Hi all,
D&D is technically my 2nd RPG, since I started around 1979 w/ Runequest, set in the world of Glorantha. I've noticed in my Paizo emails from time to time that there is a new version of the game, w/ products coming out.
When I check out the offerings in the Paizo store, though, I'm confused. There is a series called "Runequest", and another series (different company) called "Glorantha". From what I can tell, it's the same world. I don't remember names from my edition, back in the day, except for Steven Perrin & Greg Stafford.
Anyone know if either of them are involved in these products (and, if so, which ones)? Or why there appear to be 2 different, competing product lines??
Thanks.
Hi all,
D&D is technically my 2nd RPG, since I started around 1979 w/ Runequest, set in the world of Glorantha. I've noticed in my Paizo emails from time to time that there is a new version of the game, w/ products coming out.
When I check out the offerings in the Paizo store, though, I'm confused. There is a series called "Runequest", and another series (different company) called "Glorantha". From what I can tell, it's the same world. I don't remember names from my edition, back in the day, except for Steven Perrin & Greg Stafford.
Anyone know if either of them are involved in these products (and, if so, which ones)? Or why there appear to be 2 different, competing product lines??
Thanks.
Here's how I understand things, which I think is pretty close (though probably not perfect).
Glorantha is the game world in which Runequest was set. In particular, the game was set in the third age of the world, in the time leading up to the Hero Wars.
HeroQuest, and a slightly different older version called Hero Wars, is a very different game, intended to scale from local heroes to demigods and beyond, with a very different mechanic from that featured in Runequest. Some people really like the game, some people really don't. (I fall in the former category.) It was published by Issaries, and more recently by Moon Design; the rules were designed by Robin Laws, with lots of work from Greg Stafford.
Mongoose Publishing got the license to publish a new version of Runequest, this set in the second age of the world, when the God Learners and the Empire of Wyrms' Friends change the face of the world and even its mythology. The game system is, I understand, more like old Runequest than like HeroQuest, but I haven't read or played either the old-school or the modern versions.
HeroQuest is a rules-light system, and its sourcebooks can be used with other systems if you don't mind writing up stats and the like from scratch. Some of the supplements for Runequest were, I think, intended to be stat-free, but I don't really know if or how that played out.
The HeroQuest site has a list of products for that line, and includes a summary of the rules system. I imagine Mongoose's site (don't have the URL handy) has something similar for Runequest.
Sben,
Thank you so much. That was quite informative! You've given me some food for thought.
Do you realize our screen names are the same 4 letters, but backwards? :)
Do you realize our screen names are the same 4 letters, but backwards? :)
I noticed, but couldn't come up with anything witty enough to say, alas.
Hi all,
D&D is technically my 2nd RPG, since I started around 1979 w/ Runequest, set in the world of Glorantha. I've noticed in my Paizo emails from time to time that there is a new version of the game, w/ products coming out.
When I check out the offerings in the Paizo store, though, I'm confused. There is a series called "Runequest", and another series (different company) called "Glorantha". From what I can tell, it's the same world. I don't remember names from my edition, back in the day, except for Steven Perrin & Greg Stafford.
Anyone know if either of them are involved in these products (and, if so, which ones)? Or why there appear to be 2 different, competing product lines??
Thanks.
RuneQuest is the gaming system that Steve Perrin, Charlie Krank, et.al. developed at Chaosium to act as a game for Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. Greg started his adventures in Glorantha back in 1967 when he was a student at Beloit College, WI.
Since RuneQuest was developed with Glorantha in mind, the first two editions of RuneQuest were essentially inseparable from the concept of Glorantha.
Chaosium took the basics of the RuneQuest system and used it as the engine for some of their other games, e.g., Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, QuestWorld, etc.
The big change to the RuneQuest / Glorantha connection came when Chaosium sold the rights to RuneQuest to Avalon Hill who published RQ version 3. Greg retained the rights to Glorantha.
Since that time, RuneQuest and Glorantha have had different paths. Greg founded a new company called Issary Press (spelling might be off) and published a hero-quest version of a Glorantha RPG. It did not have the big, faithful following that the original RQ had.
Hope that helps!
In service,
Rich
Go to www.drgames.org.
Sben,
Thank you so much. That was quite informative! You've given me some food for thought.
Do you realize our screen names are the same 4 letters, but backwards? :)
My son's name is Ben S, and our last name, Staats, is spelled the same way backwards and forwards.
Strange events are afoot!
In service,
Rich
Go to www.drgames.org.
My son's name is Ben S, and our last name, Staats, is spelled the same way backwards and forwards.
Strange events are afoot!
In service,
Rich
Go to www.drgames.org.
Rich, thank you for both posts. I had no idea Greg Stafford's world went back to 1967! Any idea what happened to Steve Perrin?
(And that is weird about my alias and your son's name being the same.)
It seems like Mongoose's version of Runequest is spitting out books left and right. I hope that means a revival for what was truly a great game setting.
Rich, thank you for both posts. I had no idea Greg Stafford's world went back to 1967! Any idea what happened to Steve Perrin?
(And that is weird about my alias and your son's name being the same.)
It seems like Mongoose's version of Runequest is spitting out books left and right. I hope that means a revival for what was truly a great game setting.
Ben, I hope so too! Steve Perrin has a WWW site at www.perrinsworld.com with more information on it about him and his career.
Are you going to be at Origins?
in service,
Rich
Ben, I hope so too! Steve Perrin has a WWW site at www.perrinsworld.com with more information on it about him and his career.Are you going to be at Origins?
in service,
Rich
Hi Rich. Thanks for the info on Steve Perrin, I will definitely check that site out.
Sad to say, I won't be at Origins. But it would have been nice to meet you, you've been so helpful.
Thanks again!
Ben