I return to my reading of RuneQuest 2nd edition, trying to get through the "Mechanics & Melee" chapter... and utterly fail! So come read my unhinged rantings about how RQ defines "time", and how most of it is bullshit! #TTRPG https://ludovic.chabant.com/blog/2026/11/07/reading-classic-runequest-what-is-time/
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@RogerBW Oh interesting, thank you! I'll have to dig into the topic a bit more :D
For the D&D rates, nah, there is a table in Holmes' Basic Set that specifically gives different movement rates between "carefully mapping and checking for traps", and not doing that. I might be reading it wrong though.
@ludovic Aha, interesting. I was going by my memories of AD&D, but looking at the PHB it seems that I'm wrong there too: ×5 for known route, ×10 for fleeing if not encumbered.
@RogerBW Yeah they seem to have "fixed" it in later editions, but looking into my scanned PDFs of Holmes Basic (because that's the one that was out when RQ was released), either I'm missing something, or they totally forgot about people being able to walk and run normally.
@ludovic The impression I get about the real time / game time thing (I was a few years too late to meet it in person) is that it was intended as a way of keeping multiple campaigns in the same world (usually run by the same GM) in sync.
(But it's also notable that GURPS was one of the first games to use normal units of measure throughout rather than Special Game Units, and was notable for doing so. See also the way D&D "inches" changed between 10 feet and 10 yards depending on context. The post-hoc justification for those slow movement rates is that you're going carefully, measuring and mapping and so on, but this breaks down a bit when you're fleeing through an already-mapped area…)