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# Review of Mongoose RuneQuest Products

Publisher |
Score |
Rating |
Gloranthan Content |
Availability |
Usability |
Originality |
General |
Recommended For: |

## Mongoose Publishing

RuneQuest

Publisher | Mongoose Publishing
Score | 85
Rating | B+
Gloranthan Content | 5
Availability | 20
Usability | 20
Originality | 20
General | 20
Recommended For: | Anyone who likes RQ or wants a cracking good RPG

This is the new version of RuneQuest, and long-awaited it has been indeed. This is a hard back book with illustrations throughout. Each page is printed as though on parchment, which you might think would be difficult to read, but in fact it is very easy to read and is very easy on the eye. As rulebooks go, it is not cluttered and looks very nice.

Although it says that the prime RQ setting is Glorantha and the rules should assume the Gloranthan setting, the rules themselves are very generic. This is neither a good nor a bad thing, but setting-specific supplements would be better, when they come out.

Creating an Adventurer - This gives a step by step guide to how to create an adventurer. It describes characteristics, shows how to work out derived attributes, covers basic skills that everyone has, cultural backgrounds, professions with advanced skills, and a method of increasing skills during character generation. It briefly skips over character personality and general background. Finally, there is an example of character generation, which is useful.

Skills - This covers skill use, difficulties, haste bonuses, difficulty examples, critical successes, fumbles, automatic successes and failures, opposed tests, group tests, very high skills and using skills in combat. Both Basic and Advanced skills are described with starting skill and examples of use.

Equipment - This covers equipment, trading, money and similar things. Money is generic with pennies, silver pieces and ducats. Trading, Wealth & Status and Weregild & Ransom are briefly covered. Melee and Missile weapons are covered in some detail, as is armour, although many familiar armour types are missing. There are some general items with prices and descriptions. There are quick descriptions of animals, transportation and food & lodging costs. Crystals are briefly described, with prices, as are potions.

Combat - This covers combat and the melee round. It has Strike Ranks, Surprise, Combat Actions, Close Combat, tactics, Reactions, Ranged Attacks, Armour, Hit Locations, Knockback, Mounted Combat, Unarmed Combat, Hero Points and an example of combat. It covers things fairly well and the rules seem to work well.

Magic - This covers magic use. Although it says that there are many types of magic systems, including Rune Magic, Divine Magic, Shamanic Magic, Sorcery, Dragon Magic and Demonology, only Rune Magic is described here. Divine Magic and Sorcery are described in the RQ Companion, so we will have to wait for other supplements to see what the other magic systems are like. This covers Magic Points, Rune Magic, Locating Runes, Integrating Runes, Learning Rune Magic Spells, Runic Powers, Spell Casting and Spell Descriptions. There are a lot of spells here, many of which will be useful.

Cults - Cults are described as formal organisations providing magical power. It describes the different levels of membership in cults, with Lay Members, Initiates, Acolytes, RunePriests and RuneLords. It describes the Cults of the Storm King, Brotherhood of Mithras, The Indigo Hand, The Azure Cinquefoil and Childer of Hama-Dreth. These are very generic and only serve as examples - I can't believe anyone will actually use them as cults. Finally, there is a brief description of Divine Intervention.

Adventuring - This covers Adventure Time, Movement, Chases & Pursuits, Vision, Fatigue, Healing, Encumbrance, Hazards, Poison, Disease and Inanimate Objects.

Improving Adventurers - This covers how to improve adventurers, making them more skilful. It covers Improvement Rolls, Hero Points, Improving Skills, Practise & Research, Mentors and Improving Characteristics. There is a section on Legendary Abilities, with descriptions of various types of Legendary Ability. The Levels of Experience section covers Novice, Seasoned, Veteran, Master and Hero characters, which should allow the generation of higher skilled adventurers.

Creatures - This covers the creatures likely to be encountered in a RuneQuest game. These creatures are all native to Glorantha and this is the least generic section. It covers Adventuring Creatures, but has no character generation rules for non-humans, Creatures & Intelligence, Traits, and Creature Descriptions. Although the creatures are said to be Gloranthan, their descriptions are very generic, so dwarves, trolls and elves are very non-Gloranthan in nature. Many old favourites and standard fantasy creatures are covered here in some detail.

