Ok. So was doing some searching for a game box and recently was rudely reminded that... "hey... you know Runequest everyone talks about? Remeber you bought me way back? No? Well Hello there sailor here I am in this box you stuffed me in two decades ago! Nyah-hah-hah-haaa!"

ahem.

Ok. So what I have (er, have had all this time) is 3e Standard (by Avalon Hill). I open it up and inside are some dice, more than is listed, the two rule books, and two modules? Apple Lane and Snake Pipe Hollow? Pretty sure those didnt come in the box and I didnt buy them separate so must have come with the set? Dice are still in the bag even.

So. Reading through and first impression is... "Damn this is long winded!" They seem to use alot of words to say very little. Second impression is that it is very disorganized. Not totally. But it ping pongs around subjects willy nilly.

I feel like I really should be liking this game. Its overall percentile based. But it feels... lacking? Also feels a little over-complex in the combat area. Not too much I think. But it feels like its more steps with less payoff. Otherwise I like the tradoffs one must make of speed vs protection. I like the armour system, the weapon wear system, and the impale/stuck in system too. Well done and not too intrusive.

So how does 3e Standard compare to the other editions or the Deluxe 3e? I assume Standard and Deluxe are analogous to Basic and Expert?

I think the Deluxe book is just all the boxed set contents (the smaller books) all in one book.  I can double check, I have both.  The Glorantha stuff you must have tossed in the box, RQ3 was Avalon Hill/Mythic Europe.

Quote from: CRKrueger;938459I think the Deluxe book is just all the boxed set contents (the smaller books) all in one book.  I can double check, I have both.  The Glorantha stuff you must have tossed in the box, RQ3 was Avalon Hill/Mythic Europe.

Yes. Avalon Hill it says on the box. And while it says "Mythic Europe" it totally lacks that feel so far. Feels more Hyborian Age. Still reading through slowly. The disorganization of rules is an impediment.

I found 3E to be kind of a mess myself, although it did have some great supplement late in its run.

2E is simpler, but with a very primitive layout. It's a cool game, but you are digging back into early gaming history.

6E/Mythras is still pretty complex, but I feel the complexity had more payoff than in 3E. It has a very strong line of supplements and is still supported. There is also a scaled-back, 32 page free version called Mythras Imperative that you can get here.

If you want something simpler, there is also OpenQuest, which is a nice little retroclone. You can get the Basic Edition of it for free. It might be a good thing to look at if you want to get into Runequest but are floundering on 3E. It has some nice supplements as well, such as Crucible of the Dragon.

If you are tired of wading through 3E, either Mythras Imperative or OpenQuest Basic might be better places to get into RuneQuest.

It's (sort of) fun remembering why a game was left back inside a box.

How different is 2e vs. OpenQuest vs. 6e?

RuneQuest 3 was a dry read however you spin it, but so were a lot of games in the 1980s. It was also the first RQ edition that divorced itself from having Glorantha as it's default setting - although some Gloranthan material was added in later printings IIRC. The default was Mythic Europe though and, as such, the work being done in Mythras is really it's natural successor. Mythras is better written and more accessible on the whole though.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;938472It's (sort of) fun remembering why a game was left back inside a box.

In this case got it and some other stuff from Crazy Egors at Gen Con and the other stuff turned out to be incomplete both and so just kinda never looked at RQ past a glance and then totally forgot about it in a move.

Quote from: Spinachcat;938474How different is 2e vs. OpenQuest vs. 6e?

Aside from them both being percentile and obviously related (same stats and skill based), there is a lot of differences.

Character generation in RQ2 is actually similar to Classic Traveller in some ways, as it generates raw teens with little in the way of applicable skill and then encourages you to join a cult in order to be trained. This racks up debt (both material and spiritual) and sets up your character for adventure to pay off debt and fulfil cult objectives in order to advance (increasing skills and magical access). The skill bonuses based on Characteristics are tabular based, and generally only have an impact on skills at more extreme ratings. There is an appendix for building characters with prior experience, but there may be a culture shock to players not used to old school gaming.

RQ6/Mythras builds characters from packages - Culture and Career - which have players distributing skill points from a predetermined list of skills. Characteristics form the base for each skill - usually by adding two scores together - and the skill levels accordingly tend to be a lot higher at the start. There is no obligation to join a cult, although they still provide magical access. OpenQuest is simpler than RQ6/Mythras with less skills and calculated secondary characteristics on the whole.

Combat is again related, but quite different with RQ2 using precalculated Strike Ranks that incorporate different Characteristic levels, weapon reach and the like to determine when you strike in order. RQ6/Mythras basically uses a randomised D&D-esque initiative system with stipulations to include other factors. RQ2 has particular rules for impale and hit location, but RQ6/Mythras expands on combat manoeuvres in quite sophisticated ways.

Magic in RQ2 is divided into Basic Magic (including spirit magic and simple spells) and Rune Magic (based upon a divine link and more powerful). Sorcery was added at a later point for more wizardly type spells. RQ6/Mythras has five systems - dividing Basic Magic into Folk Magic and Animism respectively, expanding on Theism (Rune Magic) and Sorcery, and adding Mysticism (for Kung Fu stuff).

