Topic: Making RMSS and RMFRP better

[rdanhenry]

Again, adding more words to the crowded critical charts if you add adjectives there. I don't think breakpoints at -20 and -50 is hard to remember (and if you are off a little going by memory, well, the amount of physical damage and the difficulty of doing things because of the damage are not always in the same proportions anyway).

I think there's plenty of stuff that actually is underdefined or unclear that ought to be addressed before looking at loading up thick books with redundant information because it might be convenient.

[Langthorne]

I think Markc might also be interested in having all crit tables, healing recovery tables spell lists etc use the same language. For example, why can't Minor Nerve Repair have in the description "heals nerve damage of up to -20 severity"? Instead we have Light, Medium, Severe, Minor, Major, +/-X all used at different times to describe similar things.

[rdanhenry]

If you do that, you take modularity away from the system. If ICE wants to abandon the idea that Arms Law and Spell Law can independently be plugged into games other than Rolemaster, it makes some sense to interweave those descriptions. If you want to maintain modularity, you want to keep the definition of what the spell does (heals a minor wound) from the Rolemaster system definition of what constitutes a minor wound. Even if you stick to Rolemaster, if you want to offer a range of options (how many HARP combat systems are there now, four?), modularity is beneficial.

[yammahoper]

If you do that, you take modularity away from the system. If ICE wants to abandon the idea that Arms Law and Spell Law can independently be plugged into games other than Rolemaster, it makes some sense to interweave those descriptions. If you want to maintain modularity, you want to keep the definition of what the spell does (heals a minor wound) from the Rolemaster system definition of what constitutes a minor wound. Even if you stick to Rolemaster, if you want to offer a range of options (how many HARP combat systems are there now, four?), modularity is beneficial.

You can maintain the modularity by having descriptions such as light, medium and severe as addendum in the "use with other games" section.

[Arioch]

I came up with another thing I would like to see improved in RM:
- better rules for social interaction.
I mean rules to manage social interaction between PCs and NPCs and between PC and PC. In other words detailed and clear rules on how to use Influence skills, both on NPCs and on PCs.

[Aelfbeorn]

Some of the things that I would like to see:

1. Race
a.  divorce race from culture (as per HARP)

2. Cultures
b.  More cultures (e.g., Aquatic, Desert, Jungle, Marsh/Swamp)
c.  Expand the rural hobby skill list to include the following:
- Body Development from working on the farm
- Play Instrument, Singing, Tale telling.  These are popular forms of entertainment around an hearth, campfire or on a porch.
-  Fauna, flora lore, foraging.  These are all skills that might be be useful to farmers and herders. Fauna Lore provides information about the critters and vermin that might come on to the farm or grazing land as well as knowledge your own animals.  Flora Lore to know about the local vegetation.  Foraging to trap small animals and/or find edible plants.
-and as these are people that live on farms or herd animals, I'd probably give them a bonus to Animal Handling (or Horticulture) and Weather Watching

d.  remove spell list from adolescence from the Mariner and Urban Man.  Actually, as spell lists are listed as only applying if the GM allows it, I would remove spell lists from all the current cultures and
- create an arcane apprentice background/culture for those raised as apprentices to an essence caster and individual backgrounds by deity for those raised in a temple dedicated to a deity.
-  require the character to take a background option
-  require to take an appropriate training package

3. Class
- add the Barbarian from SOHK to core as it is a standard fantasy archetype
- add the Shaman from Channeling Companion to core

4. Training Packages
a. New rules for creating TPs.

5.Skills General
a. Artistic active category:
- Rename to Artistic-Perform for aesthetics.

b- Artistic Passive:
-painting and sculpting.  Move these to craft
- poetry and music. Move these to Technical

c. Technical: Medical Category (new): This would be the category for all the medical skills including diagnositics,  second aid, midwifery, preparing herbs,
- All skills as combined skills (My major complaint about RMSS/RMFRP is purchasing categories)

4. Skills (new/revised)
a. Intimidate: add this to the Influence Skills
b. Sniping: add this skill from HARP
c.  Region Lore (revised): Region Lore provides general knowledge of terrain, types of races,  creatures and locations (e.g, cities, lost towers) and major NPCs found within a given region.  More specific or indepth knowledge requires the use of other skills like Culture Lore, History, Fauna Lore, etc.  WIth the GMs permission, a character may make a Region Lore check to receive a bonus to an appropriate skill check (e.g, Culture Lore or History) associated to the region.
   For example, a character with this skill might now that the Fey Wyrd Forest is inhabited by elves ruled by a powerful sorcerer known as the Fey King.  He might also know that few people entering the Fey Wyrd forest ever return.  However, information regarding the  culture of the elves themselves (e.g, holidays, mores, or customs) would require a Culture Lore (Fey Wyrd elves) check.
 
d.  Create Adrenal Focus Skill (as HARP Chi Focus)
e. incorporate Read Tracks into Tracking

