From: Colin Watson (watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk)
Date: Mon 13 Sep 1993 - 16:08:15 EEST
-To: Chris Cooke (A newbie's perspective)
Ah, this takes me back. I remember when we started our RQIII campaign...
Anyway, here's some advice which you can take or leave:
>For me, the most daunting aspect to getting started is the HUGE amount of
>information available. My solution was to just keep it simple.
Don't worry Chris, it only seems a lot because it's new to you. When you get the hang of things you'll find the RQ rules are rather nice: consistent, self- derivative and elegant. (Compared to AD&D). Have you chosen a campaign setting? Are you using Glorantha? If so you'll find there's a *lot* of Gloranthan Lore to learn. (Maybe the Digest can help with an "intro to Glorantha"? Anyone? :-)
>The main resistance from my new players was convincing them this was as much
>fun as AD*D for fantasy roleplaying. The difference being the mechanics(how
>combat/magic/etc works).
RQ certainly has an earthier feel:
1/ Combat is more deadly. (It's sooo easy to die in RQ:) 2/ Characters take a long time to progress. 3/ Magic is less flashy.
For these reasons it becomes all-the-more important for the characters to
have a good background to work with. They need a sense of belonging in the
campaign. A raison d'etre. Or whatever. Because the PCs will never (?) become
the Dominant Force in the game universe purely through their personal power
(as can happen in AD&D).
And this all makes for better roleplaying (or at least less Powergaming).
Most of our RQ group were die-hard DnDers when we started six years ago. Now
most of them would never consider playing AD&D; they are more attached to
their RQ characters than they ever were to their D&D characters.
BTW we've found that keeping track of the campaign time-line is important in RQ. Time between adventures becomes very relevant - for training, re-growing limbs etc. More so than with D&D.
>I used(am using) the Greenbrass quest as a lead-in
>with a couple simple encounters of my own to let them get a feel for it.
This could be a short, sharp, shock for the players. Greenbrass has a couple of encounters which could turn Really Nasty for starting PCs. Be prepared to tone-down encounters to suit the ability of the PCs (this advice goes for *any* published material - published RQ scenarios tend to err on the side of grossness; don't be afraid to reduce skill percentages or remove spells from the opposition). Someone once wrote "numbers always tell in RuneQuest" (or words to that effect. Was it in the RQII Appendix?). If you're outnumbered then you're in big trouble. Bear this in mind when you set up encounters. I don't know how your group deals with Character Death. It can scare players off if they get killed early on. Be nice to your players.
>Being an ex-DM of more years them I'll admit, I was worried as to how they'd
>take to RQ's differences. Conclusion ? Style of play - not what rules you
>use.
Absolutely. Tell us how you get on. Gook luck!
CW.
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