Which books are essential?

[Utgardloki]

A lot of runequest books are coming out. Unfortunately, the bank still wants me to make payments on my car (a Pontiac G6), so my ability to buy books is not infinite.

So, which books are essential for running a game set in Glorantha? Not just ones that are neat and cool, but what do I need to have if I am not going to end up running a world that happens to be named "Glorantha" but only has a passing resemblence to the "real" thing?

 

[gamesmeister]

The core rulebook (obviously)
Glorantha 2nd Age
Monsters

If you start your campaign using the standard chargen rules i.e. you don't start with more advanced characters, I'd say you won't need the Companion to begin with (although there are additional chargen options in there). However, you will need it reasonably soon as you'll need the rules for Divine magic once your characters become initiates in the various cults, or start to use Sorcery (depending on where you base your campaign).

You'll also want one of two upcoming books, again depending on your type of campaign. You'll either want Magic of Glorantha, dealing with the magic used by the two great empires, or you'll want Cults book 1, which deals with the more traditional pantheons. At some point you'll need both, but not to begin with - you'll want to read Glorantha 2nd age first to decide which will be most appropriate.

HTH

 

[mthomason]

The core rulebook (obviously)
Glorantha 2nd Age
Monsters

Yup, I'd concur with that as the best "Glorantha starter kit". You could probably get away with not getting Monsters until the second or third game session if you didn't mind running a Broo or Duck scenario for starters and wanted to see how the players take to it first.

 

[simonh]

You could probably get by with just the Ralios PDF instead of Glorantha: 2nd Age. You would want to pick up 2nd Age eventualy (you'd probably want everything.... eventualy), as it covers the neighbouring regions, but Ralios is a great setting for adventures with loads of interesting characters and potential or ongoing conflicts.

You could probably get by without Monsters for a while too, just using the ones from the basic game to start with. If you're going this route you'll need the companion cults book as most Ralians are theists, alhough if you want to be realy cheap the divine magic and sorcery rules are actualy in the Companion SRD.