I know there is a huge clamour here for a third edition, or a reprint, or something for Runebound, but how likely do we think it would be?

I have to say, I'm sceptical that we'll see Runebound in any shape or form again. I have never wanted to be wrong more than on this point, but I think the door is closed now.

It seems that games no longer have the same pattern of this one, instead they all have to be faster-paced and more streamlined, as the boardgaming hobby is opened up for greater market appeal. Gone are the days when serious games would take four or five hours (or more) - instead, a game must last no more than an hour to be popular, it seems. I don't begrudge companies trying to appeal to greater numbers of people, and I'm not advocating massive behemoth-like games that would put all but the most serious and dedicated of gamers off the hobby for life, but there is a wistful part of me that longs for a more immersive experience afforded by following the intricacies of a game like this.

Terrinoth seems to have changed since Runebound. While the new Descent, and Rune Age, Runewars, the new BattleLore et al appear with the logo of "set in the Runebound universe", it all seems to be Daqan Lords and Latari elves now, not solitary heroes going up against the Dragon Lords of old. Descent is still giving us something to enjoy, with the Farrows and such, but it seems like forever since I've even heard the names of Vorakesh or Margath. The land has changed, and it seems to be to the exclusion of its signature game.

My final thought, Descent 1 ended in 2009, ish, and within two years was announced for a relaunch. Runebound finished in 2010 and has been gathering dust since. I think, if they were going to relaunch it, they would have done so by now.

But I really want to be wrong!

You make a number of insightful comments here.

I think Descent got relaunched really fast because it's one of their better selling game lines. They knew the first edition had flaws that needed to be addressed, so they made second edition to that end, and they've been cranking out the expansions ever since.

Runebound, I expect, was selling less well by the end. Part of that may have been all the card packs. The card packs were produced in "waves" of about 6 decks, but really only one or two of those decks in each wave were highly sought after. I'm not sure if that was working out very well for FFG or not. Hence the Essentials, which IIRC was basically all of Wave 1 in a box.

On top of that, Runebound doesn't have many mechanical flaws to require a new edition. For all the flak FFG takes about expansions , they rarely release a new edition of a game without sweeping changes and improvements to the rule set. Runebound only had one real complaint, that I'm aware of, and that's down time between turns.

I think a third edition of Runebound could happen, but I'm not at all sure that it's in the works. I'm reasonably certain second edition won't be reprinted, though. Remember, TI3 got a new expansion after 5 years or so of silence. Don't give up hope on RB just because it's been a few years.

On the fluff side, you're certainly correct that things have changed drastically since the "good old days" of Runebound. To me, though, it seemed like a fairly sharp break between Descent 1E and Runewars. All the new fluff came when FFG officially integrated the old Battlemist lore into the new Runewars, and built from there. I can pretty much guarantee that a third edition of Runebound would continue to build on the new fluff, rather than returning to the old.

While the world of Terrinoth is certainly changing, I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. Time is passing. The Dragon Wars are fading into myth and new threats are emerging. Margath and Vorakesh were great villains in their day, but now they've been defeated. Zachareth is a pretty big name right now, but it remains to be seen how much more of an impact he'll leave beyond Shadow Rune. The Farrows are all conveniently arrayed as undead(ish) foes who will probably keep resurfacing for a long time to come.

However, just because FFG isn't repeating the past doesn't mean they've forgotten it. I see more of the old fluff in Descent 2E than in any of the other games since Runebound 2E itself. Firstly in the Farrows, and now in the upcoming Shadows of Nerekhall expansion. An entire expansion dedicated to exploring the streets of one of the original Free Cities!

I do miss Tamalir as a central focus of heroic expeditions, and I'd certainly like to hear more tales from in and around the classic Free Cities, whether that be in a new edition of RB or in further expansions to D2E. I suppose time will tell what's to come.

