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Steve Perrin's Quest Rules - Spqr

Steve Perrin's Quest Rules - SPQR

We were talking about Rune Quest here: Source 1 and it seems that Steve Perrin's Quest Rules - SPQR is the successor for Rune Quest. If you have played Steve Perrin's Quest Rules - SPQR then please place a review here.

Spqr Rules Quest Perrins Steve

I would be highly suspect of that website and any dealings - though I don't necessarily doubt Perrin or his webmaster's ethics, it is very third-rate and not even close to professional, or even trying to be, and they are charging $25.00 for a game, from THAT?

And only in PDF form, and subscribing to get each chapter, and finally, maybe needing to pay "more recompense" from the folks who initially subscribed?! That is pretty much the worst business model, RPG or anything else, for author OR customer, I have ever seen, in so many ways, but it just screams "rip off" - not necessarily scam but I believe that is WAY overpriced. The improvements and features sound terrific, but not $25.00 PDF subscription worth of terrific, I'm sorry.\

I have a very old copy of the initial RQ3/Steve Perrin's Quest rules (somehow - I can't for the life of me remember how I got them) but it's only a few pages and unfinished, it looked good, don't get me wrong, but nothing breakthrough.

I wish him the best, but I wish also that he could manage some coherence for his site, game, author interaction and final price and payment/delivery methods - it just looks AWFUL and would make me not want to mess with all that nonsense if I even had the money and interest in RQ3/SPQ.

This has the same problem, finally, as RQ or really, most "enduring" games - they are trying to reconfigure and streamline their systems to interest new players, but their systems are from the 80's and you can only modify such things in so many ways, while players nowadays are cutting their teeth on entirely new styles of gaming, more narrative, rules-lite and "fluid" systems, and the old systems, good for their time and their specific styles, simply can't break into that genre - it would take a complete overhaul of everything, which essentially makes it a different system, much like Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition has done.

As for the musing in the other thread about how a PbP RQ would run, I'd be extremely skeptical on the practicality, even with a solid, forum-friendly adventure, as I think all the stats and skills and actions in most games are simply too numerous to keep track of and reference efficiently in play, for players or GM. I'm running a forum RP right now on my own site for 5 people but only 2 post every few days and eventually the others straggle in, and this system is nearly invisible, I take care of all the mechanics and they just narrate their actions, and it still isn't engaging them - so having any sort of game system issues in a forum game of RQ would pretty much be fatal to the game, in my opinion.

Edited: jpatt on 28th Oct, 2009 - 8:45am

Steve Perrin's Quest Rules - Spqr Reviews RPG & Card Board

You are really ripping on the Steve Perrin's site, I was hoping on this being more of a review of the actually variant he produced rather than a website review. Steve Perrin's website is just one of those back in the days designs where animations and self-design was popular (circa 1998?) I did write the owner about updating his site and possibly contributing to the Topic here. Thus far my Email was read but no reply, possibly he is not interested in it anymore hence the reason the site is like that. Actually, from what I gathered the SPQR version is considered the 'new' way of playing Rune Quest, thus the whole may be showing that AD&D has just taken over so he has not bothered, but it will be nice if he can explain.

Spqr Rules Quest Perrins Steve

Apologies, but I admit I do judge things on the internet by their presentation to some extent, the more money they're charging, the more I do so, I do believe there is a direct correlation, and I was more down on the price. But you're right, that wasn't the point.

It would be nice to have an actual fuller preview copy of what SPQ looks like and just how it DOES differ, what is better about it. I played Pendragon a bit and it was ok too, and as mentioned BRP, and WFRP, so I'm not sure how different or better it could be, but as (one of) the main RQ creator(s), I give him credit to have an impressive product on his hands. I hope so, there is always room for new, quality products in the RPG field.

From the character creation document, I'm fairly surprised - it looks like GURPS and/or HERO/Champions, with the point-buy chargen; I just wasn't expecting that, from the RQ I'd played, which was more oldschoolish, random dice rolls and such, so in a way, I think this could be an improvement, though there should be an option to also use the dice instead.

A lot of it looks like the typical advantages, disadvantages, skills, etc. Though if I read it right, he sort of refers to the ability to create any non-human race - I don't know if he means for the GM or if there is a style that RQ specifically supports that allows (if the GM wants to allow it) players to just come up with their own custom race - that would be a very "sandbox" type game, a collaborative-narrative created world, likely; my guess is races and occupations are more likely to be listed in point-buy "packages" that you choose and apply to your basic character or even which come with pre-set stats and you modify them afterward to add your own personal touch.

I like the Overskills, or as I've seen them called, Umbrella Skills, which, if the GM and players agree, can be used exclusively, rather than involving all the subskills of each of those, using Physician instead of 3 or 4 medical-related sub-skills - this personally is my preferred style of play, and reminds me of Feng Shui, which I think is a good thing. Some of the changes and ideas here I actually would like to see in Chaosium's stuff, I have to admit, CoC for one - Perrin has come up with some good redesign, which I admit I wasn't expecting, because I didn't think he'd refit things quite as dramatically as he has, so I give him credit again for making the attempt to keep up to date, not only for his own game but also for the players' preferences themselves, and the gaming genre and community in general, and its tendencies and trends.

Spqr Rules Quest Perrins Steve

I understand your first reaction to his site, I was a bit surprised myself because usually you expect something that is considered the follow-on / improvement on something to be better. I was looking over Wikipedia and it does seem like he is still involved, look at what is said here about him being interviewed in 2008:

Other sites list Steve Perrin as creating other RPG systems some of which he made for free and probably should be reviewed in a new Thread.