I run RM1/2, and generally try to avoid adding a bunch of skills from the companions (although spells, items, professions, optional/house rules are all fair game, but kind of campaign dependent). And yep, I use a calculator at the table. Players often have photocopies of their weapon tables (but not always).

If you are sharing a copy of Arms Law, learn from my errors.  A binder full of Sheet protectors just don't flip through as well or fast as the bound book. 

While the pdf of Arms Law and Spell Law are wonderful resources for a Rolemaster GM, they can also be used to print the weapon tables out on parchment.  Yes I did and integrated the Armory but after a while I went back to the older table which is just plain better.  Don't get the red cover Arms Law.

Quote from: David Johansen on October 07, 2023, 04:16:00 PM
RM2 could easily use pre selected stats and skill packages.

I had forgotten it, but they tried something like this once. Before the end ICE put out a pirate-themed box set called Run Out the Guns! Rolemaster mechanics, but character creation was picking a nationality/background and a shipboard role and adding the stats and skills together to get your character. Approximated levels 3-4 in RM proper if I recall, so you had some competence out of the gate.

I thought at the time the whole thing was well done. Included equipment for the era, attack and crit charts, notes on sailing, and a starter adventure. Either there was no great demand for it, or it was just too little too late.

It's a shame they never got Bladelands out.  It was supposed to be Run Out The Guns for fantasy.

I ran a campaign of Run Out The Guns a couple years ago and it was fun but without armour, high Quickness characters are a bit broken.

Quote from: David Johansen on October 07, 2023, 04:16:00 PM.  RM2 could easily use pre selected stats and skill packages.  Essentially a pregenerated character.  You could even go as far as assuming the stat bonus for profession related skills is  +10 and then give +5 per level and call it done.

I have to admit, I like this sort of minimalist approach. Many RPGs have a lot of detail that don't add much to the experience. In RM I always felt that the action/attack/crit tables (including the optional ones) add to the fun, but character creation could be a bit of a hassle.

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament on October 07, 2023, 06:30:02 PM
I run RM1/2, and generally try to avoid adding a bunch of skills from the companions (although spells, items, professions, optional/house rules are all fair game, but kind of campaign dependent). And yep, I use a calculator at the table. Players often have photocopies of their weapon tables (but not always).

Finally someone admitting to using a calculator! 😄 I always had my trusty HP on the table when running RM.

For the weapon tables, I remember  trying having everything as a GM , but we also tried me having all the crit tables and players having their own weapon tables. Both worked, thanks to ample use of post-it stickers on the pages. It wasn't nearly as much of a hassle as people would have you believe

On the old one point at a time table you can just run your thumb up and down the attack table to do the math.

Quote from: David Johansen on October 07, 2023, 09:01:16 PM
It's a shame they never got Bladelands out.  It was supposed to be Run Out The Guns for fantasy.

Well executed that could have been awesome. I never even heard of it.

Kind of a shame nobody's going that direction rather than trying to resurrect Rolemaster the way they're going about it. The catch 22is the closer they stay to legacy the more I think "yeah, but I already have the books," and the farther away you get in some random direction the more I think "yeah, but that looks like some dude's Rolemaster heartbreaker." But a fantasy Run Out The Guns! character creation system would address the largest substantial critique of Rolemaster.

Although simply addressing the critique leaves open the question of whether RM's time has passed just in market and cultural terms. Possibly it has.

Tangent - I remember wishing years ago they'd had a Rolemaster computer game in the vein of the first Baldur's Gate. Automate some of the combat processes and wander an overland map and dungeons. Would have been interesting to see if that would have gotten more people hooked on the joys of crit tables, and just possibly driven more development of faster character creation and game play at the table. But the time for that has passed as well, there's not much of a selling proposition up against modern open world computer games.

I've heard mixed things about Bladelands.  There were ads in some of the later projects before the bankruptcy.  From the sounds of things the magic and races are very setting specific and the setting is from the miniatures game Blade Storm that ICE produced.

Years ago, I did a 1d10 version of Rolemaster to illustrate that the system isn't actually all that complex.  I got told to take it down or else.  Nicely but still.  When the current CEO recruited me for the revision committee he told me it was just what was needed and how great it was.  Never the less there's no sign of them doing anything of the sort.  I never claimed it was perfect, for one thing bleeding is ten times as bad as it is in regular RM.  But I'll always be a bit resentful about it.

MERP was a great point of entry in the eighties because Lord of the Rings was so popular.  I'm not sure what you'd use now.  I did dearly wish they'd use Dennis L McKerrin's Mithrigar but that's just a bit of spite towards Tolkien Enterprises.

When I was on the revision committee I fought hard for training packages that were essentially pre-loaded levels so you could skip the entire skill purchasing process.  It didn't get in just like everything else I advocated for.  I've got a lot of negative feelings towards the revision process so I avoid commenting on the new version.  It is what it is.  It stands or it falls on its own merits.  It seems to be selling well.  I'll never run it.

Quote from: jeff37923 on October 02, 2023, 08:22:29 PM
Goddamn, but I love that book. I still have my copy.

I actually finally got a copy of it a couple years ago. Pretty good book in all ways.

To answer the question, though, I played a lot of MERP, so I guess that's my favorite way to run it. Smaller skill list, less stats, etc. We used the Arms Law crit tables, though, after I bought a giant box of RPG stuff at the thrift store on base and got a copy of the original. I had the Standard System, or whatever it's called...they one that was 3-hole punched. Not a fan whatsoever. The 2nd??? edition (literally have no idea how they name this crap...the one published in 1989 I think) is the one I've run directly as simply Rolemaster instead of a MERP version, and I think it's a pretty decent game. Honestly, I like spell lists quite a bit; they force PCs to stick with a theme.

I managed to find a hard copy of MERP online and it still has all the original content, which is nice.
The core book, some paper minis maps, a guide book etc.
MERP is a great way to pick up RM in a simple form.
So is RM FRP too though.