Runequest - Dragonewts.

Dragonewts claim to be the eldest creatures, descendants of neotenic dragons from before the Dawn of Time. Even elven Green Age tales mention dragonewts. Dragonewts are peculiar creatures who continually reincarnate and metamorphose, ever-striving to achieve dragonhood. They are an enigmatic race, misunderstood and mistrusted.
Individual dragonewts trace descent from whatever dragon or dragons laid the initial clutch of eggs which resulted in their existence. Dragonewts of the same clutch call each other "egg-brother". They organize themselves into variously-sized settlement-nests.
Normal dragonewts are intended to be a race of mystery, alien and irrational to human understanding. Their language (Auld Wyrmish) includes visual, auditory, olfactory, and empathic components. But they are unconscious of their own language and cannot teach it, and because humans are not naturally empathic they can never gain more than a basic understanding of the language. Dragonewts have no written language, and have little need of one, as they are immortal, ever-reincarnating, and learn needed facts directly from other dragonewts.
Regular contact of normal dragonewts with outsiders is usually assigned to one individual in a group, who tries to act according to human expectations. It learns human languages, and learns to write or otherwise communicate ideas to humans. Sometimes it will own or be an interpreter dragonewt who has been surgically altered so that it can stumblingly speak human words. Altered interpreters may have guards, servants, and so on. Such dragonewts not infrequently become outlaws. When an outlaw dragonewt -- one who has ceased to believe in the dragon way -- dies, it is not reincarnated and never reappears. No one knows where its soul goes.
Some places in Glorantha have large colonies of deviant dragonewts, and they differ from the norm given here. But all of those variants have the same heritage.

Dragonewts go through the following stages in their life cycle.
Scout Dragonewt: The scout (or crested) dragonewt is small, short-tailed, and has an arched crest upon the head. A vegetarian, it prefers leaves and fruit. Its betters will train it as a slinger to bring down birds and rabbits, and teach it the art of scouting and skirmishing, and to serve as a slave.
Warrior Dragonewt: The warrior (or beaked) dragonewt is larger than the scout stage, and is carnivorous. The tail now reaches to the ground, and at first the skin is covered both with scales and with small protrusions. They are most often found as hunters or guards of dragonewt nests.
Most warrior dragonewts ride upon creatures called demi-birds. Demi-birds are feathered, beaked, and lay eggs, but their bones are solid and they have vestigial arms, not wings. The demi-bird is fearless and carnivorous, adding to the fierceness of the dragonewt warrior.
Noble Dragonewt: Second-stage armor and natural weapons are, in the third stage, nearly replaced by frills, spines, wattles, pouches, and other decorative and communicative devices. Skin colors become more vivid, and the number and variety of scent glands increase. This stage is omnivorous.
A noble dragonewt will lead and represent; the stage is expert at living peacefully with the outside world. In some regions this stage is known s the 'tailed priest'.
Ruler Dragonewt: These rare dragonewts are almost never found outside their own nests. One is usually found in each small nest, and several in a town cluster. Their community functions, diet, and powers are unknown. The appearance of a ruler dragonewt (sometimes known as a 'full priest') resembles that of a noble, but they have wings.
Presumably, a ruler dragonewt meditates upon the secrets of dragonhood in preparation for the final metamorphosis. Such a dragonewt will, one day, awake to find itself a full dragon. It will then depart from its nest, to go to wherever dragons go.
Dragonet (Inhuman King, Fifth Stage): When a Ruler Dragonewt progresses fully, it will be reborn as a True Dragon and will be taken out of the Dragonewt Cycle. Sometimes, a Ruler will be reborn as a Dragonet, or neo-Dragon. This form is intermediate between Dragonewt and True Dragon.
There is only one Dragonet in a traditional Dragonewt society. While the Dragonet is alive, Dragonewts will be reborn as normal. However, if the Dragonet dies then there will be no rebirth until a new one is created. In this case, a Ruler which has progressed far enough to become a Dragon but has not chosen to will ceremonially kill itself and be reborn as a Dragonet, thus allowing the cycle to be restored. Although there is only one Dragonet in any society, there may be more than one alive throughout Glorantha. The Dragonewts of Dragon Pass have a Dragonet at Dragons Eye, but the Dragonewts of Kralorela have their own Dragonet. The Dragonewts of Ralios do not have a Dragonet, but if one were to be manifested, they could rejoin the Cycle.
Nobody knows the powers or abilities of a Dragonet. It is rumoured that one has all the powers of a True Dragon, able to think others to death and to shape the land with but a thought.

These are from the Citadel Runequest Boxed Set 5. A fairly quick paintjob but was pleased with the way the demi-birds turned out. The pic above shows (on the back row) a Full Priest Dragonewt (Ruler), a Beaked (Warrior) on a demi-bird, a Crested (Scout) riding a demi-bird, (front row) a Beaked (Warrior) with 'Klanth', a Newtling with sling, a Crested (Scout) with a javelin and finally a Tailed Priest (Noble). I have a few more of these yet to be painted.

