More tolkienesque settings?

[TrippyHippy]

I dunno. I think you underestimate the markets appetite for original ideas in fantasy. And Glorantha certainly has that (albeit 40 years old now).

I wonder how much of the spiritual aspects of Glorantha will be played up? The more they are, the more it'll suit me.

 

[wartorn]

I dunno. I think you underestimate the markets appetite for original ideas in fantasy. And Glorantha certainly has that (albeit 40 years old now).

I wonder how much of the spiritual aspects of Glorantha will be played up? The more they are, the more it'll suit me.

Here's hoping you're right.

 

[andakitty]

I really think Second Age setting will help. I just hope the artwork is good without going the 'punk' look route. That will lose me faster than anything.

 

[Archer]

RuneQuest is Glorantha. Anything else is just a waste of time.

That's the danger. Glorantha has the potential to kill this new release if it isn't de-emphasized early. If the average gamer sees one image of a duck wielding a crossbow or a yellow elf with leaves for hair they'll throw the enitre system onto the great heap of niche and satirical settings, whereupon it will slide down and come to rest beside its dusty old friends Tunnels & Trolls and Aftermath. We may feel the two are inseparable but it doesn't serve Mongoose Publishing to make that so. As distasteful as it may be, MRQ needs dual-wielding dark elves ASAP

That precisely was my point.

 

[wartorn]

RuneQuest is Glorantha. Anything else is just a waste of time.

That's the danger. Glorantha has the potential to kill this new release if it isn't de-emphasized early. If the average gamer sees one image of a duck wielding a crossbow or a yellow elf with leaves for hair they'll throw the enitre system onto the great heap of niche and satirical settings, whereupon it will slide down and come to rest beside its dusty old friends Tunnels & Trolls and Aftermath. We may feel the two are inseparable but it doesn't serve Mongoose Publishing to make that so. As distasteful as it may be, MRQ needs dual-wielding dark elves ASAP

That precisely was my point.

Sadly I was typing mine when you made it

 

[Archer]

That's the danger. Glorantha has the potential to kill this new release if it isn't de-emphasized early. If the average gamer sees one image of a duck wielding a crossbow or a yellow elf with leaves for hair they'll throw the enitre system onto the great heap of niche and satirical settings, whereupon it will slide down and come to rest beside its dusty old friends Tunnels & Trolls and Aftermath. We may feel the two are inseparable but it doesn't serve Mongoose Publishing to make that so. As distasteful as it may be, MRQ needs dual-wielding dark elves ASAP

That precisely was my point.

Sadly I was typing mine when you made it

Well, that does not matter. You cut to the point directly

 

[Turloigh]

RuneQuest is Glorantha. Anything else is just a waste of time.

I beg to differ. In fact, I disagree utterly, absolutely and completely.

Some people (like me) love RuneQuest for it's system. In 15+ years of playing RuneQuest, I never set foot on Glorantha.

Glorantha is the setting. RuneQuest is the system. Each works nicely without the other. Archer and wartorn got that right.

 

[estarriol]

So Glorantha has foibles and weird critters, but give me that over yet another Tolkien clone, Elves are good and noble, dwarves are tough and scottish, Orcs are to be slaughtered, Glorantha is at least original.

 

[Wulf Corbett]

dwarves are tough and scottish

All of my dwarves sound Scottish.

Then again, so does 90% of everything that talks in my game... :lol:

Wulf

 

[Archer]

dwarves are tough and scottish

All of my dwarves sound Scottish.

Then again, so does 90% of everything that talks in my game... :lol:

Wulf

LOL, I would assume so.

Doing different voices without accent can be challenging. And as a GM it can be quite tiresome at times. I remember when I got the bright (well, I thought so for a few seconds) idea to mimick the voice of an orc that the PCs was talking to. Since he had tusks, I tried to make my voice sound like that by putting a pair of d8s inside my lower lip. Well, I actually sounded like I had tusks in my mouth talking, but the players had a fit of laughter....
Bad idea, very bad....

 

[Wulf Corbett]

Doing different voices without accent can be challenging. And as a GM it can be quite tiresome at times.

I just spent some months playing a very Oirish Gnome in BESM D20. Not Irish, mind you, I wouldn't presume to an Irish accent, but I can do a pretty good Hollywood Oirish...

I remember when I got the bright (well, I thought so for a few seconds) idea to mimick the voice of an orc that the PCs was talking to.

Since my LARP character (see Avatar...) is a Beastman with fangs (Mayern of the Telmori, in fact... although it's not a Gloranthan LARP, so it's just a name), I know EXACTLY what it sounds like to wear tusks or fangs. And many, many of the other LARPers wear them to talk to me. You get used to it pretty quickly. As such, I can manage a few orc/goblin voices...

AndyG (an occasional poster here) did a very good Newtling in years past...

