Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha

[Bilharzia]

Chaosium are going after their Glorantha nostalgia whales who will buy anything as long as it's exactly the same as they bought 30 years ago with nicer art. It's what Moon Design cut their teeth on and it keeps the entire RQ2/3 back-catalogue compatible with the new RQG. It does seem to be at odds with most other long-in-the-tooth RPGs but clearly it makes commercial sense for them. I can see them with a new edition after a few years spent milking the old RQ grogs, and then they can sell everything all over again with a new, modern, 100% more Gloranthan ruleset.

 

[AsenRG]

Chaosium are going after their Glorantha nostalgia whales who will buy anything as long as it's exactly the same as they bought 30 years ago with nicer art. It's what Moon Design cut their teeth on and it keeps the entire RQ2/3 back-catalogue compatible with the new RQG. It does seem to be at odds with most other long-in-the-tooth RPGs but clearly it makes commercial sense for them. I can see them with a new edition after a few years spent milking the old RQ grogs, and then they can sell everything all over again with a new, modern, 100% more Gloranthan ruleset.

Makes for a nice business plan!

 

[D100Homebrew]

I'm not a glorantha nostalgia whale and I bought the new slipcase set worth of stuff. I heard Chaosium is going to do a RQ starter set for newcomers. I think they want to get new players too, just like they did with the Cthulhu starter set, which I liked.

 

[Mankcam]

The production values are excellent, and surely will look good on the shelves in gaming stores, so I think the game's profile will be raised once again. The setting of Glorantha is portrayed more clearly than in previous editions, and is more intrinsic to character gameplay.

I think it will play well at the gaming table, but I just think that a few things could of been done to make the core chassis a bit more contemporary.

 

[soltakss]

Chaosium are going after their Glorantha nostalgia whales who will buy anything as long as it's exactly the same as they bought 30 years ago with nicer art. It's what Moon Design cut their teeth on and it keeps the entire RQ2/3 back-catalogue compatible with the new RQG. It does seem to be at odds with most other long-in-the-tooth RPGs but clearly it makes commercial sense for them.

Maybe, maybe not. Having a large pool to draw from certainly help with sales. However, I know of a lot of people who have bought RQG who previously had only ever bought RGQ2 and despised later versions with a vengeance. I also have heard of a number of people who have bought RQG having never played RQ before. Some have come from a Call of Cthulhu background, but some have not.

I don't think the sales figures match this only being bought by RQ diehards. Caveat - I haven't see the sales figures.

I can see them with a new edition after a few years spent milking the old RQ grogs, and then they can sell everything all over again with a new, modern, 100% more Gloranthan ruleset.

Well, they have said that this is the last version of RuneQuest.

Whether that is the last version of RuneQuest remains to be seen. It all depends on whether Chaosium remains profitable or whether someone buys them out. The future looks good at the moment, anyway.

 

[Mankcam]

Moon Design/Chaosium had the opportunity to look at the mechanics from numerous BRP games - people often quote wanting the skill base skill chances to be like Mongoose RQ/ Mythras, for instance - I am one of them - but Mongoose actually took that from ElfQuest, which was a Chaosium game.

The point being is that I very much doubt that they will go down a completely different path in terms of game mechanics in subsequent editions They already had a wealth of options for influences, and chose to basically use RQ2 + Pendragon for the game mechanics mainframe, and took character generation from Call of Cthulhu, Elric/Stormbringer, and HeroQuest Glorantha. Then baked all this into the setting of Glorantha.

Having close compatibility with the RQ2 back catalog is quite useful, I can see why they have done this.
I would have done some things differently, although trying to maintain as much consistency as possible with the RQ2 stat block would have been a priority for me, given the excellent reprinted products for RQ2.

I think if the current editorial team are involved in any subsequent editions, then it will just be a fine-tuning of what they had done in this edition.

 

[Baulderstone]

So far in my lifetime, I have been told...

