Beginning in 1984, publication passed between a number of companies, including Avalon Hill, Mongoose Publishing, and The Design Mechanism, before finally returning to Chaosium in 2016.

[2] RuneQuest is notable for its system, designed around percentile dice and an early implementation of skill rules, which became the basis for numerous other games.

In 1978, The Chaosium published the first edition of RuneQuest,[3] a role-playing game set in the world of Glorantha which Stafford had created for White Bear and Red Moon.

[7] In order to increase distribution and marketing of the game, Chaosium made a deal with Avalon Hill, who published the third edition in 1984.

[8][9] Under the agreement, Avalon Hill took ownership of trademark for RuneQuest, while all Glorantha-related content required approval by Chaosium, who also retained the copyright of the rules text.

As such, the default setting for the third edition was the "Dark Ages of fantasy Europe",[9] but it also included a booklet allowing play in Glorantha.

[citation needed] In response, Avalon Hill, as owners of the trademark, began development of a mechanically unrelated game originally titled RuneQuest: Slayers.

He partnered with Robin D. Laws to publish an all-new game system set in Glorantha called Hero Wars in 2000.

The new rules were developed by a team led by Mongoose co-founder Matthew Sprange, and were released under the Open Game License.

In January 2010, Mongoose published a much-revised edition written by Pete Nash and Lawrence Whitaker called RuneQuest II, simply known as "MRQ2" by fans.

[14] In July 2011, The Design Mechanism, a company formed by Nash and Whitaker, announced that they had entered a licensing agreement with Issaries[15] and would be producing a 6th edition of RuneQuest.

[2] The new edition of the game, officially referred to as RQG for short, was previewed on Free RPG Day 2017 with the release of a quickstart module.

Starting by creating a family history, adventurers are then developed through a number of dice rolls to represent physical, mental and spiritual characteristics.

In RQG, as in most previous editions, a combat round is divided into Strike Ranks, which provide an initiative system based on the character's dexterity, size and weapon.

This, together with its regional history, has led to a "melting pot" of cultures, with unusually-high variety and concentration of non-human species, particularly for a largely-rural setting.

"[19] In the February–March 1979 edition of White Dwarf (Issue 11), Jim Donohoe thought the rulebook was "116 pages of well thought-out and comprehensive rules," but he found the character generation system "quite complex."

He concluded by giving the game an excellent rating of 9 out of 10, saying, "These are a set of rules which I can recommend as a good alternative to Dungeons & Dragons.

"[20] In the March 1980 edition of Ares (Issue #1), Greg Costikyan commented that "RuneQuest is the most playable and elegant fantasy role-playing designed to date.

[21] In the July 1980 issue of Ares, Eric Goldberg reviewed the second edition and commented "When RQ came out, it was well-organized by the FRP standards of that time.

Dickinson concluded by giving the new edition an excellent rating of 9 out of 10, saying, "the revised rules deserve a proper trial; they are well thought out and explained, though quite complex, and I suspect will in many cases be welcomed with the words, 'That makes better sense!

'"[25] Oliver Dickinson reviewed RuneQuest 3 for White Dwarf #75, and stated that "Personally, I take very seriously Greg Stafford's comment that RQ3 reflects his conception of Glorantha better, and I welcome most of the changes and innovations, particularly Fatigue Points.

He concluded by warning that "beginners should perhaps leave it until they are familiar with a more introductory system [...] Experienced players of other games will find much in Runequest to recommend it [...] it is superb value and well worth getting even if you never intend to play it.

Editor Paul Pettengale commented: "RuneQuest manages to establish itself as a cut above the rest because of its intricate and highly original campaign setting.

The cults of the world, which play an intrinsic part of every adventurer's life, add to the mysticism of the game, and give it a level of depth which other fantasy systems can be but envious of.

But few would ever achieve the elegant but approachable rules complexity of the original RuneQuest or instill a fervent loyalty in fans that would span decades.

"[31] In a review of the 6th edition of RuneQuest in Black Gate, John ONeill said "The interior art is terrific throughout, and the writing is crisp and clear.

"[32] In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted that unlike other major RPGs of the time, characters did not gain more hit points as they progressed, fueling a need to avoid often deadly combat.

In turn, this desire to find non-violent solutions places increasing importance on the details of the setting, so as to give players the material they need to overcome adversity through conversation or clever scheming.

In 1980 the core of the RuneQuest system was published in a simplified form edited by Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis as Basic Role-Playing (BRP).

That same year, Chaosium began preparing a new edition of Basic Roleplaying, which was released in 2008 as a single, comprehensive 400 page book, incorporating material from many of their previous BRP system games.