History TabletopGame / RuneQuest

* FormerlySapientSpecies: One of the Praxian tribes, the Morokanth, consists of humanoid tapirs who herd non-sapient humans as pack beasts and food. In ages past, the human tribes and their totem animals were presumably both sapient, until the chief Praxian god decided to hold a series of lotteries between each tribe and its totem to determine who would be the eater (sapient herders responsible for the well-being of their herds) and eaten (able to forage for sustenance in the Praxian wastes, but stripped of sapience). Humans won four out of the five lotteries, but the tribe with the Morokanth as its totem wasn't as lucky. They modern Morokanth can also turn captive normal humans into nonsapient herd-humans, but don't expect a last-minute rescue by TheCavalry if they try to do this to you -- the Morokanth are Praxians, and the surrounding human Praxian tribes feel a stronger cultural kinship towards them than a species one towards any poor schlubs who got themselves in that particular pickle.

* RedemptionQuest: Orlanth's ToHellAndBack.

* TopGod: Many pantheons have one, but Sedenya, Yelm and Orlanth are the most important. Arachne Solara, and Glorantha before her, can be seen as a [[GodofGods Goddesses of Gods]].

* TopGod: Many pantheons have one, but Sedenya, Yelm and Orlanth are the most important. Arachne Solara can be seen as a [[GodofGods Goddess of Gods]].

** Gloranthan West was a MedievalEuropeanFantasy type of setting before the Guide to Glorantha changed it.

* UniverseCompendium: The Guide to Glorantha and the Glorantha Sourcebook.

* WarGod: Several, Humakt being the main example.

* TricksterArchetype: Several.

* WarGod: Several.

* OrderVersusChaos: Lunar Empire versus Orlanthi, big time. It was kind of a weird case - the Lunar Empire promotes (cosmic) Chaos but is ''very'' organized, whereas the Orlanthi are Chaos-hating barbarian berserkers.

** 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 Red Moon will eventually be defeated, but even that could be a lie (there are [[invoked]]"[[HesJustHiding She is just hiding]]" theories [[InUniverse]]).

** 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 Red Moon will eventually be defeated, but even that could be a lie (there are [[invoked]]"[[HesJustHiding She is just hiding]]" theories ''[[InUniverse]]'').

** 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 [[InUniverse many believe]] [[invoked]][[HesJustHiding She is just hiding.]]

* MindScrew: There are lots of mutually exclusive mythologies, and [[AllMythsAreTrue all of them are true]] because reality before Time started was fluid. And sometimes (the Sunstop, which temporarily broke Time, being the main example) it can still be. And traveling to the reality before Time started, which still exists as a separate plane, can potentially retcon reality after Time started. That's without taking into account the [[UnreliableNarrator Unreliable Narrators]] or the out-of-universe {{Retcon}}s. Needless to say, all of this can be ''just a little'' confusing.

* MindScrew: There are lots of mutually exclusive mythologies, and [[AllMythsAreTrue all of them are true]] because reality before Time started was fluid. And sometimes (the Sunstop, which temporarily broke Time, being the main example) it can still be. And traveling to the reality before Time started, which still exists as a separate plane, can potentially retcon reality after Time started. That's without taking into account the [[UnreliableNarrator Unreliable Narrators]]. Needless to say, all of this can be ''just a little'' confusing.

* {{Retcon}}: In Mongoose Runequest, Zistorites wore cyborg-esque mechamagical implants. In Mongoose Runequest II, they wear magical tattoos instead.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Are you familiar with the work of comparative mythologists like Joseph Campbell or Mircea Eliade? Do you know what concepts like "mytheme" or "euhemerism" mean? Yeah, good luck trying to understand Gloranthan deep lore if you answered "no".

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Are you familiar with the work of comparative mythologists like Joseph Campbell or Mircea Eliade? Do you know what words like "mytheme" or "euhemerism" mean? Yeah, good luck trying to understand Gloranthan deep lore if you answered "no".

