Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia

Cults of RuneQuest #1

by Greg Stafford, Jeff Richard, Sandy Petersen

Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is the first in the new Cults of RuneQuest sourcebook series for the RuneQuest TTRPG. This book is an indispensable reference to the many gods and goddesses, monsters, locations, artifacts, and events that have shaped mythology in the world of RuneQuest since its making!

An encyclopedia to the gods of the fantasy world of Glorantha

A companion book to the other volumes in the Cults of RuneQuest line makes it essential for collectors

New RuneQuest players will find an easy-to-follow and evocative description of the pantheons of Glorantha

This book contains no rules mechanics, and will appeal to those with an interest in creative mythology, or looking to inject full pantheons of established gods into their existing roleplaying campaigns.

Genres: Fantasy, Role Playing Games

152 pages, Hardcover

First published July 13, 2023

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically an encyclopedia of gods in the world of the RuneQuest RPG. The gods are listed in alphabetical order rather than by pantheon, so it can be a bit troublesome to find gods that are related to each other without flipping through the entire book. Since the book is encyclopedic in nature, it's a bit dry as a reading experience.

I imagine the way to use this book is to skim through it and pick out a god or goddess that seems interesting and then build a quest around that. It would take a lot of work to do that, so this is probably not a book that most GMs would need. I would only recommend buying this if you are a completist.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, it's a very very useful book for anyone interested in Glorantha or RuneQuest. But it's not a fun read. It is an encyclopedic listing of the various gods of Glorantha and I'm sure it is close but not quite exhaustive in this regard. The major and minor pantheons and their prominent children are all detailed as well as major organizations and cult-like structures. There are several hundred such entries between the covers.

But, it is an encyclopedia. Which makes it dry to read from cover to cover.

That being said, it's the first release for the Cults of RuneQuest line which aims to define and give information and rules for the various major gods of Glorantha and their cults. Imagine if this goal were to be contained in one book. It would be over a thousand pages. So breaking it up in to smaller (and less expensive) releases makes sense. The Prosopaedia is the glossary to this thought-experiment massive omnibus. And releasing it first makes sense. You'll read the other books, sure, but this is the one you'll probably reference the most when you need a refresher on just who the hell Zorak Zoran is.

The entries are brief and the additional detail given in the subsequent books will be a boon to anyone running the game or just anyone who loves mythology.

The book is bolstered by the work of illustrator Katrim Dirim. The depictions in this book are styled after ancient artwork and are often cited as to which in-game culture would make that depiction. This makes the illustrations diegetic in a way a lot of RPG illustrations aren't. The picture you see is a literal in-universe depiction of how the people of that world depict that god. That's super freakin' cool.

It's a necessary introduction to the mythology of RuneQuest and will be a favorite reference book when I get to run the game. It won't be enjoyable to read cover-to-cover but that isn't really what it's trying to do.

[Arthur B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Index of mythological figures of Glorantha, more or less system-free. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...