Wulf

 

[Archer]

Cool. Never tried LARP, and if I did, tusks would not be the first thing I would volounter to have...

 

[Wulf Corbett]

Cool. Never tried LARP, and if I did, tusks would not be the first thing I would volounter to have...

I picture you as a pointy-ear tree-hugger

Wulf

 

[Archer]

Cool. Never tried LARP, and if I did, tusks would not be the first thing I would volounter to have...

I picture you as a pointy-ear tree-hugger

Wulf

Well, probably not. A knight, sure. A wizard, sure. An orc, sure. A troll, sure. But an elf, not really. A drow, that I might consider. A Melnibonéan lord, then we are talking business.

 

[t-tauri]

Glorantha is the setting. RuneQuest is the system. Each works nicely without the other. Archer and wartorn got that right.

Everytime the two are divorced the game fails. RQ does suit dark fantasy settings like the Vikings pack but if it's going to succeed most of the RQ supplements need to be Gloranthan.

 

[wartorn]

Glorantha is the setting. RuneQuest is the system. Each works nicely without the other. Archer and wartorn got that right.

Everytime the two are divorced the game fails. RQ does suit dark fantasy settings like the Vikings pack but if it's going to succeed most of the RQ supplements need to be Gloranthan.

It needs a good, well-rounded setting that is well supported. If Glorantha manages to deliver then what you say is true. But!...

AH's documentation of Fantasy Earth prior to the Vikings supplement consisted of a couple of maps, a sample play session, and rules explained through the medium of Cormac's Saga (which I loved to read but that is beside the point). That is to say, RQ has only ever been published with one reasonably complete setting - Glorantha.

Sadly Glorantha does not have a history of being 'well-rounded' in terms of its support for a wide range of "Fantasy Memes"; rather it is a connoisseur's delight packed with innovative and often exotic ideas. I figure most people who are early or middling in their gaming experience get their inspiration from movies, books, and videogames. They want a setting that lets them bring elements of those fictions into their game. Forgotten Realms is perfect for this as its an 'anything goes' setting. Just saw Braveheart? Set your game in the Icewind Dale region. Conan? Try Amn, Lord of the Rings? Moonsea and so on.

It would be a shame if RQ become a niche game lauded by many but played by few. It has the potential to kick D20 in the pants like it did for me back in the days of 1st edition AD&D, but only if it can attract a significant majority of gamers. To do this I still believe that you need an easy to digest setting that mimics the flexibility of FR and won't confuse those new to the hobby.

 

[Archer]

I figure most people who are early or middling in their gaming experience get their inspiration from movies, books, and videogames. They want a setting that lets them bring elements of those fictions into their game. Forgotten Realms is perfect for this as its an 'anything goes' setting. Just saw Braveheart? Set your game in the Icewind Dale region. Conan? Try Amn, Lord of the Rings? Moonsea and so on.

This is a very important aspect that can not be ignored. If you want to appeal to new players, and make the market grow, you need something that can attract players, without being to strange or to complicated to get into when it comes to the setting. If you then can use ideas etc. directly from popular media, the better it is...

It would be a shame if RQ become a niche game lauded by many but played by few. It has the potential to kick D20 in the pants like it did for me back in the days of 1st edition AD&D, but only if it can attract a significant majority of gamers. To do this I still believe that you need an easy to digest setting that mimics the flexibility of FR and won't confuse those new to the hobby.

I really, really, really hope the new RQ system will be able to kick d20 in the pants.
As for an easy to digest fantasy setting, I hope that is something that will be created eventually, even if it seems that it will not be created now (when I think it is needed most). It seems Mongoose playes the "veteran" card first, to try to appeal to old RQ players, in order to start of sales. Other settings beyond Glorantha will probably follow as soon as it is reasonable from an economic standpoint.

 

[andakitty]

Maybe they will have a 'setting contest' like the one that produced Eberron.

 

[Archer]

Maybe they will have a 'setting contest' like the one that produced Eberron.

That would perhaps be a good idea, eventually.

 

[Spongly]

What is this obsession with Tolkien, I find him overly verbose and tiresome at best!

Howards Conan books, now theres a setting (and one Mongoose already have the rights to)!

What about Moorcock, in MHO his worlds are some of the most exciting for gaming!

I do not disagree about Conan or Moorcock (I am a huge fan of Moorcocks books).
However, I want at least one setting that is more "standard" fantasy ala Tolkien or D&D's Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk.

If you want a game like D&D and a setting like Greyhawk, there's already the perfect game out there - D&D in the world of Greyhawk. Now I agree that Glorantha shouldn't be the only setting for RQ (I like the sound of both Lankhmar and Warlords of Britain for instance), but it would, I think, be fairly pointless to release yet another standard fantasy setting with Elves in the forests, Dwarves in the mountains and so on. That's more likely to put off prospective players than any amount of Gloranthan weirdness.