• Runequest was the game for playing Glorantha.
• Runequest was also a good gamer for playing historical settings.
• Runequest is actually not a good game for playing Glorantha and HeroQuest should be used instead.
• Runequest is a great game for Glorantha, and it should just used for Glorantha.

I'm going to take any claims about a final, definitive edition with a grain of salt, especially coming from the company that just felt the need to tinker with Masks of Nyarlathotep.

 

[Ulairi]

Chaosium are going after their Glorantha nostalgia whales who will buy anything as long as it's exactly the same as they bought 30 years ago with nicer art. It's what Moon Design cut their teeth on and it keeps the entire RQ2/3 back-catalogue compatible with the new RQG. It does seem to be at odds with most other long-in-the-tooth RPGs but clearly it makes commercial sense for them. I can see them with a new edition after a few years spent milking the old RQ grogs, and then they can sell everything all over again with a new, modern, 100% more Gloranthan ruleset.

I'm a RQ2 Grog that had zero interest and have zero interest in more modern rules systems. I think HeroQuest Glorantha is awful. I think RQG is brilliant. I messed up and ordered the wrong slip case edition, I wanted the leatherette version and ordered the regular hardcopy edition. I run CoC and RQG at cons here in Wisconsin and I usually have 50% new players. The CoC starter box is really good and we are getting a RQG version this year. That will help get the game into new hands.

Unfortunately for "modern" rule system fans they are not as marketable or profitable as the tried and true classic systems. If Chaosium come out with a new edition and my RQ2/3/G product isn't compatible and the systems are not similar, I'm out. I'm too old for modern rules. I'm too stupid for modern rule systems that are entirely too abstract for my mind to understand. The great thing is that Chaosium can go after the few people that really love to talk about modern rules online or they can go after my pocket book that is only getting larger as the kids get on their own and I hit my peak earning years. Their choice.

 

[AsenRG]

I'm a RQ2 Grog that had zero interest and have zero interest in more modern rules systems. I think HeroQuest Glorantha is awful. I think RQG is brilliant. I messed up and ordered the wrong slip case edition, I wanted the leatherette version and ordered the regular hardcopy edition. I run CoC and RQG at cons here in Wisconsin and I usually have 50% new players. The CoC starter box is really good and we are getting a RQG version this year. That will help get the game into new hands.

Unfortunately for "modern" rule system fans they are not as marketable or profitable as the tried and true classic systems. If Chaosium come out with a new edition and my RQ2/3/G product isn't compatible and the systems are not similar, I'm out. I'm too old for modern rules. I'm too stupid for modern rule systems that are entirely too abstract for my mind to understand. The great thing is that Chaosium can go after the few people that really love to talk about modern rules online or they can go after my pocket book that is only getting larger as the kids get on their own and I hit my peak earning years. Their choice.

Not sure whether Mythras is "modern" in your (pocket)book, since I see it as fine-tuning of the same system. Opinions vary, I'm aware.

Then again, in the long-term, other people should be in your position now, and they mightr well prefer what are "modern" systems now. If Chaosium is still around, which I hope would be the case, we'll talk again, I guess.

One thing is for sure, I am taking the "last edition" thing with a huge grain of salt!

 

[Mankcam]

So far in my lifetime, I have been told...

• Runequest was the game for playing Glorantha.
• Runequest was also a good gamer for playing historical settings.
• Runequest is actually not a good game for playing Glorantha and HeroQuest should be used instead.
• Runequest is a great game for Glorantha, and it should just used for Glorantha.

I'm going to take any claims about a final, definitive edition with a grain of salt, especially coming from the company that just felt the need to tinker with Masks of Nyarlathotep.

Heh heh yes entirely correct to all of the above.

Although rebooting MoN is not really the same as bringing out a new edition of core rules. However I agree that it was entirely unnecessary for them to even do it in the first place.

