Judging by the comments on this line, I must be in the minority of
Gloranthaphiles who is not particularly a fan of Pendragon. The combat
system of Pendragon is too quick and not particularly interesting -- the
characteristic table is irritatingly simple-minded and vastly reduces the
chance for role-playing. In our games, playing both in Glorantha and in
Vikings, we have never had any problem playing long time-span campaigns
with Runequest.
I quite agree with Sandy about the gritty nature of the Runequest rules,
and agree with the other person (I forget who) who suggests that RQ would
go well with Tekumel.
The greatest weakness of RQ rules for Gloranthan reality (and even more
for Alternate Earth) is that the system is too magic-heavy. Not as bad
as using Rolemaster for Middle Earth, I admit!
So my wish list for Mr. Hall is a combat system which is more interesting
than that of Pendragon, and some way of using the trait list better --
perhaps a more subtle set of lists, and certainly a less constraining way of using the traits. At its worst Pendragon, unlike RQ, becomes simply a matter
of "go there," "roll against your trait of xxx," "a fight-- roll once --
"you win, or you lose," go somewhere else, "roll for children," etc.
Jim Chapin
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