[Rq-rules] RQ III Supplements

[Nick.Middleton at invensys.com]

>Should my introduction of RQ to my D+D group prove sucessful I was
thinking about the future.
>
>The times I have played RQ, we have always played it in our own
settings,not in Glorantha. Most of the supplements have seemed to be very
Glorantha >oriented, but I have never looked at the supplements themselves.
So I have a couple of questionds for the more knowledgeable.
>
>Did any of the RQ III supplements expand on the magic system or on the
numder of spells in the Deluxe box set?

Yes - especially Gods of Glorantha, but also the non-Gloranthan Land of
Ninja and Vikings. Othe r Gloranthan supplements had some additional Magic
in them as well IIRC.

>Was there any supplements that people feel are essential, even if you are
running non-Glorantha adventures?

Essential? Gods of Glorantha (it really does expand the "standard" Magic a
LOT), Land of Ninja (the Ki Skills stuff is VERY useful) and arguably
Griffin Island: not only is it a complete self-contained gobbet of setting
but it also demonstrates various aspects of the game that might otherwise
be a bit obscure. It sets out what high powered Sorcerer's are like rather
well for example.

I ran RQIII for many years with the five Games Workshop hardbacks, which
was effectively the AH Deluxe Boxed set, Grifffin island and Land of Ninja
(plus some stuff from Monster Coliseum, but that's not essential I'd say).

The rest are nice to have but really not essential. Shadow on the
Borderlands has three cracking scenarios that can relatively easily b e
transplanted OUT of Glorantha, River of Cradles or Sun County would require
more work but it's doable. The other AH Glorantha boxes are IMO very
Glorantha-centric, so whilst there's usable stuff in all of them it's a
diminishing return. The gateway stuff (Daughters of Darkness and Eldarad)
are pretty dire, but Eldarad is really no worse than an amateurs house
notes on their version of Pavis and the Rubble so can be cannibalised for
stats etc. Daughters of Darkness is truly awful however... If you can pick
up a cheap, Monster Coliseum is nice (some stuff on Chariots and
Coliseums/gladiatorial games, plus lots of stats) but not essential as I
said.

If you can get it at a reasonable price, the Chaosium Thieves' World and
Thieves' World Companion are worth it as a cracking "city on the fringe".

>I know the sets are out of print, but I see lots of old gaming stuff on
ebay that sell for a reasonable amount
>
>These topics have most likely been discussed before, but now you can
rehash it all over again for my benefit! (I have been on a number of
mailing >lists, so I know what happens when a new person joins and starts
asking questions that have dominated the list in the past!)

Don't worry about! The list does have an archive at
http://www.thinbits.net/pipermail/rq-rules/ but it is the nature of mailing
lists that certain topics recur - if it happens often enough, we'd make a
FAQ but then would have to go the effort of maintaining it ;-) If someone
remembers a previous discussion that they think is relevant I'm sure
they'll post a link. In fact (since I got distracted in to ferreting about
in the archive), you might find these threads of interest from 2004:

http://www.thinbits.net/pipermail/rq-rules/2004-June/003948.html which
subsequently morphed in to:
http://www.thinbits.net/pipermail/rq-rules/2004-June/003999.html

Cheers,

Nick Middleton