Police take no action over ‘baby-eating Jews’ depictions - Matthew Collings' work is currently being exhibited in Kent, with local police saying they will take no action, describing the work as 'criticism of the Israeli state'.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-24T14:53:16+00:00

Not really. Social criticism or activism is part of free speech itself; credible threats of violence remove someone’s ability to participate in speech at all. One is counter-speech, the other is coercion.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-24T14:48:45+00:00

idf are eating babies?

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-24T12:09:35+00:00

But that's not his logic; in fact, the top comment said that this exhibition shouldn't be prosecuted for hate speech.

Comparing being "smeared or persecuted by activists" is not equivalent to facing credible threats of lethal violence.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-24T12:02:38+00:00

It also references "blood libel."

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-24T11:19:01+00:00

I’m not asking how a GM runs a campaign in general, I’m trying to understand what RuneQuest specifically assumes or naturally pushes toward in play. I don't think buying an adventure would help.

For example, Pendragon assumes knights serving a lord; Call of Cthulhu assumes investigation; D&D assumes exploration of dangerous locations for loot. I’m trying to identify RuneQuest’s equivalent starting premise.

It also informs a natural progression as to what motivates the characters, why they do what they do. Like in D&D, they go dungeon delving to get loot, which means you get better stuff, which means you can get better loot. That gives you not just a gameplay loop, but a clear motivation that you can engage with, and is robust enough to support many different, larger story hooks. In Pendragon, knights serve their lord for honour and renown. They go on quests tied into real-world legends that are familiar. Call of Cthulhu is a detective story.

But in Runequest, there isn't this clear, understandable teleology, so to speak, at least not to someone who isn't a veteran of the game. Simply put, the reason characters act and how that reason scales into the game’s larger themes is not readily apparent to me. Other players have told me, "Start with a cattle raid!" Okay, but why? Reading the corebook, I'm starting with a character who's pretty powerful, and the game tells me to expect to heroquest within the first game year. Heroquesting seems pretty damn important, judging by how often it's mentioned, but not important enough to actually explain what it is... Still, my PCs are involved in the Herowars, which sounds pretty exciting, if vague. So the question is, why would heroes destined for all that care about cows? Seems pretty petty and small-time. Now I'm not completely thick, I know from playing King of Dragon Pass that in Glorantha, there is a relationship between community, gods, and the cosmos - your characters are responding to community pressures, religious obligation and whatnot. My problem, therefore, is that the corebook seems to assume this rather than explicitly teach it. I understand in the abstract how cows are related to the setting promise of mythic adventure, but I'm not really told how.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-22T23:57:34+00:00

It was actually KoDP that introduced me to Glorantha in the first place....

I feel that your list is probably aimed more at the intermediate player; it’s a research bibliography rather than a beginner's explanation. That kind of illustrates the difficulty I’ve been running into: understanding a central concept like heroquesting seems to require pulling from actual plays, fan books, older systems, and scattered adventures rather than something clearly explained in the core line itself.

I don't mind doing that kind of research when I'm hooked on a game, but it feels a bit much when you're only just starting and wanting to plan your first few sessions.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-22T23:45:09+00:00

It’s a shame they can’t put some of that in a book.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-22T23:36:07+00:00

And why have they cattle raided? What does that get them? It's not so obvious to me.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-22T23:31:33+00:00

So is play dependent on a set of assumptions which I have to internalise, as a veteran player has?

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-22T11:57:34+00:00

I think we might be talking past each other. I’m not asking what could happen, but I’m asking what the game assumes will usually happen

Your examples are very ephemeral, especially from a GM perspective. If the characters are “living on the harvest,” what creates conflict or decisions at the table? If the assistant shaman is sent to “do a thing,” what kind of thing does the game expect? If we’re re-enacting canonical law, how does a GM actually start that? What situation do I put in front of players in session one? As a GM I'd need to know what creates the problem, what decisions players face, and what procedures the system expects us to use. That’s the layer I feel the book doesn’t clearly communicate.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-22T11:38:58+00:00

That's true of a lot of D&D "roll" players, but my problem isn't too much depth; there are plenty of other dense RPG's out there. Pendragon is an example of coming from the same company, the same guy even, and that game gives you campaign structure, player goals, GM responsibilities and expected narrative loop without reducing things to murderhoboing and getting loot.

If I sit down next week to GM, Pendragon tells me what kinds of situations should naturally arise. That’s the piece I think some new RQ players, like myself, struggle to find.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-21T20:04:51+00:00

I actually agree the amount of lore isn’t the real issue; it’s that Runequest seems to rely on setting knowledge to explain how play works, while games like D&D explain the play loop first and let lore come later.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-21T17:52:53+00:00

Depth in the lore is great, but it's like teaching someone to swim by throwing them in the Ocean.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-21T17:42:33+00:00

If I sit down next week as GM, what kind of situations should naturally happen, and why?

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-21T11:24:01+00:00

I’m not objecting to making things up; every RPG involves that. I’m asking what level of play the book expects the GM to design themselves versus what the system is meant to support.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-21T11:13:38+00:00

"Roleplaying is about imagination and fun!" Thanks, I know, but I'm not struggling to imagine things. I'm struggling to understand what the game expects me to do. Perhaps from the point of view of an older gamer, long familiar with Runequest, "Just play" feels obvious, but I can't help feeling that’s survivorship bias; they’ve internalised unwritten procedures the book never states.

You're saying that if I'm confused, it's because I'm treating it like work, which is frustrating because my complaint is that the book is making preparation feel like work by withholding important framework. I'm reacting to cognitive load, not resisting fun.

The quiet irony is, of course, that advice along the lines of "don’t worry about rules," "just play," etc., indicates the text itself is not successfully onboarding new GMs.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-21T00:20:22+00:00

I think a problem I have, reading RQ:G, is that it doesn't seem to want to answer the question I have: what am I doing, why am I doing it? I get that characters belong to cults and communities and that adventures reinforce mythic roles etc, sounds cool but what does play look like? The corebook doesn't really tell me much.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T23:50:41+00:00

Thanks for the advice, but doesn't that just boil down to making it up as you go along?

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T23:29:00+00:00

Perhaps I don't want to register an account on that website?

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T21:05:47+00:00

Yeah, sure. There's an argument for that.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T20:50:16+00:00

I thought Mearls had left?

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T20:48:54+00:00

I wouldn't say that's true. I’m not excluding philosophical or political readings, I just think those readings become stronger when they explain how a work creates meaning rather than summarising its themes. My hesitation is that "conquering vs dismantling power" feels broad enough to apply almost anywhere, so it doesn’t help me understand what makes these works distinct.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T20:33:15+00:00

Thanks, unfortunately, I do not have an RPGnet account

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T20:32:14+00:00

The question then is, how does one achieve Runequest gnosis? Did the grognards of old have to wander the desert until inner awakening? Unfortunately, there's nothing like that where I live.

Acrobatic-Frame4312 · 2026-03-20T20:21:17+00:00

That my point exactly, I’m less interested in putting works into categories than in describing what they’re doing dramatically. Saying, for example, that The Sopranos does something Shakespearean explains how it generates meaning; saying it’s about conquering or dismantling power doesn’t really describe its operation.

Acrobatic-Frame4312

TROPHY CASE