Anti-glorantha rant to moongose.

[AKAmra]

I'd LOVE to see a good western Europe style fantasy setting, something similar to Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk (actually successful sales-wise).

There is... if you can read Italian :twisted:

http://www.gdrshop.it/runequest/91-la-ruota-del-fato.html
(and with excellent art too)

This is for RQII?

 

[Mikko Leho]

This is for RQII?

Yes, and there is the Italian version of MRQ2:

http://www.gdrshop.it/runequest/88-runequest.html

 

[duncan_disorderly]

Are you saying Glorantha is too weird, or not weird enough?

I'm saying is corny,and low sales are backing me,read in the state.

I don't think low sales of MRQII is anything to do with the fact that it supports Glorantha. The major problem is the poor quality of the First edition MRQ, followed by the production problems which lead to many people abandoning MRQ as a bad job - People gave Mongoose a chance to show they could handle the RQ legacy, and they blew it. The MRQII books are in a completly different league, but many people are not prepared to risk any more money with Mongoose.

(If MRQ did not support Glorantha, I would have bailed out after the core rules... )

 

[duncan_disorderly]

Can I make my own world?. Sure,but isn't that the publishers job?.

No. There are a lot of people who think any "Setting" information in a rulebook is a waste of space.

 

[duncan_disorderly]

Just because someone is not interested in Glorantha, does not make them stupid. Pretentiousness does not help your cause.

Maybe not, burt someone who complains that they don't like Glorantha without having read anything about it, or played in it is not making what I would call a reasoned or intelligent argument.

Complaining that RQ is "too different" from D&D is also missing the point. RQ was originally written because none of the authors liked the D&D Rules - It's different by design...

 

[Nez]

(If MRQ did not support Glorantha, I would have bailed out after the core rules... )

Agreed. I may not have bothered at all.

 

[Mark Mohrfield]

question: are the sales really all that bad? The State of the Mongoose address just says "not as good as Traveller", that's a far cry from actually being bad. The very fact that they are continueing with the line suggests at least some success.

 

[simonh]

Maybe not, burt someone who complains that they don't like Glorantha without having read anything about it, or played in it is not making what I would call a reasoned or intelligent argument.

I know for a fact that I have no interest in many RPG settings even though I have only cursory information about them. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are crap on forums frequented by their fans, but nobody's realy doing that here. Tastes vary.

Complaining that RQ is "too different" from D&D is also missing the point. RQ was originally written because none of the authors liked the D&D Rules - It's different by design...

I think that point is only realy being made form the point of view of giving an easy way in for ex-D&D players. Glorantha wasn't in any way a reaction to D&D as it predates it, but the RQ rules were certainly an attempt to get away from some of the limitations of D&D at that time.

Simon Hibbs

 

[cerebro]

Just because someone is not interested in Glorantha, does not make them stupid. Pretentiousness does not help your cause.

Maybe not, burt someone who complains that they don't like Glorantha without having read anything about it, or played in it is not making what I would call a reasoned or intelligent argument.

Complaining that RQ is "too different" from D&D is also missing the point. RQ was originally written because none of the authors liked the D&D Rules - It's different by design...

Champ, I said I hate it because everything I see from it...in my opinion...is lame and does not inspire me to pay money for the setting. Do you think other people,with the same background in gaming as me, AKA potential customers, feel the same?. You can sleep with your glorantha books under your pillow and sing to them every day. And I hope mongoose makes more book for it. I'm saying I just wont buy it.

I got both editions by mongoose. Why? because I have been playing runequest 10 years in a homebrewed game,that has been going on for 20. I wanted rules. Clear ones we can all read. Now I have them in RQ2.

I want another option that is not Glorantha,that one you can keep for yourself. Not a generic setting. A cool,original,playtested setting. Maybe with a Manga,Final Fantasy,Exalted meets Eberron feeling. With cool Antagonist, like the illithids , that will want the players to buy books to know more from them. Not trolls that look like overgrown Tapirs.

 

[simonh]

Not trolls that look like overgrown Tapirs.

Ok, forget everything I've ever said about calm and mutual respect. Nobody disses tapiers gets away with it!

Simon Hibbs

 

[Ravage]

Relatedly, I don't know how well Griffin Island sold for RQ3 but I reckon it would make a superb re-release for RQII.

