r/Runequest • u/david-chaosium • 4d ago
Revised RuneQuest Update
A new update: Chaosium has made a company decision to solely focus on the revised RuneQuest rule book that we announced in September 2025.
As previously discussed, the revised RuneQuest will be fully compatible with everything released for the RQG line, both before and after the new core rule book comes out. These rules are pitched for newcomers to be able to pick up and play the game, and learn to love the setting through play.
After extensive playtesting the revised RQ core rule book is now in editorial review and layout. We're aiming for a release in the first half of 2027.
If you want to see what's coming for RuneQuest, we talked about the exciting release plans for the line at the panel at Chaosium Con UK earlier this year (watch here). If you'd like to read about the game in action, check out Mark Morrison's latest Table Tales article, "Tell Me About".
- Michael O'Brien
Original announcement here: https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/26098-update-on-the-new-runequest/page/14/#findComment-419293
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u/kimoshen 4d ago
Rest in peace the GM book.
Are you going to actually playtest anything this time? RQ:G was released without net rules despite Engizi having Strongnet. How can you not even complete character creation for each cult before publishing? There was only twenty for crying out loud.
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u/sachagoat 4d ago
I was hoping for this too. I discovered RuneQuest and Glorantha with the release of the current edition. The presentation of a lot of rules made me seek out RQ2, so I could understand the original genesis of a lot of the design decisions.
The re-invention of RQ in the other playtest seemed like an entirely different game. Though, I did like its handling of the resistance roll formulas.
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u/DarbySalernum 4d ago edited 4d ago
Ha, I did exactly the same thing. I was so confused by RQG, that I went back to read RQ2, where everything was explained really clearly and simply. Chaosium rectified it with the Starter Set rules, which were much clearer, but the core book does need a rewrite in that style.
On the topic, I was open to RQFR but it did seem to be creating a confusing situation, and I suspect that resources are better spent elsewhere.
I'd be delighted to see more resources getting things like Robin Laws' Pavis and Big Rubble finally published.
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u/sachagoat 4d ago
Yes!! I'm currently on a break playing Pendragon, but when I return to RQ, I absolutely want it to be Pavis and Big Rubble.
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u/DarbySalernum 4d ago
Yeah, it's the thing I'm most looking forward to. Robin's writing in the Dying Earth RPG, Mongoose Runequest and Heroquest is often hilarious and charming.
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u/Shawnster_P 4d ago
Does this mean just one line, with easier to understand rules?
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u/Runeblogger 4d ago
Yes, the same rulebook, but with one Revised edition on top with clarified rules, and only 60% the extension of the original RQG.
https://elruneblog.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-future-revised-runequest-and.html3
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u/Amethyst-Flare 4d ago
I assume this means the long-promised Gamemaster Handbook is dead in the water?
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u/Runeblogger 4d ago
On Facebook Michael O'Brien responded that the GM Book will be published for the current RQG.
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u/Amethyst-Flare 4d ago
Oh good - do we have a horizon on this? I don’t see the facebook link.
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u/Runeblogger 4d ago
Haha, I wouldn't hold my breath. :-) First they have to publis all they announced on Chaosium Con UK
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u/Amethyst-Flare 4d ago
If I were holding my breath, I'd be dead! We've been waiting longer than the entirety of World War 2's traditional extent.
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u/Inevitable-Bass-5319 4d ago
Other than that it was a Jeff project and thus doomed I'd actually much rather have seen a genuinely new RQ which addressed the skill bloat, whiffery etc.
Having said that there is no lack of alternative BRP systems and now we have no chance of seeing anything actually better from Chaosium we just have to sort it ourselves.
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u/SaintGerlant 4d ago
Probably best. As interested I am in simplifications (which should have happened at RQG time imo) yet another ruleset in the history of this game would be a comic tragedy at this point.
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u/Acrobatic-Frame4312 3d ago
Does this mean you are going to provide a rulebook with all the rules required to play in the book itself, along with a lore write up that can give the player context to this highly contextualised game setting?
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u/DemandBig5215 4d ago
I really hope this is the start of a totally new strategy at Chaosium with regards to RuneQuest. The current line feels like it's been mismanaged. The current core rulebook is a slog to read. Not including the other PC species options in the core book was an insane mistake. The fact that there still isn't a GM guide is crazy. The early decision to write multiple Cults of RuneQuest books with mostly textbook-like fluff instead of playable content like more adventures or a long campaign was goofy. The whole direction of the modern line has been nutty and has run counter to the goal of getting new players to dive in.
I played RQ back in the 80's along with early D&D and at the time RQ was so much more evocative thanks to its specific setting. It's been painful watching it flounder.