I agree that there's a trend towards shorter games these days. Whether that's to appeal to a larger audience or simply a result of more gamers getting older and not having time for big long games any more (such as myself) I can't say. I don't think that the epic games of yore are gone for good though, they're just in a lull. Once there get to be enough of these quick and dirty games on the market, the big guns will be able to stand out again and reclaim their rightful place. Hopefully RB will be among the ones to make that homecoming splash. =)

So, they are improving a THIRD edition.

So, they are improving a THIRD edition.

IF they make a third edition, yes. I'm sure they would do more than just update the artwork.

We don't have any kind of official indication they are doing that, though.

On the fluff side, you're certainly correct that things have changed drastically since the "good old days" of Runebound. To me, though, it seemed like a fairly sharp break between Descent 1E and Runewars. All the new fluff came when FFG officially integrated the old Battlemist lore into the new Runewars, and built from there. I can pretty much guarantee that a third edition of Runebound would continue to build on the new fluff, rather than returning to the old.

While the world of Terrinoth is certainly changing, I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. Time is passing. The Dragon Wars are fading into myth and new threats are emerging. Margath and Vorakesh were great villains in their day, but now they've been defeated. Zachareth is a pretty big name right now, but it remains to be seen how much more of an impact he'll leave beyond Shadow Rune. The Farrows are all conveniently arrayed as undead(ish) foes who will probably keep resurfacing for a long time to come.

However, just because FFG isn't repeating the past doesn't mean they've forgotten it. I see more of the old fluff in Descent 2E than in any of the other games since Runebound 2E itself. Firstly in the Farrows, and now in the upcoming Shadows of Nerekhall expansion. An entire expansion dedicated to exploring the streets of one of the original Free Cities!

That's certainly true about the fluff coming along nicely in Descent 2 - such a sharp intake of breath when they announced the Shadows of Nerekhall expansion! I suppose I am a bit bitter by all this because Descent never gets the table time with me that it probably should, whereas Runebound is like a stalwart of the gaming table.

With mention of TI3, the thought first occurred to me that perhaps we will see a new big box for Runebound at some time, that reflects the passing of the time of the dragon lords et al, and lets us play in a new setting with new foes to face. But that then led to me thinking it wouldn't really make much sense, because it would be more effective to have a game set in the same land to really get the sense of the passage of time, which inevitably led to thoughts of a third edition. But that doesn't seem right, somehow, as a third edition would, to me, imply the same game thematically speaking, with Vorakesh and Margath etc etc etc, but with sleeker rules and whatnot.

So instead, I thought perhaps we'd get a new board game that is set in Terrinoth but reflects the new state of the land, with the factionalism and so forth. But then, that's just Runewars. Or the new Battlelore (from what I've seen - my copy has only today been ordered).

So it strikes me that, really, there is just no place in the lineup of FFG games, or in Terrinoth, for Runebound right now. Focus is, perhaps only naturally, thrown on Battlelore right now, and Descent is, as you say, cranking out those expansions like it's determined to out-perform first edition, with Runewars and Rune Age surrounded in some uncertainty (I find it a situation comparable to Mansions of Madness in light of Eldritch Horror). It seems that FFG are moving far away from hero-centric games, and putting Terrinoth firmly in the wargame market now. Even Rune Age doesn't have a single hero appear. Is Descent, with it's one-vs-many mechanic, enough to cater for the sub-genre? I'd like to think that there is still a place in the mythos for such a game, but that's most likely because I am so incredibly partisan to Runebound.

All in all, I think I'd like to agree with your point about seeing an expansion for the game, which shouldn't be ruled out. Although it does seem very strange that they have let pretty much the entire line go out of print if they still plan to expand it at some point. So many conflicting messages can be read into this whole situation!

All in all, I think I'd like to agree with your point about seeing an expansion for the game, which shouldn't be ruled out. Although it does seem very strange that they have let pretty much the entire line go out of print if they still plan to expand it at some point. So many conflicting messages can be read into this whole situation!

I didn't actually mean to say that a new expansion would be coming out for RB2E. I'm fairly certain 2E is done, otherwise they would've at least kept the core game in circulation. My point was more that RB3E might still be coming, and that just because it's been a couple of years since RB2E went OOP, that's no reason to think the Runebound line is done forever.

