From: David Cheng (drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu)
Date: Thu 02 Sep 1993 - 03:27:43 EEST
# RQ2 -- now, *that* appeals to me. Am I the only one who wants to
# run RQ2, read RQ2 material, and pretend that the last ten years never
# happened?
No, you're not the only one. But, I for one think there are some
positive things in RQ3. Limited spirit magic & rune magic spell
lists, new cult frameworks in GoG (I won't say 'writeups'), and
a few more I'm sure.
Certainly, with hindsight, we all wish the sale to AH had never
# RuneQuest needs Greg Stafford. No offense intended to the
been transacted. But, I don't think the last 10 years have been
totally negative...
# many who've worked on RQ since (except for Nick Atlas -- *him* I'll
# gladly offend), but RQ/Glorantha needs its creator at the helm to
# flourish properly. Chaosium seems to have done well for quite some
# time -- maybe they could handle RQ now? RQ has never been a profitable
# proposition for Avalon Hill, and it seems unlikely that it ever will
# be. Yet it must have made money for Chaosium.
Greg is not enthusiastic about _RuneQuest_ much anymore. He IS
enthusiastic about _Glorantha_, however. _King of Sartar_ is
one of the first of a set of similar products we can expect.
Maybe we'll even live to see _Glorantha: The Game_ ;-)
As I understand it, Stafford will
continue to support RQ by: 1) writing new material, 2) advising others
who are writing material, and 3) providing material to _Tales of the
Reaching Moon_. But, we should not hold our collective breath on
Chaosium reclaiming RQ. I've spoken to Greg about this several
times, and he feels Chaosium cannot try to live in the past. I
have also approached AH about buying the rights, and they have
not been at all open to even discussing the matter in a professional
way.
The fate of the game is in the hands of guys like David Hall, who,
without any real support, went and started his own RQ magazine.
And Oliver Jovanovic, who has spent many hundreds of his own dollars
(over $1000?) and _hundreds_ of hours of time, so that the rest of
us can at least try to hammer out the next version of RQ.
Are we becoming crotchety old men, stuck in the past, while other
gamers go on to "third"/fouth/fifth generation games?
I don't think so, because I think the core RQ _rules_ still stand up to
any _rules system_ on the market. I also think that the world setting
of Glorantha is the best around.
I think the cyber and vampire things are fads that will pass. I
really do. But there are some good, sophisticated, intelligent gamers
who are playing these games instead of RQ. I just hope we loyalists
can keep the flame burning until these folks 'mature out of' the games
they're playing now, so they will have a RQ to discover/rediscover
(presumptuous, admittedly).
More on this topic when I clear off the junk on my desk.
# Peter Maranci
*David Cheng drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu / d.cheng@genie.geis.com
Ask me about RuneQuest-Con! (212) 472-7752 [before midnight]
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