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Since that printing, ICE released the Oriental Companion and Arms Companion which introduced Martial Arts "stuff" geared for the RM system.  The points you refer to are from a time RM was like an "every man's system."  There are charts for converting D100 to other dice systems, references to Space Master and MERPS.  When I first started playing RM the GM was using some of the MERPS books because he liked the content better than some of the RM content.  Other GMs worked solely with RM and solely with MERPS when playing either.   Even in later Companions, there are crit tables included for use with Space Master (Shrapnel and Explosion, I believe are two that have footnotes stating as much.)

1) We did allow attacks to multiple targets in the same manner any other PC in the game could, with the same modifiers and restrictions.  We did allow weapon kata, but only if the player calculated all the stats for the attacks so the GM wouldn't be slowed down trying to do additional math.  As a result, hardly anyone ever bothered with weapon kata.

2) We allowed multiple attacks, again the same way any other PC could do them; Adrenal Speed, speed spell (or slow spell), magic item.

3) This is the same as item 1.

If possible, take a look at either of the Companions I mentioned, that may make MA a little more balanced for your game.  We've never run into an issue with Martial Artists being over or under powered in our games.  The smart players developed MA Strike and MA Sweeps and Throws for their PC.  It's more costly, but Sweeps and Throws on an armoured opponent produces crits at lower thresholds and Strikes does the same for lesser armoured foes... and it's the crits that kill in RM. ;)
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Rolemaster / Re: The problems with the "flesh golem"
« Last post by Spectre771 on Today at 04:33:07 AM »
I brought this topic up as a sidebar at our last gaming session.  We all agreed (with nearly no debate) a "Frankenstein monster" is not a golem but closer to undead or animated dead.  Flesh golem is like a clay golem; a mound of fleshy stuff collected, homogenized, and molded similar to clay.  Then we went back to gaming.  One of our group is a lifelong D&D player who started RM with us a few years ago.  The other have been playing RM and D&D in equal parts, I am long time RM player who started playing D&D a few years ago.  There was a decent blend of experiences in gaming and with game systems present.

(For whatever this little blurb is worth...)
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Rolemaster / Re: The problems with the "flesh golem"
« Last post by pastaav on Today at 03:05:20 AM »
I don't agree that D&D defines what an Flesh golems means. Flesh golems as an animated pile of body parts stitched together and moving only due to golem magic is a common fantasy trope that exists in everything from live action movies to books. I have never encountered any Flesh golem while playing D&D, but have encountered Flesh golems in everything from RM to animes.

The weird thing about D&D is in fact that they insist on putting the Flesh golem classification on Frakenstein monsters despite the obvious differences to a golem. I suspect the background is that D&D recieved criticism about lacking rules for creating Frankenstain's monsters and the designer solved the issue by claiming their golem rules covered the Frankenstain case.

The same problem does not exist in RM, in Construct companion we have Golem creation on page 45 and Amalgam creation on page 89. Making it so that RMU cannot recreate the Flesh golem from previous editions because D&D have used the same monster name for other names is stupid. Considering that Nicholas wrote Construct Companion I think it is a given that RMU should stay compatible with previous editions so it is possible to make an updated Construct Companion for RMU.
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Something that has always puzzled me RE Rolemaster Martial Arts (Striking or Sweeps & Throws).

Back in RM2 there is a table in Arms Law (1989, Red Cover Edition) on p.30 which provided additional rules for martial arts attacks.

In these rules, a trained (typically 5th Lvl+) could make either:
   1. More than one attack per round on a single target (with a mod)
   2. Attack more than one opponent in a single round (with mods)
   3. Attack in a in a wider area than just directly ahead

It clearly states on this page & the preceding one, that one "should not use this chart if using Character Law" or "If you use the complete Rolemaster system, ignore this section. It is intended for GMs that use other systems".
The next page over or so, in the Q&A, section it asks the question of why Martial Artists are too overpowered.

So a few questions:

   1. Any idea why these 3 rules aren't used in Rolemaster? Too overpowered I'm guessing?
   2. Does anyone use these 3 rules in their games for martial artists? Why or why not?
   3. Lastly out of interest, why did ICE do this back in the day and for what other system?