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Are you familiar with the work of comparative mythologists like Joseph Campbell or Mircea Eliade? Do you know what concepts like "mytheme" or "euhemerism" mean? Yeah, good luck trying to understand Gloranthan deep lore if you answered "no".

Creator/SandyPetersen held [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petersengames/the-gods-war/ a funding campaign]] on Website/{{Kickstarter}} in 2019 for ''TabletopGame/GloranthaTheGodsWar'', an asymmetrical strategy game about gods battling it out.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Are you familiar with the work of comparative mythologists Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade? Do you know the meaning of concepts like "mytheme" or "euhemerism"? Yeah, good luck trying to understand Gloranthan deep lore if you answered "no".

* EternalRecurrence: The Sacred Time, a concept pretty much inspired by mythologist Mircea Eliade's eternal return.

** Supplement ''Dorastor: Land of Doom''. The powerful evil creature Cacodemon has the Chaotic Feature of being able to reflect all spells that cost 10 Magic Points or less back at the caster.

* {{Backronym}}: In universe, it's usually assumed that EWF is an acronym of some kind, and they were commonly called the Empire of Wyrm-Friends or derisively as "Enemies Without Friends", but EWF is actually a Draconic word that doesn't translate to any humanly understandable concept.

%%* EldritchAbomination: The Lunar Goddess rides one of these, the Crimson Bat.%%How is it an example?

* OurGodsAreDifferent: The gods gave up their free will as part of the peace treaty that ended the Gods' War (the war that nearly destroyed them, and the world). Now the gods are locked into their roles, unable to choose to change--though it's possible that their ''worshipers'' can change the gods, by changing the myths or by going on mystical quests into the [=GodTime=].

** Supplement ''Dorastor: Land of Doom''. The claws of the powerful, evil Chaos being Cacodemon inject a potent corrosive venom that can inflict up to 114 Hit Points of damage. The claws of his Fiend minions inject a similar poison that can do up to 20 Hit Points of damage. (A typical human has 11–12 Hit Points, for reference.)

* RainbowMotif: Supplement ''Dorastor: Land of Doom''. The rainbow gorp can change from one color to another. Each color gives it a different Chaos Feature: red (increase Size by 11), orange ({{regeneration}} 1 HitPoint per round), yellow (12 points of skin armor), green ({{regeneration}} 6 {{Hit Point}}s per round), blue (turn into a harmless appearing pile of dust) and purple (absorb spells that cost up to two magic points).

* ScaryScorpions: Supplement ''Trollpak'', "Book of Uz" part 2. Giant scorpions used by the trolls can weigh as much as 480 lbs.

** ''Dorastor: Land of Doom''. Ghouls lose one Magic Point for each hour they spend in direct sunlight, and it isn't easy for them to regain lost Magic Points.

* OurElvesAreBetter: They're kind-of dryads, or PlantAliens.

Since 1980 Chaosium has used versions of the core [=RuneQuest=] rules for other games like ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', ''[[Literature/TheElricSaga Stormbringer]]'', and the ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' RPG, and many, many more; these rule variants are now collectively known as the Basic Role-Playing System (BRP), which has in fact sometimes been available as a generic ruleset. The fantasy world of Glorantha is also the setting of the video games ''VideoGame/KingOfDragonPass'' and ''VideoGame/SixAges'', the webcomic ''Prince of Sartar'', and the boardgame ''Khan of Khans''. Although the [=RuneQuest=] title has occasionally been attached to games with other settings, it has always been and remains closely associated withe Glorantha, and the vast majority of the tropes listed below actually relate to Glorantha rather than BRP; hence, they could in fact also be considered to relate to ''[=HeroQuest=]'' and any other games and fictions which use that setting.

Creator/SandyPetersen held [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petersengames/the-gods-war/ a funding campaign]] on Website/{{Kickstarter}} in 2019 for''TabletopGame/GloranthaTheGodsWar'', an asymmetrical strategy game about gods battling it out.

