I started with Runequest 2nd edition...Apple Lane, Snakepipe Hollow and Pavis. Glorantha was baked in, but since it was murder to locate stuff in the UK... especially after Avalon Hill and Rq3...we drifted into other fantasy games. New Runequest just restores the feel of 2nd edition, but with more help/support straight outta da box. Your Glorantha will vary from my Glorantha as well...even if you buy all those lush hardcover slipcase volumes. Greg encouraged exploration and customisation.

What I noticed about Runequest when we played it is people who normally were not roleplay heavy started to roleplay a lot more. Not sure why that was but it was really cool. I also think the art in RQ 3rd edition is pretty awesome. Its simple but pretty evocative.

The new version answers in detail some of the more esoteric aspects of Glorantha. Since the advent of the game in the 1970s, the amount of material both generated by the companies and the players is incredible and the newer version has many of the important landmarks, sites history and notaries in one location or book. I still prefer the original for the simplicity and appreciate the hard work the AH version did in fleshing out the Glorantha and making it adaptable for customization.

The setting neutrality was something introduced in 3rd edition. 1st and 2nd was very closely tied to Glorantha. AiG was intentionally meant to go back and be more in-line with the basics of 1/2 with some later ideas thrown in. I think one of the designers even described their goal for AiG as being "Runequest 2.5". As people have pointed out The Design Mechanism still produce the 6th Edition with all the Glorantha stuff stripped out as Mythras, but Mongoose also sells an extreamly compressed (and also Glorantha free, obviously) version of their 2nd edition (5th edition overall) as Legend. Both have historical supplements along the line of what was made for 3rd edition.

Great review. I'd be interested in playing RQ again! But you can only play what you can find players for. I still have my 1st edition red hard-cover from Chaosium, and I have my soft-cover Cults of Prax, and I have my Avalon Hill boxed set! Oh, and I have a humakt tattoo!!! RQ FOREVER!! Although I play Pathfinder 2e now, and I love it!

I am so old that my Runequest is not even here, lol; it has a picture of a Dragon newt fighting a woman on the cover.

I agree with the Andre there. I AM running 2 RQG campaigns and love it but there are some things in RQ3 I like. The separate hit locations for melee/missile combat is the big one for me

I was an RQ3 player. When I started looking about for a newer version it was to Mythras that I went. I have the new RQ Roleplaying in Glorantha, and it is beautiful, but more importantly, it is now RUNEquest. It is a shame that it is not more generic, but if you love Glorantha, then RQ RP in Glorantha is the bomb. I will however be sticking to Mythras as it is more flexible.

There are rules for skipping the family history part during character creation. Makes it a lot less complicated and dense for new players. After that just pick the parts of the Glorantha setting you like and want to use. After all your Glorantha will vary :-)

RQ system rules, because no warrior can't stand damage like a horse or an elephant.

It was hard enough to find people who'd play RQ in 'Straya in the 80s, let alone anyone who knew anything about Glorantha. I did however have experience with Stormbringer, Hawkmoon, Pendragon, Elfquest, RQ3 Historical (homebrew bronze age, Japanese & Viking RQ3), CoC, Ringworld and homebrewed campaigns based on its basic rule system. I never ended up playing a game in Glorantha, even though I played more of the generic system than I played any of the D&D's.

I’m sure someone else has told you that the Chaosium Basic Role playing system may be what you are looking for.

I would have said that the complaint about AH artwork was most strident from RQ2 players and GM’s who watched RQ go from being an equal to D&D to effectively nothing. 😳As a long term RQ fanboy I never ever had characters role who their parents were. They just picked the background they wanted and progressed from there with perhaps a constraint on the culture or setting. Something you might want to consider and really interesting review. Tx so much for sharing.

You should try MYTHRAS (formerly "RuneQuest 6th edition") by The Design Mechanism. It is going in the direction of RQ3, but doing it even more toolboxy, and updated.

