I be confused.... HELP!

[Mage]

SO I was on wikipedia, looknig for info about the previous Hawkmoon RPG. Then I clicked a link to Chaosium, then issaries.
So there is a game called Heroquest, and glorantha is the setting.

I am confused because, even though I know Glorantha is a setting for Heroquest and runequest, how has mongose managed to succeed with it? If someone could explain to me how the two are so different, it would smother my confusion.

Also, it seems very odd how Chaosium split up into so many companies. No wonder they are having money problems now...

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

My guess is because it is used with the Runequest Setting, and it is in the 2nd Age. I am not familiar with any one else doing the setting in the 2nd age.

 

[Loz]

Glorantha started out with Chaosium. Glorantha's inventor, Greg Stafford, created the company to publish his first Gloranthan boardgame 'White Bear Red Moon' in the early 70s.

RuneQuest was the first RPG for Glorantha, developed towards the end of the 70s. It remained with Chaosium until the mid 80s when Chaosium sub-licenced production to Avalon Hill (whilst still maintaining creative control over most RQ output, and all Gloranthan specific output). The relationshipo was never fabulous but did produce some memorable work from Avalon Hill, including Dorastor and Sun County. But Glorantha's 'golden age' has always been considered as the Chaosium years.

When the relationship with Avalon Hill ended, in the early 90s, they kept the name RuneQuest but rights to Glorantha returned to Chaosium. For reasons too detailed to go into here, Greg set up Issaries to publish a new Gloranthan RPG, which became Hero wars.

The trademark for RQ returned to Greg (although there was, apparently, a rush to claim it by both Chaosium and Issaries) about 3 years ago. Issaries won, and owns the trademarks for RQ and Glorantha.

Glorantha and RQ are separate entities. Mongoose licence RQ from Issaries and part of the deal is to publish material set in the Second Age. Most material published under Issaries and Moon Design (which now licences HeroQuest) is set in the 3rd Age - the 'classic' Gloranthan setting. This allows both Mongoose and Moon/Issaries to publish games set in Glorantha using separate systems.

Chaosium's financial troubles are not down to the Chaosium/Issaries split (although that clearly didn't help). Chaosium invested heavily in the Mythos card game during the CCG boom of the 90s and had a lot of success with it; just prior to Mythos it had suffered because the CCG boom depressed sales of roleplaying games. But when that bubble burst, it hit hard: not just Chaosium but a lot of smaller publishers too. Chaosium's weathered a bad storm but kept going and is on the verge of publishing a new, Deluxe version of the Basic Roleplaying system. Which curiously enough is the grandfather (if not the father) of Mongoose RQ.

Shannon Appel has written a great precis of the Chaosium/Issaries relationship for RPG.net and for a fuller, more accurate version of the story, it's worth a read. Dunno what the link is, but point your browser at www.rpg.net and use the search facility there and you should be able to turn it up.

So yes, Mage. A confusing and detailed saga when examined, but fascinating nonetheless.

 

[Loz]

SO I was on wikipedia, looknig for info about the previous Hawkmoon RPG.

And that has it's own tortuous saga too...

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

HA!!!! Pretty good guess on my part!!!!


Thanks for the detail though...

 

[Vagabond]

Chaosium also suffered a major setback as their main fulfillment house,
Wizard's of the Attic, imploded. This all occurred around the same time.

-V

 

[Mage]

S0 the 1990s were bad. I am a tiny bit more confused, but for some other reason I think I understand now.
Whew.

How come Chaosium grinded to a halt wit RQ?

So much I don't know.

One thing I do know: I like the d100 system!

 

[Stormwalker]

The RPG.net links for Chaosium and Issaries are:

http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory3.phtml
http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory4.phtml

 

[Rurik]

How come Chaosium grinded to a halt wit RQ?

* Chaosium puts out first Glorantha Boardgame

* Chaosium puts out RQ, an RPG set in Glorantha

* Chaosium sells RQ to Avalon Hill and licenses Glorantha to AH (but retains ownership of Glorantha).

