Long Facial Compilation

[Scandinavian Week] RuneQuest Vikings 1985/2010


RuneQuest was created by Steve Perrin as a generic role-playing but it was from the beginning rather centered on the mythical world of Greg Stafford, Glorantha . The barbarians of Orlanth Sartar more like a mixture of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Viking ships, but without the first examples could suggest a more complex mixture, more Greco-Roman (high in Asterix, I saw rather Orlanth by Celts and Romans in Lunar but some chose to see Sartarites - albeit slightly more urbanized than the usual Barbarians - Greeks in the face of Moon Persians).

In the 3rd edition RuneQuest tried for a while to become much more "generic" with the release of RuneQuest Vikings (1985, analysis on the GROG ) by Greg Stafford (who also came out on his Pendragon Arthurian myth).

The very title of RuneQuest had always seemed enough skiing (although the pictograms Runes gloranthiennes Stafford had relatively little to do with Futhark) and the style of the sagas had influenced many legends about the hero " Harrek Bear Blanc" (which appears from the wargame White Bear and Red Moon ). But most of the magic system of RuneQuest relatively low fantasy and less powerful compared to other games with smaller combat spells fairly discreet, able to adapt quite well to the atmosphere of the sagas. There is therefore relatively few necessary modifications.

The high quality of the supplement (which total about 150 pages if you include all the lists of NPC) is the inclusion of an entire campaign in the south-western Norway. Members of a clan of Ulf Hafursfjord in Rogaland learn the various aspects of life in Scandinavia, with a hunt, a visit to Thing, a raid on enemy shipping and maritime transport more distant (where Stafford likes to include race gloranthienne Children of the Winds as encounter exotic). Stafford is a bit like he did in Pendragon gradually introducing the characters, immersing players into the North.

The new supplement Vikings RuneQuest (Mongoose, 2010) by Pete Nash is scheduled for publishing called " RuneQuest II" (that is to say according to the ways in which we account 4.5 or the 5th edition?). There are many long tables random events such as children. The table of names and nicknames is the longest I've found in all supplements that I know (more than 500 male names and 150 female names p. 45-47).

This is just a detail but I do not know if everyone will be thrilled with the idea that the Scandinavians are indeed stronger and taller than the others (apart from fantastic countryside where they can have blood Giant). The rules (p. 36) gives them a Force to a 3d6 +3 and 2d6 Size to 9 while at the other extreme Slavs have a force and a much higher average size of 2d6 +3. According GURPS Vikings Graeme Davis (p. 20), there is an effect of diet but the average of the Scandinavians from the graves would not have been much higher than rural populations Europe.

Unlike version of Greg Stafford, who used the system RQ virtually unchanged, Pete Nash decided to adapt the system to make it more magical near atmosphere legends. There is more magic divine standard of Cults. As for the Futhark Runes , they become the subject of specific skills (either seidr , ritual trance, or Burn Runes to make Galdr of Singing). The seidr here is one way of doing galdr , which may conform to certain Sagas where this does not seem exclusive (unlike a game like Yggdrasil which seems more clearly distinguish the two).

The book ends with many early stories, but many developments that the Norwegian countryside of Stafford, who had the advantage of starting the "local" to "global". It would really complete a full script. The world map is also much less detail. But overall, this new version still manages to have more atmosphere thanks to these changes in detail in the rules, while still remaining the RuneQuest.