RUNEvember Session 0: Ground Rules

RUNEvember Session 0: Ground Rules

November 4, 2022
Rune, Runevember

I don't feel like writing a novel this month. I've done enough writing lately. What I do feel like is doing something I've been putting off for months: playing @gilarpgs 's RUNE a bunch. And now that the backer copy is out, throughout November, I'm going to play RUNE. I'm going to play so much RUNE. I'm going to play all of RUNE that currently exists.

RUNE is in an interesting situation in that it isn't out but it nonetheless has at least 15 unofficial Realms that I'm aware of. I've written 3 of them! But with one notable exception, I haven't really gotten the chance to play the rest. Let's fix that.

Throughout this month, I'm going to be going through every unofficial Realm with one Engraved. Here are the restrictions I'm going to set on myself.

  • I'm starting with the recommended equipment: 2 Weapons, 1 Gear, 1 Rune.
    • I picked randomly for the weapons and got: Greataxe and Longsword.
    • Given that this combo seems like a recipe for dying constantly, I opted for the Amulet of Dawn Gear (which heals you in certain condtions) and Fate's Foe Rune (which grants more Health).
  • I will be sticking with the 3 Runes engraved limit.
  • I'm going to institute a 3 Weapons, 2 Gear limit carried from Realm to Realm. Once I have more than that, I have to choose what I'm bringing. This isn't in the rules: I'm just doing an unreasonable amount of Realms for one character and I don't want to shuffle through 20 weapons. (Plus this requires me to commit to some general inclination of a build, which I think is kind of interesting.)
  • If I see gear that's like obviously off I'm going to tweak it a bit, noting any way in which I tweak it. (Given many of these Realms were written this summer and a few were prior to major updates in baseline weaponry and such, this is mostly going to be reducing Move and restricting Range.)
  • I'm going to randomize the Realm order and figure it out from there. For the sake of keeping things interesting, I'm going to make sure it doesn't start and end with one of mine; otherwise I'm just gonna stick with the order that it spits out.

The order I got from this was:

  1. Great Serpent Tree, by Liam
  2. Bulwark Hollow, by Yuigaron
  3. Obran Express, by Arcane Atlas Games
  4. World's Grave, by DonnieDynamo
  5. Castle Blanchard, by Nico MacDougall
  6. Obsidian Brink, by Aaron Joliffe
  7. Cragcliff Reformatory, by me
  8. The Cracks Betwixt, by Yuigaron
  9. Coral Rock, by Aaron Joliffe
  10. Abrus Island, by Obelisk
  11. Dread Manse, by me
  12. Giernan: The Scourged City, by Dragon Peak Publishing
  13. Echo Crater, by Arcane Atlas Games
  14. Shrouded Hamlet, by me
  15. Cogrealm of the Mechanist, by Laika Small Press

As I go along, I'll describe the unique features of each, the bits I like about them, and general impressions, as well as describe at the end of each Realm what my loadout/build/etc looks like. (For my Realms I'll instead describe what I did and why I did it.) I'll try to spoiler anything that seems like it's "lategame" in the Realm.

See you at Session 1: Great Serpent Tree! Going to be using #runevember for these if anyone else wants to play along.

(Read the original on cohost here!)

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