5. Skills (Removed):
a. Awareness:
- Read Tracks: Incorporate this into Tracking

b.  Science-Advanced
- remove Anthropology, biochemistry and Psychology and reintroduce them in a Victorian or Modern urban fantasy supplement

c. Self Control
- Adrenal Landing, Adrenal Leaping, and Adrenal Quickdraw  combined into Adrenal Focus (as per HARP Chi Focus)
- Cleaning Trance, Death Trance, Healing Trance, Sleep Trance combined into Meditation

d.Special Attacks:
- Jousting: Why do we need this skill? Just use mounted combat and the character's weapon skills for the Lance.

e. Subterfuge:
-  remove counterfitting: just use an appropriate craft
-  remove forgery: just use an appropriate craft

f. Tech/Trade-General: Remove Begging and Gambling
 Begging: use duping or diplomacy

Gambling:  This can already be handled through various skills
- use culture lore to know a culture's games of chance)
- duping vs. Lie Perception to try to bluff an opponent
- trickery vs. observation to cheat by sleight of hand

5. Redesign the combat system to support both Armor piece by piece and Called Shots

6.  HARP style magic system

7. Supplements
a.  Fantasy Law:  it would cover various types of fantasy (e.g, Post Magical Apocalypse, Modern Urban, Steampunk, Sword and Sorcery and Wuxia) and suggestions for tailoring the system to accomodate the style.

b. Magic Law: covers various alternate styles of magic (e.g, Blood Magic, Voodoo, and Dark Sun-like defiling)
c. Equipment Law: An RMSS equivalent to Monkey God Games' From Stone to Steel for d20.
d.  Fey Sourcebook

[markc]

Aelfbeorn,
 If you have not looked at it the Combat Companion has ABtP rules that can be adapted to RMSS. Also the medical category idea is used in SM:P and I have ported it over to my RMSS game. Also like you I have made some changes to the various skills and what they do and don't do.

Thanks
MDC

[Temujin]

Some of the things that I would like to see:
- add the Shaman from Channeling Companion to core

Is there a Shaman in the Channeling Companion?  Mine certainly hasn't, even if I thought about a million times about creating the class with some of the Base Priest lists in there (Spirit Law, Spirit Domination, holy trances, voodoo, etc.)

[Aelfbeorn]

Is there a Shaman in the Channeling Companion?  Mine certainly hasn't, even if I thought about a million times about creating the class with some of the Base Priest lists in there (Spirit Law, Spirit Domination, holy trances, voodoo, etc.)

Oops. I should have paid more attention. I meant to write add a shaman using the specialty priest and info from the Channeling Companion.

[Aelfbeorn]

markc,

Thanks for the info.  What is SM:P? Is that a Space Master product?  And, as for the Medical category, what costs did you assign to the various professions? Did any of them receive a profession bonus?

[markc]

markc,

Thanks for the info.  What is SM:P? Is that a Space Master product?  And, as for the Medical category, what costs did you assign to the various professions? Did any of them receive a profession bonus?

 Yes SP:P is Space Master Privateers, it is a RMSS more then a RMFRP version of the old Space Master [RM2] book. What I did is I used the professions in SM:P as a guide to assign the Sci/Analy Medicine category its DP value for the professions in RMSS/FRP. It worked very well but I did have to remember and remind players that if they were taking a medical TP I would have to redesign it. But that was not too hard sine there is the TP calculator in the vault. I just used one of the Sci/Analy fields for the medical category and skills.

BTW, SM:P also has some very cool Psi powers that add a lot to a fantasy game. They sort of work in reverse of the spell system, ie no wait 3 rounds to cast a spell but instead cast Psi and recover for 3 rounds. Also each Psi power is a skill so there are no Psi lists to confuse with spell lists. This keeps the Psi abilities different from RM's spells almost unique IMO.

MDC   

[rdanhenry]

A lot of Aelfbeorn's suggestions are at the level of tweaking the rules for a specific gaming group or setting. (I do agree that race and culture should be kept modular, although in many campaigns they will be closely tied. I do not want to see Spell Law thrown out for a new magic system.)

[markc]

rdanhenry,
 People from HARP have asked if they could port that magic system to RM and some people like it and some do not. I also think there is a pole on the general discussions page that asks what style of magic system do you like; RM lists, HARP, Combination of HARP and RM lists or other.
 I both like and not like RM lists myself. But I have not really put that much time into creating a new magic system for RM or even thinking about it. But I did vote that I would like to see lists with some element of HARP scaling. ie a spell list with spell abilities at specific ranks and for non listed ranks you might apply one of a number of scaling options for fee. The scaling option if taken as a blank rank spell would be faster to cast then the same base spell modified by a scaling option. But that is just me and thoughts in my head and I have in no way played around with it and I might not even like it after I spent some time using and testing it.
MDC

[runequester]

My things would be:

If at all possible, make the bonus progression for every skill category the same

Cut out the most obscure skills.

Exhaustion points equal to CON, rather than 40+racial bonus

Get rid of Everyman and Occupational designations.

Use the turn sequence from RM Classic


Also, and this bears mentioning: LESS HERB SKILLS. yikes.

[pastaav]

My thought would be that next version of RM should both work with Spell Law and College of Magic.

This will give the individual GM a choice about what magic system that fits his setting best, and avoid that the brilliant Spell Law is lobotomized just because some people want scalable spells instead.