Actually although still under the Chaosium umbrella, Call of Cthulhu has a different design team to RuneQuest, one that was already there before the reshuffle. Moon Design kind of broadly oversees the CoC design team, but for RQ the Moon Design guys are directly involved with the line, its very much their baby.

I highly doubt this is the last edition of RQ, but while Moon Design holds the reins for Chaosium, I think they will only make minimal changes to the RQG game engine, and will aim for reasonable stat block consistency to ensure the RQ2 back catalog does not become entirely obsolete.

I would have preferred the core mechanics to be a bit more trimmed down, something along the lines of OpenQuest, but I doubt we'll see that in the RQG line.

 

[Mankcam]

As far as grognards go, I may or may not count as one, depending on who is reading this. I did start playing in my teens in the 1980s, initially with RQ2, then RQ3 and the wider range of BRP after that. Also occasionally played a bit of TSR D&D back then, as well as RM/MERP. Enjoyed RQ to all of those.

So I could be on the groggy side I suppose, heh heh

I love Glorantha and BRP RQ. However I also like BRP Mythras (which I prefer to use for my Hyborian Age homebrew and Mythic Britain).
I also really like BRP OpenQuest as a lighter version of BRP, it plays a bit more simple than D&D5 5E in terms of crunch, and maybe that suits me better at present.

Used to play a lot of classic World of Darkness as well, but not so much these days. Could never really dig the Chronicles of Darkness line, but I did grab the 20th Anniversary Editions of the classic WoD. Haven't had time to play them, but they are great book shelf eye-candy.

Played a bit of D&D 3E, it was okay, but not my thing to GM. Was definately over the bloat by the time Pathfinder came out, and also avoided D&D 4E like the plague. Preferred some of the D&D OSR games, but was happy to play D&D 5E when it came out. Although I still preferred BRP as a GM, mainly using BGB, Mythras, OQ, and CoC.

I am also a big Middle Earth guy, and I love what Cubicle 7 has done with The One Ring and D&D 5E Adventures In Middle Earth.

I still love the same kind of content that grabbed me as a youngster (although I think I approach it more maturely than we did in our early days ).
However I guess tastes can change over 30 years, in terms of actual game mechanics.
Despite my gaming origins, my actual 'go-to' generic system these days is Fate Core (and Fate Accelerated).

Glorantha can be very immersive, just like Middle Earth - I just hope that I can enjoy returning to the crunch of RQG on a regular basis.
I guess only time will tell ...

 

[Lessa]

I'm a RQ2 Grog that had zero interest and have zero interest in more modern rules systems. I think HeroQuest Glorantha is awful. I think RQG is brilliant. I messed up and ordered the wrong slip case edition, I wanted the leatherette version and ordered the regular hardcopy edition. I run CoC and RQG at cons here in Wisconsin and I usually have 50% new players. The CoC starter box is really good and we are getting a RQG version this year. That will help get the game into new hands.

Unfortunately for "modern" rule system fans they are not as marketable or profitable as the tried and true classic systems. If Chaosium come out with a new edition and my RQ2/3/G product isn't compatible and the systems are not similar, I'm out. I'm too old for modern rules. I'm too stupid for modern rule systems that are entirely too abstract for my mind to understand. The great thing is that Chaosium can go after the few people that really love to talk about modern rules online or they can go after my pocket book that is only getting larger as the kids get on their own and I hit my peak earning years. Their choice.

I have no problem with old/classic games. I have a problem with old/classic games that get new editions and don't see it as an opportunity to get better... for reasons.

I'm a big fan of old Shadowrun 2nd edition, warts and all. But if they re-released that 2nd edition today and didn't try to fix at least some of its problems (or even optimize it, if you will) I'd be very wary of commiting to it.

 

[Voros]

I would have preferred they trimmed the combat system down myself but I'm still quite interested in checking this out. I like the idea of adding more Pendragon-like mechanics. It would have been cool of they offered a simplier combat option, like they did in VtM 5e (although it wouldn't have to be as simple as their one-roll combat system). You never know, they may offer that in a future starter set. I could probably hack it myself using Openquest or Pendragon if I wasn't so lazy.

