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This guide has
been created for the benefit of newbies just starting out. We will discuss
how to get started playing RuneQuest.
Find or Buy a copy of RuneQuest
RuneQuest Deluxe Edition |
The first thing that you need to do is to find
or buy a copy of RuneQuest. We
would suggest using eBay to find a copy.
When searching
for a copy of RuneQuest, we would recommend that you get the deluxe
edition. This edition of RuneQuest includes a players book, magic book,
gamemaster book, creatures book, glorantha book, player notes, game
aids, and a full color map of fantasy Europe.
In addition, Mongoose
Publishing has released a new version of RuneQuest. You
can order
it now at Amazon.com.
Buy some Dice
To play RuneQuest you will also need to purchase your own set of dice
and a bag. Dice are used to roll for characteristics and skills. RuneQuest
requires several different types. We would suggest using RPQ
Shop to find some.
There are
30-sided dice, 20-sided dice, 10-sided dice, 8-sided dice, 6-sided dice,
and 4-sided dice. Certain combinations of these dice will create varied
results. All dice have abbreviations. The letter "D" represents
the word "die" or "dice." For example, a 6-sided
die would be referred to as D6. Dice are also preceded by the number
of dice to be rolled. For example: 3D6, 5D6, or 10D6. Sometimes, additions
to these rolls can be made such as: 3D6+2 or 4D6-1. Finally, dice designations
may be combined such as: 1D6 + 4D8.
For a further
illustration, each type of die has been illustrated below:
D4
|
D6
|
D8
|
D10
|
D12
|
D20
|
D30
|
D100
|
Find or Create a Gaming Group
In order to play RuneQuest you will need to have
at least 2 people. One to be the Gamemaster and one to be the player.
Ideally, you should have more than just 1 player. We would recommend
having at least 2 players or more.
You may decide to find a few friends and create your own gaming group.
Or you may decide to find some players
already in your area.
Determine your Gamemaster
Once you have your gaming group, you should then
decide who will be the Gamemaster for your group. The person you choose
to be the Gamemaster does not necessarily have to be the best organized
or most outgoing but it does help. In addition, you shouldn't have just
one person gamemaster all of the time. Spread it around. Let everyone
have their shot at it. It's a lot of fun!
The Gamemaster
Adventure Planning
Once you've determined who will be the gamemaster, that person should
spend some quality time preparing an adventure for the group. We would
suggest creating a map of the area and a few non-player characters (also
called NPC's) that your group can meet. Be sure to plan enough background
to make your world believable and exciting but don't over do it at first.
Make some notes about the adventure but also have some extra ideas in
mind to keep play interesting - but make it believable. Don't just have
a dragon appear out of thin air and chase the group.
Allow Your Players Freedom
When you play, be sure to allow your players the freedom to explore.
Don't restrict their movements just because you haven't planned on it.
Improvise. Create something on the fly! It's quite fun. That's why its
good to have some extra ideas before you play to draw from. Try not
to force your players to do one certain thing by some "mysterious
force." Let them play, interact, and explore the world.
Don't Get Attached to your NPC's
Another important point is to make sure you don't get attached to your
NPC's. Don't save your npc's from death or injury if your players truly
and fairly hurt them. Again, make it believable. However, you can always
introduce some intrigue every once in a while. Sometimes an npc is much
more powerful than the players think, and may be able to come back.
But in most cases this won't happen. If every npc the players kill or
maim comes back to haunt them, it won't be believable and they will
think you're trying to kill them off.
Don't Give Your Players Everthing - Set Limits
It is very important to not give your players everything they want.
Do not let them manipulate you. You are the gamemaster. You are in charge.
Whatever you say goes. It's that simple. There is no voting or democracy
here. Make sure that you always set limits to what they can do, but
always allow a way for those limits to be surpassed if they meet certain
requirements. But make it difficult. Don't make it a cake walk.
Roleplay
When you're the gamemaster it can feel like you have multiple personalities.