Possibly... And probably - indeed I believe Chasoium liked it so much they converted it to Balazar/Elder Wilds and thus to fit Glorantha... Which I prefer as I'm totally Glorantha only.

Having just caught up on this thread tho, all I keep thinking is "oh no, we're gonna get another Elderad" :shock:

 

[cerebro]

Are you saying Glorantha is too weird, or not weird enough?

I'm saying is corny,and low sales are backing me,read in the state.

I don't think low sales of MRQII is anything to do with the fact that it supports Glorantha. The major problem is the poor quality of the First edition MRQ, followed by the production problems which lead to many people abandoning MRQ as a bad job - People gave Mongoose a chance to show they could handle the RQ legacy, and they blew it. The MRQII books are in a completly different league, but many people are not prepared to risk any more money with Mongoose.

(If MRQ did not support Glorantha, I would have bailed out after the core rules... )

I said glorantha was selling poorly. Not RQ2.

 

[Rungard]

All monsters from Glorantha that are in the monster coliseum have that corny feeling Chonchon, Fachan,Grotaron,Ducks

The D&D monsters are WAAAY cornier than any of Glorantha's. As already mentioned, at least gloranthan monsters are based on myth

But what do you say of these D&D monsters?:
http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm

XDDD

Please, if you don't want corny monsters, don't even mention D&D...

 

[cthulhudarren]

Maybe it's the art then. I agree that in beasts of Glorantha there is a lot of stuff that is just plain goofy looking. Somehow D&D monster manuals with the right art and "interpretations" end up looking less goofy, IMHO. Disregard goofy, acquire scary.

 

[Nez]

Thats mint. Giant Space Hamster!!!!! :shock:

 

[Mark Mohrfield]

I said glorantha was selling poorly. Not RQ2.

Upon what do you base this, though? Nothing in the State of the Mongoose address said that Glorantha was doing more poorly than the other RQ releases. Indeed, all it said was RQ is not doing as well as Traveller.

 

[The Greek]

Relatedly, I don't know how well Griffin Island sold for RQ3 but I reckon it would make a superb re-release for RQII.

Possibly... And probably - indeed I believe Chasoium liked it so much they converted it to Balazar/Elder Wilds and thus to fit Glorantha... Which I prefer as I'm totally Glorantha only.

Griffin Mountain in Balazar and the Elder Wilds was around before RQ3 and Griffin Island. It was converted to Griffin Island for RQ3 because it was such a stonkingly good product.

 

[Deleriad]

Relatedly, I don't know how well Griffin Island sold for RQ3 but I reckon it would make a superb re-release for RQII.

Possibly... And probably - indeed I believe Chasoium liked it so much they converted it to Balazar/Elder Wilds and thus to fit Glorantha... Which I prefer as I'm totally Glorantha only.

Griffin Mountain in Balazar and the Elder Wilds was around before RQ3 and Griffin Island. It was converted to Griffin Island for RQ3 because it was such a stonkingly good product.

Very, very originally, Griffin Mountain was a gateway product but Greg Stafford liked it so much he converted it to Glorantha for RQ2. When RQ3 came around it got converted back to a non-Gloranthan setting. So it's been around the houses.

 

[Loz]

Very, very originally, Griffin Mountain was a gateway product but Greg Stafford liked it so much he converted it to Glorantha for RQ2.

There's a lovely potted history by Rudy Kraft and Paul Jaquays of Griffin Mountain's history in the Moon Design reprint of the classic setting. I like both GM and GI. The latter, quite coincidentally, shows how you can take something that is intrinsically associated with Glorantha and de-Glorantha-ise it to make something generic/mainstream fantasy that's still evocative and different to the usual pseudo-medieval milieu.

 

[Ultor]

Very, very originally, Griffin Mountain was a gateway product but Greg Stafford liked it so much he converted it to Glorantha for RQ2.

There's a lovely potted history by Rudy Kraft and Paul Jaquays of Griffin Mountain's history in the Moon Design reprint of the classic setting. I like both GM and GI. The latter, quite coincidentally, shows how you can take something that is intrinsically associated with Glorantha and de-Glorantha-ise it to make something generic/mainstream fantasy that's still evocative and different to the usual pseudo-medieval milieu.

Amen - when RQIII came out and I liked the Alternate Earth setting I turned Balzar into Hyperborea and placed it somewhere in Russia before I had even heard they were turning it into Griffin Island.