 

[Mankcam]

Here's a good unboxing of the RQG standard slipcase set, it takes about half an hour to watch.
The reviewer gets some things wrong, but overall it's a great overview!
For those who are interested, enjoy!

 

[Lessa]

WOOOW that's marvelous.

 

[Ulairi]

Customer Service for Chaosium sent me another mega coupon even though I made the mistake by ordering the wrong boxed set. The new Chaosium has treated me very well in all my interactions. Now I'm going to have 4 rulebooks, two bestiaries, and two GM shields.

 

[AsenRG]

Customer Service for Chaosium sent me another mega coupon even though I made the mistake by ordering the wrong boxed set. The new Chaosium has treated me very well in all my interactions. Now I'm going to have 4 rulebooks, two bestiaries, and two GM shields.

Are you planning to outfit all your group with rulebooks? Now that is an agenda I'd totally respect!

 

[Ulairi]

Are you planning to outfit all your group with rulebooks? Now that is an agenda I'd totally respect!

I'm going to donate the extra rulebook and bestiaries to my daughters game club at school. My lazy friends buy their own books!

 

[Runeblogger]

Iceman , I'm glad you've decided to get started with RuneQuest Glorantha despite the criticism I included in my review.
I actually think there's been no better time than now to get into that fantastic setting.

 

[Mankcam]

RQG has a very chunky character generation process, involving family history lifepath and such.
It is the absolute opposite of the quick char gen process in many modern games, but this lengthy process seems to help you 'discover' a character rather than just create a character. If treating the char gen almost as a 'mini-game' in itself, then it's quite a good way to start play with a character that feels very linked to the setting of Glorantha.

The same reviewer whom I posted earlier in this thread has now started a RQG character generation playlist.
It's only two videos so far, but I guess more are on the way.
It may be of interest to some here in this forum





(PS: And no, this YouTuber is certainly not me. I just like his channel so far)

 

[Raleel]

RQ plays a bit simplier, as you only get a Special Effect when you roll a Special Success, so it's not like you get stumped for choices like can sometimes happen in Mythras. The Special Effect is typically based upon the weapon type, so there really isn't a choice (although I houserule that you can choose to replace that at the time with some of the Spot Rules outcomes if you prefer a manuver instead. But no head scratching, otherwise we go straight to the Weapon Effect).
But overall combat feels 'cleaner' in this way. Also there are no Action Points, you get a Strike Rank value (based on quickness and weapon length, impacted by weight). This value tells you how many times you can act within a combat round and when you act within that combat round.
Seems to work well, it's a bit chunky but it helps make the combat feel tactile. Its also generally good at keeping things moving, as it doesn't dramatically change much during the combat scene (unless the GM wants to play it that way), so you really only need to calculate it once. Just keeps everything rolling at a decent pace.

I found this to be useful enough to go back and reread the QuickStart combat rules. I can maybe see why folks prefer it with your explanation.

If I turn around and recommend simplifications to folks (its always the special effects), I may just tell them “impale, Stun Location, Bleed”, which map pretty close. Or may just tell them a very generic impale-like roll damage twice. Less subsystem interactions (action points with Stun, fatigue with Bleed, action points with several others, forcing off turn rolls to struggle, etc).

Spoiler: it triggers a couple of things for me that I dislike, if you don’t want to read me don’t open this

I don’t really like rounds with time based action - why not just let the time keep going instead of resetting, parrying taking no time, why do I have to be extra good to get an effect, damage to weapons on a parry which strikes me as more bookkeeping, while not hard the always keeping track of special vs crit seems more complex than necessary, I get why Size helps strike rank, but it always seems at a different scale than everything else in reality and prefer a reach model, the fact that they have weapon length but you can parry a two handed axe with a butter knife. But the spoiler is here so you can close this up and ignore my griping

 

[Atelerix]

Got my slipcase set yesterday (it will be my only RPG purchase this year, so I can justify it). Utterly gorgeous, and there's so much material in there.

