Official ICE Forums
Iron Crown Enterprises => Order of the Iron Crown => Topic started by: Thom @ ICE on January 15, 2011, 11:40:24 PM
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Note - I have only listed the products to help people remember what was being published during each period. If your introduction to ICE rpg's was RM2, but not until 2004 - then mark it as the HARP era.
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We got the first RM box set on import in the early 80s, never played D&D again :)
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We had a guy blow in to our AD&D group and gave us a run of RM2. We never looked back. It was some time later I bought the RMSS books just prior to ICE tanking.
I also joined these forums a few days after my son was born so I'v been around for about eight and a half years now. It's only recently I've started to come back here and check the forums more regularly, probably more so that there's been a change I guess(and the fact that I've illustrated some of upcoming products).
I no longer play any rpg games, although I always have an eye out here...never know when the urge to play RM again might happen. If I could convince someone to learn the rules and GM I'd play(I should look into RMlite again).
I'm curious to know why this poll has been posted...what information are you after? Anyway, I've said more than asked so I'll stop now :)
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I fell in love with RM back when RM1 had been out less than a year.
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Fantasy:
Card-stock RM; MiddleEarthRP; RM2; RMSS, MiddleEarthRP2; RoTG; LoTR; RMFRP, HARP, RMC (helped write it ...)
Sci-Fi:
SM; SM2; Cyberspace; SMP; HARPSF
I own at least one copy of (almost) everything except a couple of the middle earth items, and some of the most recent RMX/datanet pdf items
i started playing in the mid 80's ... and have imported almost everything ... the fact that only OB1 has a more complete collection than me has been difficult to achieve!!!
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In regards to what the intent here was, I was cleaning up the old polls and putting them in subject areas.
I found 1 poll that asked how long ou have been playing ICE rpgs. Well, it's not a good way of asking that question because as time goes by your answer changes. Instead I thought to ask the same question, but in a manner which would remain valid over time for the most part. In response to the comments, they are interesting to read and give a good feeling for where some people come from when approaching these systems in this hobby.
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In response to the comments, they are interesting to read and give a good feeling for where some people come from when approaching these systems in this hobby.
As for "where I'm coming from", that part is easy. The reason I fell in love with RM back in the day was two things, both of which seemed illustrative of an underlying design principle.
1. Perception as a skill. By that time I already had issues with the idea that a 1st level elf thief was less likely to be surprised than some ancient human fighter who had lived to be ancient by not getting surprised.
2. -25 for no skill. In other words, failing to learn a skill didn't mean you were unable to accomplish that action, it only meant you weren't very likely to succeed. In other words, the age old question of, "Why can't I _____?" now had an answer: "You can try, I just don't think much of your chances."
The design principle I thought I saw illustrated in those mechanics was very simple, but also very fundamental. We the designers don't tell you what a fighter, or mage, or cleric, or etc, is. You the player tell us, and we help you put it into game terms.
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If I may, I've been on these forums since Nov. 2005, but have never really posted (except in the Gamers Seeking Gamers area). But this poll interested me.
I got in to RM between the RM2/SM2 and RMSS eras. My AD&D group from 1992 broke up in late 1994 and so my friend and I started with another group of friends who were using RM2 (and had been since the late 80s). I bought all the books for RM2 at the time (execpt for the ones I was not interested in, one or two of them).
RM2 was the realism I had been looking for in AD&D and had tried to integrate (but failed). I never looked back (nor forward). My friend has the RMSS books, but I've never cared for that system and still use RM2.
BTW, got started in gaming itself in 1983 when I was 12. Got the Basic D&D set for my birthday that year and have never stopped gaming since.
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I got into ICE games starting with HARP and then branching out into Rolemaster.
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Started playing in 1989 with RM2. The gaming was fun. Personalities in the real world were not. Our group disowned each other in '91 and basically stopped talking to each other for 10 years. Never got to try RMSS with them.
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I played Not-RM in the early to mid 80's, Had RM but never played it in the mid 80's, played a couple games of SM in the late 80's and then played RM2 in the late 90's, switching to RMSS when I decided to buy my own books in the late 90's.
