RuneQuest II
RuneQuest is back, and is better than ever!
Our original incarnation of RuneQuest caught the attention of a great many people, but we always believed it ended up feeling like it had been designed by committee – mostly because it had… Over the past years, we have published a great deal for the game, and felt the time had come to revitalise the system and compact the sprawling rules set into something that both we and long term RuneQuest fans would find altogether more agreeable.
Enter RuneQuest supremo, Lawrence Whitaker. What Lawrence does not know about RuneQuest, frankly, is not worth knowing, and he was the natural choice to act as lead designer for the new game. He started development of the new system in 2008, and spent much of 2009 refining all the ideas we had for the game, so it would be ready for launch right at the start of 2010 – that's right, you will see it in January!
New Mechanics
We had many aims for the original RuneQuest system, but felt the mark was missed on some of them – Lawrence has taken these aims, added to and improved them, and I believe he has hit the target with every single one. Here's a snapshot of the some important changes;
Look for a full breakdown of the new RuneQuest II from Lawrence himself in December's Signs & Portents – available for free download on the 1st!
Core Books
We felt we had to do something special to mark the return of RuneQuest, and so talk began of some sort of leather-bound limited edition. Then someone came up with the thought `why not make every core RuneQuest book leather-bound?'
It was a good idea, but we wanted to keep printing in the US and, at the same time, deliver value for money to RuneQuest fans. There was no point in having pretty leather-bound books if no one could afford them! A few calls were made to our printers, a few deals arranged and… we are proud to present the new core RuneQuest range in its leather-bound entirety, at no extra cost to you! These books will look glorious on any roleplayer's shelf as collector items, and gamers will enjoy the new rules set that delivers the fast and exciting play RuneQuest must have.
Following on from the new RuneQuest core book, there will be supplements galore, and the game will follow the same lines Traveller does now – a line of core books useable for any setting, with new worlds and settings layered on top that are able to utilise any of the core books.
The first two core supplements for RuneQuest II will be Arms & Equipment and Monster Coliseum. Arms & Equipment has been greatly expanded from its first incarnation, with rules for ships, vehicles, and enchantments built into the volume, making it much wider in scope (and greatly increasing its size). Monster Coliseum, as well as providing gladiatorial rules, overhauls familiar monsters for RuneQuest II, with each having notes on how it fights and behaves, making full use of the new combat system. Every monster now has a tactical array and uses some combat manoeuvres in preference to others either because of its nature/instinct, or its particular attacks and defences.
Further books of the core line in 2010, which can be used with any RuneQuest II setting, include an alternate magic system for Necromancy, another for Blood Magic, and the Vikings will be making a joyous return to the game in their own new book.
Glorantha
The first book for this new wave of Glorantha will not be the `core' Gloranthan Second Age book, but actually Pavis Risis – a huge 256 page epic campaign. The root of Pavis Rises is to serve as an easy introduction to the mysterious world of Glorantha. Basically, if you know nothing about Glorantha, play through this campaign and, by the end, you will know everything you need! For Glorantha veterans, of course, you'll be getting a great rollercoaster of a campaign.
After the core Glorantha book in March, you'll be treated to some lovely books that really start to get under the bonnet (hood) of the setting. The foundation of these will be two big tomes, Races of Glorantha and a completely re-written, from top to bottom, Cults of Glorantha. With the new RuneQuest II rules, cults and other affiliations will be placed front and centre for characters.
Then there is the mighty Abiding Book – this will focus on God Learner culture, sorcery, their empire and so on. There will be a huge amount of information on cultures, with detailed rules and lifepaths for creating God Learner characters. If you are a big Glorantha fan, you won't want to miss this one (or Tenets of the Inner Dragon, the following EWF equivalent book).
While Glorantha remains the original RuneQuest setting, in much the same way as the Third Imperium sits with Traveller, we are making a far greater commitment to use the system for many different fantasy (and not so fantasy) based settings.
Deus Vult
Written by Gareth Hanrahan and appearing in April, this is a brand new setting for RuneQuest II. Set at the end of the 12th Century, players will take the part of initiates within a secret order of the Catholic Church, the Ordo Acerbus Devotio, an organisation dedicated to defending humanity against supernatural threats. Trained to battle this menace, equipped to deal with the foulest of enemies, and armed with papal authority, the initiates will roam Europe of the Middle Ages, battling warlocks, ghouls, lycanthropes, spirits, demons and much worse – and it must be done without alerting the general populace, lest they lose faith in the ultimate power of the Lord. By Any Means Necessary is the central foundation of the Order.
This is an extract from the main rulebook, to set the tone;
"Know this – every one of you will perish in the service of the Order. Save for your brothers and sisters, no-one will ever know your sacrifice. Those we protect and serve must never know of our actions, or even of our existence. We are Ordo Acerbus Devotio, the Order of Bitter Piety, because we must serve in shadow and silence. Our works must go unseen.
"We are the instruments of God. The Lord's plan must be protected and shielded from those who would undo His good works. It is the duty of our order to defend Christendom and the Church from all her foes – within and without. It is the duty of our Order, too, to destroy those enemies whose existence cannot be countenanced. And it is the duty of our Order to conceal ourselves from the simple common folk, from greedy merchants and grasping nobles, and even our fellow servants of God. Our work is solely for the initiated.