The GM collection is the standout for me - a solid screen, character sheets, pregens, Several lovely maps, including a poster of Dragon Pass, and a campaign/adventure booklet that nicely introduces players to life in Sartar.

The tone of the illustrations hits the spot for me - the look and feel is definitely Bronze Age.

The bestiary is good, with decent sections on the playable elder races (cults included).

Main rulebook has lots of history, cults and cultures, so it's not just a massive rulesfart. Not the biggest fan of crunch these days, but I know BRP well enough to take what I need.

May be the best game purchase in 10 years for me, and it makes Glorantha feel fresh and alive for me in a way it hasn't for ages.

 

[Séadna]

Glorantha's take on myth can be quite difficult to understand at times. Adhering more to how ancient people actually saw it than being a coherent setting detail like we'd expect now. I thought this video by Christine Hayes explaining Yehezkel Kaufmann's view on polytheistic religions might be interesting for getting into the spirit of Glorantha (starting at 8:50 onward):



It's also a good series in general if you want to learn more about the Tanakh.

 

[Trippy]

To be fair to me even RQ 2, which is a concisely stated rule set, is crunchier than I prefer, I would like something closer to CoC or Pendragon in terms of crunch. There's Openquest but I find it lacking in flavour personally.

I want to run RQG but think I may strip it down mechanically, keeping the backgrounds and passions but simplifying combat.

Thinking about this, the first RPG book I ever bought was Stormbringer (3rd edition - the GW edition). It was way, way more simpler than RuneQuest ever was.

 

[Voros]

The Glorantha Bestiary is available PWYW as a fundraiser to help those impacted by the Australian wildfires.

 

[Baulderstone]

Thinking about this, the first RPG book I ever bought was Stormbringer (3rd edition - the GW edition). It was way, way more simpler than RuneQuest ever was.

Stormbringer was the third RPG I actually played(After D&D and TMNT), and my first BRP game. I played Call of Cthulhu shortly after that. When I finally played Runequest in the late '80s, I was very surprised at just how crunchy a BRP game could be.

 

[Raleel]

Glorantha's take on myth can be quite difficult to understand at times. Adhering more to how ancient people actually saw it than being a coherent setting detail like we'd expect now. I thought this video by Christine Hayes explaining Yehezkel Kaufmann's view on polytheistic religions might be interesting for getting into the spirit of Glorantha (starting at 8:50 onward):



It's also a good series in general if you want to learn more about the Tanakh.

this is a good lecture. I am enjoying it.

 

[Stevethulhu]

Thinking about this, the first RPG book I ever bought was Stormbringer (3rd edition - the GW edition). It was way, way more simpler than RuneQuest ever was.

I've got that and the GW reprint of RQ3. And RQ is way, way crunchier. Even though the two games are eminently cross compatible.

 

[Atelerix]

I've got that and the GW reprint of RQ3. And RQ is way, way crunchier. Even though the two games are eminently cross compatible.

The GW version has a couple of really important typos. The worst is Sorcery Multispell - it costs 1 magic point to add another instance of a spell, rather than adding the base cost of the spell (as in the original).

So machine-gunning Palsy or Venom at a powerful foe was a British RQ thing in the 90s...

Loved Stormbringer, but the randomisation in character generation could be brutal - Pan-Tangian sorceror, Melnibonian warrior... Or crippled beggar. Great role-playing, not necessarily fun in a system where everyone else could be slinging around demons and elementals.

 

[Baulderstone]

Loved Stormbringer, but the randomisation in character generation could be brutal - Pan-Tangian sorceror, Melnibonian warrior... Or crippled beggar. Great role-playing, not necessarily fun in a system where everyone else could be slinging around demons and elementals.

