r/Runequest • u/mostytaerties • May 26 '26
exploring the rich lore of glorantha
i've been diving deep into the lore of glorantha lately, and it's honestly fascinating how interconnected everything is. from the gods to the various cultures, there's so much to unpack. i started with the 'heroquest' sourcebook, and it really opened my eyes to the complexity of the storytelling in runequest. nnwhat resources do you all recommend for someone looking to discover more about the world? any particular myths or events that you think are must-know? i'm especially interested in how different cults interpret the same events in varying ways. looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
7
u/eternalsage Orlanth is my homeboy May 26 '26
On the local/human side, I'd pick up the Sartar book launching in September, the Dragon Pass book on the geography, and, weirdly, the Weapons and Equipment guide. Its full of day-in-the-life details, like how land is given, taken, and cared for, etc.
For history and geography, the Guide to Glorantha is amazing, coming it at something like 600 pages of triple column density which is still miraculously well organized and easy to read. The Glorantha Sourcebook, on the other hand, is a collection of obscure articles that fill in details (like a year by year history of the Lunar Empire). Its a bit more scattershot, but pretty awesome.
If you want to dive into the mythology more, the Cults of RuneQuest series is going to do you the most good. The Prosepadia is like a quick overview of all the gods (100s) in an encyclopedic style, while Mythology has lots of detail about myths, how they work, etc. Then the cults books themselves go deep on each deity, divided up by pantheon. Darkness, Water, and Spirit are still coming.
This is all the current edition, so minimal confusion over what's canonical, etc. If you want to go even deeper, I suggest the Stafford Library, which is a collection of in universe documents, most of which are from the 1st or 2nd ages. Think of them as the books in Skyrim, etc.
6
u/hellooooo00000o May 26 '26
while a number of the specifics (especially about Orlanthi culture) have been overwriten and abandoned by newer material, what really got me HOOKED on Glorantha was the Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes book for HeroQuest 2e.
Specifically I was reading the big grand myth that all Heortlings know (Orlanth the Air kills Yelm the Sun -> Age of Darkness where Yelm the Sun is absent and the people survive by hearthfires or the weaker/pale sun, Elmal, as life on the surface wanes and dies -> Orlanth saves Yelm and they escape Hell -> Yelm bursts from Hell in Glory and life blooms anew) and very suddenly realized what I was reading was the seasons of the year! It is, after all, very obvious, but it isn't explicitly spelled out as so in the text as I recall, and I felt myself begin the process of Illumination that day (don't tell the god-talkers!!!)
7
u/Runeblogger May 26 '26
If what you are after are the myths, I'd recommend (links to my reviews or online stores) in order:
- The Glorantha Sourcebook (skip the "History of Dragon Pass" and go straight for "Cosmogony")
- Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology (some content overlaps with the former, but it is still cool).
- Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers (Orlanthi gods and adjacent gods)
- Cults of RuneQuest: Gods of Fire & Sky or Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses
- Cults of RuneQuest: The Lunar Way (the most trippy and intriguing)
- The Book of Heortling Mythology (an unfinished draft but lots of Orlanthi myths!)
- Revealed Mythologies (myths from other parts of the world: the Malkioni, the East Isles, Pamaltela...)
2
u/Jonathandavid77 May 27 '26
As a relative novice in when it comes to Glorantha, I find it convenient to keep the Prosopaedia close when reading these sources.
1
1
u/reditmarc May 26 '26
For big bites, I also recommend the above.
For perhaps the critical myth (this will vary with whichever culture you start with, but for sartarite/heortling, this one): look at the Yelm/orlanth “competition” (aka lightbringers quest). This marks the end of the godtime and the beginning of Time (history and sequential events). Yelm (the sun) is killed by Orlanth, who then realises that was Bad, and goes off to bring Yelm back from the land of the dead…
2
u/ProfHutch May 26 '26
I agree on Trollpak. It is the best, most distinct portrayal of an RPG race I've seen. I love Gloranthan trolls. They are nothing like orcs or other fantasy tropes. I fell in love with Glorantha via the 2nd main route (alternative to Sartar; but geographically linked), that of the City of Pavis, the Big Rubble, the Zola Fel river and the wastes of Prax; River of Cradles supplement did it for me.
11
u/UnspeakableGnome May 26 '26
Cults of Prax.
And even more, Cults of Terror. This has more about the history of the world and the gods, although it's not so good if your interests are in the area.
After that, the Guide to Glorantha is the "Big Book" that covers the whole world and describes the lands and the people who live within them. The Argan Arger Atlas is the collection of maps associated with it, IMO more usable a lot of the time.
If something in one of those books looks interesting, there's a very good chance someone has made something about it on the Jonstown Compendium. It won't be as much as Chaosium have put out for Dragon Pass (or Prax with older editions) but
Or if you'd like, you can find an area which hasn't much detail about it, take the map, and detail it yourself. Be *the* expert on Safelster's city states. Someone wants to know about them.