Why? Because you are roleplaying everybody in your world except for
your players. It can be a little overwhelming. However, when your players
meet your npc's make sure you actually roleplay with them. Talk
to them. But don't always say the same things or do the same things.
Remember that every npc in your world is different. Show those differences.
Roleplay those differences. Use different voices and inflections. Each
npc has their own personality. Their own strengths and weaknesses. Make
the come alive!
Break Rule Barriers
As a gamemaster you have the power to create. RuneQuest has certain
rules and restrictions. You may feel free to create your own rules or
to stretch, or even break the existing ones. However, if you do, you
must always be consistent. You cannot break the rules for your npcs
and not for your players. That's just not fair. We strongly encourage
you to create your own rule variations. If you would like a sample of
our rule variations click here.
Meeting to Play
You can all meet to "game" whenever you have enough time.
We suggest setting aside an entire night to play RuneQuest. This will
give you enough time to really enjoy the game session. Make sure that
you have plenty of room to set up a table if you want or you can just
lounge around on chairs or bean bags.
One of the most important aspects of meeting to game is to make sure
you have plenty of goodies to munch on. Eating is as much a ritual as
gaming itself. It just helps to enrich the gaming experience!
On a final note, you must always remember that when you play RuneQuest,
it is just a game. Don't take it too seriously. Just have fun. But remember
to roleplay, not just throw dice!
Your Adventurer Sheet
The first thing that you will need is a blank character sheet. You may
print a copy of one our character sheets to use or you may photocopy
one from an original RuneQuest book.
Your character sheet will be your primary tool in the game. You should
always keep it up to date but never change anything unless your gamemaster
gives you permission. We will explain each section of the character
sheet.
Adventurer's Personal Information
At the top of the character sheet is an area for your character's personal
information. This is where you will record your character's name, species,
age, gender, culture, religion, homeland, and occupation.
Character Name: You may choose any name you desire for your character.
If you are having trouble thinking of a name you may use our character
name generators in general resources.
Species: This is what type of creature your character will be.
You could be a human, an elf, a halfling, or whatever. This would be
subject to your gamemaster's discretion.
Age: Your character should at least be 15 years or older. Most
people put their character's age between 18 and 30. Usually the older
the character the better skills you will have. Feel free to experiment
with different ages with your gamemaster's discretion.
Gender: Obviously you can be either male or female. Take your
pick.
Culture: There are four different cultures that your character
can belong to. They are primitive, nomad, barbarian, and civilized.
Your gamemaster may indicate which one you should be or you may choose.
Religion: This refers to the type of magic system that your character
primarily believes in. In the standard RuneQuest system there are three
choices: Spirit, Sorcery, and Divine. However, you may experiement with
combining different religions or creating your own.
Homeland: This is the village, town, city, or land that your
character was born.
Occupation: This is the job or career that your character will
be. You will receive various bonuses or restrictions depending upon
the occupation you choose or are allowed to be. However, your character
does not necessarily have to follow this course. You should be free
to do whatever you desire.
Characteristics
Your character will have seven different characteristics which will
determine what you can do and how good you are. The characteristics
are as follows: Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity,
and Appearance.
Strength: This is a measure of your muscular force. This will
affect the amount of damage that you do, the kind of armor you can wear,
and what weapons you can use. It also will determine what you can lift
and how much. Strength can be increased by training normally or may
be increase through an experience-level system.
Constitution: This measures your character's health and is a
major factor when determining how much damage you can take before you
die. This is also used to resist poison or other maladies.
Size: This is your character's physical mass. This will affect
your character's ability to inflict and absorb damage.
Intelligence: This will determine your character's ability to
reason, make judgements, memorize, organize, and coordinate various
things. This is a major factor when figuring most modifiers for your
character and affects your ability to increase your skill percentages
through experience.
Power: This is a measure of your character's life force. Power
represents your character's integration to the universe around them.
High power shows great harmony while low power shows less harmony.
Dexterity: This is a measure of your character's coordination
and speed. This influences how well you fight, jump, or move.
