Topic: RMU!

[Thot]

I wish I could find a "character creation summary chart" in the Core Law, as seen in almost every other trpg nowadays.

It's silly but I feel a bit lost regarding character creation. ^^'

Yes, that would make things easier. Just one page summaring it all one neat picture. Any Chance this can be added before print?

[Hurin]

There is a checklist on p. 17, and then the book details each of those steps on the following pages. Were you wanting something more detailed than that?

[Jon Joe]

Yes. Something like the "Character Creation Quick Reference" you can find in every White Wolf product for example. (And in a lot of other games from other companies actually.)

The checklist p.17 is not detailed enough (culture points, profesionnal skills, knacks, and so on, are not mentioned).

Or maybe let's say that the steps 2, 3, 4 could be more 'checklisted'. Currently it's not that helpful to easily summarize "where am I in the character creation process?"

Though, okay, this checklist is here and I will use it, for sure. Thank you Hurin.

[rdanhenry]

You don't have to follow a set order, though. Currently, I'm starting with race (because I'm doing up a character of each race), then rolling stats, then picking profession, then culture. At least, usually in that order. Sometimes, I know earlier which culture I'll associate with this character because it fits (the Sea-Kral is going to be Mariner, I can tell you now). I agree that a more detailed checklist should appear, but it should also come with text that makes it clear that the order is (mostly) flexible. If I were just creating a character to play myself, I'd probably roll stats first, and decide what kind of person I was dealing with based on that. If the campaign is about the town watch in a major city, we might all start with the decision that the Culture would be Cosmopolitan for everyone. You may even wish to buy your "essential" skill first when spending DP, then consider what talents might be purchasable with what's left before petitioning the GM. Many systems do require a set order of character creation steps (and RM certainly should offer a default order of doing so), but RM is pretty flexible, especially now that DP do not require knowing stats first. It would be entirely possible to roll stats *last* (okay, not quite last... you'd have to do your stat adjustments after the rolls). Not advisable, but possible, and maybe something a group might want to do if trying to break themselves of too much min-maxing.

[DangerMan]

Hello! Are there any campaign modules planned for RMU? We're coming back to RM after years off and would be easier for us to get into it with a pre made campaign of some sort.

If not, how much tweaking would it take to use some RMSS/FRP material?

Also, I pray spell law is not too far off. Keep up the momentum!

[Hurin]

The latest word was that Spell Law might be about a month away.

There is at least one module (Brian Hanson's The Priest King of Shade) in the pipe.

It would not be too difficult to use the new rules with earlier modules, IMHO; the stats in general are not that different.

[katastrophe]

Are their plans to incorporate Arcane back into the system with RMU through its own companion?

Will the Warrior Mage make a a reappearance and will there be a Essence Companion?

Are their any plans to introduce a proper Necromancer?

[jdale]

Are their plans to incorporate Arcane back into the system with RMU through its own companion?

Will the Warrior Mage make a a reappearance and will there be a Essence Companion?

Are their any plans to introduce a proper Necromancer?

I'd definitely like to see Arcane updated, and a new Warrior Mage. Whether there is a new Essence Companion or we organize them differently is undecided. I had some discussions relating to necromancers I need to catch up on still.

But none of those things qualify as plans at this point. What's planned at this moment is just Core, Spell Law, Treasure Law, Creature Law I & II, and the Character Companion.

[katastrophe]

I am going through the book and am curious why random stat generation was kept, even in the stat point buy model. It seems, counter intuitive, if players are using a point buy system, what is the point of the random maximum? particularly since the sentence in the point buy section states that it allows players to model their character.

Is this going to be expanded upon in the character law book?

And just out of curiosity, I cannot find anywhere in the rules (and I can't recall any place in the old rules) where the actual stat ever made any difference. All that has ever mattered was the bonus. Is there any reason for having the stat (1-100) rather than just having the bonus (since that is all I ever recall mattering)?

[talsharien]

I am going through the book and am curious why random stat generation was kept, even in the stat point buy model. It seems, counter intuitive, if players are using a point buy system, what is the point of the random maximum? particularly since the sentence in the point buy section states that it allows players to model their character.

