Return to Runequest

It’s been a glorious return to Runequest over the past few weeks. I’m playing in Dr Mitch’s Saxons campaign for Mythic Britain, with everything you could possibly want for playing Germanic heroes questing for new lands, prestige and the honour of the gods.

We are playing using the up-to-date Design Mechnism’s Runequest 6 version of the game and my word is it a honed beauty. I remember my delight with this meticulously developed version of the game when it first came out. It really is the ultimate expression of the system for general use in a wide range of settings. I can’t wait to see the Design Mechnism forthcoming releases for the game, they promise to be very special, embodying the high quality writing of the two lead maestros and surrounding team.

I’d had an off-putting online experience of the game. Multiple magic systems and some uncertainties of application of the combat rules led to a slow, rather leaden, gameplay experience that seemed to indicate that RQ6 was just too heavy for its own good. Well, that has proven to be nonsense. The ’round the table’ experience was smooth, fast even, and provided that pulse quickening visceral feeling to combat that is such a feature of the Runequest name. I was bricking it. It remains the case that your characters are vulnerable to one good strike and that adequate armour can make just enough of a difference, some of the time.

Runequest 6 has got it all just about right. The d100 base chances are all going to be roughly in the early to mid 20s to give you a base to work from. Standard character generation has given me a couple of signature abilities at 70%, so I’m feeling competent with room to develop. Luck points are all kind of ace. They are your life savers and your opportunity grabbers, a finite resource to spend judiciously at the right moment. The group pool of two more gives us a buffer as a team if we are under pressure. Passions and augments were smoothly applied, giving a simple way to help another character under pressure or to tie in how you feel into what you are doing. Great stuff.

I like my magic low level and subtle. Runequest particularly excels in this kind of setting and my limited experience of Mythic Britain has got his down to a tee. I am, belatedly, trying to get a copy of the Mythic Britain book, so I’ll find out more about how RQ magic has been applied in the setting.

I’m still a fan of my own Age of Arthur and for Keltia, but Runequest 6 has given me another excuse to get out to Britannia to adventure. In a moment I’ll put the keyboard down and head off for a walk. My head is buzzing with setting ideas for Runequest. Some folk magic and maybe some sorcery, lots of danger and passion.

Juggling the excitement, I shall also get on with a few more entries in The Midnight Hack, to get us up and running in that dark and forlorn setting. Runequest 6 would work just as well.

Anyway, thanks to Pete and Loz for the excellent Runequest 6 / Mythras, and to Paul for a very cool game.