Finally, there is a Rune Sheet, giving Runic Powers and pictures of the Runes and Character Sheet, following the standard maxim that Character Sheets in Rulebooks are generally rubbish.

So, what are we to make of Mongoose's RuneQuest? Well, it looks good, it reads well and the rules hang together reasonably well. It is as different to RQ3 as RQ3 was to RQ2, but it is definitely recognisable as RQ. There are parts of the rules that I like and parts that I don't. However, as a game it works well. Compared to the RQ3 rules it seems incomplete, there are no rules for different types of magic, no rules for non-human characters, very sketchy rules for cults. However, many of these things are covered in other supplements.

Would I recommend buying RuneQuest? Well, of course I would, as I am a fan of RQ. If you have RQ2 or RQ3 and are quite happy with them then there is no actual need to buy Mongoose's RuneQuest, but I would still say buy it, as there is a lot of good in it. As we will have a lot of new supplements, not having this version of RQ would mean that you didn't understand the subtleties of the new rules.

RuneQuest Games Master's Screen

Publisher | Mongoose Publishing
Score | 60
Rating | C
Gloranthan Content | 0
Availability | 20
Usability | 15
Originality | 15
General | 10
Recommended For: | Any throwbacks to the Seventies

Well, this is a GM's Screen and nothing more. It has a pretty picture on the front and four pages of tables on the back. It is hardback and very sturdy and performs its task as a barrier between GMs and those nasty players extremely well.

The tables seem well laid out, clear to read and easy to use. I would think that things would be easy to find in a game situation. I have heard that some of the tables are incorrect and don't agree with the ones in the rulebook, but I am not the kind of person to compare tables line by line.

I don't like GM's Screens as I don't like barriers between players and GMs. I don't roll dice secretly and have the scenario in front of me at all times. However, for a GM's Screen, this one is very sturdy, clear and easy to use. If you like GM's Screens and want a handy list of tables, then this would be a good thing to buy.

RuneQuest Companion

Publisher | Mongoose Publishing
Score | 80
Rating | A-
Gloranthan Content | 10
Availability | 20
Usability | 15
Originality | 15
General | 20
Recommended For: | Anyone who wants to play RQM

This is a hardback book with nice cover art and well laid out, clear, easy to read pages with illustrations throughout. It looks very much like the RuneQuest rulebook and is really an extension of the standard rules.

New Character Resources - This expands the backgrounds and professions available to adventurers. It contains Backgrounds and Professions, with new backgrounds of Civilised, Mariner, Nomad and Primitive, new professions of Healer, Knight, Peddler and Scribe and new skills of Courtesy, Lore (Specific Theology) and Oratory. Primitives have some new weapons as well. The cults of Brethren of the Hunter, Lightbearer and The Moon Maiden are described, but I can't think of who would use such generic cults.

Divine Magic - This covers another type of magic, that granted by Gods. It contains A brief Summary., Acquiring Divine Magic, Casting Divine Magic, The Power of Divine Magic and Spell Traits & Descriptions. Most of the Divine Spells will seem familiar to those who have played older versions of RQ.

Sorcery - Another magic system, Sorcery describes the magic that is ripped from the cosmos by sorcerers. It has A Brief Summary, Acquiring Sorcery, Casting Sorcery Spells, Manipulation and Spell Traits & Descriptions. Like the Divine Magic section, the sorcery spells will be familiar to anyone playing RQ3. The spell manipulations are better than RQ3 and sorcery looks good.

Enchantments - This covers the rules for making enchantments and is very good indeed. It covers Enchanting Process, Enchantments and Conditions. The process of creating Enchantments is simple and there are a lot of different enchantments.

The Spirit World - What a misnomer this is. It covers spirits in RQ and has Defining a Spirit, Spirit Combat, Dissipated Spirits, Possession and Spirit Creatures which covers a handful of spirit types. Of all the sections in the Companion, this is the most disappointing. Spirit Combat has been done away with, as any magical spell will hurt spirits, so a weapon with Bladesharp 6 will do 6 points of damage and a weapon with Spirit Bane cast on it does full damage to a spirit. There are no rules for spirit plane encounters, no rules for shamans and only a very few types of spirits. Hopefully these will appear in other supplements.

