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When it comes to fantasy TTRPGs, RuneQuest has always marched to the beat of its own bronze war drum. While other games lean heavily into dungeon crawls, monster slaying and murder hobo-style looting, RuneQuest doubles down on myth, culture and the often messy relationships between mortals and the gods they worship.
A new RuneQuest scenario from Chaosium, however, offers a premise that wouldn’t be out of place in an old school D&D module. Entitled Stealing the Eye, the adventure involves players infiltrating a heavily guarded temple to steal a gemstone from the statue of a moon goddess. It’s a classic set up that’s available now as a PDF from Chaosium or DriveThruRPG.
So does this new adventure deliver the Gloranthan goods? Below, we dig into all the details.
Stealing the Eye is a 17-page standalone RuneQuest scenario set in 1625 ST near the border of Tarsh; a remote area under the control of the oppressive Lunar Empire. The adventurers are members of a group of rebels from the Orlanthi tribes who are tasked with fighting back against the Empire by infiltrating a temple rededicated to Yara Aranis, the Goddess of the Reaching Moon. Their mission: pry a massive opal gem from the statue’s forehead and escape before sunrise.
Notably, the scenario was inspired by artist Tom Sullivan’s iconic cover for the 1985 RuneQuest supplement Gods of Glorantha, which itself was an homage to the famous Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook cover from 1978 (the latter of which has since been replicated and reimagined in a variety of other materials).
In true RuneQuest fashion, however, the scenario is more than just a simple heist. It turns out that the temple was originally dedicated to an Earth goddess before being repurposed by the Lunars, which offers some unique opportunities for creative problem solving by players.
Mechanically, the scenario is clean and easy to run without any railroading. In fact, the infiltration offers multiple approaches and the finale can unfold in dramatically different ways depending on how the players engage with the temple’s mythic undercurrents. The adventure also includes four fully detailed pre-generated characters. This makes it a great option for new players using the RuneQuest Starter Set, while still offering enough depth to satisfy Gloaranthan grognards.
Stealing the Eye succeeds because it knows exactly what it wants to be: a myth-charged heist inspired by a classic fantasy premise. And while it might be a little punishing for new players, it’s also short, satisfying and versatile. In short, it’s both a love letter to old school RPG modules and an example of the kind of modern adventure design that make RuneQuest so unique.
Final Review Score: 18 out of 20
