Well... This is a bolt out of the blue.... There I am idly pointing and clicking and I find this - effectively RQ4!
Having just come back from a weekend away playing HQ and ending up with two England Football penalty finals (one in the World cup the other in HQ where the endggame situation was once more all based on one dice roll and failling cos the GM criticalled despite 30 minutes of planning, augmenting and roleplaying) it led to our group finally arguing what HQ has done to our game: effectively we could be playing with a pack of cards rather than dice in the HQ rule system!
And that comes from a "hero" who put a chunk of moola to save Glorantha as a RPG.
Well... I've already placed a pre-order of RQ4 and all supplement sincoming, already peaking terribly, and hmm... maybe I can just make this open day if my missus wont chop my legs off!
I'm deeply intrigued by the talk that the system allows for complex combat (hit, parry, hit parry, etc etc) and perhaps simplified combat (army vs army, or multiple targets) as this was always a RQ1/2/3 hole. Wish the previews gave that baby away!
Interesting thought about playing 2nd age - seeing I've played 3rd since the age of 12 (yikes over 25 years!) it'll be refreshing as long as source material becomes available and from a central body - I can only presume Mongoose will have a vetting team if its not being "gregged" - consistency is the key. Hell... put me down as a prrof-reader/validator!
.... but equally even since RQ2 the support material has been too sparse. When I first started we needed what Hero Wars brought in Storm Tribes and Thunder Rebels.... but even more important, we are STILL waiting for the Lunar equivilents. For Humakts sakes, if we're going to set up a new system with a new enemy (its late, I've not scoured my old rq2 rulebook for the history of the 2nd age, but I'm guessing any game system needs an enemy like the Lunars - EWF? Gabji? Lunar Goddess incarnate?) PLEASE make sure that supplements appear really quick for the opposing systems - and no - that doesnt mean a quick-win trollpak V5 reprint!
Lets not forget what HW/HQ has done for role playing in Glorantha: as I've previously said, what WORKS in these systems - to me and sorry if it offends people who gave up - is that there are millions of cults, millions of sub-cult, aspects and differring powers. This is good source material. Supreme source material even. Unless the cults change (and why would the cults change unless we're talking that Nysalor is stalking the earth all printed gods and their cults should exist in this age) perhaps an indication that the ruelbook for RQ4 or the website or SOMETHING will do a small dossier on HQ/HW->RQ4 conversion.
I can hear you all groaning as I said it. But its valid. And its important folks - Glorantha is what it is through its layers of mysticism and lore dervived from runes, cults and cultures and more. HQ did us proud but had a gaming system like a donkey butt - unless you wanted to play demigods. lets not let another incarnation become just a media to reprint RQ2, RQ3, HW, HQ etc again but massaged for RQ4!
Sorry if I've rambled, but as a long-termer I wanna finnaly get involved again, get supportive again, get back to Glorantha - but getting back in a RuneQuest framework! My D10 await the call of duty and D20 relegation to hit locations!
Sincerely,
Rav
Coriales Clan, ex-hero of GTA