That's right--Rolemaster.  Lethal, customizable, long-ass character creation sessions Rolemaster.  Anyone here play it?

Me, I'm putting together a game for when I return to Indy in October.  I've been revisiting it after just putting it aside for the past 6-7 months, and I'm really enjoying working through everything.  So many choices for professions, once you factor in Character Law and School of Hard Knocks, and so many different races.  (It's also one of the games where I find it easiest to create new races, using the rules in GM Law).  The sheer amount of race/background/profession/training package mixes available are a tremendous amount of fun.

I think one of the big myths out there is that combat takes 8 hours.  If you have a GM that has his charts together, it can move really fast (and lethally).

Really, I'm just getting back into the feel of the game.  When you look at it from a distance, yeah, it can seem complicated (and I admit, I do drop a few houserules int here to make things run faster).  But you break down individual things like the magic system, and it works very nicely.

I love 2nd edition RoleMaster, with a few (VERY few) classes and rules from the companions (Paladin and Nightblade classes, some mounted combat rules, and spell lists).

Last year, we ran a pseudo-Viking campaign using RM2 and my players, initially skeptical with all the numbers, loved the character generation and the deadliness of combat.  Everything flowed pretty smoothly as long as we had our charts organized: one guy read the weapon table, another the crits, etc.  The actual system is really simple in play.

One thing I did to keep things consistent was to resolve all actions on the Moving Maneuver table.  In addition, everyone threw two sets of percentiles at once in case a subsequent roll was needed for open-ending or crits.

The only thing that discouraged my players was the amount of time invested in chargen (which I managed to cut by over half by designing an automated character sheet in Excel) vis a vis the lethality of combat.  It caused some headaches for me, as well, as some important (and therefore fully-statted) NPCs were killed off by impetuous player decisions...

I also found monster stats from Creatures & Treasures a pain to read (lines of numbers and symbols don't make for a good "at a glance" reference).

The experience system is a headache to use as written.  Once you get a feel for how much XP your group gets in an average session, just wing the awards.

One day I'd like to give RM2 another whirl.  Despite its warts and clunkiness, there's a lot going for it in my book.  RMSS is a bit too heavy (any character record that needs more than two double-sided pieces of paper is overkill IMHO), but I can see its charm, too.

Quote from: KenHRThe only thing that discouraged my players was the amount of time invested in chargen (which I managed to cut by over half by designing an automated character sheet in Excel) vis a vis the lethality of combat.  It caused some headaches for me, as well, as some important (and therefore fully-statted) NPCs were killed off by impetuous player decisions...

I think chargen is the kicker for a lot of folks.  If your GM isn't actively leading things and on his game, it can reaallllly draw out.  The last RM game I was in saw it take 6 hours, but keep in mind the GM was a total douche, and likely the 2nd-worst GM I've ever met.

What I did was create a step-by-step guide of chargen (including my few house rules), and ran through it with my wife, who has never played RMFRP and isn't much of a gamer, period.  We got through it all in 35 minutes, spells and all.  So I think as long as folks are active, the GM is active & prepared and has done his homework, that will cut out one of the biggest gripes right there.

Ah Rolemaster...Where one minute I can be raking in buttloads of XP for a lucky critical strike to dragon's jaw sending him into a coma and the next minute I'm falling to my death after being thrown into a well by a witch doctor after failing a Movement/Manuever roll...good times....

I loved Rolemaster for just that reason.  Sure it was wacky...did it make sense?  No, not really but who cares.  It was fun.

When I think back on Rolemaster and the way we played it (probably 20+ years ago), it really seems to me that it was Mortal Combat in table top form 10 years before the arcade game..

I miss the game and our GM who ran it...I could use a good RM fix....along with a roll of '66'....

I find a lot to like about RM, but tough chargen plus deadly combat is not a winning combo in my book.  I'd love the ultraviolent results more if replacement characters were easier to make or if I understood how to make an adventure that wasn't a long string of deadly fights.

Quote from: rcsampleI miss the game and our GM who ran it...I could use a good RM fix....along with a roll of '66'....

Those UM 66s always come up at the best (and by that, I mean worst) times, don't they?

