Author Topic: Mooks in Rolemaster  (Read 2124 times)

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Offline Vladimir

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #20 on: March 31, 2022, 02:22:14 PM »
  I played Paranoia with a group of Asians who didn't get the theme... They would constantly cooperate in what should have been a game of backstabbing...Not as bad as having people who have never heard of Lovecraft playing Cthulhu...who would load up on guns with no clue of what they were facing or how to fight it...which was no end of entertainment.
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Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #21 on: March 31, 2022, 11:57:11 PM »
Paranoia is funny, but I can't stand to play that game.
Like any game, but especially for Paranoia, you need the right kind of GM.
- Cory Magel

Game design priority: Fun > Balance > Realism (greater than > less than).
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Offline MisterK

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #22 on: April 01, 2022, 12:52:56 AM »
Paranoia is funny, but I can't stand to play that game.
Like any game, but especially for Paranoia, you need the right kind of GM.
You also need the right kind of players. "you can laugh about everything, but not with everyone". There's nothing wrong in not liking a particular genre or sub-genre, and Paranoia is a (very) niche game.

Offline Vladimir

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #23 on: April 01, 2022, 07:18:32 PM »
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You also need the right kind of players.

  That's pretty much true in every game. GMing Call of Cthulhu with people ignorant of Lovecraft or having no interest in detective work was like managing a train wreck. The same with Battletech with no players willing to command a military unit, in a game where commanding a unit is one of the major goals. Sometimes players choose to play a totally different game than the one they are actually playing...
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
-Lao Tzu

Offline MisterK

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #24 on: April 02, 2022, 12:43:48 AM »
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You also need the right kind of players.
  That's pretty much true in every game. GMing Call of Cthulhu with people ignorant of Lovecraft or having no interest in detective work was like managing a train wreck. The same with Battletech with no players willing to command a military unit, in a game where commanding a unit is one of the major goals. Sometimes players choose to play a totally different game than the one they are actually playing...
It's not an issue if everyone explicitly agrees to play *that* game instead of the game as it is meant to be played. I know people who played CoC as a pulp-action game with biplanes and tentacles and they had a blast. Similarly, you could play Mechwarrior with non-military characters (such as medical personnel during a planetary invasion, or police officers having to deal with occupation forces...).

The only thing is, everyone has to agree to play the game that way. But it is basically true for every game - only, most of the time, people do follow the script implicitly.

Offline Wolfwood

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #25 on: April 02, 2022, 01:41:29 AM »
  I played Paranoia with a group of Asians who didn't get the theme... They would constantly cooperate in what should have been a game of backstabbing...
I love that! I teach intercultural competence (including culture theories) and that is such a perfect example of a collective culture vs. individualistic culture that I may actually use it in my teaching sometime! :D

Offline Tywyll

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #26 on: April 04, 2022, 04:56:17 AM »

Countless heroes through the ages have been struck down by nameless peasants throughout history. Who fired the arrow that dropped King Leonidas at Thermopylae? Or the arrow that killed King Harold at Hastings? Mooks in numbers can be dangerous.   


And sometimes even alone. Richard the Lionhearted was killed by a humble crossbowman. When Richard (on his deathbed) summoned him, it was discovered that the crossbowman was in fact a mere boy.

Stuff like that doesn't really happen in DnD, because of the mechanics. Rolemaster is kind of like the Dark Souls of RPGs.

Ah.  No it doesn't.  D&D was designed to be a level based system.  The more levels you gain, the more powerful you become.  Rolemaster is skill based, and I'm sure someone runs the game to be level-less. Rolemaster has levels, but they are used differently.  Thanks for answering my questions about mooks.  I'm pretty sure that Rolemaster wasn't designed to be a Action-movie simulator (Feng Shui is that!).

I mean...yes and no? RM is certainly potentially more dangerous than D&D! But high level characters with spells and magic items to negate crits...sure, it can still happen, but honestly, sometimes the time it takes to roll out isn't worth it (especially now when we are lucky to get 3 hours of game time). Against the Darkmaster (a MERP retroclone) has optional mook rules that make taking mooks down quicker (while not reducing their potential threat...kind of like 4e mooks that could do the same damage as a normal foe of whatever level but died in a single hit).

Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #27 on: April 04, 2022, 03:04:00 PM »
Paranoia is funny, but I can't stand to play that game.
Like any game, but especially for Paranoia, you need the right kind of GM.
You also need the right kind of players. "you can laugh about everything, but not with everyone". There's nothing wrong in not liking a particular genre or sub-genre, and Paranoia is a (very) niche game.

I played a game of Paranoia at GenCon once and the GM was terrible. One of those people that was obviously playing for his own amusement/power trip than caring if the players were having fun.  You're right that you need players who all fully understand much of the point it to take each other out, but when the GM themselves is the problem it doesn't matter if every single player at the table is a good sport.

I've had a couple members of our RPG circle from the past that I just won't play under anymore.  They aren't as bad as that guy was, but they don't seem to respect the players enjoyment of the game or their time.  For example a game that I bailed out of during just character creation; The first session started with a fireball going off in the midst of the party (surprise attack) and one character went down on hits alone.  The player then proceeded to sit for around four hours twiddling their thumbs while that fight played out.  I would have been gone at that point.  Something should have been done to bring that player in, even if it was to play enemy mobs for the rest the fight.
- Cory Magel

Game design priority: Fun > Balance > Realism (greater than > less than).
(Channeling Companion, RMQ 1 & 2, and various Guild Companion articles author).

"The only thing I know about adults is that they are obsolete children." - Dr Seuss

Offline Vladimir

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Re: Mooks in Rolemaster
« Reply #28 on: April 04, 2022, 04:06:46 PM »
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...and the GM was terrible.
  If you game long enough you will encounter all manners of GMs. I've had some brilliant GMs and horrid ones who have no business running a game.
  In one campaign, a GM wouldn't allow members of the "white hat" faction (always portrayed as the good guys in the fiction) kill prisoners, so the players playing the NPCs kept up a tirade of infuriating taunts during and after the battle, knowing the GM wouldn't even allow players make mistakes out of anger. It was hilarious as some of the PCs had to leave the room to vent...and punch a wall.
  I had to ask the GM if that faction's jails and prisons were vacant as nobody in that faction would ever consider doing anything illegal or immoral. He doesn't speak to me any more...
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
-Lao Tzu