Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology | Review

Myths, heroes, gods and monsters! Here’s what awaits us in this review of Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology, a compendium dedicated to the mythology of the world of Glorantha. In particular, this work was created as a supplement to the role-playing game RuneQuest.

The manual is published, in English only, by Chaosium whom we thank for sending us a copy to write this review; we invite you to follow them on their website and on their Facebook pages to discover many other projects.

If you are interested in buying, you can find the physical edition with hard cover (and PDF included) for $39.99 on the official store; otherwise, for $19.99, you can only buy the digital version, always on the store.

An Extraordinary Summary

Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology is an extensive manual dealing with the myths that shaped the world of Glorantha. This is part of the Cults of RuneQuest series, which aims to deal exhaustively with the fundamental elements of the setting; other manuals that are part of this series are The Prosopaedia, The Lightbringers and The Earth Goddesses, very useful to give more depth to the game world and its specific beliefs.

Speaking of this manual, it proposes very effective writing, allowing a simple, fluent and captivating reading. The book is divided into 8 chapters that give us an insight into the game world, the various myths and the concept of monomyth; it ends with an explanation of how the Gloranthan cultures interpret myths, a general catalogue of the various deities with the related details of creation and dynamics of a cult. Each chapter contains interesting ideas from which to draw inspiration to enrich your sessions.

Another point in favour of this work is the artistic side: majestic and spectacular. All the illustrations are beautiful, with a coherent and evocative style; it almost seems like reading a sacred text or visiting the interior of a temple. In my opinion, this can be seen above all in the family trees of the gods and the various representations of the gods. Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology also contains a very valuable detail that you can appreciate among the images in this review: a huge poster depicting many gods.

Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology Introduction Review

The introductory chapter of this manual is essential for all those who approach the universe of RuneQuest, as it illustrates various basic concepts; veterans of the game will still find some good news.

There are many concepts proposed, but they are all fundamental for understanding the rest of the manual. Fortunately, everything is explained simply and effectively, accompanying us towards the next content.

One of the explanations that struck me the most is that it relates to magic. Glorantha being a universe in which mythology has its weight, magic is the direct interaction between myth and man; therefore mortals can make use of magic by interacting with the divine thanks to practices such as rituals and sacrifices. Or, what is interesting, when a god has performed an act, it becomes “canonical”; in this way, a mortal who performs the same act can access divine power. This can happen because the gods have abandoned free will, in fact, left to mortals, to become firm concepts that shape the world; in doing so, however, they are condemned to remain “static” in a dimension out of time, called God Time.

The introduction also illustrates, thanks to valuable illustrations, Glorantha’s cosmology, her calendar and other details to immerse us even more in the setting.

Many Faces of Creation

The first assumption that the manual gives us is that the mythology in the world of RuneQuest is real; gods exist and if worshipped can bring great benefits; in the same way, if ignored they can bring disaster. This has a certain weight in the setting and, as the manual says, mythology creates the structure of the world; the most important myths are those of creation and in this manual, we find those of the most important cults.

Subsequently, the various myths are presented to us with the source from which they derive specified. I appreciated that, when a myth is presented to us, it is well separated from the normal text, characterized by a red colouration so as to be easily identifiable.

One of the myths that I found personally most interesting is that of the Cosmic Egg; in this story, the creator deity of the world, Glorantha, was born from a cosmic egg that floated in the void. After his birth, he gave rise to all creation. It is a myth that is both fascinating and useful to enrich the lore of the world; it is also told in a very engaging way, just as if we were in front of an old priest.

The Monomyth and the Divine Story

Since the various myths have points in common, in the setting of RuneQuest, scholars have forged the Monomyth, that is, an artificial construct used to bring together the various legends. The manual uses this very device to tell us the general story of the gods; all the specific elements are instead left to the other manuals of the Cults of RuneQuest series.

The whole story is divided into various periods and eras, being fascinating and fascinating; a detail of great value is the fact that, with the presence of the sources, each element is closely linked to the point of view from which it is told. For more details, various boxes delve into events or characters.

One thing that I appreciated is the presence of a myth that is narrated through copper plates; in fact, we find a page with these plates and in the next one their explanation. This is a great way to make visual storytelling effective.

This whole part is certainly a fascinating section both for enthusiasts, who will be able to delve into various notions, and for beginners, who will discover a wonderful world.

Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology Myth Maps and God Catalog Review

In support of the narrative, the manual provides a series of maps with which to orient ourselves in the various eras of which we have read the facts. All the maps in this chapter are very detailed and allow us to immerse ourselves even more in that mythical world.

In each map, we find a box that summarizes the related era, a series of descriptive features and an extensive list of important places. In the lore of the setting these maps have been compiled by scholars who have reconstructed them thanks to various texts; hence a really interesting detail: next to each place we find the initials of the text from which it comes. The attention to detail makes you want to browse carefully to always discover new peculiarities; for example, the maps are so well made that, observing them in succession, you can see the evolution of the world.

Next, we find a general catalogue of the gods, where we are presented with the main pantheons of Glorantha with their genealogies. As this is a very general description, the gods present in the various pantheons are presented in a very strict way, reserving insights to the dedicated supplements.

All the genealogies presented (which are about ten) are very interesting; the descriptions help imaginative narrators insert many peculiar deities into their sessions.

What does a Cult look like?

The last chapter of Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology is dedicated to the general description of a cult; we are presented with all its fundamental characteristics, such as its name, its position towards various topics, its organization and much more. This section is therefore essential for any narrator who wants to create new cults to add to their campaigns.

In addition to the main characteristics of a cult, we find many boxes with various types of insights; for example, there is a box that explains the possible evolutions of a cult or one that defines of its “Holy Days”. In short, even in this chapter, we find a very deep authorial care, characterized by great attention to each element introduced.

Finally, we are given an overview of all the possible positions within a cult; we go from the Initiate to the Rune Priest, one of the most important roles. Each of them is well sketched, in addition to actually explaining their practical function; for example, the Rune Priest will be able to use the magic of the runes, while an initiate will not.

We also find two pages in which there are tables on which the narrator can pull to see the distribution of cults in the region of the Dragon Pass, home to the main events in RuneQuest.