Editing RuneQuest (section)

==History==
In 1975, game designer [[Greg Stafford (game designer)|Greg Stafford]] released the fantasy board game ''[[White Bear and Red Moon]]'' (later renamed ''Dragon Pass''), produced and marketed by [[Chaosium|The Chaosium]], a publishing company set up by Stafford specifically for the release of the game. In 1978, The Chaosium published the first edition of ''RuneQuest'',<ref name="RQ1ed">{{cite book |last1=Perrin |first1=Steve |author-link1=Steve Perrin |last2=Turney |first2=Ray |authorlink2=Ray Turney|last3=Hendersen |first3=Steve |author-link3=A. Steve Henderson |last4=James |first4=Warren |title=RuneQuest |date=1978 |publisher=The Chaosium |location=Albany, California, USA}}</ref> a role-playing game set in the world of [[Glorantha]] which Stafford had created for ''White Bear and Red Moon''.

A second edition, with various minor revisions, was released in 1979.<ref name="RQ2ed">{{cite book |last1=Perrin |first1=Steve |author-link1=Steve Perrin |last2=Turney |first2=Ray |authorlink2=Ray Turney|last3=James |first3=Warren |last4=Henderson |first4=Steve |author-link4=A. Steve Henderson |title=RuneQuest |date=1979 |publisher=The Chaosium |location=Albany, California, USA}}</ref> ''RuneQuest'' quickly established itself as the second most popular fantasy role-playing game after ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''.<ref name="Maranci.net">{{cite web| url = http://www.maranci.net/rqpast.htm| title = Maranci.net}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Livingstone|first=Ian|title=[[Dicing with Dragons]]|publisher=Plume Books|date=1983|isbn=0-452-25447-7|page=81}}</ref> In the four years before the second edition was superseded, Chaosium published [[List of RuneQuest supplements|over twenty supplements]] to support it. The second edition and its supplements were republished as part of the 2015 ''RuneQuest Classic'' Kickstarter.<ref name="RQClassic" />

In order to increase distribution and marketing of the game, Chaosium made a deal with [[Avalon Hill]], who published the third edition in 1984.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2017/12/27/resurrecting-runequest-an-investigation-by-the-tales-of-the-reaching-moon-editorial-staff/ | title=Modular: Resurrecting RuneQuest: An Investigation by the Tales of the Reaching Moon Editorial Staff – Black Gate | date=December 27, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="RQ3ed">{{cite book |last1=Perrin |first1=Steve |author-link1=Steve Perrin |last2=Stafford |first2=Greg |author-link2=Greg Stafford (game designer) |last3=Henderson |first3=Steve |last4=Willis |first4=Lynn |last5=Sandy |first5=Petersen |author-link5=Sandy Petersen |last6=Rolston |first6=Ken |author-link6=Ken Rolston |last7=Krank |first7=Charlie |author-link7=Charlie Krank |last8=Turney |first8=Raymond |title=RuneQuest |date=1984 |publisher=Avalon Hill |location=Baltimore, Maryland|edition=3}}</ref> Under the agreement, Avalon Hill took ownership of trademark for ''RuneQuest'', while all Glorantha-related content required approval by Chaosium, who also retained the copyright of the rules text. As such, the default setting for the third edition was the "Dark Ages of fantasy Europe",<ref name="RQ3ed"/> but it also included a booklet allowing play in Glorantha. A range of supplements were produced for this edition; generic fantasy was left unbranded, but others were marked as Earth,<ref name="RQ3Vikings">{{cite book |last1=Stafford |first1=Greg |author-link1=Greg Stafford (game designer) |last2=Petersen |first2=Sandy |author-link2=Sandy Petersen |title=[[Vikings (RuneQuest)|Vikings]] |date=1985 |publisher=Avalon Hill |location=Baltimore, Maryland}}</ref> Glorantha, or Gateway (alternative fantasy) to differentiate them.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://rpgreview.net/mob/ruinedquest.html| title = RuinedQuest}}</ref> The third edition was not well-received — RPG historian Stu Horvath called it "an ill-fated third edition of the game that never made the kind of money on which both companies were banking."<ref name=mahg>{{cite book| last = Horvath| first = Stu| title = Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground| publisher = MIT Press| date = 2023| location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| pages = 274 | isbn =9780262048224 }}</ref>

A proposed fourth edition developed by Avalon Hill, titled ''RuneQuest: Adventures in Glorantha'', was intended to return the tight ''RuneQuest''/Glorantha relationship, but it was shelved mid-project in 1994 after Stafford refused permission, unhappy with Avalon Hill's stewardship of the third edition.{{fact|date=August 2024}} In response, Avalon Hill, as owners of the trademark, began development of a mechanically unrelated game originally titled ''RuneQuest: Slayers''. However, when Avalon Hill was acquired by [[Hasbro]] in 1998, the project was canceled despite being near completion. The copyrights to the rules reverted to the authors, who released it for free as ''[[RuneSlayers]]''.

