing, both of which use the same basic game mechanics. Now, a new edition of the venerable game is making its debut, RuneQuest 6 from The Design Mechanism. The primary designers of MRQII, Lawrence Whitaker and Peter Nash, are the guys responsible for this, which makes ignoring RQ6 pretty much impossible. But do I need yet another version of RuneQuest? If it's the best one yet, then absolutely yes. However, the pdf has a hefty $25 price point, double what I am usually willing to pay for something sight unseen. Weighing in at over 450 pgs, I would expect to hardcopy version to show up on store shelves with a price tag north of $60. In other words, it's a pretty steep buy-in for something which may be only superficially different from the last version of RQ that Loz and Pete produced. Initial reviews are overwhelmingly positive, but I suppose I will have to wait to find out if RQ6 is significantly improved over MRQII.

-Rognar-

Age of Treason campaign setting for MRQII/Legend

Mongoose recently terminated its license to produce RuneQuest and any related Gloranthan material. However, it is still quite happy with the MRQII rules and intends to continue supporting the game under the new brand Legend. The first product under the new branding (even the core rules aren't released yet) is Age of Treason - The Iron Simulacrum campaign setting. Age of Treason centers around the Taskan Empire, a collection of city-states with a decidedly Roman flavour. Ruled by a God-Emperor, who has been in seclusion for centuries and speaks to his court through a golem-like entity known as the Iron Simulacrum, the Taskan Empire is a potent and enlightened nation at the height of its power. This is in contrast with the frequent fantasy rpg trope of a campaign world living in the shadow of an ancient golden age. The golden age of the Taskan Empire is now. However, as with all great empires, the fall begins long before it becomes apparent to all. Rivals from beyond her borders grow more confident, while would-be rulers from within grow restless and the masses, comfortable in their prosperity, are none the wiser. It is up to the player characters to battle the treasonous forces that seek to undermine the Empire...or perhaps, join them.

Age of Treason introduces a few new rules to distinguish it from the standard MRQII ruleset. Most obviously, Common Magic is no longer available to everyone. This was always controversial anyway, being a feature of the Glorantha campaign setting that elicited strong feelings on both sides. My own feeling is that magic should be rare. When every blacksmith and barmaid knows a few minor spells, it creates a feeling of magic as being mundane and ordinary. So, I'm gladdened by this change. Common Magic doesn't exist as a discrete type of magic in the campaign setting, rather being mixed in with other sources of power and cultural factors. The other major types of magic from MRQII, namely Divine Magic, Spirit Magic and Sorcery are all present, however. Another important change is the addition of a new characteristic, Social Status (SOC), in keeping with a general emphasis on intrigue and social interaction prevalent in the setting.

While it is generally expected that most players will be citizens of the Empire, other races are possible. Interestingly, there are only humans in this world, but some are so different from the mainstream that they might as well be different species'. For example, there is a brutal race of barbarians called the Orcs of Kasperan who practice human sacrifice on a massive scale to appease their vile gods. Although technically human, their physical appearance and brutal behaviour are certainly congruent with D&D-style orcs.

Religion in the setting is complex and integral to every aspect of the campaign. By virtue of being a citizen of the Empire, everyone has a Pact with the Imperial cult. However, there are other gods which characters may also form into Pacts with and, indeed, any character wanting to use Divine Magic will have to do this as the Emperor has not achieved full divinity and cannot grant spells. In keeping with the RuneQuest tradition, there are all manner of mystery cults and funeral clubs to join. All worship is understood to be transactional. A character agrees to worship a particular god, granting power to that divine being, in exchange for some measure of favour in the present and protection in the afterlife.

It's all pretty cool stuff and a bit of a departure from the standard fantasy campaign setting fare. The book itself is 200 pages, hardcover with all black-and-white interior art and fairly striking cover art. It includes a 70 page mini-campaign to get you started and sells for about $40. For fans of MRQII, it's a pretty solid investment.

-Rognar-

My latest obsession - MRQII and Elric

Ever since I picked up RuneQuest II from Mongoose last year, I've been looking for a suitable setting for it. I finally found what I was looking for when I bought the Elric of Melniboné Core Rulebook last week. Although published last year, I never really felt compelled to give it a look until recently and I'm glad I did. Now I will confess, I've always found the Elric saga a bit of a hard slog. While not especially complicated plotwise, Moorcock's writing has, for me at least, always been easier to put down than to pick back up again. I have read all the books in the Elric saga, but it took years. Having said that, the setting of the series is impressive. Melniboné and the Young Kingdoms is quite possibly the most perfect campaign world possible for a dark fantasy rpg and Mongoose has done an admirable job of bringing it to life.

