Runequest Starter Set

by Greg Stafford, Jeff Richard, Jason Durall

RuneQuest is a fantasy roleplaying game set in the world of Glorantha, played by two or more players and a single gamemaster. The RuneQuest Starter Set allows players to easily immerse themselves into Glorantha and its system, with ready-to-use characters and ready-to-play adventurers allowing for many hours of play.

Players in RuneQuest are adventurers, heroes who must face the challenges laid before them by the gamemaster, who describes the world and its incredible inhabitants.

Adventurers are defined by their skills, passions, equipment, and magical abilities such as spells and mastery of the powerful Rues. They improve by successfully using the skills and abilities they attempt in play.

Combat is dangerous and unpredictable. Even the mightiest can fall in battle, victim to a well-aimed blow, just as the most inexperienced peasant might bring down a giant or even a dragon, if they are lucky enough. Such is life in the world of Glorantha.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Fantasy

272 pages, Paperback

Published October 30, 2021

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best starter sets that I've seen for a tabletop roleplaying system. What I really liked is that the set comes with four books (about 60 pages each). The first book covers the rules. This is a nice compact edition of the rules. It's nice to have this when roleplaying because the RuneQuest system is one of the older systems, so it's a bit crunchier than more modern roleplaying games (three systems for magic!). Carrying this light book around is easier than carrying the huge core book.

The second book covers the setting. The setting is one of the most interesting things about RuneQuest. Rather than being set in a traditional European fantasy world, it is set in a Bronze Age world. Just imagine playing what are basically ancient Hittites but with magic, weird creatures, gods that are real, and beastmen running around. Having a different type of fantasy setting is refreshing.

The third book is perhaps the best of the set. It is a solo adventure in the form of a choose-your-own-adventure story. As you make your choices, it tells you what to do, so you learn how the rules of the system work as you play through the story. Every system should have a book like this. This would work well for someone who wants to try the system, but who isn't sure that they want to read the rule book yet. By playing through this solo adventure, you'd get a good idea of whether the system is for you or not. Also, if you have someone new joining your campaign, just hand them this book a week before their first game. After going through this, they will be ready to start playing.

The last book is an adventure book. There are a few adventures in here that would be suitable as a starting adventure or as a one-shot. The adventures are quite different from each other, so there is a good amount of variety here.

Overall, this is a solid starter set that I highly recommend.

[Matthew J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been a bit baffled by Glorantha. RuneQuest uses a variation on Basic Roleplaying, which is a great system, but the world was a bit beyond me. This box set finally cracked the nut for me. And dang it, this box is crammed with great material. A skimmed down rule book, a world book with material on the community Jonstown, a solo adventure meant to teach you the rules while giving you a taste of the setting, and then a book of three adventures to dive deeper in. There's a bunch of supplementary material too, like pre-gen characters, maps, etc. For the price, it's a lot of stuff.
Chaosium is really hitting it out of the park with their starter sets. I can't wait for the Pendragon one.

[Arthur B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificently executed starter set, which also includes material useful to old hands. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...