"As initiates of the Order, you will go where you are needed, at the behest of your Masters. You will seek out the enemies of God and bring them down. You will be the hammer of witches and the slayer of monsters. You will be our instrument, just as we are God's. We will forge you into holy weapons and fill you with righteous fury.
"You are mortal. You shall die, unknown and unmourned, and your deeds will be forgotten.
"O, but my brothers and sisters, your rewards in heaven shall be great indeed."
Players will travel the length and breadth of Europe and to the Holy Lands in order to fulfil their missions, encountering the minions of Beelzebub, heretical Cathars, and uncovering the most vile of conspiracies within the highest reaches of European royalty. Faith itself will become a weapon in the hands of the most gifted initiates, blasting unholy enemies with the raw divine power of the Lord.
The Eternal Champion
With RuneQuest II, we have the opportunity to redress the Eternal Champion series too. The original Elric and Hawkmoon books are great examples of why we have taken a new approach with the whole RuneQuest line. Both were originally 160 page books, but 100-odd pages of each was taken up by the core rules!
By taking those core rules out (and adding more pages!), we can now bring you great volumes packed with Eternal Champion goodness. Elric and Corum will appear first (backed up with some suitably fiendish campaigns – Lawrence Whitaker has already staked his claim for the first Elric campaign!), but you will be seeing Hawkmoon and the fabled Multiverse sourcebook soon enough.
As with our Traveller line, the Eternal Champion sub-lines will be fully compatible with the core RuneQuest II books, so if you need to give your latest Big Bad a memorable weapon (for example), simply cruise along to Arms & Equipment for a comprehensive list, knowing all will be fully compatible on a mechanics level.
There are plans to heavily support the Eternal Champion series throughout 2010 and beyond, so if you are a fan of Michael Moorcock's greatest works and find RuneQuest II to be an agreeable system, you are going to love what we are working on right now.
Wraith Recon
The Wraiths are back in this truly unique fantasy special forces setting, and this time they have been tuned to the RuneQuest II rules set. This time around, the setting will be far darker and grittier, with the Wraiths becoming involved in far tougher missions in the defence of the Kingdom of Dardarrick against its many enemies, both within and without. Tensions between other nations are at an all time high, cult activity has increased within Dardarrick's borders, and the rapacious forces of the Wildlands are threatening to spill across the border.
Set against this are the Wraiths, highly trained professionals gifted with stealth and armed with the most powerful magicks the wealthy Dardarrick king can provide. Chief among these is the Spellcom lens, an eyepiece that allows operatives to penetrate darkness, receive mission updates and see through the lenses of their colleagues. Together, they will be tasked with the most dangerous tasks to defend their kingdom, infiltrating enemy fortresses, rescuing hostages taken by cultists, neutralising the leaders of vicious warbands and raiding garrisons to keep foes off balance.
An all new campaign is already being planned for Wraith Recon, along with a supplement that details the other military forces of Dardarrick, including the mighty pegasus knights and the truly awesome dragon carriers, great floating vessels that harness the most deadly units of the kingdom's army.
Original RuneQuest Books
With RuneQuest II appearing in January, we will be rendering all current RuneQuest and Eternal Champion books out of print at the end of December. If there are any titles you are particularly after in the current range you have just over a month to grab them. After that, they will be gone for good!
Living Campaigns
In the summer of 2010, we will be launching two living campaigns – Living Traveller and Living Glorantha.
We are striving hard to keep these campaigns as simple as possible in their implementation, without the need for players and games masters to constantly log in and register characters and equipment. Instead, we want to very much concentrate on the story lines for these settings, as there are big events coming up for both, and the living campaigns will put your characters front and centre.
For example, we promised you a while ago that we were preparing for the end of the Second Age, and there will be plenty of material in Living Glorantha to take you there – you will be right in the front seat. For Traveller, your characters will be party to huge events in the run up to the Fifth Frontier War and beyond. If you are attending Conception in January next year, you will have a chance to take part in a dry run of Living Traveller, as we confirm all the systems behind these campaigns with a view to kicking them off properly at Continuum in July. From that point on, everyone is welcome to participate.
We are in the process of building up enough games master coverage to ensure these campaigns are run at all major conventions, but we also want to encourage participation at smaller events, stores, and at home too. Basically, no matter where you are or who you play with, you will have a chance to keep up with the campaigns. We are even looking at the potential for solo gamebooks that, when played through with your living characters, will count as scenarios in the larger campaign, so there will be all sorts of little bits and pieces you will have access to in order to fulfil your enjoyment of the entire campaign and give you a chance to get involved.
Now, we are guessing the first question many people will have about these campaigns is when is Living Mega-City One/Strontium Dog/Tragic Europe coming? The answer is that we have no solid plans as of yet, as we want to ensure all the core admin systems work with Traveller and Glorantha first. However, we have designed the systems to be relatively light, so there is always the possibility of adding more campaigns at a later date.
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