Mongoose Runequest, RQII, and RQ6

[aspekt]

I was honestly ignorant of this until recently and I was wondering what the general consensus was.

[Hopeless]

I was honestly ignorant of this until recently and I was wondering what the general consensus was.

Which version?

Runequest 1, Runequest 2 or later developed into Mongoose Publishing's Legend?

The Runequest one still uses Glorantha and the Ducks sorry Durulz, but Legend doesn't otherwise was there anything you wanted to talk about?

I like Legend having run a couple of games with it, still far from experienced but still worth a look and a handy size for carrying where the Runequest 6th edition might be a mite hefty to carry around unless as a pdf.

I think they've stepped away from Glorantha too, really miss the Ducks sorry Durulz!

[aspekt]

I ran across Runequest II I believe. The books each had, wait for it ...a rune on the front cover.

I was wondering how it ran and why it seemed to not be currently supported. But you've answered that last part if they evolved it into Legend. Which I know nothing about either.

Have you played RQII at all? How does it compare to other more current mainstream systems? And what about Legend do you enjoy?

[Hopeless]

I ran across Runequest II I believe. The books each had, wait for it ...a rune on the front cover.

I was wondering how it ran and why it seemed to not be currently supported. But you've answered that last part if they evolved it into Legend. Which I know nothing about either.

Have you played RQII at all? How does it compare to other more current mainstream systems? And what about Legend do you enjoy?

Only ran Legend and to be honest I'm far from experienced being more used to dnd of various iterations (haven't tried 5e mind you). The only Runequest I've played in was based on a mix of 3rd and 2nd and it was enjoyable even if I spent most of the game using my dr who knowledge (ie RUN!) and apparently successfully running a Duck Rogue (Sorry Durulz) who ended up with most of the loot (please note I did share what my character found and even exchanged magical items admittedly that was because I roleplayed him being a mite afraid he had been carrying some kind of necromantic artefact still never been that successful with a dnd character mind you!:smallsmile:).

Legend I went with a post apocalyptic future earth and threw in historia rodentia by explaining humanity had returned to the dark ages after a cataclysm and those surviving animal experiments gained intelligence and had prospered where humanity had declined to remote portions of the Earth.

Well my game was in a shattered UK even went as far as mentioning the cut off southern portion being an out and out pirate nation not that they went that far. Ran a few games using Pathfinder scenarios which went okay still need to remember to change treasure from gold to silver mind you!:smallredface:

The combat system I need more experience with but its still very dangerous and I hope they release supplements for historia rodentia so I can stat up the pair of meercats based on the tv advert who run their own Valkyr.
When my players learned the "Anima" as I call them have their own airship fleet and they summoned them by means of an oversized firework that required them to take shelter half a mile from the launch area I really should have taken a picture of their faces!:smallamused:

Sorry have fond memories of those games, so I thought it went over well!

[aspekt]

Sounds great. I really want to get a copy of Rodentia at some point. (Is it based on RQ/Legend?)

I think I'll use some kind of encounter randomizer and play through a few scenarios with the RQ books I have (old boxed set from Avalon Hill I found for cheap.)

Speaking of which you need to find a bookshop and peruse the 5e DMs guide. The jury's still out on the overall game I think, but having played since AD&D/1e I think it probly the best DMs guide overall.

[Hopeless]

Heard that elsewhere too, will take a look if nothing else it should bring back some good memories from reading the earlier editions especially 1e!

[Milodiah]

Just my two cents, I trust Mongoose just based on my experience with their version of Traveller. It's really kinda sad that the best Traveller version by far is published by a third party, given the original maker's products have been sliding downhill since practically 1978...

[aspekt]

Update:

So apparently Mongoose kept on with Legend and either the IP rights to RQ reverted or were sold.

At that point it seems one or two of the folks from Mongoose obtained the rights to create a RQ6.

http://www.thedesignmechanism.com

Has anyone played this that could comment?

[Ranyart]

Hi, I'm Lawrence, co-writer and co-publisher of RuneQuest 6. A little history on versions.

RuneQuests 1-3 were produced by Chaosium, with v3 being published under license by Avalon Hill. AH retained all right to the game until they finally lapsed around 2005 and reverted to Greg Stafford's Issaries company. Issaries licensed the trademark to Mongoose and their edition of RQ (the 4th) was released in 2006. It had some good points, but quite a few faults. I became a staff writer for Mongoose in 2007 and was the chief RQ writer and line developer; almost immediately myself and Pete Nash began working on what would be the next edition of RQ for Mongoose (5th version, but second for Mongoose, so known as MRQII). We released MRQII in 2010 and it was well received, but poorly supported and marketed. With sales declining, Mongoose and Issaries reached an agreement to let the license sunset.

I'd already left Mongoose the year before, but when I heard that the license was available I chatted with Greg and a few others about potentially taking it on. In 2011 we finally reached an agreement and Pete Nash and I formed Design Mechanism to publish the 6th edition of the game. We took MRQII (by now known as Legend) as the base, rewrote it, streamlined many areas, fixed a lot of little quirks (MRQII was rushed into production with page count and play testing curtailed) and expanded it into a complete system in one book. It's been very, very well received and sales remain strong.

RQ6 isn't tied to Glorantha. No edition has been since v3 by Avalon Hill. We have a growing range of campaign and setting books and will be releasing a Glorantha supplement this year. So far we have published:

Book of Quests (7 linked sword and sorcery adventures)
Monster Island (sandbox setting and a monster manual)
Shores of Korantia (campaign and setting)
Taskan Empire (setting in the same world as Korantia)
Mythic Britain (setting and campaign in Dark Ages Britain, around the time of the Saxon invasion)
Hessaret's Treasure (adventure set in the campaign world of Book of Quests)
Ships & Shield Walls (mass combat rules and ship design system)
Sariniya's Curse (introductory adventure with a Harryhausen vibe)

We have also released a trimmed-down version of the system, RuneQuest Essentials, which is free in PDF or can be bought in print copy from Lulu. It's a great gateway to the full game and gives you a very good idea of the various magic systems, combat, character creation and so on.

This year we will be releasing:

Luther Arkwright: Roleplaying Across the Parallels (SF setting based on Bryan Talbot's graphic novels)
Adventures in Glorantha
Classic Fantasy (taking RQ into OSR territory with a game emulating dungeoneering campaigns)
Blood Rock (a sandbox campaign)

So lots going on. Do visit us at www.thedesignmechanism.com

[aspekt]

Sorry I went dark on the forums and missed this post.

Lawrence thank you so much. As a roleplayer I enjoy stories and hearing the details was interesting. I hadn't realized you all were in touch with Stafford before taking this on. From perusing the RQ2 core book I really liked what I saw.

A while ago I ran across Mythic Britain and as a fan of that era and settings (let's hear a cheer for Pendragon) it looked really intriguing. I will certainly be checking out RQ6.

Thanks again for the input.