Newbie Question....

[GameHermit]

Hello Everyone,

I am an old school gamer....have been playing RPG's since 1982. I am not a big fan of what Wizards has done to D&D so I'm looking for a new game for my group.

I had heard of RQ before but had not really delved into it. However, I recently strated looking at it and it looks like a very good game. So I have a few newbie questions (please forgive me if this was answered somewhere else).

I want to pick up the latest edition....what books do I need? Does the Deluxe book have EVERYTHING the three individual books have? What other books do I need?

I will pick up the campaign setting....but I was wondering what the playable races are. Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, etc... Do the rules cover the players stats for these?

Sorry for such basic questions but just want to be sure that I spend wisely when I make this purchase.

Thanks,

Jack (GameHermit)

 

[gran_orco]

Runequest deluxe has everithing you need to play (it has the same that the three books). If you want to add more gloranthan races (dwarfs, elfs, minotaurs, timinitids...) you should buy player's guide, although you can create a player character based on these races with RQdeluxe, too. Finally, the master's guide should be a good suplement if you want a more realistic combat and expanded rules.

 

[Deleriad]

HI there. The RQ Deluxe Book includes everything from RQ core, RQ Monsters and RQ Companion so it really is everything you need to play. There is a SRD around somewhere which you can read as a try before you buy.

Do be aware that it seems likely that Mongoose are working on a new edition. It hasn't been announced however so all we have are rumours.

Basically, anything with stats is technically playable as a player character. The rulebook has suggestions for about 20 or so non-human character species as I recall. However, unlike D&D, there is no attempt at balance. Some species are simply bigger and stronger than others with no balancing drawbacks.

The mindset between RQ and D&D is very different. Where D&D has a rule, feat and power for most everything you can think of, RQ gives you the basics and then leaves you to get on with it. As there's no attempt to balance then you can't exactly break the system by playing it wrong. This can be disorienting to people not used to old school gaming.

If you have money and the inclination two useful additional books are the Gamemaster's Guide and Guild, Factions & Cults.

The first has various system updates, expansions of skills, sets of NPCs characters and so on. GFC updates how cults and magic work and gives a useful framework for building things like thieves guilds and so on. If you add those two to the RQ Deluxe Book you get something like RQ1.2. Not exactly necessary but handy.

Finally there are various species books if you really fancy going into depth but they are very different to the classic fantasy cliches and some players may balk. Elves are herbanoids (humanoid plants), Dwarves are made from clay, Trolls are cursed creatures of darkness, Dragonewts exist in an odd relationship to time and ducks are, well, ducks.

Finally, finally. RQ is one of a family of "BRP" games. There's a big, recent book by a different company called "Basic Roleplaying" that gives a lot of options for fantasy roleplaying. Might be worth while checking out the free quick start alongside the RQ SRD to see if you want to use one or both.

 

[GameHermit]

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me on this. I love the idea of a system that incorporates though and common sense as opposed to stringent rules to dictate outcomes. RQ sounds perfect for what I want to accomplish

So basically, to get started, I can get the Deluxe book, Glorantha Second Age Setting and the Player's Guide to Glorantha - Second Age?

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

Jack (GameHermit)

 

[GianniVacca]

So basically, to get started, I can get the Deluxe book, Glorantha Second Age Setting and the Player's Guide to Glorantha - Second Age?

I would add Guilds, Factions & Cults to the list.

 

[GameHermit]

Cool...thanks for the advice. I definitely want to be well prepared for my group....if they have a really good session then I bet we can bring this in as the new game of choice!

Thanks