Is this going to be expanded upon in the character law book?

And just out of curiosity, I cannot find anywhere in the rules (and I can't recall any place in the old rules) where the actual stat ever made any difference. All that has ever mattered was the bonus. Is there any reason for having the stat (1-100) rather than just having the bonus (since that is all I ever recall mattering)?

Well potential increases between levels are still rather stat relevant. If you were to use a -15 - +15 stat it would make those oh so lovely gains tricky.

[jdale]

Stats do not, in and of themselves, ever make a difference. Only the stat bonuses matter. But stats were retained because they give people a better idea of how the character compares to others (of their race anyway), and because quantifying stats with negative values (as you would if you only used bonuses, whereas for stats they are positive but below-average values) did not go over well.

Random potentials are there for balance in case you want to use both rolled and point-buy options in the same campaign; in that case the potentials need to be equitable. I think if you only use point-buy, it's fine to toss potentials entirely, but some people wanted to mix the two options.

If you want to go further and toss stats entirely, and just use bonuses, it makes point-buy easier, and stat gains can just be fixed at a +1 bonus every time.

[Majyk]

I’d slap and swap the Black Reaver page for the cover in an instant for the Print version for that Wow factor. 

One could then have the old cover as the fly leaf page before the ToC.

+1 for that.

[...]Although something good is happening because it's a Gold level seller.

I think that is because RoleMaster is just a name with quite some power in the industry. And also, the ruleset IS an actual improvement on the previous versions.

A cover that is more agreeable to the masses might make sense for the print version, though.

[tbigness]

What ever happened to the Beta covers. Those were great

[Hurin]

I’d slap and swap the Black Reaver page for the cover in an instant for the Print version for that Wow factor. 

I honestly think that would help with sales.

[pastaav]

After a couple of weeks with the RMU Core Law, the anticipation of getting Spell Law so we can play the game keeps building. Coming back to the Rolemaster after having played other games since the RMU beta, the wealth of tactical choices in RMU combat is incredible. I am glad to say that the majority of the issues found during the beta have been handled with a lot of grace, and very few issues remain. Way better than both RMC and RMFRP is no weak achievement for the new edition.

From another angle, I think the RMU might be tough to grasp for a new player. The many detailed rules make sense when you dig into the details, but the downside is that many rules are mentioned just once, and it takes quite some page flipping to find all relevant entries for things needed to run the game. In quite a few cases, critical aspects of the rule are not explicitly mentioned but can be understood only by carefully checking an example. It might be that the long time to develop RMU means the gaming groups of the designers have become so familiar with the rules they lost sight of the perspective of the newbie user. The rules would be much easier to use if the rules text was amended with the explanations given here on the forum. This is a criticism that would apply to the previous edition also.
 
For RM users that hesitate about if you should jump on the wagon and switch to RMU, I think you are missing something out if you don’t join. Everyone has their house rules at the gaming table built on the many options presented in RM2 and RMSS. Additionally, you might have plenty of material tuned for your gaming world. The good news is that RMU has built-in core mechanics for building balanced races, cultures and professions, so you can take your stuff and reapply it using those building tools. The balance of some elements might change a bit, but the advantages are obvious of getting your modifications tuned to the rest of the rules.

As for the pictures, I think the acquisition of art generally has been successful. Rolemaster has never been top of the pack when it comes to pictures, but in RMU, I, in most cases, feel inspired to use the scene as inspiration for an adventure. As a personal opinion, I think the pictures on pages 127, 135 and page 175 are in a much different art style, I don’t think fit with the others, but it is no biggie.

