Forum > Rolemaster
How to get my 4e players into Rolemaster?
ubiquitousrat:
Hello!
First, an admission of newbieness here. *waves*
I've been roleplaying for a lifetime but now, at 40, I have begun the process of finally revisiting and designing a campaign world for fantasy gaming. At Christmas I got hold of RM Classic, got excited and started to recruit players from my 4e group.
I've hit a snag. One of the most enthusiastic players has accessed the RM Classic material and expressed confusion and the sentiment of 'it seems quite complicated'. At the same time, I've acquired RMFRP for evaluation as well as HARP.
I'd appreciate some help and advice. In my heart of hearts, I want to try Rolemaster. It's the game I loved back in the 1980s and I know it'll suit my setting ( http://mykovnia.com ). The problem is, given the experience of my players being limited to d20, I am not sure how to help them make the transition to a more detailed and open system.
Questions in my mind:
- Should I keep it simple and offer them HARP? I don't want to, but...
- Which RM? Classic seems less complex but FRP seems more coherent.
- How do I introduce the system in a way that they can find accessible?
Any thoughts?
Cheers
Che
kustenjaeger:
Greetings
I don't think HARP will help much. I tried some of my players on HARP when they were only into D&D (3.5 really) and they were put off by character generation.
If you used RMC with whatever add ons you wanted from RMFRP and used pre-gen characters I think you could get them into the gameplay pretty easily. You could ask them in advance what sort of characters they wanted and give them a choice.
Regards
Edward
Zat:
Well, given the abstract simplicity of the D20 systems (yes, I know there is another thread on these forums that states otherwise) and the perceived complexity of Rolemaster in all of it's incarnations, I can definitly see where you may hit a snag. I have to admit, I have never had the need to persuade my players to play Rolemaster, in fact the difficulty at times (as a short break ;)) is to persuade them to play something else.
I can't help but feel that the complexity of the system isn't going to be your biggest hurdle, I don't know your players like you do, but I have been around a fair while, like you. I think your major issue is going to be getting your players into a system that they don't yet know how to turn to their favour (that's putting it mildly).
Personally, in your shoes, I would go for the most complex system, they are usually the most richly detailed. I'm a RM2 fa myself, so I can't comment too much on the newrer systems.
Now, how would I do it...? I remember almost 20 years ago, when trying to get my wife into a little roleplay ;), I went straight for the kill, literally. In my own opinion the combat and spell systems are the show-peices of RM2, so I created a character, a Fighter, and drew up a little scenario than included an arena. With easy to beat opponents, and a couple of healing potions in the sidelines, I put the character through it's paces in combat. Seeing the full glory of critical hit tables, fairly simplistic maths and the results of a few fights can do wonders to sell Rolemaster, and I think, given the very abstract nature of roll-a-dice, add-a-number, see-if-you-hit, roll-more-dice-for-damage, add-a-number, rince and repeart until hitpoints = 0 in herent in D20 systems, Rolemaster comes out tops.
What I am trying to say, is that you should show your players how much fun RM can be and how the system itself can give a much more rewarding experience than plain, old dice roll-number games. You could even try selecting one or two individuals, show them the ropes and get them interested. Give them an easy time of combat, let them have some fun and then, like some kind of crack dealer, once you have them hooked, get them to reel the other players in.
ubiquitousrat:
@Amethyst Rage: I like the cut of your jib, so to speak. Many thanks!
I think perhaps you are right - I need to share with them what I love about RM. That is the combat flavour and feeling, the freedom of character design, and the spell system.
Step One could be to run an Arena Pit Fight scenario with pre-gen warriors, last one standing wins. I would hope to showcase combat, criticals, and the general difference in feel from RM. I would make this a scenario from within the setting too, to keep it grounded.
Step Two could be to run a prison break scenario from the gladiatorial training camp, with maybe a Mage character included to help showcase the magic.
Step Three would be to move the players into creating their own characters. We are already concepting them, and keeping it story focused, and I could them help them to design the RM hero they would want.
From there... well, into the campaign I guess.
How does that sound?
Suggestions welcome.
Game on?
:)
Zat:
Not so sure about your step one...with a single winner there are many losers. No matter how 'mature', no one likes losing, and the system could be blamed...you definitly don't want that to happen. Make sure the players win, but of course, don't make it look like you're letting them ;)
Perhaps you could also go for distinct skills or attributes of your pregens too? Make them feel very different despite being the same profession? This could serve to illustrate the versatility of RM.
Step two and step 3...perfect :D
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