Regular readers of this blog will know I’m a fan of the Design Mechanism’s RuneQuest 6. While a bit more crunchy than my own D100 tastes, which is why I publish OpenQuest, it is in my opinion the true inheritor of the RuneQuest name and spirit and a damn fine Fantasy Roleplaying Game. With Moon Design taking over management of Chaosium, it was also going to the be the basis of their new RuneQuest.  A great move thought I, since it meant a smooth transistion for the fans. Perhaps a tweak here and there, and reduction of the page count so it wasn’t so inclusive to make a nice short core book, but I could see that working very happily.

So imagine my gentle dismay when Jeff Richard, Chaosium/Moon Design Creative Director tells the folk at the What’s Up With Chaosium seminar at Dragonmeet yesterday that their new version of RuneQuest is going to be based on RuneQuest 2 with other bits and bobs added in.  You can go read a FAQ about it on Chaosium’s website, but it really strikes me it’s a RQ with everything from the kitchen sink thrown in.  I reserve judgement about the new Chaosium RuneQuest being any good until I see it in the flesh.

Good news straight from Lawrence Whitaker part of the Design Mechanism Duo is that they are going to merely rename and rebrand RQ6 (which I’m calling DMQ until they relveal the name) and keep it available along with all their stunning supplements, which is great news if you are heavily invested in the game. For example this means that come June next year when they do the rebrand, because that’s when they loose the RQ trademark there is no reason for me to sell my Premium Hardcover (which I got as a reward for backing their Hardcover Indiegogo campaign) since all they are doing is changing the name on the cover and where its mentioned within. I can save my money for buying new outstanding supplement’s from the Design Mechanism 🙂