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'''''RuneQuest''''' was created by Chaosium in 1978, making it one of the oldest tabletop Role-Playing Games. Among other things, it introduced an experience system that replaces
The original ''RuneQuest'' was set in
The history of the game is somewhat convoluted, with many offshoots. The first version was published as a booklet in 1978, and sold very well. Soon after, they decided to expand it into a small box set (which were popular at the time). The subsequent second edition, released in 1980, didn't change the game particularly; it included a pair of starter adventures, a set of dice, and a stripped down quick-reference for new players called "Basic Role-playing" along with the main book, which was given all new typesetting and error corrections. It sold even better and is still considered the definitive edition.
After that, Chaosium, needing money to expand, sold the rights to the name to Avalon Hill, and co-wrote the subsequent third edition, but retained the rights to the Glorantha setting and editorial approval of all use of the world (the third edition, originally published in 1984 as a large box set, included both Glorantha and an alternate generic fantasy Europe setting). After some time, the game went dormant (a planned new edition in 1994 was cancelled mid-development)
Stafford licensed the ''RuneQuest'' name to Mongoose Publishing to create a new version, published in 2006, which cloned the basics of the rules but didn't use the original texts (which had reverted to Chaosium). A revised Mongoose edition was prepared by designers Pete Nash and Lawrence Whittaker and published in 2010, and was far better received than the first. However, Mongoose's license was not renewed, and in 2012, a new company formed by Nash and Whittaker, The Design Mechanism, received a license to publish a 6th edition of ''RuneQuest'', an expansion of the second Mongoose edition they had largely written. Three years later, however, after some more financial issues at Chaosium, Stafford engineered a merger between Chaosium (of which he still owned a large chunk) and Moon Design, leading to a full reunion of all classic ''RuneQuest'' rights, and the plan for a new edition firmly set in Glorantha based largely on the early editions.
In the intervening years, Chaosium used the same underlying rules for other games like ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'', ''Stormbringer'',
Other variants and off-shoots in the fantasy genre are plentiful; the first Mongoose edition was published under an open gaming license, leading to a fan named Paul "Newt" Newport using it (and years of personal house rules) as the basis of a rules-light version called ''OpenQuest'' (first released in 2009, 2013 saw a second edition), Mongoose themselves have continued to print their second edition as ''Legend'' (with the Glorantha material removed) and The Design Mechanism plans to do the same with the 6th edition under the title ''Mythras''. As it's a largely modular system, they're all largely compatible, and players can freely lift elements from any one edition and use them in their home games easily.
Glorantha is also the setting of the video-game ''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'' and the web-comic ''[[Prince of Sartar]]''. There are two separate continuities: that of Mongoose ''RuneQuest'' (Glorantha Second Age) and the main, more canonical one (set in the Third Age).
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{{tropelist}}
* [[A Protagonist Shall Lead Them]]: Argrath.
* [[All Myths Are True]]: All ''Gloranthan'' myths are literally true, even utterly contradictory myths of different cultures. Changing a myth (by going on a Hero Quest to the world of the gods) can ''retroactively change reality''.
* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: The deities of the Celestial Court personify the Runes, which basically are the building blocks of the cosmos.
* [[Assimilation Plot]]: The Empire of Wyrmfriends wanted everybody (mortals, gods, you name it) to embrace their draconic nature (because according to them everybody has a draconic nature waiting to emerge, whether they agree with them or not). It worked like an enormous pyramidal scheme based on the goal of creating a messianic True Dragon.
** Later, the Lunar Empire also wants everybody to worship their Goddess, so that the world can be one in All again. And damn, are they succeeding. According to King of Sartar the Goddess would be eventually defeated, but [[In-Universe|many believe]] [[He's Just Hiding|
* [[Bad Moon Rising]]: The Red Moon rose, and her Empire wants you [[Assimilation Plot|to worship her]].
* [[Barbarian Tribe]]: The Orlanthi.
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* [[Chariot Race]]: ''Monster Coliseum'' has rules for chariot racing.
* [[Hell on Earth|Chaos on Earth]]: The Greater Darkness.
