Warthur
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2017
- Messages
- 209
- Reaction score
- 620
I speculate whether the reason for the decline in C&S (which this seems to be the start of rather than the end) is partially explained by its advocates switching in part to Runequest. While both very different, I think they both appealed to the crowd looking for something more "realistic" than D&D.
I think you are likely correct. Let's consider that in 1981:
- AD&D's three core books are out, Holmes Basic has had an honourable tour of service, Moldvay Basic is the new hotness. Though AD&D is somewhat arcane and, to the tastes of many, over-crunchy (did anyone use full combat system as written, arcane initiatve process and weapon speeds and all?), nonetheless it's now far, far easier to get into D&D than it was when the OD&D booklets were out. The level of clarity of presentation you need to hit to be able to say that your game is as easy or easier to understand as D&D just went up.
- Runequest 2nd has been out for some years, there's a Games Workshop printing of it in the UK (I don't think they ever did such a thing for Chivalry & Sorcery, if they had it in stock it was as an import). So not only is Runequest in the competition, it also has a leg up when it comes to Games Workshop's audience, because the company will obviously be pushing something it's printing in-house just a tad more than it does the competition.
- Chivalry & Sorcery is still on its first edition - its 2nd edition won't be out until 1983. That means that anyone who wants to play C&S must deal with the heinously awful presentation of the book, with the tiny, tiny text due to all the pages being shrunk down and printed 4 to a side. By comparison, the Runequest 2nd Edition core rules are about as nice a presentation as any fantasy system of this vintage got in this era.
- If you are looking to non-D&D fantasy RPGs because yu find the default setting of D&D dull, there aren't any alternate campaign settings out which you are excited about (I think Greyhawk is out but Greyhawk is literally Default D&D: the Game World), Runequest has the advantage here because it has a distinctive setting, Chivalry & Sorcery 1st edition has an odd hodge-podge of Tolkien and the medieval period which might go deeper on the historical accuracy than D&D, but on a casual skim it's certainly going to look a lot like the same general sort of deal.
- If you are dissatisfied with the D&D mechanics and you want something which is a bit more polished, Runequest also has the advantage. C&S1 is very crunchy, but very tricky to get to grips with. It has mechanics which look a lot like classes and levels. Runequest 2nd is still crunchy, but not outrageously so, and slays a vast array of D&D sacred cows (no classes! skills go up gradually rather than in sudden level jumps! everyone can acquire magic!).
I think Chivalry & Sorcery managed to retain a kernel of a fandom in the UK after this - the current publisher's British, after all. But I can never remember a time when the C&S fandom was more visible and active than the Runequest fandom, and I would be willing to bet that this has held true at least as far back as this poll.
Last edited: