RuneQuest: Core Rulebook

by Matthew Sprange

One of the greatest roleplaying games of all time comes back in a new edition designed for the 21st Century! Building on the previous editions of the game, the all new RuneQuest system has been developed under the watchful eyes of Messrs Stafford and Perrin, and has been subjected to the longest and most open playtesting period that any Mongoose game has been through. Released as a 100-page hardback book, RuneQuest gives players all the core rules they need to begin playing - indeed, with the monsters included in this book, Games Masters can construct complete scenarios with this single tome.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Fantasy

100 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2006

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mongoose Runequest is another evolution of the popular game originally designed by Greg Stafford and Steve Perrin. Matthew Sprange in my humble opinion took this system and made what was previously a fairly convoluted creation system and streamlines it. I had quite a bit of difficulty navigating the Runequest 2nd edition or classic system due to layout issues and rule clarifications being spread out in unlikely places through the book. None of these issues are present in the Mongoose rules. It is not flawless, but now there are updated errata out there for download to fix any large issues. I found with this system I was able to create a character that was very robust, had a fairly complete background, and it took a mere 20 minutes. I also was enamored with the fact that unlike my D&D first level characters I felt a real place in the world of Glorantha, and a reasonably decent shot at accomplishing tasks as a starting character. Overall, I think this system and its later incarnation into Openquest are excellent inclusions into fantasy roleplaying and if you have ever been curious at what Runequest has to offer versus Dungeons and Dragons, the Mongoose Runequest is an excellent starting point.

[Psychophant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting update on one of my favorite game systems. Actually I think the choices taken are good, and the average rating is due more to the lack of actual playable information in the book, which I find insufficient to market as a "stand-alone" system.

More of a money-making scheme, actually, as I suppose I will have to buy several more books to be able to play.