Should I buy the new Glorantha book if I own the old version

[vivsavage]

I own the glorious creature that is RQII, but wonder if there is any reason to buy the new Glorantha 2nd Age setting book if I already own the RQ I version. Same thing with the race book, etc.

Will there be a new spell book for RQ II? The RQI spellbook isn't immediately compatible from what I can tell.

I LOVE the look of the new RQ books, BTW. I really wish Mongoose would use this new leather bound look for all of its RQ books, including the Glorantha stuff and the forthcoming medieval setting.

 

[GoingDown]

This is same question I have been wondering. I have quite a lot MRQ1 books, and I am wondering how much compatible they are with MRQ2 version.

I have following MRQ1 books:

Core Rulebook
Runequest Companion
Runequest Monsters
RuneQuest Monsters II
Legendary Heroes
Arms and Equipment
Runequest Spellbook
Runequest Games Masters Handbook

Glorantha the Second Age
Cults of Glorantha
Cults of Glorantha II
Magic of Glorantha
Player's Guide to Glorantha
Blood of Orlanth

Most of the basic books seem to need quite a bit conversion when used with MRQ2, and some of them (at least Arms and Equipment, Monsters...) will get new revisions, so they are not a problem.

But, most of the Glorantha series are quite generic, so they should be quite with MRQ2, right?

I am really tempted to buy Guilds, Factions and Cults book, Ducks Guide to Durulz and also probably Ruins of Glorantha. But should I wait for a new revision of them?

 

[Loran]

+1
I would like to know what are the differences between the RQ1 version and the RQ2 version, from just a cover change to a major re-writing work.

 

[Loz]

If you take a look at Signs and Portents 75 (free, from the S&P page), there's an extensive overview of the changes between RQ1 and RQII.

As for the old RQ volumes; the vast bulk remain compatible. If you're happy doing a little conversion work, they remain very usable. The Cults of Glorantha books are, however, going to be redundant. The new book I'm currently working on rewrites all the cults and fixes a lot of errors with the original book.

Hope this answers the question.

 

[vivsavage]

If you take a look at Signs and Portents 75 (free, from the S&P page), there's an extensive overview of the changes between RQ1 and RQII.

As for the old RQ volumes; the vast bulk remain compatible. If you're happy doing a little conversion work, they remain very usable. The Cults of Glorantha books are, however, going to be redundant. The new book I'm currently working on rewrites all the cults and fixes a lot of errors with the original book.

Hope this answers the question.

What is different about he Glorantha 2nd Age sourcebook this time around?

 

[Loz]

The main changes are:

Inclusion of all the Ralios material
Expansion of the Safelster campaign area
Very detailed, culture by culture, guidelines for creating Gloranthan adventurers. Its far more extensive than the old Players Guide to Glorantha and offers 'mini-deep dives' into the cultures so that the adventurer you create with be uniquely Gloranthan. All the facets you need for your character are there: his languages, outlooks, combat styles, cults and magic.

Other changes are fixes to some errors and expansions of the history behind the God learners, EWF and Orlanthi. Material explored in books like 'Blood of Orlanth' and 'Dara Happa Stirs' has also been included.

 

[GoingDown]

As for the old RQ volumes; the vast bulk remain compatible. If you're happy doing a little conversion work, they remain very usable. The Cults of Glorantha books are, however, going to be redundant. The new book I'm currently working on rewrites all the cults and fixes a lot of errors with the original book.

Thank you. I don't mind doing small conversions - most of the time I will anyway do slight modifications here and there.

How much conversion different spells will need to? That seems to be biggest concern for me at this moment.

Anyways, I am really happy with MRQ2 (I was happy with MRQ1 already, but MRQ2 is still better).

 

[vivsavage]

How much conversion different spells will need to? That seems to be biggest concern for me at this moment.

Yes, I would like to know this as well. Also, will there be another spellbook coming out? I want to know whether I should sell my RQI spellbook or keep it.

 

[Loz]

Spells, and the way magic works, is by far the biggest change from the old RQ version.

