Gloranthan lore is amazing. RIP Greg Stafford.
This post spurred me to buy it, can’t wait to dive in after briefly going over the game and lore.
Awesome!
The starter set has a solo adventure which is the obvious place to start and it teaches you some of the basics of the system as you go through it.
Other things to bear in mind if you do start playing or running Runequest:
- characters are connected to their communities: their tribes and clan, their religions and temples. The game can be one of mysterious stranger PCs but it works better when they have those deep social connections.
- the gods are real and of paramount importance. There is, for example, no question that the sun is Yelm, that he dies every night and is returned from the underworld every morning. Not everyone worships Yelm but they recognise his existence.
- every one has magic. Some magic comes from friendly, or bound, spirits, some from the gods, and - rarely - some from sorcery.
- combat is dangerous. Even powerful characters can be killed if unlucky or out-numbered
- ‘your Glorantha may vary’ is a Chaosium principle. While they may publish canon lore, it is accepted and even encouraged that you change whatever you want in the pursuit of ‘maximum game fun’.
Lastly, there is a saying much quoted by Orlanthi adventurers: “there is always another way and violence is always an option.”
That’s for the write up! I checked a couple videos as well and the game sounds like just what I’ve been looking for. The hardcore combat and mythological vibe is really getting me hooked in already. The lore I’ve seen so far is just fantastic, can’t believe it’s flown under the radar all this time for me considering how long it’s been around.
Just be aware, there is a lot of lore. Over fifty years worth of lore. But you don’t need to know all of it, in the same way that if you were running a modern day game set in Michigan you wouldn’t need to know the history of South Korea or the mythology of Equatorial Guinea. Or even all the history of Michigan!
If you do decide to go forward with RQG, let me also recommend Six Seasons In Sartar available from DriveThruRPG. It starts player characters off in a small valley in the Dragon Pass area, just before their initiation into a cult. They’re all from the same tribe, so they know and (hopefully) trust each other, and it expands from very small, cozy beginnings, through another two volumes, into active participation in world-changing events.
Fuck yeah, lots of lore is really up my alley. I dig what you’re saying, it sounds really awesome to be able to take my time and always find some new bits of lore. Like middle earth is my jam but I’ve kind of exhausted all that I can uncover from it so it’s great that this game has such deep lore. It’ll be a fun journey to slow burn on all of it.
Excellent suggestion, I’ll get that once I get through the starter set. I like the idea of growing out from a small beginning just so the game doesn’t feel too overwhelming at the get go. The vast amount of everything could make it a little hard to find a starting point so I’m really liking that suggestion. Looks like my order arrives tomorrow so I’ll be jumping on into the game once it arrives, I’m very excited for it.
Thanks for all the help, and this post, for that matter. I’ve really been wanting to find a tabletop that calls out to me and this all found me organically so I’m going with it.