Between Adventures - This has definitions for different settlement sizes, Reputation & Renown, Making Money, Item Cost by Locale with detailed tables of item costs in Silver Pieces, Item Quality with rules for creating better quality items, Exceptional Item Effects and Home & Hearth covering buildings and construction. The Item Quality and Exceptional Item Effects are very good, but they concentrate far too much on combat items and only skip over other types of items.

Travel - This covers different types of travel. It includes Getting There with costs for room and board , Water Travel with ship types and statistics, Dangers covering the different hazards of Sea Travel, Naval Warfare, Naval Equipment & Personnel and Repair.

Temples - This covers the different sizes and types of temple. It contains sections on Centres of Worship, Functions of a Temple, Temple Sizes, Temple Growth and Sample Temples with Site of the Hunter, Shrine of the Light, Minor Temple of the Storm King and Major Temple of the Moon. These are very generic, fairly useful sample temples.

Finally, there are sheets for Divine Magic, Sorcery, Special Close Combat Weapons, Special Ranged Weapons and Special Armour, which nobody in their right mind will use in their current form.

All in all, this is a worthy addition to the RuneQuest rules. There is obviously a question as to why they weren't included together with the main rules in a larger rulebook, but that is clearly a commercial decision. If you have bought the RQ Rulebook then you will need the Companion. There is a lot of new material that is useful, much of it good. It is definitely worth getting.

Glorantha the Second Age - Ralios

Publisher | Mongoose Publishing
Score | 96
Rating | A+
Gloranthan Content | 20
Availability | 20
Usability | 16
Originality | 20
General | 20
Recommended For: | Anyone interested in Second Age Glorantha

This comes as a 41 page PDF file and covers those parts of Ralios not included in the Glorantha the Second Age book. Areas covered are Saug and Delela, Keanos, Halikiv, Coroland, Vesmonstran, Lankst, Bad Deal, Fiesive, Telmoria, Ormsland, Karia, Ballid, Guhan and Nida.

Each area is described with a short history, description of the area, short rundown of any clans or groups in the area, notable personalities and Heroes and the politics of the area. The struggle between the EWF and Middle Sea Empire is highlighted throughout.

There are maps scattered throughout and illustrations aplenty, all of a very high standard. Each page is parchment-like which is a bit galling.

Although this is a RuneQuest product, this has almost no RQ content, except for a reference to Heal and Rune Magics. The supplement is statless and could be used as background for and game system, particularly HeroQuest. It is a very high quality product, well written, detailed and easy to read.

If this is the future of Glorantha the Second Age then we have nothing to worry about. In fact, if we had similar products for HeroQuest and Third Age Glorantha then I'd be a very happy man indeed.

## Otherworld Creations

Diomin - Danger in the City of Immer

Publisher | Otherworld Creations
Score | 82
Rating | B
Diomin Content | 12
Availability | 20
Usability | 15
Originality | 20
General | 15
Recommended For: | Diomin GMs

This comes as a 36 page PDF set in the world of Diomin. Now, I don't know anything about Diomin, so I can't comment on how this fits in the world.

It starts off with a summary of the plot and a section on Game Master Advice. Then it covers the races of Diomin, the Arak, Tirasim, Zeredites, Gadianti, Gnolaum and Hearthrom.

The adventure itself has an Adventure Background, Adventure Summary and 3 Chapters each containing several encounters. The adventure itself is very linear - do this, do this, then do this, do this and finally do this. It doesn't particularly suffer from this as it makes for a simple introductory scenario.

All of the Encounters come with stats, there are several new species (Gnolls and Hollow Ones) and a new spell (Speak With Spirit). There are a number of pregenerated PCs which are interesting enough, although character heights seem to bear no relation to their SIZ characteristics. The NPCs are very sketchy and I find it hard to believe that Iblis-Enkili is a powerful wizard as he only has 9 spells. Each PC is described with almost a page of text and each NPC is described in a single paragraph.

Although this is set in the City of Immer, that city is not described at all. Perhaps it was described in a D20 sourcebook or will be described in a RQ sourcebook.

This is well laid out, clear and easy to read. The illustrations are good. It's a nice little scenario, not too challenging but easy enough to run.