* AH does some good stuff w/RQ (and some bad too).

* AH Stops doing stuff with RQ

* Hasbro Aquires WOTC and AH and puts AH under WOTC - Definately no RQ now

* Issaries splits from Chaosium. Issaries owns Glorantha TM and creates Hero Wars (now HeroQuest) as a whole new Gloranthan RPG.

* Hasbro lets RQ TM lapse.

* Issaries grabs RQ TM.

* Issaries licenses RQ and Second Age Glorantha to Mongoose.

* We all discuss it here on the Mongoose boards.

That is pretty much the breakdown of how we got from there to here.

 

[RosenMcStern]

And it is was also my secret dream when the RQ trademark was owned by Hasbro :roll:

Not to mention the HeroQuest trademark....

 

[Alakoring]

Glorantha is a setting for Heroquest and runequest, how has mongose managed to succeed with it? If someone could explain to me how the two are so different, it would smother my confusion.

And Glorantha is a setting for an award-winning computer game...

Which two are you asking about being different? Glorantha is a fantasy world. HeroQuest and RuneQuest are fantasy games.

HeroQuest takes a more narrative approach to gaming, and scales fairly well to extremely powerful entities. I'm less familiar with MRQ, but it looks like it's still solidly in the simulationist approach to gaming (and I believe it does a better job of scaling than previous editions).

 

[weasel_fierce]

Basically, Chaosium wanted to do something bigger and more expensive with Runequest, and Avalon Hill offered, with their far bigger production potential.

 

[Mage]

I see now. So heroequest and runequest are very different game systems then?

So there is a glorantha award winning game. Interesting. I'm off to find a copy.

 

[Rurik]

So heroequest and runequest are very different game systems then?

Take an understatement point! :wink:

 

[Mage]

So they are completely different. Cool. That way the companies do not step on each others toes.

 

[Loz]

So they are completely different. Cool. That way the companies do not step on each others toes.

Ah, but not for the reasons of mutual exclusivity. HeroQuest is specifically geared to ultra-epic, story-led mythic escapades, something Stafford has always felt was missing from Glorantha. The system is fundamentally different to, well, most systems out there and is capable of scaling characters from normal mortals through superbeings and up into the god-like. It's fabulous for a certain kind of roleplaying. HQ characters, for instance, are not defined in terms of STR, CON, SIZ, etc. Instead anything you can think of can go on your character and be rated: for instance 'Strong 16, Fast 16, Thinks on Feet 19, Scared of Heights 2w'* are some typical character abilities. But honestly, in HQ anything goes if it defines your character how you want it defined.

RQ is, and has always been, gritty and centred on playing through a more mundane scale. It's fabulous for that kind of roleplaying, and both have equally valid places in Glorantha.

I've run Hawkmoon using HeroQuest quite successfully. I like both it and RQ but for different reasons and different types of play.

*not a typo. 2w means the ability is 2 and a Mastery - ie, pretty bloody good.

 

[Mage]

So heroquest has notihng to do with d100s?

 

[Dr_Snugglebunny]

it uses mainly if not only d20s, but that's about all it has in common with another d20 using system...

 

[weasel_fierce]

I'll add that Runequest and Heroquest are both damn fine games

 

[Loz]

So heroquest has notihng to do with d100s?

As the eminent Dr Snugglebunny says, it uses a d20 exclusively. No d100s involved at all.

Abilities are rated between 1 and 20 and you roll under. All rolls are opposed by something; either an opponent's ability or a default rating. You can have abilities that go way over 20. For every 20 points you have a Mastery (that w symbol, which represents the Mastery rune). Every mastery bumps a die roll result to a level one better. So, if you have an ability of 5w, you have to roll 5 or less on a d20 and will most likely fail, but your mastery makes that failure a success - and if you do succeed, it would become a critical success.

There's more to it than just that, of course, but that's the gist of the system.