If Glorantha-based Runequest was as big as D&D these days, you for sure would be having the guys at Dragonsfoot and other forums smack talking each other about the idea of anthropomorphic ducks in the game.
I don’t recall my exact reaction as a young teen towards intelligent ducks in a role playing game. But I do know that the second character I rolled up and ran in the old games at Aero Hobbies was a duck (my first and most beloved was a Dragonewt with a name so retarded I won’t mention it here). I might have been inspired by having a duck mini that was playing bagpipes. I think I only got to play him in maybe one or two games though. It wasn’t long into the first game before store owner Gary’s character took a dagger and deflated the pipes. Not that I didn’t deserve that; my duck was playing them as we explored the dungeon.
Back then, I guess ducks in Glorantha didn’t strike me as especially awkward. It was already a land that held great mystery and unknowns for me (that I am only getting the backstory on now, decades later), so ducks, dragon-men who came back stronger when they died, Trolls that didn’t automatically attack people nor get automatically attacked, and rapacious, diseased goat-men seemed as worthy as anything else in games. Plus I loved Judges Guild D&D adventure packs, especially those by Paul Jaquays, and those products got you used to lots of cheese and weirdness.
As to why they got included as a race, we may never know. I can’t find any info on specifics. I do know that Howard the Duck was very popular for a brief period in the late 70’s. On the cover of his first issue he was wearing Conan gear. This sounds as good of an inspiration as any, it being a part of the zeitgeist of the times. And they seemed a good replacements for hobbits in the way trolls and broos took the place of orcs and goblins from more standard fantasy settings.
I just know that in my eventual RQ games, Ducks will be a part of it (despite a serious lack of duck mini’s these days). Since I’ve got copies of Duck Pond and Duck Tower, that’s a given.
9 comments:
I never played RQ, but I'm pro-duck on general principal.
Armorcast has the old Lance and Lance minis now. No ducks, though. :(
http://armorcast.com/store/index.php?cPath=116_98_146
Mongoose was doing minis for a bit, but apparently no longer. I was able to pick up a box of 10 ducks.
https://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetail.asp_Q_ProductID_E_2147366121_A_InventoryID_E_0_A_ProductLineID_E_2137420490_A_ManufacturerID_E_617212936_A_CategoryID_E_5_A_GenreID_E_
Are anthropomorphic animals all that weird these days. I've got a full adventuring party of the Dark Sword animals. No ducks, but I've got an Owl wizard and Turtle Cleric, so what the duck?
BTW who makes/made that fig? Pretty sweet.
We never used ducks much when we played RQ. We were much more into the big, hard-hitting races as I recall.
Though I do recall writing up a race of anthropomorphic frogs ('kermits') for RQ in a fit of inspiration or madness.
I've never understood why elves and halflings and yuan-ti are okay, but ducks aren't.
I remember something about the creator of Glorantha asked his friends to each name a city in Glorantha. One of his friends wanted to name his town Duckburg, they couldn't use that name of course since it's a disney trademark. But his friend insisted that ducks should be included somehow. So, ducks got included as a race.
I remember something about the creator of Glorantha asked his friends to each name a city in Glorantha. One of his friends wanted to name his town Duckburg, they couldn't use that name of course since it's a disney trademark. But his friend insisted that ducks should be included somehow. So, ducks got included as a race.
The ruined citadel map on the back of Duck Tower is pretty sweet. The whole thing seems very well put together actually, not that I've ever played it.
I always wondered if someone at Chaosium was a University of Oregon alumnus; Oregon's mascot is an anthropomorphic duck. Having grown up in Oregon, I never found RQ Ducks all that odd.
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