Big Rubble: The Deadly City

In the November 1983 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #47), Oliver Dickinson gave some parts of the supplement an excellent rating of 10 out of 10, especially two of the included scenarios, and rated most of the rest of the contents 8–9, although he thought some of the scenarios were below average, only worth 5–6.^[1]

In the February 1984 edition of Dragon, Steve List liked the variety of scenarios, although he found one of them "a little out of place" since it involves travel outside of the area covered by the supplement. List concluded with a strong recommendation, saying, "Big Rubble is one of the best scenario packages I have seen. It is well-produced in a physical sense, and it is well-written and well-planned. As a blend of self-contained scenarios and open-ended setting, it is a valuable addition to the Runequest library.^[2]

In Issue 4 of Fantasy Gamer (February–March 1984), Dave Nalle expressed some disappointment, writing, "Big Rubble is a dead city, but does that mean it has to be lifeless? Without some new ideas to hold the player's attention or at least some situational, plot or character innovations, it becomes hard for any but the best GMs to make an adventure exciting no matter how much fascinating background material and information is provided. The same old stuff in a new background isn't really much more than some marginally interesting trivia."^[5]

In Issue 25 of Abyss, John Davies called it "an attractively produced package designed for expanding a Gloranthan adventure." Davies found that "A lot of nicely developed background material and information is given for both players and GM ... the information is extensive enough to run an almost infinite series of interactions and encounters." Overall, Davies found the set "well put together, clearly presented and easy to run and understand." However, Davies had a major issue with the actual content, calling it "incredibly boring and unimaginative. It is exactly the same sort of stuff which has been produced to use with Runequest for years, with the same obvious, more or less static or random settings and encounters removed to the background of a ruined city." Davies concluded, "if a world or background is inherently stagnant, as Glorantha seems to be as it develops, it is hard for even the best GMs to make the material anything but a dull and repetitive parade of obscure information and tedious trivia."^[6]

• Official website