Thanks for the overview, just picked up the starter set

I'm a RQ lover from way back. I started with RQ2- I had the red faux leather-covered version. But I didn't really take off until RQIII the AH version - got them all and built my fantasy earth. I backed the RQ2 reprint Kickstarter and when RQG came out I went all in again and have been running Con Games for Chaosium since RQG was published. I liked the whole you are a part of the community/not murder hobos feal it is striving for. I do miss some of the mechanics of RQIII. Which reminds me in RQIII I set up character creation in 3 phases: 1-7 (childhood) where you learn racial skills; 8-14 (pre-adolescence) where you learn your parents' occupation skills; and 15-21(pre-adulthood) where you learn skills for the occupation you want (Journeyman/apprentice). I did have players roll there age, but don't reember now what the range was (probably 16-21) and would prorate skills for thier chosen occupation. So even if your parents were sailors you could still be a mage you were just behind your peers who had wizards as parents by some %.

Like Runequest for the system elegance but like Rolemaster even better for the more straightforward feel and those crits:)

RQG's heritage is descended primarily from RQ2, whereas Mythras is more the inheritor of RQ3

I'll be honest (as opposed to my other posts), I bought Runequest as a combat supplement to my Call of Cthulu game. But as I go through it, it has a much nicer "feel" to it than DnD.

I started out with RuneQuest in school, with RQ2, and a Duck character, which involved a degree of whimsy I wasn't fully into at the time. I then bought the Games Workshop version (UK Distribution) of RQ3, which came in 3 volumes, RuneQuest, Advanced RuneQuest and RuneQuest Bestiary. I always felt there was something missing from RQ3 though. They sorta hand-waved the setting "Oh, it's Bronze-Age Europe, myths & legends time" & it felt like a lot was put on the GM to come up with setting. Now that we have Wikipedia I guess it's not so hard to research bronze-age settlements but still, lot of work. Glorantha back in the 80s was a little scrappy-looking but with the new RQ:G slipcase set you have everything you need. Chaosium have created some great gameplay series for the beginner, the starter set even has a solo adventure you can pass round your group & get everyone au fait with the mechanics, so onboarding is super-easy. I do have a question though: Mythras seems like a pretty chonky book. Does it have as much detail on its game world as RQ:G has on Glorantha?

Good review thanks.

I actually quite liked the presentation of RQ3 when it came out. And the art style was quite good as far as I was concerned. Sure, I've seen the art of Elmore, but that was module cover art for the most, the art spread through the texts was certainly not rubbish. The absence of inbuilt Gloranthan content of RQ3 was a surprise, but we had our RQ2 module material which was compatible, obviously, and RQ3 Gloranthan material was issued as time progressed, and much to my surprise, some Gloranthan modules suddenly were not Gloranthan any more, like Griffin Mountain becoming Griffin Island; same content, different setting.

If your are not really satisfied with the Glorantha world, wouldn't the Mythras RPG be a good development to the Runequest 3rd Edition?

My thoughts exactly. If I wanted to play in Glorantha then RQG for sure. Anything else RQ3 works better. I looked into RQ6/Mythras and while a good system there are things I just like better about the RQ3 design. More organic skill growth for one. Also the combined attack and parry skill bugs me and Mythras combat styles, while having some cool ideas, are just too abstract for my tastes. I like the idea that if you never use a dagger to parry then you'll never get better at parrying with that dagger. RQG combined them as well and it just feels like a dumbing down VS an improvement. Like leveling giving you benefits out of nowhere. RQ3 forces you to train or use the skills to get better. You can't just buy stuff like the Chariot Driver skill while out sailing the seas because you got some skill points to spend after an emotional demonstration of your Dancing Skill and playing in character. Also it seems the combat system seems much more tailored for man to man combat than man VS monster. Mythras is doing a great job of core fantasy with setting options and I would love to see their take on Mythic Greece and also Mythic India. India seems an untapped resource. Perhaps because it is so alien to western culture. Thanks for the review.