Appearance: This is a measure of how attractive your character
is to other members of your same species.
Determining Characteristics
To determine your character's stats, you will need to roll dice. To
familiarize yoursef with what types of dice to use, you may need to
refer to our dice question in RuneQuest
faq for an illustration. There are 3 main ways to roll your character's
stats:
Method One
This is the random method. Simply roll 3D6 for all characteristics except
for Intelligence and Size. For those two you must roll 2D6+6. You should
accept the first number you roll for each characteristic.
Method Two
This method does not use dice. Only use this method when creating a
human character. You will allocate a total of 80 points among all seven
characteristics. This will allow you to customize your character to
your tastes. However, you must have a minimum of 8 for Intelligence
and Size, and a minimum of 6 for all other characteristics.
Method Three
This method combines the methods above. You will roll 3D6 for all characteristics
except for Intelligence and Size (2D6+6). Afterward, you can allocate
a total of 6 more points to your characteristics. If your character
is human, no characteristic may be higher than 18 unless your gamemaster
directs otherwise.
Attributes
Your character's attributes are determined directly from your characteristics.
There are eight different attributes. They are magic points, fatigue
points, hit points, damage modifier, movement rate, DEX srm, SIZ srm,
and MELEE srm.
Magic Points: Your magic points are equal to your character's
power. Magic points are used by your character to cast or resist spells.
Formula: MP = POW
Fatigue Points: Your fatigue points are equal to your character's
strength plus constitution. Fatigue points are expended through strenuous
activity.
Formula: FP = STR + CON
Hit Points: Your hit points are equal to your character's constitution
plus size divided by 2. Hit points represent the amount of damage your
character can take before they die.
Formula: HP = CON + SIZ / 2
These are also referred to as your total hit points. Your character
will also have hit points for each location on their body. The hit points
per location are determined from the total hit points. Please consult
the chart below:
| Location |
Total Hit Points
|
| |
01-03
|
04-06
|
07-09
|
10-12
|
13-15
|
16-18
|
19-21
|
| Each
Leg |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
| Abdomen |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
| Chest |
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
8
|
9
|
| Each
Arm |
1
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
| Head |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
Damage Modifer:
Whenever your character makes a successful attack with a melee weapon
you add your damage modifier to the total damage done. If your character
makes a successful attack with a thrown weapon, you add half of your
damage modifier instead. Your damage modifier is determined based upon
your character's strength plus size. Please consult the chart below
to determine your damage modifier.
|
Total
|
Damage Modifier
|
|
01-12
|
- 1D4
|
|
13-24
|
0
|
|
25-32
|
+ 1D4
|
|
33-40
|
+ 1D6
|
|
41-56
|
+ 2D6
|
|
57-72
|
+ 3D6
|
|
73-88
|
+ 4D6
|
|
89-104
|
+ 5D6
|
|
105-120
|
+ 6D6
|
|
121-136
|
+ 7D6
|
|
137-152
|
+ 8D6
|
Movement Rate:
This determines how quickly your character can run or move.
The
standard movement rate for a human is 3 meters per strike rank. We have
devised a system that will allow you to increase the movement rate of
a human character depending upon their dexterity. To determine the movement
rate, simply follow these steps:
1. Take the dexterity of the character and minus 18.
2. Take the resulting number and divide by 18.
3. Finally, take the resulting number and add 3. This is the character's
movement rate.
Note: Never disregard decimal numbers. These are important.
Example: One character may be able to move at 3.4 and another at 3.5.
This is realistic estimates of capable speeds.
For a further illustration please consult the chart below:
|
Character's DEX
|
Movement Rate
|
|
3-18
|
3.0
|
|
27
|
3.5
|
|
36
|
4.0
|
|
45
|
4.5
|
|
53
|
5.0
|
|
62
|
5.5
|
|
71
|
6.0
|
|
80
|
6.5
|
|
89
|
7.0
|
Strike Ranks
& Modifiers
To realistically simulate combat, RuneQuest uses the dexterity and size
of your character combined with the size of weapons and the number of
magic points used to cast your spells. A melee round consists of 10
strike ranks counted from 1 to 10. The lower the number of the strike
rank, the sooner your character may attack.