The answer to the "Are Martial Artists too tough" question seems to say that Martial Artists are at some disadvantages, with some benefits too. I would have thought that being able to attack more than once or attack one person in a round would have balanced things up a bit.
Also the ability to attack more than once/attack more than two foes in a round skill only happens at, at least 5th level and then only on Rank 1 MA, resulting in the nastiest result on Armor Type 1 as 15B = unpleasant but not necessarily really lethal.

I'm toying with including these rules in my game but I don't want to over balance this profession. What do you all think please?

Also included on Facebook too.
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General Discussion / Re: Forum Traffic
« Last post by Cory Magel on Today at 12:15:17 AM »
Everything being viewed right now when I checked were a couple dozen forums opened only 3 to 6 seconds apart.
I'd bet a whole lot of money those are bots.
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General Discussion / Re: Forum Traffic
« Last post by jdale on April 27, 2024, 09:07:46 PM »
You can see what people are reading: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=who;sort=time;show=all;start=0

It doesn't feel completely organic to me, but without the logs that's all I can say.
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General Discussion / Forum Traffic
« Last post by B Hanson on April 27, 2024, 06:40:50 PM »
I've never seen consistent forum traffic like this, besides big releases or other notable events. I'm seeing 200-300 users/day. Is this bots or is there an increase in new user/unregistered activity? If it's new users how do we engage them more effectively? If it's something else, what is it?
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Spacemaster / Re: Space Master Unified
« Last post by EvilWilliam on April 27, 2024, 05:39:59 AM »
I've been thinking on this subject, largely from a contemporary horror setting POV, and the simplest approach seems to me, like Cyberspace (as mentioned above), rate any armour 1-4 in terms of bullet resistance, and that rating reduces the *size* of the attack.  So, we keep the archaic armour (yes, plate won't stop a bullet head on, but it will reduce knicks and glances) 1-10, but add this other dimension.  Additionally, the bullet resistant armour could change the critical type from puncture to impact, which would also cut out a lot bleeds.

I'm inclined to just use the sling table for bullets: start at medium for a modern pistol, large for a rifle and very large for a .50 machine gun.

This would also reflect that some types of bullet resistant armour aren't brilliant against other types of attacks.
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Rolemaster / Re: Rolemaster Unified art: what happened?
« Last post by pawsplay on April 26, 2024, 04:48:07 PM »
The marginal cost is very low, but you still have the upfront costs of writers, editors, layout, art. With the volume we are talking about, even when you spread that out over every sale, it's still significant. If, say, we doubled our sales by using Kickstarter (which I think is generous), it's not enough change that.

Well, it doesn't cost more to layout quality art than cheap art.

I think between improving the appearance of the product, and Kickstarter's network advantages, it would not be a stretch to double or more your sales.

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Since ICE is print-on-demand, that's kind of moot. You could do an actual print run, which might in fact save money, but there's no staff to receive and ship the books.

I feel like if you accidentally sold 5000 hard copies, you could probably go ahead and pay a little to get some help with fulfillment.

It seems like quite a bit of thought has already been put into this. I'm just floating out some thoughts, as someone who has done projects with a lot less cachet than a new Rolemaster edition.
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Rolemaster / Re: Rolemaster Unified art: what happened?
« Last post by jdale on April 26, 2024, 03:50:23 PM »
In the case of RPG projects, PDF sales have virtually no overhead, so structuring the price structure of the project to be mostly PDFs all but guarantees profitability.

The marginal cost is very low, but you still have the upfront costs of writers, editors, layout, art. With the volume we are talking about, even when you spread that out over every sale, it's still significant. If, say, we doubled our sales by using Kickstarter (which I think is generous), it's not enough change that.

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In the case of hard copies, you can right-size your print run to maximize your savings on printing costs.

Since ICE is print-on-demand, that's kind of moot. You could do an actual print run, which might in fact save money, but there's no staff to receive and ship the books.
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