In 1998, following the financial failure of the collectible card game ''[[Mythos (card game)|Mythos]]'', Stafford, along with fellow shareholder [[Sandy Petersen]], left the management of Chaosium (though they remained shareholders in the company). Stafford had formed a subsidiary company, [[Issaries, Inc.]], to manage the Glorantha property and took ownership of that company with him. He partnered with [[Robin D. Laws]] to publish an all-new game system set in Glorantha called ''Hero Wars'' in 2000. It was later renamed ''[[HeroQuest (role-playing game)|HeroQuest]]'' in 2003 after the rights to that name, along with the ''RuneQuest'' trademark, were acquired from Hasbro by Issaries.

[[Mongoose Publishing]] released a new edition of ''RuneQuest'' in August 2006 under a license from Issaries. This required that Mongoose recreate much of the function of prior editions without reusing the prior texts (the copyrights of which were retained by Chaosium). The new rules were developed by a team led by Mongoose co-founder [[Matthew Sprange]], and were released under the [[Open Game License]]. The official setting takes place during the Second Age of Glorantha (previous editions covered the Third Age).

In January 2010, Mongoose published a much-revised edition written by [[Pete Nash (game designer)|Pete Nash]] and [[Lawrence Whitaker (game designer)|Lawrence Whitaker]] called ''RuneQuest II'', simply known as "MRQ2" by fans. In May 2011, Mongoose Publishing announced that they had parted company with Issaries,<ref>[http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=47370 "RuneQuest II News"], May 23, 2011</ref> and announced the rebranding of RuneQuest II as ''Legend''. ''Legend'' was released in late 2011 under the Open Gaming License. Mongoose titles for ''RuneQuest II'' were re-released as ''Legend''-compatible books.<ref name="Legend">{{Cite web
| last = Sprange
| first = Matthew
| author-link = Matthew Sprange
| title = Planet Mongoose - Post details: Wayfarers = December, Wayfarer = Legend
| work = Mongoose Publishing
| access-date = June 28, 2011
| date = June 16, 2011
| url = http://blog.mongoosepublishing.co.uk/index.php?blog=2&title=wayfarers_december_wayfarer_legend&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
| archive-date = August 30, 2011
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110830235614/http://blog.mongoosepublishing.co.uk/index.php?blog=2&title=wayfarers_december_wayfarer_legend&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

In July 2011, The Design Mechanism, a company formed by Nash and Whitaker, announced that they had entered a licensing agreement with Issaries<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/resources/Press%20Release%20July%202012%20FINAL.pdf| title = Press Release, July 20, 2011| access-date = January 22, 2012| archive-date = February 24, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210224192740/http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/resources/Press%20Release%20July%202012%20FINAL.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref> and would be producing a 6th edition of ''RuneQuest''. Released in July 2012, it was largely an expansion of Mongoose's ''RuneQuest II'' and aimed at providing rules that could be adapted to many fantasy or historical settings, and did not contain any specifically Gloranthan content (though it did use the Gloranthan runes).

In 2013, Stafford sold Issaries outright, and with it the Glorantha setting and ''RuneQuest'' and ''HeroQuest'' trademarks, to [[Moon Design Publications]], which had published the second edition of ''HeroQuest'' under license in 2009. Moon Design maintained the Design Mechanism's ''RuneQuest'' license.

In June 2015, following a series of financial issues at Chaosium, Stafford and Petersen retook control of the company. They in turn arranged a merger with Moon Design, which saw the Moon Design management team take over Chaosium. In 2015 they successfully raised funds through [[Kickstarter]] to produce a hardcover reprint of the second edition and PDFs of its supplements as ''RuneQuest Classic''.<ref name="RQClassic">{{cite web| url = https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/224590870/runequest-classic-edition| title = Kickstarter campaign for RuneQuest Classic Edition| date = October 13, 2020}}</ref>

In 2016, it was announced that The Design Mechanism had parted ways with Moon Design and that ''RuneQuest 6th edition'' would continue to be published under the name ''Mythras''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/news/classic-fantasy-preview|title=Classic Fantasy Preview|date=February 20, 2016|access-date=March 7, 2016|archive-date=March 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307223559/http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/news/classic-fantasy-preview|url-status=dead}}</ref> Shortly thereafter a new edition, ''RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha'', was announced in 2017.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2017/04/10/modular-chaosium-announces-new-version-of-runequest/ | title=Modular: Chaosium Announces New Version of RuneQuest – Black Gate | date=April 10, 2017 }}</ref> It is based heavily on the Chaosium second edition, drawing upon ideas from later editions.<ref name="RQG start">{{cite web|url=http://www.chaosium.com/blog/some-qa-about-whats-happening-with-runequest/|title=Some Q &A about what's happening with RuneQuest|author=Michael O'Brien|date=December 6, 2015|access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> The new edition of the game, officially referred to as ''RQG'' for short, was previewed on [[Free RPG Day]] 2017 with the release of a quickstart module.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chaosium.com/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-quickstart/|title=RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Quickstart|access-date=July 6, 2017}}</ref> The PDF of the full rules was released in May 2018, with the printed book following later that year. Since then there have been a steady stream of products released for ''RQG'', including  a Bestiary, books of adventures and reference material.