Brant Guillory, 17 November 2022 ~ #UnboxingDay
Runequest has been around. Like, seriously, it’s been all over the place. It was a Chaosium product, then AH had it for a while, and it kinda/sorta bounced around Moon Design, Issaries, and others, before finally coming “home” to the current incarnation of Chaosium.
I’m a sucker for starter sets (seriously, I am) so even if it’s a system I’m not completely sold on, I’m still interested in the way the game is presented, especially to new players.
click images to enlarge
Mandatory box images, with a cover that retains the same basic pose from the “classic” RQ first edition cover, but updated, and with some actual background.
Seriously, does anyone actually read these first before checking out the rest of the box and then coming back to it?
And there’s a LOT in this box – 4 books, a bunch of character folios, multiple wide-area maps plus location-specific ones, and a handful of reference sheets. There’s even a basic set of RPG dice, but let’s face it, if you’re reading an article on our site, you likely already have an unhealthy dice addiction.
Book One is all rules, and they are well laid out with plenty of white space and bronze-age-evocative artwork. The example of play is just like every other one you’ve seen in that it resembles the script of a mid-range high school drama class performance, but that’s not any better or worse than any other you’ve read, and gives noobs a decent feel for what a session looks & sounds like
One neat touch is that the backs of the books form a copy of one of the fold-out maps
Book Two tells you about Glorantha, and it nicely-illustrated with character info, sketch maps, and the mandatory Rune Cults
The scenario books include solo and traditional adventures, with clean, clear graphics and consistent “stock” stat blocks. The solo adventures do look like a CYOA book, but do a nice job of setting the tone & feel for Glorantha, which is quite helpful for players who are new to the setting.
The character folios are reminiscent of the Apocalypse Engine folios, with all the info for that character right at hand. All the playable detail is there, along with artwork that helps you visualize that character. It’s not much of a stand-up screen, as you can see, since it’s just basic paper stock.
Player aid cards. Useful. Good-looking. Totally non-sexy.
Maps, for area, town, and location. Much, much sexier.
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