Mythras Core (Apr 2018) & Worlds (new)

In August 2019 we presented two offers featuring Mythras, the d100-based FRPG (previously published as RuneQuest 6) by The Design Mechanism. We revived and renamed our April 2018 Mythras Core Bundle, with the rulebook and early supplements, and added an all-new companion, Mythras Worlds, with recent sourcebooks and adventures like Mythic Constantinople and much more.

Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash of The Design Mechanism originally published their rules set as RuneQuest 6, one of the best editions of this classic game; we presented it in February 2014 and again in December 2014. In July 2016, after the RQ license lapsed, the Mechanism rebranded the game as Mythras. The renamed and updated Mythras core rulebook has new interior artwork and layout, along with some new Special Effects, small tweaks to the rules, and Spirit Combat Effects — though if you bought the original RQ6 rulebook, you don’t need this rebranded version.

The company explained the new name on Tapatalk: “Why did we choose ‘Mythras’ as a name? First, the game has always been about adventuring in mythic landscapes, with characters shaping their own stories, creating their legends and forging their own myths. It comes from the authors’ deep love of real world myths and ancient stories and so is the natural starting point for a new name. Next comes Mithra or Mithras, a deity found in Persian, Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythologies. Mithras is a god of warriors, a divine protector of oaths and covenants, a protector of cattle and of waters. In the Zoroastrian Avestas, he is described as Mithra of Wide Pastures, of the Thousand Ears, and of the Myriad Eyes. Bringing these two sources together gives us Mythras, a game concerned with myths, protectors, oaths, great deeds, and wonderful stories — the perfect name for our game system.”

Today Mythras enjoys a wide range of supplements and adventures featuring swords and sorcery, history and myth, science fiction and urban horror. (In 2018 The Design Mechanism announced a new license to adapt Jack Vance’s Lyonesse trilogy as a new standalone RPG based on Mythras.) These two bargain-priced collections covered everything from classic dungeon-crawling fantasy to science fiction to mythic history — lots of history.

1. MYTHRAS CORE [from April 2018]

This resurrected and renamed April 2018 Mythras Core Bundle had the core rulebooks and early supplements and adventures. There were five titles in this revived offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $41.50), including the 304-page Mythras core rulebook, three adventures — Madness & Other Colours, Xamoxis’ Cleansing, and A Gift From Shamash (that last one is even science fiction!) — and the 336-page Classic Fantasy supplement (Old School dungeon crawls in Mythras!).

Those who paid more than this revival’s threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with eight more titles worth an additional $57, including Mythic Britain (and the Mythic Britain Companion), Mythic Rome (and the Mythic Rome Maps), the Classic Fantasy Expert Set with high-level spells and Cthulhoid psionic monsters, and three Classic Fantasy adventures: G1 These Violent Delights, M1 The Terror of Ettinmarsh, and N1 Tomb of the Mad Wizard.

2. MYTHRAS WORLDS [all-new]

This all-new Mythras Worlds Bundle added marvelous campaign worlds that range from Mythic Earth to the modern-day Vampire Wars to the fantasy setting of Thennla. Note that the sourcebooks and modules in this new Worlds collection require the books in the Mythras Core collection.

There were five titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $41.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the modern supernatural campaign setting After the Vampire Wars; The Fenix Papers, a collection of Mythras articles by the game’s co-designer, Pete Nash; two Classic Fantasy modules, G2 The Lonely Lighthouse and M2 Moonspike Tower; and the Mythras GM Screen.

This offer’s Bonus Collection added nine more sourcebooks and adventures worth an additional $68, including Mythic Constantinople (plus its companion adventure Life’s Long Consequences and the Mythic Constantinople Map Pack); the Mythic Britain location sourcebooks Logres and Waterlands; and three Thennla sourcebooks — Shores of Korantia, The Taskan Empire, and the Thennla sourcebook, along with two Thennla adventures — Khakun Shrugs and The Arakuline Tribute.

Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) for these two Mythras offers went to the charity chosen by The Design Mechanism, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.