DEX srm:
To determine your characters dexterity strike rank modifier please use
the chart below:
|
Adventurer DEX
|
DEX Strike Rank
|
|
01-09
|
4
|
|
10-15
|
3
|
|
16-19
|
2
|
|
20-30
|
1
|
|
30 +
|
0
|
SIZ srm:
To determine your characters size strike rank modifier please use the
chart below:
|
Adventurer SIZ
|
SIZ Strike Rank
|
|
01-09
|
3
|
|
10-15
|
2
|
|
16-19
|
1
|
|
20 +
|
0
|
MELEE srm:
Your character's melee strike rank modifier is equal to your SIZ srm
plus your DEX srm.
Formula: DEX srm + SIZ srm = MELEE srm
Skills
Normal activities in RuneQuest like walking or jumping are just automatically
successful, no roll of the dice is needed. However, there are several
skills which must be developed and these are assigned percentages from
0 to 100, or sometimes higher. Skill percentages may be increase by
experience.
By simply rolling equal to that skills' percentage or lower your character
will successfully use that particular skill. If your character rolls
above their percentage, they simply fail to perform the skill successfully.
In some cases, if you roll a 99 then your character "fumbles"
and something catastrophic may happen.
Skill Category Modifiers
Each skill has been organized into one of seven different catagories.
Each skill category will also have a modifier that you may add to any
skill's percentage under that category.
There are 7 skill categories in RuneQuest. They are Agility, Communication,
Knowledge, Magic, Manipulation, Perception, and Stealth.
Agility: These are physical skills that require general bodily
effort.
Communication: These skills transfer information from your character
to another person or creature.
Knowledge: These are mental skills which require your character's
own knowledge and personal judgement.
Magic: These skills allow your character to manipulate and control
the magical forces in the world.
Manipulation: These skills require great hand-to-eye coordination
from your character, especially for fighting.
Perception: These skills allow your character to receive and
understand information about the world around them.
Stealth: These skills are used to protect yourself from being
detected.
Determining Category Modifiers
Characteristics influence a skill modifier in 3 ways: Primary, Secondary,
and Negatively.
Primary Influence: Add 1 percentile to the modifier for each
point of the characteristic over 10. Subtract 1 percentile for each
characteristic point below 10.
Agility Category Example: DEX = 13. Primary influence equals 3.
Secondary Influence: Add 1 percentile to the modifier per two
characteristic points over 10. Subtract 1 percentile per two characteristic
points below 10.
Note: The maximum percentile that may be added is 10. Characteristic
points above 30 are ignored.
Agility Category Example: STR = 18. Secondary influence equals 4.
Negative Influence: This is opposite of the primary influence.
Subtract 1 percentile to the modifier for each point of the characteristic
over 10. Add 1 percentile for each characteristic point below 10.
Agility Category Example: SIZ = 15. Negative influence equals -5.
Now you must add all three numbers together to determine your final
category modifier.
Formula: 3 (Primary) + 4 (Secondary) + -5 (Negative) = 2
Your Agility Category Modifier in this case would be + 2%.
To determine your character's category modifiers please use the chart
below:
|
|
Primary
|
Seconardy
|
Negative
|
|
Agility
|
DEX
|
STR
|
SIZ
|
|
Communication
|
INT
|
POW, APP
|
Nothing
|
|
Knowledge
|
INT
|
Nothing
|
Nothing
|
|
Magical
|
INT, POW
|
DEX
|
Nothing
|
|
Manipulation
|
INT, DEX
|
STR
|
Nothing
|
|
Perception
|
INT
|
POW, CON
|
Nothing
|
|
Stealth
|
DEX
|
Nothing
|
SIZ, POW
|
|
