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.