Not surprisingly, the book starts off with some 35 pages of history and geography of the Young Kingdoms. Though probably not necessary for most players, GMs will find some useful background in here for running a campaign. The second chapter deals with character generation. Human is the default race and many GMs may decide just to allow humans. However, rules are included for playing Melnibonéans, Half-Melnibonéans and several minor humanoid races from various time periods including a race of extinct giants called the Karasim, a winged race called the Myyrrhn and a primitive, dwarf-like race called the Pukwadji. In addition to the new races, new cultures are added to supplement the four already provided in MRQII, Civilised, Barbarian, Nomad and Primitive. The new cultures are Melnibonéan, Poor, Outlaw and Wanderer of the Time Streams. The first three are pretty self-explanatory, but for those who have not read a lot of Moorcock's stories, the last one might need some explanation. The world of Elric is just one of many in Moorcock's Multiverse, known as the Million Spheres. The worlds of the Million Spheres are connected to each other by several overriding concepts, such as the Eternal Champion, who is destined to fight for Balance in each world. Besides Elric, other manifestations of the Eternal Champion include Dorian Hawkmoon, Earl Aubec and Corum. Some characters, including Elric himself, have been able to transport themselves between worlds within the Million Spheres, while others do so unintentionally. Characters who shift from world to world are Time Stream Wanderers. Needless to say, such characters are a challenge for both players and GMs. Also included in this chapter are new skills, such as Dreamtheft, Rune Casting and Witch Sight. Most of these new skills relate to the unique magic systems in the game (see below).

After a brief chapter on currency and equipment, there is a discussion of metaphysics. The eternal conflict between Law and Chaos is central to Moorcock's stories. Powerful forces on both sides struggle through their mortal proxies to control the Multiverse, while the somewhat quieter force of Balance seeks to ensure neither comes to dominate. The Eternal Champion typically works toward greater Balance, although in the case of Elric, it is not his original intention. Next follows a section on magic. There is no Common Magic, but Sorcery and Spirit Magic do exist in the game. Two other types of magic, Dream Magic and Rune Magic are also introduced. Rune Magic is not unlike Sorcery except for the obvious addition of runic symbols during casting, but Dream Magic is quite different and rather unique to the Elric stories. There are two types of Dream Magic, Dreamtheft and DreamQuesting. The former involves the theft of someone else's dreams for the benefit of either the Dreamthief or a client. Stolen dreams can provide insight into the dreamer's personality and motivations, can aid in the solution of a dilemma into which the dreamer might have some insight or even allow the recipient of the stolen dream to improve a skill which the dreamer possessed. DreamQuesting, on the other hand, allows a dreamer to travel to alternate worlds or distant time periods to experience real events. It is a particularly popular pastime for Melnibonéans, which is why their capital city of Imrryr is known as the Dreaming City.

A large chapter on cults is next. Cults play a big role in the various versions of RuneQuest as a source of knowledge, both magical and mundane. Typically, every character will belong to a cult. The cults in the Elric of Melniboné Core Rulebook revolve around the various Lords described in the Elric saga. These include the Lords of Law and Chaos, the Elemental Lords and the Beast and Plant Lords. The book finishes with a chapter on monsters and prominent NPCs, another on tips for GMs and a final one on playing the game in other eras beyond that covered in the Elric saga. All-in-all, it's a pretty solid core book. It is well-written and, perhaps even more importantly, given Mongoose's track record, well-edited. The interior art is sparse and all black-and-white, but competent. If you like RuneQuest II and seek a campaign setting that doesn't have any Ducks, this may be just what you're looking for.

-Rognar-

Yay! More RuneQuest

As mentioned previously, Mongoose has unburdened itself of RuneQuest and Glorantha, but will continue to publish its MRQII rules in a new game called Legend. Now, two of the game designers that worked on MRQII have started their own company and negotiated the rights to RuneQuest from Issaries and will release a new edition, RuneQuest 6, next year. This will make four major tabletop rpgs in print, Basic RolePlaying, Call of Cthulhu, Legend and RuneQuest 6 based on the BRP game engine. Does this represent a renaissance for the venerable system? My guess is probably not. I don't get the sense that a gritty and realistic game like BRP appeals to the younger gamer looking for the anime-inspired hyperpowerful characters wielding ridiculously oversized weapons. Still, it seems the game has endured and continues to attract a following. I just hope they don't oversaturate the market.