OpenQuest in all cases is stripped down from Mongoose RuneQuest, which in turn evolved into Legend and Mythras respectively. It is more catered to particular genres, and is essentially a rules lite version of all the above, although Mythras now has a rules lite version too of course.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;938481RuneQuest 3 was a dry read however you spin it, but so were a lot of games in the 1980s.

Its not dry. Its just very very wordy. I think they could have trimmed the book down to half its page count if theyd not spent so long. Ive seen few RPG books from the 80s that came across as dry. The Mystara boxed set comes to mind. Page after page after wall of text page. Lots of info. But it all just kinda blurred together.

The RQ3 book is broken up with lots of chargen examples which breaks up the overwordyness of the sections.

These days I'd rather play Openquest (or Stormbringer), Strike Ranks and Hit locations made combat quite complicated for my tastes. Also, I didn't like Sorcery and all the magical skills added in 3e. If I had to play OS Runequest I'd rather go with 2e.

If you are a long-time 2E player, 3E is actually pretty good - most of the core rules can be skimmed, and the changes and additions are mostly good. Sorcery is the only new rules sub-system where they really shit the bed. And the supplement run is outstanding. Something like a dozen boxed sets, many excellent, covering and extending on the 2E classics. Really, 3E is a great game by itself, provided you spend the day or two of reading to learn how to play.

edit: Also, I think your boxed set should have contained something like 5 books: Core book, magic, monsters, glorantha, and game master's books; plus a pretty cool fantasy europe map and some play aids. Honestly, dollar for dollar, it kicks the shit out of most games.

I had RQ3- the box set a buddy gave to me and the all in one softcover book.  There's two things I recall from it- one, that I could never make it more than a page or two before my eyes glazed over.  And two- the art for the monsters and chapter headers was incredible.

RQ3 was my first introduction to RuneQuest; I purchased it when I was around 14 years old. Reading it, after years of playing AD&D, turned my gaming world upside down. I found it exciting, and evocative, but sure... pretty complex. RQ3, along with WFRP, took me off the path of D&D - pretty much forever. I never wanted to play a class/level system again after exposure to those systems.

I still appreciate RQ3's system, but I don't like that much complexity in my gaming nowadays. It fits into the same category as MRQ2/RQ6/Mythras - too much system for the effort. (And I experimented a lot with MRQ2, 3-4 years ago). My tastes align more with the abstraction of (Pre-7e) Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer/Elric!, and Cakebread & Walton's Renaissance system.

I never owned the Standard edition, but it was definitely a very stripped down version. I don't think it contained all of the magic systems present in Deluxe.

Quote from: Omega;938457Ok. So was doing some searching for a game box and recently was rudely reminded that... "hey... you know Runequest everyone talks about? Remeber you bought me way back? No? Well Hello there sailor here I am in this box you stuffed me in two decades ago! Nyah-hah-hah-haaa!"

ahem.

Ok. So what I have (er, have had all this time) is 3e Standard (by Avalon Hill). I open it up and inside are some dice, more than is listed, the two rule books, and two modules? Apple Lane and Snake Pipe Hollow? Pretty sure those didnt come in the box and I didnt buy them separate so must have come with the set? Dice are still in the bag even.

So. Reading through and first impression is... "Damn this is long winded!" They seem to use alot of words to say very little. Second impression is that it is very disorganized. Not totally. But it ping pongs around subjects willy nilly.

I feel like I really should be liking this game. Its overall percentile based. But it feels... lacking? Also feels a little over-complex in the combat area. Not too much I think. But it feels like its more steps with less payoff. Otherwise I like the tradoffs one must make of speed vs protection. I like the armour system, the weapon wear system, and the impale/stuck in system too. Well done and not too intrusive.

So how does 3e Standard compare to the other editions or the Deluxe 3e? I assume Standard and Deluxe are analogous to Basic and Expert?

The boxed set contained all the rules, in a box. There was a late reprint that contained all the rules, in a single book, this worked better for me.

The Standard and Deluxe books were probably a mistake, as the Standard edition missed a lot of the rules and the Deluxe was incomplete. Then again, I never owned either of them.

RQ3 had a better rules set than RQ2, but lacked a lot of flavour. RQ2 oozed flavour out of every pore. RQ3 tried to use Alternate Earth and Glorantha as settings, in fact the Gloranthan stuff only came in a bit later. RQ3 worked well for Alternate Earth and Glorantha.

Personally, I prefer RQ3 to RQ2, just because the rules were better. MRQI was a pale imitation, tried too hard not to be RQ3. MRQII was better, tried hard not to be MRQI or RQ3. RQ6 was good, but lived a life far too short. RQ7/4 will probably be good, but who can say at the moment? RQ3 is still the best all-round product for RQ, for me, good rules, some excellent support and supplements and a fair amount of new material at the end.