That was either the second or third RPG I ever played, and I really liked the crazy randomness. The "useless" characters were a license to ham it up, and if they died quickly, I got to roll up something completely different. I might be a little less tolerant of it today. As a kid, generating characters all day was my idea of fun. I don't have the same patience for systems where I die a lot and character generation takes a bit of work. I felt ambivalent about the later editions trying smooth things out.

I'll add that the Elric Saga was the absolute favorite fantasy series among my gaming friends at the time, so that played a part in us really being into it.

 

[Atelerix]

So far in my lifetime, I have been told...

• Runequest was the game for playing Glorantha.
• Runequest was also a good gamer for playing historical settings.
• Runequest is actually not a good game for playing Glorantha and HeroQuest should be used instead.
• Runequest is a great game for Glorantha, and it should just used for Glorantha.

Greg Stafford started writing about Glorantha in the 60s, so it's no surprise that both Glorantha and RQ have changed over those 54 years.

The BRP system and variants have always been good for fairly gritty historical adventures. The various Vikings and historical books are all worth a look.

RQ was always good for human-level adventures in a fantasy world called Glorantha, but could get clunky with powerful adventurers. We didn't really know WTF a "runequest" was until Mongoose RQ in the 2000s.

Heroquest was specifically written to work at a higher level, allowing characters to interact with gods and myth.

RQG is written to tie characters into their religion, beliefs and culture in a way that RPGs didn't really understand in the 70s and 80s.

Sartarites were citizens of a Greek city state in the 80s, but Celtic clans by 2000. The West and Kralorela were chivalric Europe and China in the late 80s and 90s, and are now very different.

Elder Secrets still has the worst artwork in any RPG product ever.

The more I read about the Hero Wars, the less I like them. RPGs work best on the cusp of huge setting events. Like TV SF series, the resolution always disappoints.

 

[Atelerix]

That was either the second or third RPG I ever played, and I really liked the crazy randomness. The "useless" characters were a license to ham it up, and if they died quickly, I got to roll up something completely different. I might be a little less tolerant of it today. As a kid, generating characters all day was my idea of fun. I don't have the same patience for systems where I die a lot and character generation takes a bit of work. I felt ambivalent about the later editions trying smooth things out.

I'll add that the Elric Saga was the absolute favorite fantasy series among my gaming friends at the time, so that played a part in us really being into it.

It was a very flexible and open system and an amazing world. Just took a shitty GM to ruin your game though. These days, older and ?wiser, I'd relish playing an underpowered, marginal character.

 

[Stevethulhu]

That was either the second or third RPG I ever played, and I really liked the crazy randomness. The "useless" characters were a license to ham it up, and if they died quickly, I got to roll up something completely different. I might be a little less tolerant of it today. As a kid, generating characters all day was my idea of fun. I don't have the same patience for systems where I die a lot and character generation takes a bit of work. I felt ambivalent about the later editions trying smooth things out.

I'll add that the Elric Saga was the absolute favorite fantasy series among my gaming friends at the time, so that played a part in us really being into it.

I used the BGB to cook up a semi random chargen for Stormbringer. Maybe one day I'll take it out for a test run.

 

[CRKrueger]

The thing about Glorantha that pisses me off is that it seems like there’s this hidden book somewhere only Gloranthaphiles read.
Looking at the materials available for RQ1 and 2 and looking at the discussions people have, it doesn’t seem like that incredible depth of knowledge can come from those materials. It’s like going to tvtropes, everything is self-referential with no non-jargon explanation...anywhere. You even have people making jokes using Glorantha References...
”that‘s like the Red Goddess in Lhankor Mhy’s library”
(everyone LOL’s)
”more like the Myth Irippi Ontor grabs Storm Bull by the horns”
(everyone ROFL’s)

Is there a list somewhere of every single Heroquest and its importance?

