RuneQuest & Glorantha

In RuneQuest, players create characters, known as adventurers, and play them in adventures managed and moderated by the gamemaster. The Starter Set contains a variety of pre-made adventurers ready for play. Each player portrays their adventurer by how the adventurer is described on its adventurer sheet—embodying their adventurers’ abilities, personality, loyalties, loves, and hatreds.

The rules model the adventurers’ physical, mental, social, and spiritual characteristics, governing any interaction with the setting. If an outcome is potentially dramatic or in doubt, that interaction is usually represented by a defined chance to succeed or fail at a desired action.

An adventurer in RuneQuest is a member of society—a clan, tribe, city, or other community. Adventurers have duties, loyalties, and conflicts beyond being mere freebooters, with ties to the world of Glorantha as deep as they are profound. Each adventurer is also tied to several Runes, the cosmic powers defining Glorantha and manifested by the gods.

Adventurers are members of the cults of their gods, from which they get magic and aid. As adventurers progress in their cults, they strengthen their connection to the Runes, gaining power and questing towards becoming true Heroes.

In Glorantha, a Hero is not just one who does heroic deeds—it is someone whose deeds are reflected in the Hero World, a mythic over-realm where the apocalyptic Hero Wars will be fought.

Everyone in Glorantha knows mythology is real. All known facts and opinions agree on some points: the world is full of magical beings, both small and mighty, who can interact in certain ways with living mortals. Some are to be worshipped, some feared, and others fought.

This is the path of the Hero, fighting for friends, family, and for one’s god, hoping to achieve greatness against the coming wave of Chaos, the destructive force that will end the world.