Runequest: The Runes that Govern and shape all things.

 The Runes that Govern and shape all things

In Runequest, if you haven't guessed from the title of the game, Runes play a significant part in the role-playing game. This is all the more true with the newest edition in comparison to the older editions of the game, where characters have a set of Runes that can influence their character's personality and that the characters can use to affect actions and the world around them. As the game states, "Runes are intrinsic to Glorantha. They are the cosmic powers that define Glorantha and are manifested by the gods".

Rune infuses all aspects of Glorantha, the most ancient gods of Glorantha - each represented or were the manifestation of these Rune. Acos was the God of Stability, Larnste was the God of Movement, Uleria the Goddess of Love/Life, Kargan Tor the God of Death/Conflict, Orenoar the Goddess of Truth, Tylenea the Goddess of Illusion, Harana Ilor the Goddess of Harmony, and Ratslaf the God of disorder. Each balances with the others and ruling the cosmos along with the Elemental deities of Darkness, Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. With their combined power they shaped the universe to create the world of Glorantha. Using their Runes to create something out of nothing - out of the chaos and entropy that existed before exitance began. Further increasing the influence each of the runes had in the universe with the act of creation and destruction. Embedding the runes into everything. 

I've been thinking about the importance and significance of the runes and how they are so intrinsic to Glorantha over the last few weeks. Pondering how to use them in my own games as a building block for storytelling.  In my thinking, a Gamemaster and/or Players can take this knowledge about how the runes interact and affect the world of Glorantha and craft powerful stories for their own games. Much like the Elder gods, both Gamemasters and Players can use a Rune or Runes to add something more to their games; adding significance and weight to the stories they want to tell. But in order for us to achieve this, to be able to use the rune for this purpose, we have to have a good understanding of the runes individually and how they function in groups. The Rune I have been pondering throughout of this and what has led me to write this blog post I feel is a good place to start at exploring these runes and how we can use them for storytelling. So in my next post, I'll be exploring the Disorder Rune and how I might use it for storytelling. Mainly, what creatures, story hooks, items, and social encounters we can build out of them.

I'll leave you with this question; outside of misfortune what aspects of Disorder appear in Glorantha. What kind of things in the day-to-day life of a Gloranthian person would be affected by the presence of the Disorder Rune?