Runic Powers PDF on Drivethroughrpg

[Rurik]

There is a Runic Powers PDF on Drivethroughrpg.com for $4.95.

I wonder if this is stuff that got cut from Magic of Glorantha.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Ralios, and consider it a good buy, but I'm not sure how I feel about releasing all kinds of cut material as PDF's.

Anybody bought this? What is in it? what is the page count? Who is the author?

Thanks

 

[yeahgday]

I'm pretty sure it's "Cannon" Mongoose (it looks like it is anyway) it's basicly the runes that were already presented in the main rules, with more descriptive text, and alternate abilities that runetouched can get instead of the one "default" runetouched ability that is described in the main rules. there is also some text on the different cults take on the nature of runes, and a rule for players that want to integrate two of the same type of rune. all in all for 5 bucks, I'd say it's worth it.

The author is: Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
The page count is: 24

my rating 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5. it's not the best supplement ever written, but it far from the worst. and I'm a big fan of how runequest has different magic systems that actualy feel different. this product adds icing to the runecasting cake.

 

[Rurik]

Fine.

No one wanted to fill me in on the Runic Powers PDF so I bought it to find out for myself (that'l learn y'all!).

Here is my mini review:

This definitely looks like this was cut from Magic of Glorantha, much like Ralios was cut from Glorantha 2nd Age.

Ralios was 42 Pages of densely packed gaming goodness, and easily a steal at $4.95. Runic Powers is 24 Pages, including the Title/Contents page and 3 full page pieces of art. Most of the 20 pages of text are filled with descriptions of runes, 2 per page. So you have two rune names in Celtic Garamond 30 per page, and since some of the rune descriptions are shorter than others, there can be quite a bit of white space on some of the pages.

Now that I've bitched about the amount of content on to the content itself:
It is by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (aka Dead Blue Clown on these boards), and while I have not read the whole PDF yet the contents seem very good. It starts with a few pages on Runes, Locating them, Integrating them, and Runecasting. This covers some ground already covered in the core rules and expands on it some. There are also some cultural stories on the origin of runes (A God Learner Speaks, An Orlanthi Speaks, etc). Then it gets on to the Runes.

Each Rune starts with a description of it from the point of view of a culture (Praxian shaman for example) and then a description of the rune and what it represents, and then a table of Runic Powers. Each rune now has 3-6 Runic Powers, and when you integrate the rune you roll to see which power you get. This replaces the Rune Powers from the Core Rules (one of the powers in the new table seems to match the one in the book. I like this variety, and some of the powers are pretty cool, some are damn useful (roll 1d12 for SR instead of d10) and some are of the +10 to Runecasting(this rune) variety.

There is a rule that allows a high level character to attune a second rune of the same type for a second power, though this is at -100% and costs 2 POW, so it will not be common.

And that is the contents of the PDF.

Now to the Art. I love it. The Death Rune on the Broo's skull is great. They are all full page paintings, and I really like them. They are NOT standard fare formulaic generic fantasy art. Kudos to Mongoose on not playing it safe on the Art. Sometimes they take flak, as in the Lankhmar cover, and sometimes it really pays off. There are a lot of people who can do fantasy 'graphic art' - by that I mean well rendered, safe, commercially viable art. Mongoose seems to go for artists with that don't fit this mold. I think there will always be some controversial art as such, but none the less: Bravo (standard excepting pig nose Trolls disclaimer here).If all the art in Magic of Glorantha is like this I am psyched. Nathan Furman you are the schizznit.

I have no Idea why there is a credit for Maps. There are none (but if there were I'm sure they would be good Keith Curtis).

None of it offends the Gloranthaphile in me. But then I was never offended by the whole Rune Integration thing, yes it changes the world but it has a very Gloranthan flavor - one could argue more than the old Battle Magic.

So, in summary, the Contents are very good. I just can't say there seems to be 5 bucks worth of them. As I mentioned in my first post I'm not sure how I feel about the scraps from published books all being sold as $5 PDF's. Sure we get access to stuff we might never have seen, but at 20 pages thinly covered with text this could have been cheaper, or maybe a freebie, or perhaps bundled with some other piece of edited out goodness. If $5 bucks isn't a big deal to you, I can easily recommend it, If you are a very budget conscious gamer I can't say that I do.

As a preview of Magic of Glorantha it has me pretty psyched for that book.

 

[Rurik]

I'm pretty sure it's "Cannon" Mongoose (it looks like it is anyway) it's basicly the runes that were already presented in the main rules, with more descriptive text, and alternate abilities that runetouched can get instead of the one "default" runetouched ability that is described in the main rules. there is also some text on the different cults take on the nature of runes, and a rule for players that want to integrate two of the same type of rune. all in all for 5 bucks, I'd say it's worth it.