After that, Chaosium, needing money to expand, sold the rights to the name to Creator/AvalonHill, and co-wrote the subsequent 3rd 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 canceled mid-development). Stafford left Chaosium in 1997 after unrelated financial issues, taking the rights to Glorantha with him (he retained a large ownership stake in Chaosium, though). Stafford formed a new company, Issaries Inc., to create an entirely different, more narrativist game called ''[=HeroQuest=]'' in conjunction with the publisher Moon Design Publishing, and eventually acquired back the rights to the ''[=RuneQuest=]'' trademark from Avalon Hill (which had wound up owned by ''D&D'' publisher Wizards of the Coast) in 2004.

In 2005 Stafford licensed the ''[=RuneQuest=]'' name to Mongoose Publishing to create a new version, published in 2006. It cloned the basics of the rules but didn't use the original copyrighted wording (which had reverted to Chaosium). This version was placed under the Open Gaming License. A heavily revised Mongoose edition, written by longtime ''[=RuneQuest=]'' fans and game designers Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash, was published in 2010, and was far better received than the first Mongoose edition. However, Mongoose's license was not renewed, and in 2012, a new company formed by Whitaker and Nash, The Design Mechanism, picked up the license and published a 6th edition of ''[=RuneQuest=]'', an expansion of the second Mongoose edition. Moon Design Publications purchased all of the rights and trademarks for ''[=RuneQuest=]'' and Glorantha from Stafford in 2014, and maintained the license at first. Shortly after, however, ongoing financial issues at Chaosium led Greg Stafford and Creator/SandyPetersen (who collectively owned a majority ownership) to retake control of Chaosium and arrange a merger with Moon Design, whose management team would run the combined company. With the trademark and copyright for ''[=RuneQuest=]'' once more under its control, Chaosium developed a new edition of ''[=RuneQuest=]'', called ''[=RuneQuest=]: Roleplaying in Glorantha'', which appeared in 2018.

In 2005 Stafford licensed the ''[=RuneQuest=]'' name to Mongoose Publishing to create a new version, published in 2006. It cloned the basics of the rules but didn't use the original copyrighted wording (which had reverted to Chaosium). This version was placed under the Open Gaming License. A heavily revised Mongoose edition, written by longtime ''[=RuneQuest=]'' fans and game designers Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash, was published in 2010, and was far better received than the first Mongoose edition. However, Mongoose's license was not renewed, and in 2012, a new company formed by Whitaker and Nash, The Design Mechanism, picked up the license and published a 6th edition of ''[=RuneQuest=]'', an expansion of the second Mongoose edition. Moon Design Publications purchased all of the rights and trademarks for ''[=RuneQuest=]'' and Glorantha from Stafford in 2014, and maintained the license at first. Shortly after, however, ongoing financial issues at Chaosium led Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen (who collectively owned a majority ownership) to retake control of Chaosium and arrange a merger with Moon Design, whose management team would run the combined company. With the trademark and copyright for ''[=RuneQuest=]'' once more under its control, Chaosium developed a new edition of ''[=RuneQuest=]'', called ''[=RuneQuest=]: Roleplaying in Glorantha'', which appeared in 2018.

The original ''[=RuneQuest=]'' was set in the ConstructedWorld named Glorantha created by Chaosium co-founder Greg Stafford in 1966. The setting shares many tropes in common with other fantasy worlds (despite Stafford's insistence that it was more inspired by studies in folklore than popular fantasy), though it does have some unusual features, such as anthropomorphic animals, universal magic, and gods that are real.

* DarkMessiah / MessianicArchetype / TheAntichrist: Nysalor/Gbaji, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation depending on the interpretation]].

* EarWings: The chonchon.
* EldritchAbomination: The Lunar Goddess rides one of these (the Crimson Bat).

* TheEmpire
** The Lunar Empire.
** The God Learners and the Wyrm's Friends, back in their day.

* FantasyPantheon: '''Many'''.