Pyramid Pick
Rune RPG
Published by Atlas Games
Written by Robin D. Laws, based on the computer game from Human Head Studios
Illustrations by Tim Bowman, Shane Gurno, Scott Reeves, Ross Bonilla, Jeff DeWitt, Ted Halsted and Gene Marshal
256 page hardcover; $27.95
Old Runner: Your words mark you as a true Viking. You shall bear the mighty axe of Rune!
New Runner: With honor I shall wield it!
Everybody: URGH! URGH! URGH! VIKINGS! URRRRRRGH!
-- The "Axe Ritual," recommended for changing gamemasters.Horned helmets, rotating gamemasters, competitive play -- if shameless anachronism and offbeat game mechanics excite you, then Rune is your roleplaying game.
It is not, however, the roleplaying game you're used to seeing. In Robin D. Laws' words, "Rune cruelly smashes down the simple distinctions found in other RPGs, leaving them in a bloodied heap on the longhouse floor." That's no idle boast. This game gleefully tosses characterization, plot, and cooperative problem solving into the fjord, then rampages through the Underworld with bloody axes held high. Even hardened hack-and-slashers may be taken a bit aback.
Rune is cleverer than it pretends to be, though. The cooperative play element isn't really gone, for instance -- it's just been shifted to a different part of the game.
The basic system is derived from Ars Magica, also published by Atlas Games. Heroes have eight Characteristics -- Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, Quickness, Intelligence, Perception, Presence and Communication -- and a variety . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 15, 2001
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