 

[Nick J]

The thing about Glorantha that pisses me off is that it seems like there’s this hidden book somewhere only Gloranthaphiles read.
Looking at the materials available for RQ1 and 2 and looking at the discussions people have, it doesn’t seem like that incredible depth of knowledge can come from those materials. It’s like going to tvtropes, everything is self-referential with no non-jargon explanation...anywhere. You even have people making jokes using Glorantha References...
”that‘s like the Red Goddess in Lhankor Mhy’s library”
(everyone LOL’s)
”more like the Myth Irippi Ontor grabs Storm Bull by the horns”
(everyone ROFL’s)

Is there a list somewhere of every single Heroquest and its importance?

It feels exactly like this

 

[Dumarest]

It feels exactly like this

Sounds pretty Smurfy to me.

 

[Savage Schemer]

The thing about Glorantha that pisses me off is that it seems like there’s this hidden book somewhere only Gloranthaphiles read.
Looking at the materials available for RQ1 and 2 and looking at the discussions people have, it doesn’t seem like that incredible depth of knowledge can come from those materials. It’s like going to tvtropes, everything is self-referential with no non-jargon explanation...anywhere. You even have people making jokes using Glorantha References...
”that‘s like the Red Goddess in Lhankor Mhy’s library”
(everyone LOL’s)
”more like the Myth Irippi Ontor grabs Storm Bull by the horns”
(everyone ROFL’s)

Is there a list somewhere of every single Heroquest and its importance?

That has got to be the most accurate metaphor for finding other Glorantha fans online I've ever come across.

 

[Arcane_Avatar]

Actually you had to have spent years and hundreds of dollars acquiring obscure fanzines and other self-published material that isn't listed in any catalogue of reference material that's easily available. Once you've done that you can nod knowingly at all the inside jokes. At any con game you will be sure to get at least one Grognard that can reel off this trivia and piss you off by continually interrupting the game with irrelevant asides.

 

[Séadna]

Is there a list somewhere of every single Heroquest and its importance?

Regarding the rest of the post: Jesus, nail on the head!

Not as far as I know. I found a similar issue having recently done a deep dive into the world. Depending on the topic the new RQG core, the new "Gloranthan Sourcebook" and the Guide to Glorantha have a succinct explanation. Unfortunately a topic explained well in one, is covered terribly in another. However even then some things weren't clear to me until I read "King of Dragon Pass"'s in-game encyclopedia.

There are three topics that I think should be explained fairly clearly upfront.
The relation of the various ethnic groups to each other. What a Heorthling vs an Orlanthi is. This is very hard to figure out.
How people live in the various nations and what exactly are their religions about. Figuring out what the Lunar empire believe is very difficult for example. Which is odd since it informs plenty of what their higher ups do.
Just anything to do with the Gods. What is Godtime, what are heroquests, etc.

I might do up a post that summarises the last point as briefly as I can since it's just scattered everywhere.

I really enjoyed learning about Glorantha but it really felt closer to reading about a poorly attested society like Ugarit than an RPG setting.

 

[soltakss]

Is there a list somewhere of every single Heroquest and its importance?

Regarding the rest of the post: Jesus, nail on the head!

Not as far as I know. I found a similar issue having recently done a deep dive into the world. Depending on the topic the new RQG core, the new "Gloranthan Sourcebook" and the Guide to Glorantha have a succinct explanation. Unfortunately a topic explained well in one, is covered terribly in another. However even then some things weren't clear to me until I read "King of Dragon Pass"'s in-game encyclopedia.

Not yet.

There is a stafford Library book called Arcane Lore that contains a hell of a lot about HeroQuesting, with a lot of HeroQuests.

I am working on a book of Heroquesting for the Jonstown Compendium, which will contain more HeroQuests, but that won't'detail the importance of each HeroQuest, as different HeroQuests are important to different cultures.

The Lightbringers Quest is important to much of Glorantha. The Lunars believe that the Seven Mothers' Quest and the Red Goddess' God Quest are more important. The Trolls think that HeroQuests to Cure the Curse of Kin are far more important than those piddly little Quests.