Citadel Dragonewt Boxed Set.

Armorcast/Lance & Laser also do a small Runequest/Heroquest range that includes a few Dragonewt miniatures such as Fighters, Scouts and demi-bird riders.

Dragonewt Champion from Lance & Laser.

Dragonewt Demi-Bird Rider from Lance & Laser.

I would imagine you could use the various available 'Lizardmen' as Dragonewts, such as the wonderful Otherworld Miniatures Lizardmen Warriors.

Lizardmen from Otherwold Miniatures.

For more info on Dragonewts have a look at:

The Dragon Pantheon.

The History of Dragonewts by Simon Phipp.

Runequest - Ducks.

My first encounter with the most unusual fantasy race in Runequest, if not any fantasy game, was with the Duck. These strange chaos tainted creatures that inhabited the world of Glorantha were always guaranteed to split a group of players.

A Duck Guardsman.

Our long standing main GM, Rob, would never put up with such nonsense these days but it is probably thanks to him that my odd obsession with anthropomorphic ducks (and intelligent Baboons) first began.

It was at one of our early RPG sessions at the school games club back in the 80's - Robs brother Andrew (the Zombie Master) was one of the first people I know that was into RPG's and had obviously influenced Rob into getting into the hobby. For this reason, he tended to be the main GM for any of the earliest games we played, and though we all run the occasional game now its something that effectively continues to this day. Anyway, we were a few sessions into one of the first RPG's I had ever played that went by the name Runequest. This is still one of my favourite fantasy settings - Glorantha was a strange world with a unusual but convincing pantheon of Gods and a refreshing set of creatures that inhabited it, such as the man herding Morokanth, the belligerent Scorpion Men and the faintly magical Dragonewts. I still think the Broo are one of the finest monsters in any game. More on them another time.

I remember my first character, who had become a Storm Bull initiate (after I read 'Cults of Prax') joining a party of adventurers. In one of the scenarios we had entered a small town called Apple Lane (the legendary boxed set scenario book) and had become involved in assisting one of the local store keepers, Gringle the pawnbroker. Gringle was having issues with a local group of intelligent Baboons who wished to take back an item of some value they insisted belonged to them. I remember thinking, I like this, that's interesting, intelligent Baboons...

The Apple Lane Map.

It was during negotiations with Gringle that we first met his devoted 'manservant' Quackjohn. At this point Rob explained that Quackjohn was a Duck. He was apparently likeable and chatty. He sung when drunk, was a superb cook, and never questioned his master's ways. He had worked with Gringle since they settled in Apple Lane some 37 years before. I can vaguely remember being really amused by this - a duck? In a fantasy game?? I went with it and Quackjohn proved himself in the ensuing action.

Apple Lane Scenario Booklet.

I don't remember the exact details anymore but suffice to say we had a desperate combat against some very angry Baboons led by a fierce armoured one named Kochaz, tearing their way through the shops roof and windows followed by a suprise attack by a Dragonewt, Xarban, and his motley band of followers. This outlaw band had apparently signed up to assist Kochaz on the promise of some spoils from the shop. Among them were a big centaur, a couple of smaller Dragonewts and another Duck! We ultimately managed to fight off the attackers and reap the benefits. The short campaign eventually faded but I was left with a lasting interest in these odd little characters.

Duck Tower.

Several Duck characters appeared in later games (mainly with another GM) usually as sidekicks to the main adventurer group. There were such legendary folk as Delbourne, a Duck trader who thought of himself as something of a noble and then a favourite of mine, Svendrake, the Humakt worshipping, slightly overly aggressive bodyguard and assistant to Rex Troya, a Human Praxian Runepriest. Ducks and Baboons also made an appearance in our Warhammer campaign. Two notables include Quackbill Featherwing, a Duck adventurer and his faithful friend, Ragill the Baboon, who obtained kinship with the Dwarfs of Aruk Khabar and later a place in the court of King Dumin Ironbeard after helping to save Stonebrow Palace. Others were Blazemane and Darktail.

I have made a few Runequest 'Duck' related purchases over the years and one of my first was the Duck Tower book above. I never had the chance to use it but enjoyed the read. My favourite purchase of all is below - being a fan of Runequest figures I picked up a few of the old Citadel boxed sets of miniatures. One of my favourite figures was always the Duck Adventurer, who went on to represent most of the characters mentioned above. Over time I somehow managed to get hold of more of this figure and now have four! My proudest purchase was the Runequest Hero Duck that was originally a promotional item. I must get around to painting them all...

Svendrake the Duck and his bodyguard.

Ducks still seem to make the occassional appearance in Gloranthan stories. The last Mongoose Publishing version has them refering to themselves as Durulz and they certainly seem to have a less 'Howard the Duck' look to them. Will they ever make another appearance in one of my games? Who knows. It would depend on the players to start with but I like the idea of revisiting an old Runequest haunt to see what happened to old Quackjohn...

"Runequest Ducks look like the most perfect form of sentient life ever created by the gods."