* [[The Chosen One]]: Several, Argrath being one of the main examples.
** [[The Chosen Many]]: It is implied, and outright confirmed in ''Sartar Rising'', that there was no single Argrath and that several heroes were turned by later sources into one [[Composite Character]]. Ironically, Sheng Seleris, the closest parallel to the original Arkat from whose name the word "Argrath" derives (both of them were anti-heroes who became the rival empire's single greatest enemy until said empires defeated and imprisoned them; both were released by a Lightbringers Quest, and both ended up betraying their allies), is not one of them.
* [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]]: You may think so given the Invisible God, but no; about the only commonality between his church and Catholicism is some sects having saints. Otherwise, they're more like Zoroastrians and Hindis. Although Hrestol is pretty much a Jesus-like figure, martyrdom and all.
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]] coupled with [[Light Is Not Good]]: For humans, sure they are, but trolls are subterranean creatures; troll Hell is located ''in human Heaven'' and vice versa.
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* [[Ear Wings]]: The chonchon.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Lunar Goddess rides one of these.
* [[Eternal Recurrence]]: The
** There's a more straightforward example of the trope: the Devil is said to appear once every 600 years.
* [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: The dwarves have rifles. There is even a renegade Dwarf Cult of the Cannon in the Dragon Pass.
* [[Fantasy Pantheon]]: '''Many'''.
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* [[God of Evil]]: Wakboth the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Devil]].
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: A main staple of the setting, though [[Big Bad|Wakboth]] and the Unholy Trio are [[Mad God|pitch]] [[God of Evil|black]].
* [[Hero's Journey]]: HeroQuests work like this, with the HeroQuester deliberately playing the role of the hero.
* [[Hit Points]]: Averted. Hit points generally do not increase with experience. No matter how bad ass an adventurer is, an axe to their head will ruin their whole day.
** [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: Generally averted, due to the hit-location system. Characters can get crippled very easily in combat.
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* [[Lunacy]]: In addition to the standard Earth, Air, Fire and Water elementals, Glorantha also has Darkness and Moon elementals. Moon Elementals cause temporary insanity by touch.
* [[Mad God]]: Ragnaglar of the Unholy Trio.
* [[Mind Screw]]: There are lots of mutually exclusive mythologies, and all of them are true because reality before Time started was fluid. And sometimes (the Sunstop, which
* [[Mythopoeia]]: The biggest one in Tabletop Games.
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate]]: Beware, beware the Deadly Ducks of Death!
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* [[Our Monsters Are Different]]: You can even play intelligent ducks, called Durulzi in ''RuneQuest''. (It has its advantages: small size, high Dexterity, and hardly anyone notices a Duck — perfect for a thief/rogue or a mage. And you know what? They have their own island empire in the far East.)
** [[All Trolls Are Different]]: Among other things, they're matriarchial, cannibalistic, and [[Extreme Omnivore]]s.
** [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: True Dragons are beings of unfathomable power, and human beings can become dragons if they follow Draconic Mysticism. The Empire of Wyrmfriends
** [[Our Elves Are Better]]: They're kind-of dryads, or [[Plant Aliens]].
** [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: Massively averted. Dwarves are made into one of several castes, very different from each other. And they are not Viking-like, they are instead living tools dedicated to repairing the once-perfect World Machine.
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* [[Top God]]: Many pantheons have one, but Sedenya, Yelm and Orlanth are the most important. Arachne Solara can be seen as a [[God of Gods|Goddess of Gods]].
* [[Trickster Archetype]]: Several.
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: Lots. Many texts are written from an In-Universe point of view, and even if All Myths Are True in Glorantha falsehoods and inaccuracies still exist and creep in.
* [[War God]]: Several.
* [[Weird Moon]]: Glorantha has never had a conventional Earthlike moon. The Blue Moon is tiny and rarely visible save as a streak of light, whereas the Red Moon is of recent vintage, ripped from the middle of Dara Happa, and hovers in place over the Lunar Empire, revolving to show a red side and a black side. It is said that a White Moon may rise someday.
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[[Category:RuneQuest]]
[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
[[Category:Tabletop Games of the 1970s]]
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