I'll admit a little adoration for Spacemaster. But even as a rules-robust fan, I always found Rolemaster/SM chagen a little too much, and the newer editions only seemed to make it more so. When I ran one campaign of SM, my players couldn't follow the chargen and I had to make characters for them. And repeat the process on level up.

I think it's a nice game on paper, but I find RM/SM chargen to be a bit unwieldy in actual play.

The charts are sort of cool, and I have ripped them off for other games.

Im very much a Rolemaster whore.
tons of crunch and some of the most varied spell and combat lists ever created.

with this much attention to detail one could almost compare it to FATAL.

1st and 2nd edition only

Quote from: LawbagIm very much a Rolemaster whore.
tons of crunch and some of the most varied spell and combat lists ever created.

with this much attention to detail one could almost compare it to FATAL.

1st and 2nd edition only

Minus naughty bit circumference rules.

I had my two longest and most successful campaigns with RM 2nd edition as GM. If you had RM companion 2, it cut down chargen appreciably. My players probably spent an hour making characters, but most of that was choosing which profession to take!

It was my groups' system of choice for a good eight years from the early nineties.

Quote from: LawbagIm very much a Rolemaster whore.
tons of crunch and some of the most varied spell and combat lists ever created.

Actually Lawbag triggered one of the things I didn't like about Rolemaster...the weak low level spell options. Yeah, I know, you could also claim the same of other games.  But, come on.  "Warm Stone"?  "Melt Ice"? or better yet...no spell at first level. Obviously the spells get better the higher you go and the more spell lists/options you have...but I thought the low levels were brutal/boring.

Quote from: rcsampleActually Lawbag triggered one of the things I didn't like about Rolemaster...the weak low level spell options. Yeah, I know, you could also claim the same of other games.  But, come on.  "Warm Stone"?  "Melt Ice"? or better yet...no spell at first level. Obviously the spells get better the higher you go and the more spell lists/options you have...but I thought the low levels were brutal/boring.

I dunno, my players would gleefully come up with very inventive ways to use those spells.  Heat Metal and Boil Water were two that saw wide use in the campaign.  Had me in fits, they did.

But yeah, I suppose only certain people would find those inspiring (I never really did...my own characters were monks or rogues for the most part).

The spell learning rules from 2nd edition can be disheartening, investing all those DPs and failing the learning roll.  I think RMSS had a better way of doing this (DPs would buy a certain number of levels autmatically I think?).

Quote from: rcsampleActually Lawbag triggered one of the things I didn't like about Rolemaster...the weak low level spell options. Yeah, I know, you could also claim the same of other games.  But, come on.  "Warm Stone"?  "Melt Ice"? or better yet...no spell at first level. Obviously the spells get better the higher you go and the more spell lists/options you have...but I thought the low levels were brutal/boring.

Magic and the more academic classes can be like that, though there are enough spells and spell lists in RM that you can find something useful, regardess of level, and they are a divserse enough bunch that players usually figure out a way to use them in a manner you didn't expect. My last RM character, a scholar, was hellaciously weak at first level, and not much better by level four.  But through a solid build, having a few more DPs than evceryone else, and being able to do some skill monkey Training Packages for extreme low cost, by the higher levels, I was kicking some serious ass.

Quote from: One Horse TownI had my two longest and most successful campaigns with RM 2nd edition as GM. If you had RM companion 2, it cut down chargen appreciably. My players probably spent an hour making characters, but most of that was choosing which profession to take!

Just curious: how did RMC2 cut down your chargen time?  With all of its new skills and complementary skills charts and skill categories we found it slowed everything to a crawl...our group ignored it all after one try.  We used a few of the new skills, but that was it.

Quote from: KenHRJust curious: how did RMC2 cut down your chargen time?  With all of its new skills and complementary skills charts and skill categories we found it slowed everything to a crawl...our group ignored it all after one try.  We used a few of the new skills, but that was it.

Because it had all the development point costs for all the skills and professions in the one place. We only used some of the new skills and didn't use the complimentary skills either. People found what they wanted to play, paid the costs in the book and if needed looked up spell lists afterwards and had a brief glance at the relevant profession write-ups.