Hi, after a long time being a lurker I decided to come out of the shadows to say how impressed I am with this gaming system.
I have been running games since 1990 using D&D (1st-3.5), D20 (variants), True20, Blue Rose, Thieves World, Black Company, and flirted with BRP etc. I found all of those systems lacking. Let me explain what sold me on RQ 2.
1. Character creation: most gaming systems the characters are worried about their stats, and they rightfully should, the difference between a 13 STR and an 18/99 STR (old D&D) was a huge disparity in damage and hit ability for someone who wanted to be a good melee fighter. MRQ 2 cleans up the stat problem by eliminating the need for super high ability scores to be a competent character (i.e a low CON can be offset by a high SIZ for HP, STR and SIZ for damage).
2. No classes, I know I am preaching to the choir on this board, but for a player who is stuck in one path (fighter or wizard) the idea and ability to build the character you what to play is huge, and liberating. It can also be a hard idea to grasp for a player who has been used to playing one type of class or suffering from XP lag of multi-classing.
3. Training to raise a skill or ability score is very realistic and eliminates the need to constantly battle everything that moves. MRQ also cuts down on hack and slash games (need to kill one more ogre for XP to make 5th level) by making combat deadly again. This also forces a PC to interact with the local populace and helps with the story line.
4. Magic (especially sorcery) allows a caster to mimic almost any spell from another system with just the basic spells provided (no need for multiple spells doing the same damage but different effects, how many spells do you need to really destroy something?). I happened to love the Black Company books by Glen Cook, this system almost mimics what those sorcerers could do in the stories (want to cast a spell that causes glowing worms eat an enemy? Just combine phantom (sense) and wrack, almost any display of destruction can be combined with these simple spells in the rule book). Form Set (flesh) to turn targets boneless blobs is nasty. That knight attacking you in full plate, a well cast Enlarge (Size) will make him explode out of his armor. Then look at possibilities with spirit magic; there are so many that each NPC battle can be something new and fresh (elementals bound to weapons then manifesting their powers in with an attack can be disgusting). The divine magic progression with cult rank is superb and well explained; playing a priest in a religion makes sense with the duties and responsibilities laid out.
5. But my favorite part of MRQ 2 is that a well aimed blow to the head by shovel wielding peasant can drop even the most experienced adventurer. This means that a PC with a weapon skill of 200+ can still be scared by a lowly kobold, and a GM can continue to use some of the best ionic monsters throughout an entire campaign.
I am amazed at the detail put into this game. Thank you.
John
I have been running games since 1990 using D&D (1st-3.5), D20 (variants), True20, Blue Rose, Thieves World, Black Company, and flirted with BRP etc. I found all of those systems lacking. Let me explain what sold me on RQ 2.
1. Character creation: most gaming systems the characters are worried about their stats, and they rightfully should, the difference between a 13 STR and an 18/99 STR (old D&D) was a huge disparity in damage and hit ability for someone who wanted to be a good melee fighter. MRQ 2 cleans up the stat problem by eliminating the need for super high ability scores to be a competent character (i.e a low CON can be offset by a high SIZ for HP, STR and SIZ for damage).
2. No classes, I know I am preaching to the choir on this board, but for a player who is stuck in one path (fighter or wizard) the idea and ability to build the character you what to play is huge, and liberating. It can also be a hard idea to grasp for a player who has been used to playing one type of class or suffering from XP lag of multi-classing.
3. Training to raise a skill or ability score is very realistic and eliminates the need to constantly battle everything that moves. MRQ also cuts down on hack and slash games (need to kill one more ogre for XP to make 5th level) by making combat deadly again. This also forces a PC to interact with the local populace and helps with the story line.
4. Magic (especially sorcery) allows a caster to mimic almost any spell from another system with just the basic spells provided (no need for multiple spells doing the same damage but different effects, how many spells do you need to really destroy something?). I happened to love the Black Company books by Glen Cook, this system almost mimics what those sorcerers could do in the stories (want to cast a spell that causes glowing worms eat an enemy? Just combine phantom (sense) and wrack, almost any display of destruction can be combined with these simple spells in the rule book). Form Set (flesh) to turn targets boneless blobs is nasty. That knight attacking you in full plate, a well cast Enlarge (Size) will make him explode out of his armor. Then look at possibilities with spirit magic; there are so many that each NPC battle can be something new and fresh (elementals bound to weapons then manifesting their powers in with an attack can be disgusting). The divine magic progression with cult rank is superb and well explained; playing a priest in a religion makes sense with the duties and responsibilities laid out.
5. But my favorite part of MRQ 2 is that a well aimed blow to the head by shovel wielding peasant can drop even the most experienced adventurer. This means that a PC with a weapon skill of 200+ can still be scared by a lowly kobold, and a GM can continue to use some of the best ionic monsters throughout an entire campaign.
I am amazed at the detail put into this game. Thank you.
John