In all honesty, you should use RQII in preference to the older spells. They are far more extensively balanced, work in consistent ways, and, in the case of divine and sorcery spells, offer a great deal more power and flexibility.

There are no immediate plans for another Spellbook. The new cults book offers many new spells for the specific cults, but I personally don't feel that a mighty tome of spells is really that necessary (others, including The Boss, may disagree!). If you do have a bunch of favourite spells in the RQ Spellbook, and want to convert them, I'd seriously suggest taking your time about it. Read the Spellbook entry, consider its effects, then try to find something similar in the RQII rules and see how that handles things. I'd be far more inclined to tone down the effects of RQ Spellbook spells than ramp them up, mainly because the way Magnitude and Manipulations work in RQII, for Divine Magic and Sorcery, innately increases the potency of many spells without you actually noticing it until you think about what the spell ramifications are. Divine Magic is a case in point: all Divine spells have a base Magnitude equal to the Pact/10. This is incredibly important and makes Divine Spells far more powerful and subtle than their old counterparts.

 

[Mark Mohrfield]

Will the new cults book contain rules for God Learner and EWF magic?

 

[Loz]

EWF magic is covered in Glorantha: the Second Age, but the cults book introduces the concept of denial as a magical force.

God Learner magic is sorcery. There will be new grimoires and spells, but essentially the sorcery system from the core rules supports what the God Learners get up to.

 

[Mark Mohrfield]

God Learner magic is sorcery. There will be new grimoires and spells, but essentially the sorcery system from the core rules supports what the God Learners get up to.

True enough.However, I was refering to the stuff they did with HeroQuesting that is in the Jrustela supplement. I probably should have made that clearer.

 

[master of reality]

The MRQ1 version is 160 pages. The MRQ2 version is 264 pages. So, there appears to be quite a bit more information packed into the new version, as detailed by Loz above.

Will the MRQ2 version be in color?

 

[Loz]

However, I was refering to the stuff they did with HeroQuesting that is in the Jrustela supplement. I probably should have made that clearer.

No, that will be in 'The Abiding Book', which has yet to start writing itself. However rules for HeroQuesting are in the Cults book.

 

[Denalor]

The Cults of Glorantha books are, however, going to be redundant. The new book I'm currently working on rewrites all the cults and fixes a lot of errors with the original book.

Any notion of when this Cults book will hit the shelves ?

 

[Loz]

Most likely after I've finished writing it, which isn't yet... :lol:

 

[Denalor]

Well, that's obvious, but you see, because of these comments on this thread:

but the publication of MRQ2 means we need new versions of "Empires" & "Guilds"

Well, I would have to say wait for the new release However, more seriously, the new release has something like 30% all new material included - you'll get more for your money.

re-doing various cults on my own with the help of GFC will most likely be a waste of time, since GFC obviously is being re-done, too. So, the basis is literally draw away from under my feet.

Yes, I know "Your Glorantha will vary", but even though I'm very happy with the new edition, it's a bit 'irking' to read comments like "all MRQI books are fully compatible with MRQII" and yet see that really each and every book is re-done and includes some more material, material which at this stage cannot to evaluated to be "necessary" or just nice-to-have additional stuff.

Take the new Arms & Equipment. I hadn't really bothered about its MRQI-version (but I almost have everything else...), but I personally think that rules for greater weapons and/or enchantments are needed in a magic-rich world like Glorantha. So now I suppose I need to buy this book just to have those - obviously greatly changed (from the preview, that is) - rules. To be honest, I don't know whether those rules had only been in the Deluxe version of RQI, but anyway.

Then take the new Glorantha-sourcebook. With the new edition you hint that there might be something in for the likes of me (i.e. those who came rather late to the Glorantha setting and want to "soak" up as much as quickly as possible)... sure, there will be lots of stuff I have already in my hands, but those added X% might be really interesting...

So, I guess my comment here can be interpreted as:
Despite all that confirmation that both editions are compatible (in a sense), I do need to buy all those books again... perhaps I'm wrong :?: Well, I suppose one just has to wait until someone fully experienced into RQ starts writing reviews of the new books