Quote from: TrippyHippy;864476Is RuneQuest Gateway just the new name for BRP Essentials?

In the past I've always took 'Runequest Gateway' to be the various non-Glorantha settings that used the core rules of RQ. Like, nowadays, Mythic Britain and Luther Arkwright.
I've no idea if I've been accurate in that assumption... but that would make for an appropriate name for a rulebook aimed at fueling a wide variety of genres/settings.

Non-Gloranthan is what "RuneQuest Gateway" meant back in the day, but people sometimes find new uses for old trademarks.

Quote from: Phillip;864491Non-Gloranthan is what "RuneQuest Gateway" meant back in the day, but people sometimes find new uses for old trademarks.

I wasn't even sure I was correct about its old meaning... but if it's meant to fuel future non-Gloranthan stuff... like Chronicles of Future Earth (I hope that one is still on the docket) then it seems to be carrying pretty much the same intent... since core Runequest is going to be the Glorantha stuff... yes? no?

I'm glad to hear about the reprint, even though my hardcover copy of RQ2 is still in surprisingly good shape.

And it's always gratifying to learn that others share my aesthetic sensibilities, namely, recognize the superiority of Otus over Elmore.

Quote from: Bren;864302On the other hand, I like RQ2. ...neither RQ3 nor, so far as I've seen, RQ6 does something that interests me all that much that other systems don't do.

Well, RQ6 has special effects (combat manoeuvres), which make its combat system superior to all others.  (Of course, a great combat system is not necessary for all games, e.g. Call of Cthuhlu, but for those games in which combat is important, RQ6 reigns supreme.)

Quote from: Akrasia;864515Well, RQ6 has special effects (combat manoeuvres), which make its combat system superior to all others.  (Of course, a great combat system is not necessary for all games, e.g. Call of Cthuhlu, but for those games in which combat is important, RQ6 reigns supreme.)

To elaborate on this, it's one of the few RPGs out there that actually allows a player to develop their own style of combat. So yes, it's a major feature of the game system.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;864476I thought BRP Essentials was also to be based on RQ6. Is RuneQuest Gateway just the new name for BRP Essentials?

I am expecting "RQ Gateway" to be the replacement for "BRP Essentials", but I haven't seen any official statement directly addressing that.  This expectation is based primarily on the history of "RQ Essentials" meaning "non-Glorantha with RQ rules" and on the current list of forums at BRP Central, which places "RQ Gateway" on the same level as "Basic Roleplaying", "Glorantha", and "Magic World", but has no mention of "BRP Essentials".

But, yes, you're right - Loz's statement that I mentioned in my last post actually did say "BRP Essentials", IIRC, rather than "RQ Gateway".  I'm just assuming that both names will end up referring to the same thing.

RQ Essentials is currently the name of the cut down version of RQ6 that is PWYW available from TDM and as a POD book.

Quote from: Akrasia;864515I'm glad to hear about the reprint, even though my hardcover copy of RQ2 is still in surprisingly good shape.

..

Mine too! That old red leather bound book is F'ing bomb proof.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;864476Is RuneQuest Gateway just the new name for BRP Essentials?

If I recall correctly, RuneQuest Gateway was a license to publish third party supplements for RQ6, like for example Alephtar Games' Stupor Mundi. I don't know if now it means something else.

Quote from: Simlasa;864452Might Dragon Lines be among them?

Perhaps, but not in another D100 incarnation.

Quote from: TrippyHippy;864432Do have a check out of the Luther Arkwright game for RQ6. It's not Swords and Sorcery (more alternative worlds/steampunk) but it's very Moorecockian. The Graphic Novel also has an intro penned by Moorecock.

I have asked to see it being expanded into a standalone book which, who knows, may end up happening with the shift around.

In some ways I actually prefer Luther Arkwright to Stormbringer/Elric on the grounds that there are plenty of other dark S&S RPGs out there now - indeed, you could use a D&D Warlock and get pretty much the same deal these days. In the case of Chaosium, they already have RQ as their branded S&S setting.

What Luther Arkwright does is offer a new genre to the mix, that is clearly different to RQ and CoC, but has just as much depth and resonance as either. It's an adult sci-fi setting with a bit of twisted humour. Like Doctor Who on an absinthe bender.

OK, you sold me on Luther Arkwright:). Congratulations!
I'll check it when it comes time for my RPG spending spree later this month;).

Quote from: Bobloblah;864182What are the big differences between the Design Mechanism's RQ6 and RuneQuest 2nd? I mean, if someone, hypothetically speaking of course, owned RQ6, why would they consider RQ2?

I'm not sure you would get much out of the RQ2 ruleset if you have come to RuneQuest for the first time from RQ6, apart from curiosity and old typesetting, maybe some old typos? The RQ2 rules didn't have that much Glorantha setting beyond the magic system and the creatures, the setting came largely in the supplements. Personally I wouldn't want to go back to RQ2 for the rules because I don't know why I would want to 'forget' the new parts of RQ6 that I like.

There's an association with new rules with bloat that I don't think is true with RQ6, you can see it in RQ3 which had parts which didn't work very well like sorcery, fatigue, cultural backgrounds, all of which were addressed in RQ6. RQ2 has some oddities which I'm sure some people like but which seem like munkin-fodder to me - escalating Battle Magic, Blade Venom and slugathon-combat, which again RQ6 handles much better, especially with special effects. The idea that an older ruleset is by it's nature streamlined and therefore faster and easier to play doesn't pan out, combat in the new RQ is more interesting and plays out faster.

A nostalgia reprint is a nice idea but it appeals to the record collector in me not the player.

Quote from: Bilharzia;864631...which again RQ6 handles much better, especially with special effects.

Sounds very cinematic.

Apart from the Glorantha content, how does RQ2 compare to OpenQuest?

Quote from: Bren;864639Sounds very cinematic.

Not particularly, or at least it doesn't trip my "cinematic" detectors.  The RQ6 combat special effects are things like Trip, Impale, Bleed, Open/Close Range, Choose Hit Location, and so on.  The sort of things that, in most RPGs, would be a "combat maneuver" that you attempt to pull off in exchange for a penalty to hit.  RQ6 turns that around and, if you hit with a higher degree of success than the defense (critical > success > failure > fumble), you get to pick one special effect per degree difference.  If the defender gets a higher degree of success, then there are also defensive special effects.  (One of the defensive SEs is Blind Opponent, which covers the old "throw sand in their eyes" trick, but that's as cinematic as they get.)