RuneQuest

RuneQuest is a fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1978 by Chaosium.

History

RuneQuest quickly established itself as the second most popular fantasy role-playing game, after Dungeons & Dragons. The first and second editions were set in the mythical world of Glorantha, while the 3rd edition in the mid 1980s was more generic and much less successful. RuneQuest was the original percentile die-based and skill-based rule set, which ushered in an era of Simulationist RPGs.

The game had been sold to Avalon Hill under a complex agreement that required all Glorantha-related content be first approved by Chaosium. In an attempt to also have a setting they could release freely, Avalon Hill also supported a new "default" setting, Fantasy Earth, based on fantasy interpretations of several eras of earth's pre-modern history. Later on, Avalon Hill published "generic"/"Gateway" fantasy material (Lost City of Eldarad, Daughters of Darkness). Critics consider these later "generic"/"Gateway" publications inferior to the earlier Runequest publications.

Although both supplements for Fantasy Earth (Vikings, Land of Ninja) were well-regarded, the popularity of RuneQuest as a system seems to have come from the strength of its original setting, reflected in the remarkably high sales of materials that were new editions of out-of-print Glorantha content. A proposed fourth edition was originally meant to return the tight RuneQuest/Glorantha relationship, but it was shelved in 1994, mid-project.

Glorantha is now served by a new rules system called HeroQuest, which is the successor of the intermediate Hero Wars. Part of the agreement that permitted a new Glorantha-based game was that Avalon Hill retained rights to the name "RuneQuest" but not to the RuneQuest game rules. An attempt was made to produce a new game called "[[RuneQuest:Slayers]]" in 1997 that was neither Gloranthan nor used the original rules, but it was shelved when Avalon Hill was bought by giant toymaker Hasbro. At some stage in 2003 the rights to the trademarked name "RuneQuest" were reacquired by Issaries, Inc.

In 2004, Chaosium began preparing the most complete version yet of Basic Role-Playing, a multi-genre system derived from 3rd Edition "RuneQuest" and Chaosium's other BRP-based games. The new system, provisionally named "Deluxe Basic RolePlaying" (DBRP) includes many optional rules for use with different genres, including fantasy, horror, and science fiction. DBRP will reportedly be released in late 2006, and will not include any Gloranthan content.

In addition, Mongoose Publishing is expected to release a new game called "RuneQuest" in June 2006, under a license from Issaries, Inc., and "developed under the watchful eyes of Messrs Stafford and Perrin". However, Steve Perrin was no longer associated with the Mongoose RuneQuest project as of December 2005.

Legacy

Chaosium reused the rules system developed in Runequest to form the basis of several other games, including:

Chaosium called this rules system the Basic Role-Playing System (BRP). In 2004, Chaosium released a print-on-demand version of the 3rd edition RuneQuest rules under the titles Basic Roleplaying Players Book, Basic Roleplaying Magic Book, and Basic Roleplaying Creatures Book.

Steve Perrin, one of the authors of the original RuneQuest game, later developed a similar system known as Steve Perrin's Quest Rules, which some RuneQuest fans consider to be a successor to the original game.

Runequest influenced elements of many other roleplaying games, including:

External links

[Mongoose Publishing page on the new RuneQuest]
[List of all RuneQuest publications]
[Steve Perrin's Quest Rules]
[Issaries, Inc's home page]
[Ultimate RuneQuest Resources]
[RuneQuest:Slayers home page]
[Rune Quest ZA (.orc) home page]
[Pete's RuneQuest! page]
[Le Livre de Zzabur]
[RuneQuest Home]
Many RuneQuest-related (check they are free of rights) documents are available on peer to peer networks.

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