Plot-wise, I could see them going either direction, even if the map still represents the land surrounding the Free Cities. They could make a new villain with a new plot, or they could reintroduce Vorakesh and his ploy to resurrect Margath. The latter would effectively shift the timeline of when Vorakesh's efforts took place, but I'm not sure it would be entirely shattering to the plot. A lot of the details about exactly when things happened are vague anyway, with us relying on date of publication to put games in an order.

Although I would personally prefer a new story, myself. Vorakesh could still be involved though. He's popped up a couple of time and been defeated, but I don't think he was ever explicitly killed for good. Plus, he's a necromancer after all. =P

You guys bring up the "Fluff" of Runebounds Universe... I'm new to FFG's series and only have Descent 2nd ed; Is there anywhere where I can get up to speed on the backstory of the world? Any Novels or Comics that set up the Universe?

Nope, sadly nothing like that. Terrinoth is FFG's creation, specifically for the boardgames, but they haven't produced a RPG that would detail the backstory so you have to piece it together from the flavour text on the cards, and the introductory paragraphs to the rulebooks...

Nope, sadly nothing like that. Terrinoth is FFG's creation, specifically for the boardgames, but they haven't produced a RPG that would detail the backstory so you have to piece it together from the flavour text on the cards, and the introductory paragraphs to the rulebooks...

Indeed.

Fortunately I've done exactly that myself (I had an idea to run a D&D game in Terrinoth a few years back.) The results of which are here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/85755/runiverse-fluff-version-2-0

It's not official, of course, but I tried to stick as close to the literal fluff text as I could while compiling it. There is some hypothesis going on, though.

Cool! Going to check it out.

FFG should take a page out of D&D's book and hire writers to work on novelizations set in there Universes.

I specially like the way Paizo is handling it; They have the fluff for their Iconics, noves set in the world and a comic book featuring the Iconics.

I say this because they obviously have a story running through Descent and the other games set in the Runebound Universe. Those could be the building blocks to unite all the games in one story. That would make the story in the games feel more complete.

If Talisman is still going why would they let Runebound die, makes no sense, plz give us Runebound the ressurection!

If Talisman is still going why would they let Runebound die, makes no sense, plz give us Runebound the ressurection!

talisman is way more successful because of the name/brand alone and has some advantages compared to runebound (less downtime, "faster" gameplay etc.)

I only recently saw a playthrough of Runebound and decided I had to have it, but a fruitless search led me to the knowledge that it is out of print. Maybe this would be a futile effort too, but has anyone directly asked FFG if a reprint or even new edition of Runebound might be coming out?

I only recently saw a playthrough of Runebound and decided I had to have it, but a fruitless search led me to the knowledge that it is out of print. Maybe this would be a futile effort too, but has anyone directly asked FFG if a reprint or even new edition of Runebound might be coming out?

I asked, never got a reply

My first post here, and hopefully its of use to some of you.

After seeing some lets plays of this game on youtube, I had to have this game. Then I found out about the rarity of Runebound, so I asked Fantasy Flight about a reprint just the other day and got this reply: (names have been withheld)

Dear Xyz,

Thanks for your question! However, we are completely our of stock on Runebound and have no announcements about whether or not it will be reprinted. If we ever do have an announcement, it would be on our News or Upcoming page. Take care!

Abc Xyz

Fantasy Flight Games Customer Service Team

Lol yesterday I received the exact same answer but with a twist

Dear You,

Hopefully the interest people are showing to FFG in the game will get them to thinking they need to do more with it? I don't really have any serious thoughts on this, but anyway.

Hopefully the interest people are showing to FFG in the game will get them to thinking they need to do more with it? I don't really have any serious thoughts on this, but anyway.

Our hopes and dreams is what keeps us alive, so we have to keep hoping and dreaming we're unpunching a fresh box of RB3!

Here is the link to the thread where we are collecting votes for Runebound.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100012-group-positive-thinking/

You can also read what steps I will be taking in addition to the thread that SolennelBern so kindly allowed me to sort of hijack.