Dungeons & Dragons draws on many inspirations for its medival fantasy stories. The monsters that battle the players show the many, many influences of the game’s creators. Besides things like beholders and mind flayers there are also cyclops, hydras and other creatures taken directly from mythology.
When RuneQuest was released in 1978 by Chaosium, designers Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James decided to embrace classical mythology and set their game in a world of big heroes, bronze weapons and gods who walked the land. The game introduced the world to Greg Stafford’s Glorantha which embraced these concepts with a depth few other fictional worlds have done.
Humble Bundle has a collection of the latest edition of RuneQuest available from now through July 27th. I’ve discussed some of my favorite titles below, though all the titles included are worth a look at this price. It’s a chance for old fans to fill out their collection and for new fans to see why many game designers cite RuneQuest as a big influence on their games.
What Is RuneQuest?
RuneQuest was the first game to use the percentage based system now called Basic Roleplaying. Variants of this system power Chaosium’s two other big game lines; the horror investgation game Call of Cthulhu and the Arthurian fantasy Pendragon. Character traits are rated in percentages and players must roll underneath that number on two ten sided dice read as a percentage to succeed.
These rolls can be modified by two powerful sources; magic and feelings. Glorantha is a world were magic is everywhere and characters have access to runes they can use to help them out. Characters also have passions that can be applied in narrative situations, such as a Search check to find a missing brother amplified by a passion for family.
RuneQuest Starter Set
The best way to decide if a role playing game is for you is to jump in and play a one shot. This bundle offers a couple of great starting points. The RuneQuest QuickStart offers pregenerated characters, a short scenario and a useful rules brief. Players get to commune with spirits, hunt down bandits and battle a scary monster in the end.
The RuneQuest Starter Set offers a few more options on adventures that can be played on their own or stitched together into a short campaign. The set also offers several different characters to choose from to highlight how the game isn’t beholden to classes and levels. I have the physical edition of this set and it’s very well done.
RuneQuest Core Rulebook
Groups that want to jump intot he deep end (or want to keep playing after the starter materials) will find the RuneQuest Core Rulebook full of new possibilities. Not only can they make unique characters, they will create families and communities for these characters. These people give the characters a reason to go out on adventure and they can also cause strife that the characters must set right.
The RuneQuest Core Rulebook highlights the most popular gods in the setting which add another layer of intrigue to the stories. These gods actively live in the worlds and bounce off of each other with their grand schemes. Schemes that also drive epic storylines to play out on the tabletop.
Cults Of Runequest
There are three books included within the bundle that go into more depth about the gods of Glorantha and the cults that worship them. Diving into these books feels like the first time a student cracks into a mythology text. The information inside can be overwhelming and fascinating.
Glorantha Sourcebooks
The bundle includes some books from earlier edtions of the game. The best of these are the two Glorantha Sourcebooks that go into detail about the world, the cultures and the people of Glorantha. The setting has a reputation as being lush, detailed and fascinating and all of that comes through in these books.
The RuneQuest Humble Bundle runs from now through July 27th. A portion of the proceeds go to code.org.
