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Coverage
This site covers three main topics:
- The RuneQuest Fantasy Role Playing Game. The main focus is the old Avalon Hill 3rd edition and the Design Mechanism 6th edition (Mythos).
- Fantasy and Science-Fiction Genre Books and Magazines, usually just what I have read or had recommended. See also the Genre Resources page under Resources and Links for links o other interesting sites.
- The Silent Death space dogfighting game. Originally published in 1990 this game is not as well known as it once was. Silent Death presents a unique abstraction that balances the excitement of a space ship battle with playability and time constraints.
After a longer than expected hiatus, RuneQuest.za.org has returned as what will be the third incarnation of the website. For the followers and friends who used to visit the previous site, welcome back! We hope you will like the new modern look that has been provided by our move to Word Press. We have backed up all of our old articles and will present them here, along with the many new articles that we plan to publish.
For the new visitors, welcome! May your visit prove fruitful and encourage many a return trip. While the primary focus of RuneQuest.orc is and will always be that of the much beloved RuneQuest Role Playing Game, we also want to expand our coverage of genre fiction and hope to delve into the realms of amateur publishing in the form of a “for the love” zine which will provide a platform for newcomers who have a story they would like to tell.
More recently I refreshed my interest in my other gaming passion; the Silent Death starship combat game and have leveraged this site to provide a window into how that game works.
A Brief History of the Site
During the early 1990’s I was introduced to the RuneQuest RPG. While I had heard of the game and had even glimpsed a version of the Deluxe Set on a shelf, I had no idea what the game was about or how it compared to pretty much the only other RPG I had played – Dungeons & Dragons.
My friends and I fell in love with the game. Being a bit of a compulsive collector I started purchasing supplements via mail order. I was not an early adopter of the internet but by the late 1990’s had become a user and have pursued the hobby into cyberspace, meeting other enthusiasts and finding out much more about the history of the game.
I decided to create the de rigueur web site, using the Microsoft Frontpage Express application found on my works computer and a subscription to the free Angelfire hosting service. The name of this initial version was Tony and Garyth’s Rune Quest.
Mistakes, Fixes and Versions
Note the deliberate mistake above? Although I played the game extensively I never really looked up the name! RuneQuest, not Rune Quest. True story; this was the first site the search engines of the day picked up on, if one were to search for Rune Quest!
After some time, many misguided design decisions and a bit of on the fly HTML learning, my long time friends and fellow RuneQuest players suggested they host the site and provide a more professional design.
RuneQuest.za.org was registered as a domain and the site was moved to a new platform using the EZ Publish tool. EZ Publish provided a simple way to format and publish articles using XML. Gone was the convoluted HTML, different backgrounds and weird structures, replaced by a consistent look and feel. RuneQuest.za.org grew and became affectionately known as RuneQuestZA.orc .
Current State
Times changed, people moved cities, new versions of RuneQuest came and went and one day I woke up and released the site had died. Sure it was there, but no movement had happened in ages. My brother and I still played the odd game, roping in other friends where we could and eventually settling into a relatively stable group, where we embarked on an epic campaign that continues to this day.
Site wise, the old (second iteration) site could not continue. I no longer had access to the tool while the look and feel, so cutting edge in 2004, had aged due to my own lack of maintenance. My dear friends, who helped set that version up, have once again stepped in and helped create this Word Press version, which they also host – check out https://frikkadel.co.za/ .
1800 odd kilometers separates core members of our original group. While we no longer play, we remain close and continue the passion for RuneQuest.