Heroquest Glorantha

An overview and impression

This is a book with the second edition of Heroquest specifically presented in the world of Glorantha. Seeing as Heroquest evolved from Hero Wars: Epic Roleplaying in Mythic Glorantha, it is quite fitting Heroquest returned to Glorantha.

You are greeted with a wonderful cover by John Hodgson. The introduction is a must read, as it explains the type of thinking that is best suited for this game i.e. a very narrative, story driven system is the way of Heroquest along with it's principal of Maximum Game Fun. This game is not about simulation, it is about telling tales and myths of Glorantha similar to the style of the folklore and myths of our world.

By page 32 we get an overview of Glorantha, Runes (fundamental part of the game) In character generation you will get 3 Runes. Dragon Pass is described including a map and timeline. Reading the history, Glorantha feels epic and this is credit to the writers and the vision of Greg Stafford, the creator of Glorantha. I already want to adventure in Glorantha, I find the text that evocative.

The core mechanic is when there is a plot obstacle it creates a contest. The GM and Players "Frame the Contest" where they agree the prize or objective, the players state what tactics they intend to use, what abilities and how they intend to use them. The player seek to roll under the score in the ability they are using on a D20. There may be modifiers. The GM decides difficulty and rolls a D20. The result are compared and you can have complete, major and minor victories or a tie. The opposing side of the victorious side has the equivalent defeat. The GM checks for consequences of defeat or benefits of victory. in the case of the extended contests, the number of rounds required are carried out and then the GM then checks the consequences etc. numerous example of contests are given. Consequences can be Hurt, Impaired, Injured and Dying (which will lead to death unless there is an intervention. If a hero dies, there are three possibilities. Most likely there will be a funeral. less likely resurrection by powerful magic or HEROQUESTING TO THE UNDERWORLD!!!!!!

The Magic and Cults is over seventy pages, covering four types of Magic (Spirit, Rune Sorcery and Lunar) as well as some of the Gods themselves. At this time, the Gods still walk the among the mortals. We read of Ernalda, Orlanth, Issaries and more.

Heroquesting is described and are generally connected to the different Cults. In simple terms, these are Epic Quests, like the heroes of Myth and Legend.

You get a bestiary with the classic Gloranthan creatures Dragonewts, The Uz, Broo and Ducks amongst others.

The final chapter is Gaming in Glorantha which is advice for the GM, there is advice all through the book to be fair.

The book is rounded out with appendixes and index. There is no character sheet but available for download. The book is beautiful, I already mentioned the cover. The paper used is high quality gloss paper, most art is black and white, still of a high quality and there are some full quality pieces.

Glorantha is epic. Heroquest Glorantha is epic. If you like a highly narrative story based style of play you will love it. If you like gritty, tactical then seek out Runequest Glorantha. Seek out adventure in Glorantha!