So why are the images in RMU getting such a negative reaction? I think the major reason is that the race pictures are among the weakest in the book. Every player will need to read those pages when they make a character, so it is safe to bet these pictures get more scrutiny than the rest of the pictures. Unfortunately, they are IMO not up to the task. The flat-looking Avinarc on page 22 is the first race people will see...probably the first picture a new player will look at since it is the first race, and it is IMO incredibly bad. The artist was obviously not up for the task of not using a profile picture, and the result is so bad that I have amateur friends making better attempts to draw something similar. Another very weak entry is the Idiyva on page 26 which is both tastelessly sexualized and also suffers from the flat look that makes it look very bad. The scale of the failure of the Idiyva picture becomes obvious if you think about the many RMFRP books that have a male Idiyva that looks a magnitude better. Many of the others, like the Nycamerith, are blander than outright bad, but a result is a number of pages that gives an impression of RMU having weak and uninspiring images that don’t fit with the general theme of showing scenes from an adventure that is used in the rest of the book.

Turning to the cover picture, it IMO is a bit old-fashioned for a modern roleplaying game, but with a mission statement of uniting old Rolemaster users, you can argue it is an honest cover. There is also a tradition of having an adventuring group on the cover of Rolemaster books with some nonhuman characters. On the other hand, there is also a tradition to show badass monsters on the cover page of RM books. The idea to instead use the Black Reaver as the cover picture is a cool idea, and I think it would help to attract interest in the game. The current cover could still be used on page 1 inside the book like it does today, and if there is any image that deserves to be featured an extra time, it would be the Black Reaver.

[jaesyk]

Random potentials are there for balance in case you want to use both rolled and point-buy options in the same campaign; in that case the potentials need to be equitable. I think if you only use point-buy, it's fine to toss potentials entirely, but some people wanted to mix the two options.

Hello,

I play with a group that is averse to random stat generation. They have played RMSS with the point buy system for a very long time. Are there any plans to create a system that allows for generating stats both temp and potential 100 percent with points?

In my experience I have never run into a game group that mixes random stats with a point buy system for any game system. The GM and players usually want everyone on an even playing field.

[PiXeL01]

Personally I have played with the thought of the GM generates a set of stats and then hand those to their players.

Either that or perhaps or use some similar as previous editions where you got maybe 700 pts. 1-90 was 1pt, 91-95 was 2 pt, and 96-100 was 3.

I just looked at FRP and that was even more expensive getting 100.
Also, potentials were always random was a chance of always getting a potential of 100.

…

Speaking of 100, I have always wondered, based on RM2/C where your temporary got go down, how interesting it would be to have a campaign where either all your stats or say five  or even three had a potential of 100, the rest 90.
Adventurers are supposed to be the cream of the crop or at least some of the fittest or smartest people around. That or Demi-gods or infused by the gods/powerful being/ritual.

Something like:
Potentials: 100 x3, 90 x3, 85 x4
Temporaries: 20 x2, 40 x2, 60 x2, 80 x2, 90 x2 (90 temps cannot be paired with Pots of 85 and must be set in prime stats)

I’m not sure whether this would be fun, even with RM2/C’s stat gain rolls on all stats

Addition: I’m thinking to use pots of 100,98,96,94,92,90, 85 x4
And the above temps in my next campaign and then see how it goes.

[Hurin]

Houserule: Just buy stat bonuses directly, and don't worry about potentials. Give out a certain number of direct stat bonuses, and allow players to assign them as they want. Then at every two or three level ups, give them a few more points to buy.

E.g. I give my players a standard array of stat bonuses: 10, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 0, 0, -3, -6. They assign these at character creation. Every third level, they get +3 more to distribute as they want. We don't worry about potentials nor do we need percentile stats.

[gandalf970]

Just like any other game, this is your game.  Rolemaster is easy to mod so make the game your own.  Don't get lost in complaining about this and that.  Take what you like, throw out what you don't and just enjoy the game.  I feel too many people waste too much time complaining instead of just playing the game.

[katastrophe]

Thinking of stats. Since DPs are set, what is the point of even having temp and potential stats at this point. It seems that it would make more sense to just have the players have there stat bonuses be what they are. and if they take some kind of damage, then they just get a penalty to the stat bonus (since the numbers really dont mean anything may as well dispense with those too).

I seems that things that dont matter should simply be removed from the game. Keeping things for aesthetics or because "people like them" doesn't really make much sense.