“Mythology is more than old lies and stories, pseudo-scientific explanations for natural phenomena, or hidden secrets of forgotten lore. It is a state of mind and a way of life. It has a sentience and life of its own: a power. RuneQuest lets you experience that state of mind and explore that way of life through the mythic realm of Glorantha.”
Enter a Bronze Age world where you are defined by your cult and culture, where you do deadly combat with mythic and fantastical beasts, where everyone can use magic, and where the gods are real.
RuneQuest is an RPG with a difference. It is intuitive and easy to play. All rolls are determined via the roll of percentile dice. RuneQuest has no character classes or alignments; characters are defined by their culture, the gods they follow, and the Runes that inspire them.
We invite you to set aside the mundane world and embark on a journey with your RuneQuest adventurers beginning with your clan and expanding to cross the world of Glorantha and into the Hero Plane.
Glorantha is a world made by the gods but shaped by the deeds of mortals. Magic is part of everyday life, and mythology is the basis of reality. Your adventurer is a mortal, destined to die, but through luck, courage, cunning, and sacrifice, can become a hero or even a god! Your adventures might start gritty and realistic, and become fantastic and mythic, only to return to gritty realism.
In Glorantha, people hold allegiance to tribe, city, and cult, not to abstract alignments or ideologies. Although humanity is the dominant species, their dominance is due only to the quarrelling of the Elder Races, who still rule large parts of the world.
Glorantha’s main theme is religion and the magical relation of humankind to the gods. In Glorantha, the gods and goddesses are real, and through their followers and cults they play an active and important part in most major events. The Sun, Earth, Air, Water, Darkness, and Moon have powerful deities associated with them, as do powers such as Death, Fertility, Change, Stasis, Illusion, Truth, Disorder, and Harmony. There are also countless lesser deities associated with things as diverse as cats, cows, boats, vengeance, and volcanoes.
Glorantha is a complete universe. It is self-contained, and from its myths to its molecules it must be taken on its own terms. However, Glorantha is filled with strange and amazing gods, cultures, and creatures both familiar and fantastic, and players should soon be enthralled by the unique features of the setting.