I'm not sure if this is kosher, but since I know that there are a few Rolemaster fans who hang out in this forum, I thought that I'd mention that Grubman has been posting an ongoing 'review' of his process of learning Rolemaster Express over at the Purple Place (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=361628). It's proving to be an enjoyable read IMO.
:cool:
I think RMX is a great idea, but I'm too investing (and houseruled to my liking) RMSS/FRP to make the switch over.
Good read, though!
Where as I've just plain given up.
Let's face it, brand new RMC is on the store shelves. I think that honestly describes ICE's position perfectly clearly.
And I'm done.
I'm writing a replacement for my own use.
But it won't look a whole lot like RMSS when it's done. Roll under for one thing.
Quote from: David Johansen... Let's face it, brand new RMC is on the store shelves. I think that honestly describes ICE's position perfectly clearly....
:confused:
To produce products to meet consumer demand?
Anyhow, I think that the best aspects of RMSS are easily portable into RMC (e.g. fixed spell aquisition, fixed body development, etc.). Many of these aspects are included as options in RMC, and are incorporated as core features of RMX. I'm sure that there are aspects of RMSS that cannot be incorporated as options into RMC (e.g. the whole 'everyman/etc.' distinction among skill categories). But, for my purposes at least, the best features of RMSS are available as options in RMC.
I never said that I didn't understand the decision, I just said I don't support it.
Honestly, I do wish RMSS was a little cleaner in the execution here and there, but it's nothing going back to RM2 is going to solve.
Also, I like the skill category system, I like Training Packages, I like Talents, and guess what? I don't have to convert them to RM2 to use them.
But you see, I have a lot of things I want to write, am writing, have written and so on (a great deal of it would have been for Spacemaster) and in the end I don't feel there's any benefit to me in sticking with a game I have no control over. Nor is it a fan base I've endeared myself to.
Sure there's a billion and two frpgs out there and another million in the next five seconds. Must mean they're popular.
While I've generally comented on rules problems, I think there's also an attitude RM2 fans have that really gets under my skin (right or wrong, it's not that I'm incapable of being wrong or anything).
It's very similar to the AD&D 1st edition fans who loudly proclaim the superiority of that edition even though they were playing a heavily house ruled version with add ons from Dragon and everywhere else.
See the thing is that game you houseruled to death and had fun with isn't the game people are getting out of the box when they buy it. In fact most AD&D 1e fans I've talked to have convinced me that most of them never actually read the DM's guide (1 in 10 chance of blows directed at the AC10 unarmoured head anyone?) or even the Player's Handbook (%chance to learn spells?)
All those Classic Traveller fans (who generally refused to buy MT, TNE, and T4 but loudly condem all three) are doing the same thing. Look, guys, if you were playing it with the advanced character creation, Mayday and Snapshot, you weren't playing the game that most people bought and read.
But no, you get these people endlessly complaining about the new edition while refusing to even look at house ruling it. :(
Quote from: David JohansenWhile I've generally comented on rules problems, I think there's also an attitude RM2 fans have that really gets under my skin (right or wrong, it's not that I'm incapable of being wrong or anything).
It's very similar to the AD&D 1st edition fans who loudly proclaim the superiority of that edition even though they were playing a heavily house ruled version with add ons from Dragon and everywhere else.
See the thing is that game you houseruled to death and had fun with isn't the game people are getting out of the box when they buy it. (
Funny you should mention that. I dropped RMSS finally, after the complexity really started irritating me (and several other features). After a few years, I wanted to go back to it, but really couldn't face RMSS. What we did instead was go back to RM2, and used it with only the core rules...no Companions. I would allow the occasional secondary skill from RoCo2 if they could convince me they needed it. We had a lot of fun.
I'm now seriously looking at RM Classic...
(FWIW, I in no way claim that RMSS is inferior...after several years I just got to the point that I wanted simpler games.)
See I can understand that. The thought of creating characters for a whole group intimidates me. I'd much rather have people make their own characters so they know how it works. I've gotten better at teaching people how and dodging the scary bits over the years.
I've felt for a long time that RMfrp was a missed opportunity to streamline things a little. Particularly they could have made the skills in training packages and cultures have the same number of ranks as the category and made all the body development costs even numbers. This would make it a snap to drop skill categories if you wanted. Just divide DPs by twenty five instead of ten (splits the difference between 2 and 3 and is easier to use).
It's such a small change that would have such a large impact. And honestly, as far as I can see, the skill categories are the only place where RMSS is more complex than RM2.* (even if it is only an organizational complexity stemming from greater completeness) Though I did like the reduced number of professions in RMfrp, saves me from constantly having to say no to monks and warrior monks.
*Keeping in mind that talents are a potentially game breaking optional subsystem that didn't belong in the core book.
Quote from: David Johansen... See the thing is that game you houseruled to death and had fun with isn't the game people are getting out of the box when they buy it....
I hadn't played any version of RM for 8 years (and that version of RM was RMSS/RMFRP) when I picked up the new RMC CL and RMX rules recently. I hadn't played RM2 since 1992 (I had played MERP a few times since then, but whatever).
Anyhow, going back to the new presentation of the rules 'fresh', I've been suprised by both (a) how straightforward and intuitive the 'core rules' are, and (b) how many optional rules there are for modifying the rules to suit your needs (and the optional rules now clearly are marked as such -- in contrast to earlier versions of RM2). There are some new optional rules in RMC CL -- including some that introduce features of RMSS (obviously not things like the skill category system or training packages, etc., but things like fixed spell aquisition, body development, etc.).
So my current favourable impression of RMC is not based on looking back through some heavily rose-tinted glasses at a heavily house-ruled version of RM2, but rather my evaluation of the rules as written in RMX and RMC CL.
I like what I see, and the next game I run hopefully will be a RMX/RMC game.
[Of course, my perceptions of RMSS/RMFRP may be unfairly negative, as they're the result of one aborted campaign (autumn 1999) which went quite poorly (so much so that I've never wanted to try RMSS again). The campaign's failure, though, wasn't entirely the system's fault.]
I believe the rule these days is that if you're talking about a post on another forum you have to copy and paste it here. But that may only be enforced on threads Pundit reads. :)