Jed Clayton
Mongoose
Hello all,
I just registered for this forum. I am 31-year old roleplayer from Germany. I first became interested in Mongoose Publishing after learning that they had published the Conan RPG. But they really won me over now with the announcements for the new RuneQuest.
To let you know where I am coming from, let me tell you this: Oddly enough, the first RPG I ever bought was Elfquest, which I got in the spring of 1992. Elfquest used a modified RuneQuest system and was at the time considered "RQ-compatible". I later ventured into superhero and science fiction gaming and did not feel much of a need to explore mainstream fantasy until the autumn of 1997. Since I didn't want to buy anything connected with D&D, I bought a dusty copy of RuneQuest 3rd Edition, the Avalon Hill box, at a local shop. I still remember the month and the week that I got the box, and what it cost. Before long, RQ had become my RPG system of choice and I had become a hardcore supporter of it, not knowing that AH had discontinued publishing it, and Greg Staford in the meantime was making plans to publish the game that was to become "Hero Wars" and later "HeroQuest". My best and most interesting fantasy sessions were played using RQ, from 1997 to 1999. From RuneQuest on, I also made my forays into Pendragon and Stormbringer, also recurring favourites in my collection. I guess I did get around quite a bit over the years.
A year later, in 2000, I bought Hero Wars as soon as I could, and was one of the first people in Germany that ran it (Hi there, Jorganos!). I first met Greg Stafford that summer, at Tentacles 2000. From that point on, I supported Hero Wars and became a quite loyal Glorantha reader and player.
While I still intend to keep running Hero Wars/HeroQuest sessions, I can say from experience that the latter is very hard to break to more traditionalist fantasy gamers, and quite hard to explain to new players and players coming from D&D and other fantasy systems. Most of the people I played with were turned off by the multitude of gods and religions and expert terminology (which I love, by the way). I read the previews for the new RuneQuest a few hours ago and became enchanted all over again. Maybe MRQ is going to do the trick. Maybe that system is going to win me a few more players again. The previews are looking very nice and very promising. I'm also convinced that RQ will be a fine beginner's system, and a very good introduction to semi-realistic fantasy adventures (so much better than some others I could think of ...).
Unlike most of the RuneQuest old-timers I met, my exposure to the game started with the third edition after all, and not the second edition. When I played it for the first time 9 years ago, I ran it as a mostly mainstream fantasy game - full of elves, goblins and even halflings - in a mini-campaign which used the Gloranthan names that I found in the 1984 box's "Glorantha Book". Gradually this game transformed into a Glorantha game, which I stopped when Hero Wars came out. The latter required me to carry out a strict reboot. Back when I played RQ, I even set adventures in Ralios and Nolos.
But the sales point that did win me over for Mongoose's RQ is that it will be set in the Second Age! Now this is where no one in the fan community has gone before. :wink:
Greetings to Matthew Sprange! I can tell he's doing a great job, being RQ's new writer and the head of the company.
I just registered for this forum. I am 31-year old roleplayer from Germany. I first became interested in Mongoose Publishing after learning that they had published the Conan RPG. But they really won me over now with the announcements for the new RuneQuest.
To let you know where I am coming from, let me tell you this: Oddly enough, the first RPG I ever bought was Elfquest, which I got in the spring of 1992. Elfquest used a modified RuneQuest system and was at the time considered "RQ-compatible". I later ventured into superhero and science fiction gaming and did not feel much of a need to explore mainstream fantasy until the autumn of 1997. Since I didn't want to buy anything connected with D&D, I bought a dusty copy of RuneQuest 3rd Edition, the Avalon Hill box, at a local shop. I still remember the month and the week that I got the box, and what it cost. Before long, RQ had become my RPG system of choice and I had become a hardcore supporter of it, not knowing that AH had discontinued publishing it, and Greg Staford in the meantime was making plans to publish the game that was to become "Hero Wars" and later "HeroQuest". My best and most interesting fantasy sessions were played using RQ, from 1997 to 1999. From RuneQuest on, I also made my forays into Pendragon and Stormbringer, also recurring favourites in my collection. I guess I did get around quite a bit over the years.
A year later, in 2000, I bought Hero Wars as soon as I could, and was one of the first people in Germany that ran it (Hi there, Jorganos!). I first met Greg Stafford that summer, at Tentacles 2000. From that point on, I supported Hero Wars and became a quite loyal Glorantha reader and player.
While I still intend to keep running Hero Wars/HeroQuest sessions, I can say from experience that the latter is very hard to break to more traditionalist fantasy gamers, and quite hard to explain to new players and players coming from D&D and other fantasy systems. Most of the people I played with were turned off by the multitude of gods and religions and expert terminology (which I love, by the way). I read the previews for the new RuneQuest a few hours ago and became enchanted all over again. Maybe MRQ is going to do the trick. Maybe that system is going to win me a few more players again. The previews are looking very nice and very promising. I'm also convinced that RQ will be a fine beginner's system, and a very good introduction to semi-realistic fantasy adventures (so much better than some others I could think of ...).
Unlike most of the RuneQuest old-timers I met, my exposure to the game started with the third edition after all, and not the second edition. When I played it for the first time 9 years ago, I ran it as a mostly mainstream fantasy game - full of elves, goblins and even halflings - in a mini-campaign which used the Gloranthan names that I found in the 1984 box's "Glorantha Book". Gradually this game transformed into a Glorantha game, which I stopped when Hero Wars came out. The latter required me to carry out a strict reboot. Back when I played RQ, I even set adventures in Ralios and Nolos.
But the sales point that did win me over for Mongoose's RQ is that it will be set in the Second Age! Now this is where no one in the fan community has gone before. :wink:
Greetings to Matthew Sprange! I can tell he's doing a great job, being RQ's new writer and the head of the company.
I still hold out hope that some of the D20 folks can be saved.
And the distinct lack of any dubious releases (like Monster Coliseum or Adventurer Sheets) on the schedule is even better. Plus with Lankhmar as the second major setting, there's a lot to attract the casually interested person.
