''RuneQuest Monsters'' is a
game supplement published by
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''.
Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...
in 1987 for the fantasy role-playing game ''
RuneQuest
''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson (game designer), Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of ...
''.
Contents
''RuneQuest Monsters'' is a
bestiary
A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history a ...
of 90 creatures and monsters for use with the third edition of ''RuneQuest'' published by
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...
.
Entries include mundane creatures (dog, deer), carnivores (tiger, bear), creatures of fantasy (
griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
,
harpy
In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, , ; lat, harpȳia) is a half-human and half-bird personification of storm winds. They feature in Homeric poems.
Descriptions
They were generally depicted as birds with the hea ...
), dinosaurs, and literary creations (
jabberwock
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The bo ...
). There are also a number of human
non-player characters listed.
Publication history
Chaosium originally published ''Runequest'' in 1978, and quickly followed this with a second edition the following year. In an attempt to increase distribution and marketing of ''Runequest'', Chaosium made a deal with
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...
in 1984 to publish the third edition of ''RuneQuest''.
During this period, Games Workshop made a number of licensed supplements, ''RuneQuest Monsters'' being one, a 112-page hardcover book written by
Steve Perrin
Stephen Herbert Perrin (January 22, 1946 – August 13, 2021) was an American game designer and technical writer/editor, best known for creating the tabletop role-playing game ''RuneQuest'' for Chaosium.
Early life and education
Perrin earned a ...
,
Greg Stafford
Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism.
Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Glorantha ...
,
Steve Henderson,
Lynn Willis
Lynn Willis (died January 18, 2013) was a wargame and role-playing game designer, best known for his work with Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), and Chaosium.
Biography
Willis began by designing science fiction wargames for Me ...
,
Charlie Krank,
Ray Turney,
Ken Rolston
Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...
, and
Sandy Petersen, with a cover by
David Gallagher, and published by Games Workshop in 1987.
Reception
Paul Cockburn
Paul Cockburn is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Career
Paul Cockburn worked for TSR, Inc., TSR's ''Imagine (AD&D magazine), Imagine'' magazine. Cockburn later led the new editorial team of ''White Dwarf (magazin ...
reviewed ''RuneQuest Monsters'' for ''
White Dwarf
A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...
'' #93, and stated that "the book doubles up both as a useful long-term reference tool, and as an immediately useable game aid."
In Issue 5 of ''
The Games Machine
''The Games Machine'' is a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published ''CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', ''Amtix!'' and other magazines.
History
The magazine ran head to head with ...
'', John Woods reviewed three 3rd edition ''Runequest'' books — the ''RuneQuest'' rulebook, ''Advanced RuneQuest'', and ''RuneQuest Monsters'' — and found ''Monsters'' to be "the poorest value of the three, with the text being thinned out by over-generous illustrations." Woods concluded with a recommendation to not buy this book, saying, "It is quite possible to get by without it, though - the selection of creatures in the
'RuneQuest'' rulebookis sufficient to get started and to give referees enough examples to invent their own monsters."
References
Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1987
RuneQuest 3rd edition supplements
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