The author is: Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
The page count is: 24

my rating 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5. it's not the best supplement ever written, but it far from the worst. and I'm a big fan of how runequest has different magic systems that actualy feel different. this product adds icing to the runecasting cake.

Doh, you snuck that in while I was writing my not so short brief review.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[yeahgday]

Fine.

No one wanted to fill me in on the Runic Powers PDF so I bought it to find out for myself

it's all good mate, your not the first to call me a "No one". :lol:

Doh, you snuck that in while I was writing my not so short brief review.

Thanks for the feedback.

yeah, I was thinking your reveiw was almost as long as the product.... ok I exadurate. still for a small product it's pretty good.

 

[Dead Blue Clown]

Fine.

Now that I've bitched about the amount of content on to the content itself:
It is by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (aka Dead Blue Clown on these boards), and while I have not read the whole PDF yet the contents seem very good. It starts with a few pages on Runes, Locating them, Integrating them, and Runecasting. This covers some ground already covered in the core rules and expands on it some. There are also some cultural stories on the origin of runes (A God Learner Speaks, An Orlanthi Speaks, etc). Then it gets on to the Runes.

Each Rune starts with a description of it from the point of view of a culture (Praxian shaman for example) and then a description of the rune and what it represents, and then a table of Runic Powers. Each rune now has 3-6 Runic Powers, and when you integrate the rune you roll to see which power you get. This replaces the Rune Powers from the Core Rules (one of the powers in the new table seems to match the one in the book. I like this variety, and some of the powers are pretty cool, some are damn useful (roll 1d12 for SR instead of d10) and some are of the +10 to Runecasting(this rune) variety.

There is a rule that allows a high level character to attune a second rune of the same type for a second power, though this is at -100% and costs 2 POW, so it will not be common.

And that is the contents of the PDF.

Now to the Art. I love it. The Death Rune on the Broo's skull is great. They are all full page paintings, and I really like them. They are NOT standard fare formulaic generic fantasy art. Kudos to Mongoose on not playing it safe on the Art. Sometimes they take flak, as in the Lankhmar cover, and sometimes it really pays off. There are a lot of people who can do fantasy 'graphic art' - by that I mean well rendered, safe, commercially viable art. Mongoose seems to go for artists with that don't fit this mold. I think there will always be some controversial art as such, but none the less: Bravo (standard excepting pig nose Trolls disclaimer here).If all the art in Magic of Glorantha is like this I am psyched. Nathan Furman you are the schizznit.

I have no Idea why there is a credit for Maps. There are none (but if there were I'm sure they would be good Keith Curtis).

None of it offends the Gloranthaphile in me. But then I was never offended by the whole Rune Integration thing, yes it changes the world but it has a very Gloranthan flavor - one could argue more than the old Battle Magic.

So, in summary, the Contents are very good. I just can't say there seems to be 5 bucks worth of them. As I mentioned in my first post I'm not sure how I feel about the scraps from published books all being sold as $5 PDF's. Sure we get access to stuff we might never have seen, but at 20 pages thinly covered with text this could have been cheaper, or maybe a freebie, or perhaps bundled with some other piece of edited out goodness. If $5 bucks isn't a big deal to you, I can easily recommend it, If you are a very budget conscious gamer I can't say that I do.

As a preview of Magic of Glorantha it has me pretty psyched for that book.

Yeah, that was my stuff cut from Magic of Glorantha. Wicked-cool, I'm glad to see it out. Gladder still you liked it (except the price).

It was initially a chunky appendix / small chapter of sorts for MoG to round the book out with something generic (i.e. not God Learner or EWF magic) and neat that I really thought the setting would benefit from.

The art sounds just like the stuff I asked for in my art order when I handed the text in. I remember the broo skull, f'rex. Since the stuff in Magic looks pretty much exactly the way I asked for it in most cases (or neat and interesting where it clashes with what I imagined) I imagine this is stuff culled from the final book when my words were chopped and saved for later.

 

[Exubae]

Cool, Nice work there DBC... Can't wait to get my paws on the MOG.

 

[Dead Blue Clown]

Cool, Nice work there DBC... Can't wait to get my paws on the MOG.

Thanks, dude.

(And you n' me, both. I keep looking at the MoG .pdf and being grotesquely happy with myself.)

 

[GbajiTheDeceiver]

I'll have to buy it now.

Initial impressions were that it was a mere splatbook - a "Jesus God, 1001 more feats that you'll never use" type thing. But this seems good and useful.

I do like the concept of publishing stuff that gets cut as el-cheapo PDFs. It's nice to have that extra level of depth there for those who want it, but it's also nice to know that if you don't want it you can safely ignore it. Unlike, say, Legendary Heroes, which contained some stuff that would have been cool to have, but also a lot of stuff I'm running and hiding from...