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To begin with, the adventure text itself is just a pain to work with. It's very hard to run without rewriting the entire text in your own notes. A starter set should ideally require the GM to just take a few notes and have it's adventure text condensed and easy to reference. What if D&D took its cues from mythologies rather than pulp fantasy?" asks Dicebreaker. "That’s the question at the heart of RuneQuest, the critically-acclaimed RPG from game design legend Greg Stafford. RuneQuest offers a chance to play mythic heroes seeking adventure in a deep setting like few other RPGs."
This starter set is outstanding... I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys fantasy RPGs and wants to try a long-lived unique setting and well tested rules." Also, in the latest of our Chaosium Interview series, Jason discusses more about what's to come in the RuneQuest product line including the RQ Starter Set: In this scenario, you take on the role of Vasana, Daughter of Farnan. You can find her character sheet amongst the links below. This formidable hero is a capable warrior, trusted leader, and dedicated initiate of the Orlanth Adventurous cult. In this adventure, she has sided with Kallyr Starbrow, leader of the Sartarite rebellion against the Lunar Empire. It is God Day, Movement Week, Earth Season. Kallyr is about to lead her troops against the Lunar Empire’s war leader, Fazzur Wideread, at a critical ford across the strategically important passage of water known simply as “The Creek.” The sides are evenly matched, and even a single stone could shift the scales. Depending on how Vasana carries herself, she could sway the battle, and change the fate of Dragon Pass. Learn to play in the best way possible—by playing! “The Battle of Dangerford” is a single-player scenario designed to teach you the rules of the game as you play. Take on the role of Vasana as she joins her Sartarite brothers and sisters in an epic clash against the invading Lunar Empire.
In some occurrences, rules have been modified to be simpler. The most obvious example is that the core rulebook’s fumble table, which is rolled on with a D100, has a simpler D20-based version in the starter set. This is fine, and quite welcome for a starter set product. In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings... RuneQuest's Starter Set offers a healthy dose of the classic RPG's mythological world. Image: Chaosium This is truly an amazing product. On so many levels. I think, most importantly, it showcases Chaosium's approach to their business and consumers. Game companies aren't forced to do Starter Sets like this. And they usually don't. Chaosium makes products for fans."— RPG Imaginings. Rather than a stripped-down or abstracted version of the rules, the system would be presented as closely to the regular game line as possible. We wanted this to be an easy step into RuneQuest and Glorantha, as compatible with other products as we could make it.
The RuneQuest Starter Set contains everything you need to play the world’s best roleplaying game of gods, cults, magic, family, and fantasy! In RuneQuest, everyone uses spells and anyone can be a warrior. The gods provide powers to their mortal worshipers, and can intercede on their behalf. Each RuneQuest adventurer is unique, defined by their Runes, culture, and cult—all chosen by the player. Generally speaking, this SoloQuest was a solid and enjoyable experience. I preferred the solo adventure from the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, however. Maybe it’s because I’m such a giant horror gaming fan, but maybe it’s because it’s so innovative. It is actually the first booklet in the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set box: it makes you go through a simple version of character creation as part of the first few steps in the story, and follows by teaching you the rules in an interactive way. This makes getting into Call of Cthulhu so easy and entertaining! In comparison, the RuneQuest Starter Set has a more “standard” setup, where you first learn about the rules, then the setting, and then you play a game to see if you got it all correctly. The innovation of having this first game be a solo adventure remains, however, so the RuneQuest Starter Set keeps a leg up on the non-Chaosium competition. I don’t know if Chaosium could have done it differently anyway, since RuneQuest and Glorantha are much more complex to grasp than Call of Cthulhu and, well, Earth… I would love to read a “Designer Diary” about whether they tried it! Book 4: Adventures It's got a dash of Conan The Barbarian, a little bit of Greek mythology, and it has a really fun rules system that's actually been used in a tonne of different games."Return to Dragon Pass with The Red Cow Campaign by Ian Cooper, Jeff Richard, and Greg Stafford by James Davis Nicoll (2020) When most people think of the Warhammer universe, they think of one of two things: a grimdark setting and Henry Cavill painting minis while not wearing a shirt.
As a very new and inexperienced RuneQuest player, I felt weirdly lost after reading the core rulebook. However, the light has come on after reading the booklets and playing through “The Battle of Dangerford” SoloQuest. I now feel like I have a better sense of the rules, how things generally work, Gloranthan culture, and how to play within the world narratively. Had this Starter Set been around when I started my journey into RuneQuest this time last year (Christmas 2020), I would have had a completely different experience—one far less frustrating.This is just a superficial review, and mainly on the typography, graphical and general look of the material as I haven't had the time to completely read it through and play it yet. First of all: I am as Swede, so sorry for any typos or other grammatical or language error in this text. Thank you Chaosium that you continue to develop this wonderful game! If you’re old school (like me) and prefer to have pen and paper in hand when facing RPG dangers solo, you can get The Battle of Dangerford as part of the newly newly released RuneQuest Starter Set, published in 2021. Beset by war, the heroes of Glorantha ready themselves for their greatest challenge, the looming threat of the Hero Wars, an apocalyptic battle that will shape the fate of the world for all of time. To show themselves worthy, heroes adventure and strive against Chaos and their former enemies, the Lunar Empire. A gentle learning curve for Glorantha... I have no idea what more Chaosium could do to make the game easier to get into short of sending out RuneQuest referees to go door-to-door offering introductory sessions."— Refereeing & Reflection.
Oozes class, quality and care throughout... I wish this had been around when I started playing RuneQuest over 35 years ago!" By far the best Starter Set that has been produced for a roleplaying game... an industry changing product." — RPG Imaginings (review).
The adventure does a good job to show many different mechanics, introduce recent events of Dragon Pass, and get up-close with important NPCs. After running the adventure, you not only should have a better grasp on the crunchy RuneQuest rules (there’s often a big difference between “getting it in theory” and “getting it in practice”!), but you also should get an idea of the grittiness and “swinginess” of RuneQuest combat: anything could happen, and playing through a few scenes twice yields vastly different results, from glorious to deadly. Once we get into the Magic chapter, things become quite shortened compared to the core rulebook. Only spells and rules needed by the adventurers are described, and everything else gets a hint or short write-up, nudging you to get the core rulebook if you want to know more. The material on the Spirit World and Shamanism is short, since neither the adventures of Book 4 nor the pre-generated adventurers would have much to do with it, but there’s enough to whet a new player’s appetite. I really appreciate that because these are some of the game elements that set RuneQuest and Glorantha apart for me. Book 2: The World of Glorantha The RuneQuest Starter Set contains everything you need to play an epic roleplaying game of gods, cults, magic, family, and fantasy! The adventure was specifically written for Vasana, but the other pre-generated adventurers may be substituted. The Starter Set for Free League Publishing’s take on The One Ring RPG takes advantage of its Middle-earth setting by focusing on hobbits and their home base.
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