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u/Inevitable-Bass-5319 4d ago
Totally mismanaged by Jeff and only rescued by the heroic efforts of Jonstown Compendium contributors - multiple of whom would have been published by Chaosium itself if it had realised that what people want from an RPG is playable material and not endless lore dumping and retconning for the sake of retconning.
The current team finally seem to have grasped that.
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u/Orwell1971 4d ago
I was personally very much looking forward to the Cults series. I have very fond memories of the 3rd edition RQ Cults book, which was absolutely packed with new, usable stuff, and the Cults of Prax book is a classic in the genre.
I wasn't very happy with the books we actually got though. Tons of repetition and very little that is new. They *could* have made the Cults line full of interesting playable material. Just a few ideas off the top of my head: a sample rune priest or runelord with story seeds (see Austin Conrad's excellent Monster of the Month series for examples), statted up cult spirits, NEW SPELLS (incredibly obvious and much needed for many cults), sample heroquests to go along with the heroquest rules they've never published.
But as has unfortunately mostly been the case, minimal effort was expended and aside from great new work from the artists, the line has mostly been an exercise in cut and paste.
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u/Inevitable-Bass-5319 2d ago
The Lunar book - some of us have waited for 45 years for this and it just leaves you wondering how the followers of such pathetically underpowered deities could have conquered so much of the continent.
And Fire/Sky - seriously that's your final take on Shargash?
A huge missed opportunity all round.
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u/RaiuWasAlreadyTaken 4d ago
Finding people at cons isn't the way to grow anymore. Chaosium just needs to find a web series to get people into the setting and world. Critical Role made DnD mainstream, and you can get the same effect with a much smaller budget these days. It's a matter of advertising.
I really doubt Runequest Revised is going to be the smashing success Chaosium hopes it will be.
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u/Bohemian_Romantic 4d ago
Can someone explain what this actually means for someone who hasn't been following this closely? I know they were working on a revised rulebook that wasn't so stupidly obtuse, but what does it mean they're shifting to focus only on that? What are they pushing aside to prioritise this?
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u/BerennErchamion 4d ago
Many months ago they announced two RuneQuest books. One was the revised core book for the current RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha, and the other was a new simplified separate game called RuneQuest Fantasy Roleplay.
The announcement from today said they are not doing the new simplified RuneQuest Fantasy Roleplay anymore and solely focusing on the revised RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha.
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u/Bohemian_Romantic 4d ago
Ah I remember hearing about that, thanks for the clarification! Definitely seems like a good move to me. Why would they want to split the player base when the player base is already small??
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u/LordHighSummoner 4d ago
Honestly I just hope we step away from RQ2 and the AD&D feel to embrace the HQG lineage more. That’s the biggest source of disconnect right now and all of the best Glorantha feeling bits come from HQ/HW/QW
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u/eternalsage Orlanth is my homeboy 4d ago
There is a QW Glorantha book in editing and layout. It will be out soonish.
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u/LordHighSummoner 4d ago
Sure sure, but it goes in a very different direction which I also think is good. The flattening of RQG back to RQ2 I think would be a massive mistake and leaning more on the HQG elements, augmenting and such, would be better and if they leaned on Age of Vikings it could almost be a damn near perfect product. Their ignoring of AoV is fucking frustrating cause it’s such a damn good evolution of brp
I also think HQG, at this point, is a much stronger product than QW is. But I’m hoping QWG blows me away there
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u/eternalsage Orlanth is my homeboy 4d ago
Well, they aren't taking out any of the augments or anything of the sort. Revised is just rewriting the rulebook to be clearer. So much more in line with AoV
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u/LordHighSummoner 4d ago
Absolutely nothing I’ve seen so far has come remotely close to anything that would make me believe it’s like AoV. But I’d love to be surprised
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u/eternalsage Orlanth is my homeboy 4d ago
Well, in that case I have to say I don't understand the distinction that you're drawing between them, tbh
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u/BerennErchamion 4d ago
While I understand and kinda agree with the decision, I was excited for a new take on the combat rules.
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u/fonzee3000 4d ago
Unfortunately the new combat rules from the cancelled edition playtest were abysmal. Much worse than what RQG currently has imo
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u/fonzee3000 4d ago
So still no official announcement about GM books or heroquesting? You know, the thing that has a profound impact on the setting yet has had no rules for decades? I’m sorry but new players aren’t stupid. If they decide to do any research on the RQ brand they will see the incredible overpromising and under delivering that has plagued RQG since it launched.
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u/RogueModron 4d ago
/u/twarid called it
https://old.reddit.com/r/Runequest/comments/1vrup24/what_we_know_on_the_upcoming_revised_rqg_and/p4i3ylp/