RuneQuest Companion
RuneQuest Companion[1] is a tabletop role-playing game supplement for RuneQuest. Originally published by Chaosium in 1983, it was republished in 2019 in PDF format as part of Chaosium's RuneQuest: Classic Edition Kickstarter.
Contents
RuneQuest Companion is a supplement consisting of
- reprints of magazine articles
- an errata sheet with corrections and additions to the second edition of RuneQuest
- new material left out of Trollpak
- a new history and geography of the Holy Country by Greg Stafford
- a solo adventure scenario by Alan LaVergne
- a short story, "The Smell of a Rat", also by Lavergne
- details of illusion Rune magic by Stafford
- details of unicorns and trolls by Sandy Petersen
- fragments of fictional correspondence
- excerpts from chronicles of notable and historical figures of Glorantha
- and more.[2]
Publication history
In 1976, the year after Chaosium released their first product, the fantasy board game White Bear and Red Moon, the company published Wyrm's Footnotes, a magazine dedicated to providing supplemental material about the game. When Chaosium released its fantasy role-playing game Runequest in 1978, set in Glorantha, articles about the fictional world began to appear in Wyrm's Footnotes. By 1981, Wyrm's Footnotes was solely dedicated to articles about Glorantha. However, the magazine was discontinued in 1982, and as Ken Rolston noted, "When publication of Wyrm's Footnotes ended, a most important source of detail, both epic and trivial, about Glorantha disappeared."[3]
In 1983, RuneQuest Companion was released as a 72-page book edited by Charlie Krank that contained a collection of previously published Wyrm's Footnotes articles as well as new material.[2]
As several contemporary reviewers noted, RuneQuest Companion was initially publicized as the first in a projected series of Companion books.[4][3] However, no other volumes were ever published.
Reception
In the July 1983 edition of Dragon (Issue #75), Ken Rolston noted the need for supplementary information about Glorantha, given the demise of Wyrm's Footnotes. Rolston liked the production values of the Companion, pointing out it was "edited and maintained according to Chaosium's usual high standards." Overall, he found that "These pieces, individually and as a group, provide the texture and atmosphere that are Glorantha’s hallmark; just as in superior literary fantasy, the setting is perhaps the most important 'character' of all — and the setting must be compelling and lifelike, or the fantasy will fail." Rolston concluded with a strong recommendation for RuneQuest players, saying, "This publication will probably be of little use to anyone who doesn’t play Runequest and use Glorantha as his campaign background. Much of the charm and humor of the contents relies on references recognizable only to a Runequest gamer. However... For Runequest players, this package is a must-buy, both for its utility and its entertainment value."[3]
In the October 1983 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #46), Oliver Dickinson thought that the material included was "entertaining stuff, but not as interesting or useful to newer players as reprints of the [Wyrm's Footnotes] articles on the elemental pantheons would have been, for instance, or the thought-provoking articles on aspects of the rules by various authors in the last four issues." Dickinson did enjoy Alan LaVergne's short story, calling it "at once one of the funniest fantasy stories I have ever read and an extremely good illustration of how to make clever use of fairly ordinary spells." Dickinson concluded by giving this supplement an above average rating of 8 out of 10, saying it contained "a high proportion of useful or entertaining material and little that is totally peripheral. Production quality is good overall, with a few errors or misprints."[4]
Other reviews
- Fantasy Gamer #2 (Oct./Nov., 1983)
- Different Worlds #31 (Nov., 1983)
References
- ^ Johnson, Bill; Kahn, Sherman; Stafford, Greg; LaVergne, Alan; McCormick, Jim; Nance, Ron; Petersen, Sandy (1983). RuneQuest Companion. Chaosium Inc.
- ^ a b Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. p. 213. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.
- ^ a b c Rolston, Ken (July 1983). "Companion fills the Glorantha gap". Dragon (75). TSR, Inc.: 70.
- ^ a b Dickinson, Oliver (October 1983). "Open Box". White Dwarf (Issue 46). Games Workshop: 12.
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