Loz post's about what this all means on the Design Mechanism Boards here. I really appreciate the full disclosure; Pete and Loz have always been great at explaining what is going on and why/where/how. A quick summary, with my diatribe shotgun commentary:
1. Runequest 6 will go away in 2016, to be replaced by Chaosium's Runequest which will no longer be generic, and will fully incorporate Glorantha as it's core setting. Fans of Glorantha will rejoice at last (it's been long in coming) while fans of the more generic mytho-historical default Runequest going back to Avalon Hill's edition in 1983 will be disappointed. My concern is that over the last 32 years a significant fanbase for Runequest developed that identify the game with its mechanical and historical rigor as a generic system and not as a vessel for Glorantha. If the Chaosium Runequest is still fully able to support a non-Glorantha environment, I will be happy; if it requires a little work or is too distinct a product of its setting then I will have to sit this one out.....I get that Glorantha is appreciated, and I appreciate that; but I am an old gamer dude and my world/setting investment lies elsewhere.
2. Loz and Pete can continue to support RQ with supplemental material through the Design Mechanism. This is good...have you seen the RQ6 supplements? They are stellar books, meaty and ambitious. Monster Island and Mythic Britain are two of the best books I own.
3. Loz does not know the status on Chaosium's existing games, i.e. Magic World, the only one occupying the same creative/genre space as Runequest. Good news I suppose is if the new RQ is specifically a Glorantha-focused rule set (welcome back to 1978 I guess) then maybe Magic World will continue to exist for those who prefer a non-Gloranthafied edition of the BRP system.
4. The new RQ will be mechanically identical to RQ6 (or close enough I guess). This is good; it's probably the best iteration of BRP on the market, and frankly a future revision of BRP should --in my opinion-- borrow more from RQ6 than from CoC 7th. Or do what it always does and provide all the options for both.
Does it ever seem to you that RQ is cursed? It can't maintain a status quo for anything. Maybe Greg Stafford could have just let them maintain the license.
ReplyDeleteIt does feel that way at times. Runequest has always had a bit of an identity crisis as well thanks to the split between fans of the system and fans of Glorantha.
DeleteI hope they can pull this off. I'm returning to the hobby after a 30 year absence and I want there to be a Runequest while I'm here.
ReplyDeleteSame here!
DeleteOverall this is a great development for the 'RuneQuest community', as the game now will enjoy the same impressive distribution network as the Call of Cthulhu. I'm disappointed that the setting-neutral version of RQ will go away, but at least non-Glorantha material will continue to be produced by the Design Mechanism.
ReplyDeleteI think it will definitely get much better exposure now that it's back with Chaosium, that's for sure.
DeleteI missed playing the original version back then, so it's exciting they're getting it all back together.
ReplyDeleteRQII (along with T&T) were the systems that broke e out from being a D&D gamer into being an RPGer...so definitely nice to see this happen (even if I don't do Glorantha anymore). I still have my boxed RQII set on the shelf.
DeleteThe Design Mechanism were great, as always, in keeping their customers informed. More so than Chaosium, who only dropped the bombshell on their licencees at GenCon and made the product they were touting and had spent months developing vapourware at the drop of a hat.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any silver lining here. Even if you were a Glorantha fan, you now have to wait up to another year for what would have been in AiG, and when it does come you have to buy it together with the rules you probably already have in the form of RQ6.
I think that even with Greg and Sandy at the helm Chaosium has to prove itself once more.
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