Post originally by Devin Parker at 2003-09-14 14:18:03
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At last! Someone has *finally* explained to me what the whole "Duck" thing was about in RQ. For years I've heard people mentioning "Ducks" in connection with this game, and I dimly remembered seeing the cover of an edition of Apple Lane with a picture of a horned-helmeted Howard the Duck on it the first time I went into a game store. But every time I asked someone, "So...what's the deal with the ducks," no one would give me an answer.
Thank you for finally putting to rest one of the few truly nagging questions I've had for so many years.
As soon as I can get someone to explain "Dragonball Z" to me, I'll feel as though a chapter of my life is at long last complete.
Good review, by the way, except that you said "funnest" at one point, which is like fingernails on a chalkboard to my English-geek ears, figuratively speaking.
Post originally by Baron at 2003-09-14 18:48:44
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I never really got into the Glorantha setting, but I have always found Runequest to be an infinitely superior system to old D+D. Runequest is flexible and gritty, and the mechanics make much more sense than D+D (percentile systems just make much more intuitive sense than d20, and skills make much more sense than an overdense system of "classes", "levels", and "feats"). Glorantha showed what a campaign in Runequest *could* be like, but Runequest itself allowed a creative GM and good players to break out of the old "dungeon-crawling" mentality that is the mark of a remedial gamer. *****Runequest allows for gaming that takes character, plot, and setting into new areas beyond old-style dungeon-crawling and hack-and-slash (although this could be done too, if desired). Politics, magic, intrigue, war, love, hate, revenge, peace were all marks of the rich and colorful Runequest campaigns that I played in (and ran), and were thus infinitely better than the crude dungeon-crawling that has been the hallmark of the majority of D+D games that I played in during my youth. I credit the openness of the Runequest system and setting for this sort of development. Runequest really implied that you could do whatever you wanted with the system, unlike the D+D mentality, which seemed to come with a set of blinders. So, I am glad to see reviews like this, and obviously can not say enough good things about a great old game system like Runequest. Long Live Chaosium!
Post originally by LarsDangly at 2003-09-14 19:15:41
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Ahh, ducks. Where does one start? It is not possible to explain their role in the game with a casual answer. I think I will stash this comment away until I write reviews of the infamous Duck Tower and Duck Pond. These are Judge's Guild adventures that inspire shudders of horror or inexplicable warm feelings from old Runequest players. However, I doubt I will come up with any penetrating insights; Runequest ducks are a zen thing - either it clicks and you are pro-duck for life, or it doesnt. My first real introduction to ducks was running an NPC from the 'Runemasters' supplement. This guy is about 3' tall, covered with feathers, looks like donald duck just before he freaks out at something the nephews have done, and is a but-kicking runelord of Humakt, the god of death. Somehow it all made sense and I never looked back.
Thanks for the gramatical advice; on a second reading, it is clear to me now that 'funnestest' is the correct usage here.
Post originally by Chris at 2003-09-15 03:08:38
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I couldn't agree more with your sentiments or the review itself. I have played RQ on and off (ie between other ystems) since i picked up 3rd ed.
I think it i an immense shame that the system itself has never taken off. Given that it underpinned both RQ and CoC it could have been made into one of the great universal systems, providing a more gritty (crunchy) alternative to GURPS and, later, D20.
I have lost track of who has the copyright for the system part now, but Chaosium (as the publisher for CoC) still has the opportuntity to turn this into a great generic system.
Post originally by James at 2003-09-15 07:11:23
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DUCKS!!!
I played RQ 2nd editio from the early eighties, never was there a creature that could derail a game more completely than that oddity.
As I got older, I found I was even less tolerant of ths little beastie. I do appreciate that it was probably whimsey on the part of stafford...after all he did give us the implala riders!!
I simply removed them from the game world, and reworked the nomad tribes a little.
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