Diomin - Outpost Qether

Publisher | Otherworld Creations
Score | 87
Rating | B
Diomin Content | 13
Availability | 20
Usability | 18
Originality | 20
General | 16
Recommended For: | Diomin GMs

This comes as a 32 page PDF set in the world of Qether. It is well laid out, clear and easy to read. There are illustrations throughout and these are very nice. There is a map of Diomin at the back that covers the main areas.

The main races of Diomin are covered. These are the Arak, Tirasim, Zeredites, Gadianti, Griolaum and Hearthom. These are also found in the Danger in the City of Immer supplement and it seems odd that they appear in both.

The Geography, History and Recent History of Qether are described, as are its notable personalities. All notables have detailed descriptions and stats. It describes the places of Qether, the fort, blacksmith, inn, temple, store, farm and shrine. These are well described, not in great detail, but certainly in enough detail to be useful.

The Adventure itself is very linear and straightforward. It is really an introductory scenario. But, there are several scenario hooks or ideas at the end that could be used to kick off new scenarios.

Is it good? Well, it's OK. The village/fort of Qether is well described. The scenario is basic and simple. If you want a quick single session scenario set in Diomin then this will do the trick. Since it is so cheap, it's probably worth buying if you are planning a Diomin campaign.

## Seraphim Guard

Five Classic Fantasy Monsters

Publisher | Seraphim Guard
Score | 85
Rating | B+
Gloranthan Content | 10
Availability | 20
Usability | 20
Originality | 20
General | 15
Recommended For: | Anyone who wants orcs etc. in their campaign

This comes as a 9 page PDF and is the first of Seraphim Guard's "Plain Wrap" RuneQuest supplements. Basically, these are no frills products, no full colour artwork, no glossy pages, simply plain PDF files. Is this a good idea? Probably, but it all depends on the content of these PDFs.

This supplement gives RQ stats for goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, ogres and orcs. It also has stats for Dire Weasels and Worgs. Each species has characteristics, hit locations, weapons, special rules, organisation, environment, psychology, language and physiology.

The characteristics are good, on the whole, if a little bland. The descriptions are not sketchy but suffer from being completely generic. If you put goblins in a world/game context it would make them a lot more interesting.

The booklet is well laid out, very easy to read, but has all headings in lower case, which jars a little.

I'm not sure about the descriptions of the size of the creatures, so goblins (SIZ 6) are three feet tall, hobgoblins (SIZ 10) are 5 foot 5 tall, kobolds (SIZ 5) are 2 1/2 feet tall, ogres (SIZ 19) are 9 feet tall and orcs (SIZ 13) are 6 feet tall. These do not gel with RQ2/3 sizes.

All in all this is a reasonably good supplement. It is very basic, but that's part of the design brief. If you want goblins, orcs etc in your campaign then this is worth getting. If not, then it isn't. But, at a ridiculously low price, it's probably worth getting anyway.

The Backstab Gang - Five Ready-to-use NPCs

Publisher | Seraphim Guard
Score | 85
Rating | B+
Gloranthan Content | 10
Availability | 20
Usability | 20
Originality | 20
General | 15
Recommended For: | Any GMs wanting a throwaway outlaw gang

This comes as a 9 page PDF and is the second of Seraphim Guard's "Plain Wrap" RuneQuest supplements. As such, there are no pictures or artwork, except for a map of a likely hideout for the gang. It is clear and well laid out, but the sun headings are all in lower case, which is tiring on the eyes.

The Backstab Gang is a small outlaw gang, in a generic setting. It contains five outlaw members of different species. Each personality has a detailed description and statistics for use as difficult or tough enemies. The statistics are reasonable and detailed enough to be useful. Each set of statistics has both skills before and after penalties are taken into account, which saves working them out. The gang members include a duck and a couple of goblins, so they are definitely RQ NPCs rather than tied to a particular setting.

If you need a pregenerated set of statistics for a small outlaw gang at a reasonable price, then this will do the trick quite nicely. It is short and sweet, it doesn't pretend to be something else and is a good addition to the Plain Wrap Supplements. If you have a traditional Gloranthan campaign then this won't be much use to you, but if you need a throwaway outlaw gang then this is just the thing.

[End]