It seems pretty clear to me that although the rulebook says it's primarily aimed at gaming in Glorantha, in fact it's been written to be fairly generic. The magic system is pretty generic with a clear distinction between magic-using and non-magic using characters, and the cults aren't remotely Gloranthan. Also I wondered during character generation how you'd work up a Praxian (Barbarian with Riding skill I suppose).
MY expectation is that the Gloranthan supplements will add detail for generating characters from different Gloranthan cultures, although many should be manageable using the basic rules.
The game system seems functional and streighforward at first glance, but I do have reservations about Combat. On the one hand, it's very remeniscent of the Elric system from Chaosium, which was also a BRP (Runequest derived) game. It uses a similar format - simple basic rules with a 'menu' approach to special options such as Flurry and Precision attacks. This worked well in Elric, and it works well here, however for all it's apparent simplicity, the cumulative effect is for a very complex set of interlocking options and mechanics. I also often found myself wondering how a rule I'd just read squared with apparent contradictions in a new rule. Also there seem to be more special cases than are necessery. Non-combat skill tests have a mechanism for scaling down high skill levels, but this isn't used for combat skills(?).
Having had a look through the forum, I'm not the only one a bit confused about some of these things. I'm perfectly willing to assume that the intended rules are functional and consistent, but the rules as written are, in some key places, quite ambiguous and difficult to interpret.
That's a shame. It won't help endear the game to D20 of HeroQuest refugees, but it's not a deal breaker for most of us. I'd recommend a couple of pages of errata be produced as a PDF download, and perhaps a flyer included with new print runs so clarify the most common missconceptions and ambiguities.
Having said all that, I'm enjoying reading the book a lot. I've not finished reading everything yet. I'm off on holiday for a long weekend, so I'll give it all another thorough read, and pop back on the forum.
Many thanks to Mongoose for bringing back RQ, and from a UK based company too!
Simon Hibbs
MY expectation is that the Gloranthan supplements will add detail for generating characters from different Gloranthan cultures, although many should be manageable using the basic rules.
The game system seems functional and streighforward at first glance, but I do have reservations about Combat. On the one hand, it's very remeniscent of the Elric system from Chaosium, which was also a BRP (Runequest derived) game. It uses a similar format - simple basic rules with a 'menu' approach to special options such as Flurry and Precision attacks. This worked well in Elric, and it works well here, however for all it's apparent simplicity, the cumulative effect is for a very complex set of interlocking options and mechanics. I also often found myself wondering how a rule I'd just read squared with apparent contradictions in a new rule. Also there seem to be more special cases than are necessery. Non-combat skill tests have a mechanism for scaling down high skill levels, but this isn't used for combat skills(?).
Having had a look through the forum, I'm not the only one a bit confused about some of these things. I'm perfectly willing to assume that the intended rules are functional and consistent, but the rules as written are, in some key places, quite ambiguous and difficult to interpret.
That's a shame. It won't help endear the game to D20 of HeroQuest refugees, but it's not a deal breaker for most of us. I'd recommend a couple of pages of errata be produced as a PDF download, and perhaps a flyer included with new print runs so clarify the most common missconceptions and ambiguities.
Having said all that, I'm enjoying reading the book a lot. I've not finished reading everything yet. I'm off on holiday for a long weekend, so I'll give it all another thorough read, and pop back on the forum.
Many thanks to Mongoose for bringing back RQ, and from a UK based company too!
Simon Hibbs
