Elric of Melnibone RPG

This game published by Mongoose Publishing and written by Lawrence Whittacker is an exceptional adaptation of the world of The Young Kingdoms (and others) as penned by one of fantasy's most prolific and influential authors, Micheal Moorcock. For gamers who like, gritty, lethal combat and low-magic Swords & Sorcery adventure over the high-magic, stylistic, abstract combat of Epic Fantasy, you couldn't ask for a better game. Well, I suppose you could, but you'd be hard pressed to find it! Though Goodman Games, I must admit, have an excellent product in their Dungeon Crawl Cassics RPG.

The game uses Mongoose's revised Runequest system, known as Runequest II or MRQII and now renamed to Legend. The core mechanic is percentile skill based and uses opposed rolls for the majority of task resolution. This makes it very easy to explain and learn even to newbies of RPG's.

The game has a long history; originally published as Stormbringer (the name of Elric's vampiric greatsword) by Chaosium and using the original Runequest system with the introduction of Sorcery and Demon binding magic sub-systems, the game proved very popular, particularly with fans of the novels. Under this guise there were several versions published each offering further refinements. Mongoose then obtained the rights to the Runequest and the Eternal Champion Licence under which they have published two versions of the game, as well as the Hawkmoon RPG using their original Runequest rules.

The magic system in this version of the game is what, in my opinion, sets it apart as it faithfully adapts the magic from the novels as a game mechanic. There is no longer demon binding, however there is demon summoning - a dangerous practice and fraught with peril! Spells as such, are gone and have been replaced by Rune magic, not to be confused with the runes of Glorantha the original setting for Runequest and where the game got it's name, these Runes are specific to this setting and manipulate various things. Whilst at first glance they may appear a bit weak, particularly coming from players of say D20 based games, they are quite powerful if used intelligently without being game breaking as some magic systems can be.

Another key factor is the use of Cults, common throughout all iterations of the Runequest game and settings using this system, the Cults of the Elric of Melnibone really capture the flavour of the Eternal Struggle a major theme of, and the deities, of Moorcock's Eternal Champion serious of novels.

I highly recommend this game to anyone interested in adventuring in the world of Elric and The Young Kingdoms or any other low-magic fantasy setting.

You can read a summary of our adventures here.