Mythras as Mythras

Honestly, you can ignore the Imperative books and just play core Mythras, by the original book. There are a few rules improvements in Imperative, but many just play with the still-solid core system in the original hardcover and are more than happy with the game.

Many see Imperative to a "starter set" for the system, and still go by the original book for the core experience. Until we get a revised core book under the ORC license, this is how it will go, and that is cool.

As gamers we tend to "want everything perfect" but the best we can do is good enough. Plus, I bet The Design Mechanism wants to sell through its current stock of OGL hardcovers before committing to an ORC release. Be patient, and support them as best we can as a community. Making YouTube videos and writing blogs helps!

The same goes for Classic Fantasy and Classic Fantasy Imperative, while not to dissuade people from getting the Imperative books, but if all you want to play with is the core book, you will be fine and have a great time. The Imperative books are streamlined and simplified, so the opposite opinion exists, though most of the spells and monsters you will need for classic fantasy are in the original book. Plus, it is far easier wrangling one book than two.

If you are an advanced player, know the system like the back of your hand, and want to incorporate the changes, that is fine. If you are just getting started with Mythras, just get the original books and live in those for a while and learn the game from a single source. You will have fun, and the system was as solid as it was back then as it is today.

Mythras has a surprisingly strong YouTube community, and rock-solid player support. This is a well-loved game with a hardcore player base. This is not a crowd that will jump ship for 5E or other games easily, the players are lifetime players and deeply committed to the game. The ACKS II game and this are in a battle for Mythic Bronze Age mind share, and Mythras' support is bedrock solid with its players and they won't cross over to a d20 system that easily.

If feels like Mythras and ACKS II have the market split, with Runequest trailing along in third. Not in sales, but in the interest and third-party support that I see. Mythras has been picking up some huge new releases these days, especially with Black Lodge Games and Cults of Zahak, an amazing release and showing an impressive maturing of the market.

All the cool stuff these days is outside of 5E. 

As for 5E, forget it, none of the Bronze Age 5E settings have taken off, mainly because most D&D players don't want to give up their pseudo-Renaissance identities and Tiefling horns. Mainstream D&D has stopped being role-playing and has crossed over into a specific brand of cosplay LARP, and most players don't want to change genres, which kills alternative setting support and interest. This is actually a good thing, since Mythras does the genre far better than a video-game-like system.

If you are getting started, don't feel bad about just getting the original book and beginning there! All Imperative means is the system is in active development, and a new license and basic-support version was needed for 3rd-party support going forward. If I am out here writing adventures for the system and want to be able to sell those books going forward, forcing small publishers to use the poison-pilled OGL is a non-starter. It is ORC or nothing, and Imperative is the way to go for future support in expansions and adventures.

As for playing or getting started?

Start with the original hardcover and you will be fine. 

Runequest New Edition? Delay?

There were a few rumblings about a new edition of Runequest, and now there seems to be another delay for another year? There was talk about a simplified edition of the game that got rid of strike ranks and the bloat, and now there is another delay in the new edition? Of possibly two years?

In two years, the D&D 6E hype will start. You will not be able to compete with that. You will get buried.

Even if a new simplified core book comes out for this edition, I get the feeling D&D will pull the trigger early on the next edition and we have two years of peace and quiet to enjoy some really great games before the YouTube bandwagon jumps on, hypes D&D 6E to the moon, and tries to relive the glory days of pandemic monetization.

I would love a simplified edition of the game that makes it more accessible, but apparently now this is a long way off. The game is a tough one to get into, and grasping a lot of the complexities of the system are a high barrier to entry, and frankly I prefer the Basic Roleplaying book over any of the systems, even for fantasy. BRP does almost everything better with the same rules, easier.

 

And there is always the RQ6 engine, Mythras. This is a solid engine that many prefer over Runequest, well-regarded and loved still by the hardcore. Many in the community love Mythras better, the license is great, and this just works amazingly well. This is also well-supported by the community. Mythras has a few issues, like the core book's font size, but it is still a solid system and well-supported. The combat system is far better than any other d100 game, and it is a setting-neutral game.

And we have Open Quest as a community edition, which is also a great edition of the d100-style rules, along with Simple Quest, an even more simplified version. Both of these games are amazing and very playable, a beer-and-pretzels version of the d100 rules more oriented towards dungeon crawling and classic adventure.

And if we are talking heroic Bronze Age fantasy, ACKS II will enter the room. It is not a d100 game, but it covers the same ground and is much more compelling and rooted in dungeon-crawling than Runequest.

Well, I suppose we have to trust the people who make Runequest. I would be interested in a simpler core book. But, given this delay, other games will easily fill my time. Especially in the same genre, and using similar d100 dicing systems.