Why don´t we have a 3rd edition reprint? I guess Chaosium are Gloranthian lovers and they decided to bury the third edition. There are many erratas to be fixed and a few improvements to be done (sorcery MP cost, fatigue), but the game is fully playable after 40 years. Home rules are a little help to enjoy this classic even more.

Play Mythras. Mythras is great BRP and no binding into a complex mega immersion setting.

Happy Gaming!!

A Deep Dive into the Runequest Deluxe Avalon Hill 3rd edition Box set: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o9VdkqiA1srGnKM.html

I'm a long time RQ3 gm and player. I wanted to like RQG and while it is absolutely beautiful, mechanically its design isn't nearly as tight nor simulationist as RQ3 was. RQG is much more about heroes and mythic roleplaying in the way the current designers want, not so much adventure-having.

holy shit your intro song mix is wild....too loud!

You can still get BRP with all its supplements. Design Mechanisms edition aka "Mythras" Core Rules is very very very good (If you can get copies of the core book and Moster Island etc dont get Design Mechanisms extra Campaign world stuff its a sort of weird world) . You can use either/both of these to get your RuneQuest of old. Especially Mythras as a game is much under rated and in many ways updates adn replaces the AH books you know.

As a person who never liked Glorantha (the tropes were much too "tropey" and the cultures too, well, dull) I loved RQ3. For me Mythras, by the Design Mechanism, hits the good parts of RQ3 but provides enough of an inspirational framework to breathe life into a fantasy setting without the straight jacket of Glorantha baked into the rules. Inwills runs a Mythras campaign on KZfaq that is worth a watch if you want to get a sense of the game. His current "The Harpy Queen"(kzfaq.info/sun/PLYN9uanG7ahBHXJuA05Id39g3kuSEqsx4) is quite fun.

I started with Runequest 2 back in the day and loved the system and what I call Glorantha light. We never got into the mythos much nor the gods etc and we just used the maps etc and adventured in Pavis and Borderlands. I am currently playin the new Runequest and to be honest I still long the the old days. It doesnt feel the same. LOL to be honest the new artwork to me is just wierd and not how I viewed Glorantha. I'm not into all this holy days and constant praying and being forced to do things based on your religion and passions etc. Again I just want to adventure and have fun doing it. I dont like how Glorantha is so embedded in the new rules either. I wonder what a Runequest campaign would be like in a completely different setting?

Because D&D OSR is too mainstream, we are going to play an older edition of Runequest - you probably haven't heard of it.😜

Thank you for this video. I would have liked the RQ3 booklets to have had studier covers but I definitely prefer the boxed sets to plain books. The additional material you create can go where it belongs. I'm still trying to get other box sets, (ninja) but when they do come up on eBay they cost £££how much! I don't see any reason some company couldn't create new boxed sets for RQ3, the distancing shouldn't be too hard or too awkward in use. As to the artwork. While SOME box covers were good the internal illustrations were bad, no that's not fair, they are appalling. If I were in charge of AH at the time people would have been fired for releasing such rubbish. Pencil artwork can be good [ as in Twighlight 2000 ] here it is a plain disgrace.

The Games Workshop version of 3rd edition will always be the definitive version for me. I have the latest edition books, but would never play it simply because of how tied to Glorantha it is. Never have liked the vibe of Glorantha much.

Look at Basic Roleplyin, or Mythras, BRP Is the generic Runequest system

Started to listen to a actual play of the new RQ. Had to stop as character generation was going into the parents and grandparents. 😬

I have to disagree on the grounds that the 'open-ended' nature of RQ3 offends the Glorantha-phile in me. RQ Earth was a hot mess of garbage, dull and lackluster and every way. Nothing personal, though. I just think the game is better in its native setting. I'm not a total hater- I started with RQ3, so I do have some fondness for it. But I definitely don't miss the encumbrance system, the overall low quality of art and layout- and that complete faliure of a sorcery system.

Sound is completely distorted, specially in the intro but even throughout during speaking. Totally unwatchable