-Rognar-

More on Mongoose, MRQII and Wayfarer

As I posted previously, Mongoose has not renewed its license to publish RuneQuest and the Glorantha campaign setting. It will, however, continue to publish the core rules in a new format, originally called Wayfarer. However, there is a game called Wayfarers and by a strange twist of fate, the company that produces it has approached Mongoose about a publishing arrangement. Mongoose has agreed (beware of referer spam page) and has also decided to rename its new RQ clone Legend. Since I already have MRQII and Legend is supposed to be virtually identical to MRQII with the Glorantha-specific material removed, these developments would not normally be of much interest. However, Mongoose has decided to make Legend OGL. This is awesome, or it would be, except for the little caveat that there will be no SRD. Yeah, that's right. You can freely use anything from Legends in your publications, but you have to have the book. So, to Mongoose, from the handful of gamers out there that don't publish their own work (i.e. 99.9% of us), thanks for thinking of us.

-Rognar-

Mongoose and RuneQuest/Glorantha part ways

Mongoose has announced it will discontinue its licensing agreement with Issaries to publish RuneQuest II and any related Glorantha-specific material. It will, however, retain its core MRQII rules, which it intends to repackage as a new fantasy rpg called Wayfarer. It will port its other IPs that use the MRQII rules (Deus Vult, Wraith Recon, Eternal Champion) to the Wayfarer system.

I really like the core rules and don't care much for the eccentricities of Glorantha, so this looks like it might be good news. However, my general opinion of Mongoose is that they have a tendency to bite off more than they can chew. In the case of MRQII, the core rulebook and Monster Coliseum were both quite well-done, but some of the later supplements, notably Necromantic Arts and Arms & Equipment were seriously flawed. Also, Mongoose doesn't have a reputation for timely releases of errata. So, I'm, at best, ambivalent about this development. If Mongoose gives Wayfarer the attention it deserves, it has the potential to be a truly first-rate game. I sincerely hope they get this project right.

-Rognar-

A tale of two monster manuals

I have recently acquired two monster books, the Pathfinder Bestiary 2 and the RuneQuest II Monster Coliseum, so it seems like a good opportunity to compare and contrast the products of two mid-sized tabletop rpg publishers, Paizo and Mongoose. Both books are hard-cover and both cost the same at $39.99 US (which given the current exchange rate, works out to pretty close to the same price in Canada). The RQIIMC weighs in at a decent 184 pgs. with an attractive faux-leather cover, while the PRPGB2 is a hefty 320 pgs. with a splashy cover featuring an original work by Wayne Reynolds. Production values clearly favour Paizo, with high-gloss paper and full-colour art work throughout, although my personal taste favours the exterior of the RuneQuest II series of books. I may be a bit old-fashioned, but I've always been partial to musty old leather-bound books. They hold the promise of arcane knowledge that a splashy coffee-table book never could.

As for contents, well, I have to cut Paizo some slack since this is their second bestiary and most the truly iconic monsters were already presented in the first bestiary. I have recently commented on the inclusion of classic Cthulhu Mythos monsters in the Pathfinder bestiaries and I believe this is the best thing about the new release. In the first bestiary, we had the Shoggoth, but in PRPGB2, we have the Shantak, the Leng Spider, the Denizen of Leng, the Gug, the Serpentfolk and the Hound of Tindalos. Beyond that, some of the interesting new addditions include the Chupacabra, the insanely-powerful Jabberwock and Scylla and Carybdis. Of course, with any collection of monsters, there are going to be some you can really do without. For me, the real stinkers are the primal dragons and the new elementals. I never cared much for crystal dragons and para-elementals back in the good old days and I am no more enamoured with them now. Still, there's a lot to like in here, especially if you like to use extraplanar creatures

The RQIIMC is a bit different in that it maintains a theme of gladiatorial combat throughout in addition to the descriptions of the monsters. Each stat block includes advice on how to use each monster in the arena. In some cases, magical control is needed and a few monsters are deemed totally unsuited to blood sports. Another theme of the book is the use of the Glorantha campaign setting with RuneQuest II. Some Gloranthan races, notably elves and dwarves, are significantly different from the Tolkienesque versions we are more familiar with. Gloranthan elves, for instance, more closely resemble treants than humanoids. So, stat blocks are included for both Gloranthan and traditional fantasy versions of some races. Despite its dark fantasy reputation, the Glorantha setting seems to contribute more whimsy than grittiness, from the silliness of the Ducks (and their gladiator hero, Quacktacus...for real!) to the utter ridiculousness of the Jack-O-Bear (yeah, a bear with the head of a jack-o-lantern). Fortunately, such foolishness is not the norm and much of what's presented is quite good.

Overall, I'd have to give the nod to Paizo for value-for-money, but both books are very useful additions to their respective games.

-Rognar-