MDC
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In the mid 80's we started modifying D&D, eventually integrating some RM products (Arms & Claw Law for example) into it. After revamping a pretty sizable portion of AD&D we got tired of the persistent problems that really required a complete overhaul. Around the early 90's two of us actually started looking for a game system to replace D&D and, separately, came up with MERP/RM without even realizing at first that it was where some of the materials we had used with D&D had come from. We started with MERP because it was really an intro into RM, played one campaign using it, then switched over to RM the very next campaign. That change over coincided with the publishing of RMSS.
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Played D&D then AD&D in grade school, added Star Frontiers, Boot Hill and Gamma world, then segued to RM add ons, then RM all out. . . .eventually RM for fantasy, SM for sci fi, and HERO for supers.
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We played more games than I can remember. The D&D variations, like Gamma World. Star Frontiers, Shadowrun, BattleTech/Mechwarrior, Primal Order, Car Wars, GURPS... loads of stuff. But the primary two were D&D and RM when it comes down to it.
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We started with D&D, then DSA (a German FRPG game), then ME RP in the 80s, and from that game came to RM in about '87. In the mid 90s we then switched to RMSS/RMFRP.
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A game or three of MERP in the late about '85...then a full-time RM2 group in about '88 when introduced to it by a friend...we alternated AD&D 2e and RM2 for the next four years, and I have been running RM2 since about '91...no urge to change RM systems to RMSS/FRP/X/etc...
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As stated in my sig, I'm an old hand... I fell into RM with the Games Workshop edition of Not-RM... ( somewhere around 82/84 ) and never left since then.
I was there in alt.frp.* and rec.games.rpg before http meant anything.
I was there in the RM ( and Not-RM ) mailing list when all the spinoff lists where created ( SW, SM, Silent-death ).
I was there in the first instance of the forums.
I'm still around, even if I'm much less visible than I used to be.
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If I had a dollar for every time this topic emrges, flairs, dies and goes away them emerges and flares again, I'd have a nice dinner at the Wok House, from the menu, not the buffet.
That would include a six ragoon appitizer, hot tea and a margarita.
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I actually like the difference of this version, in the fact It won't shift, so I won't need to change my vote on my birthday. . .I think this is the first time it's been benchmarked to dates, rather than "20 years ago" "10 years ago".
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First introduction to RM I was in 6th-7th grade, in the mid-80s, and my brother and his friends (4 years older) had me join the RM game. We all awoke on a beach, chained together, with amnesia. As the game progressed and did more things we found out more and more about what are skills and stats were. It was a fun intro to RM, which I immediately switched to.
Stopped playing D&D for the most part, and other games, and it was exclusively RM for 20+ years. It actually wasn't until the last couple years that I started branching out and playing other RPGs.
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Exactly why I changed it...
The next similar one would be to ask - What year range were you born in? rather than How old are you?
But that one won't be posted for a few weeks.... ;D
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First started with Arms Law (and later Spell Law) grafted onto an AD&D in 1984 or so at college (a nod to the guys at Cooper Union!). Then to full Rolemaster in late 80s.
Ciao,
Old Man
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Really we started with Middle Earth RP, then combined aspects of old Rolemaster and updated to RMSS / RMFRP.
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I started with Middle Earth RP 1st edition in 1983 IIRC. I was attending at the lyceum and I was the only GM of a group of schoolmates. Soon I moved to Rolemaster to improve the game experience. I suppose it was one of the first editions. It was a dark green boxed set containing Vog Mur adventure and the three booklets: it had Character Law/Campaign Law in one booklet; it had Arms Law/Claw Law in a second booklet; third booklet was Spell Law with the realms in different color schemes (Channeling written in dark blue fonts on light blue pages, Essence written in blue fonts on white pages and Mentalism in dark red fonts on grey pages).
When they were published again I bought also Middle Earth RP and RM second editions and finally the whole RMSS (I'm missing only Talent Law and the Treasure Companion).
I still have several ME and Shadow World modules. I also proudly possess the complete collection of all of the Middle Earth TW CCG editions.
At the time I was at secondary school and, after it, at the university (before moving to RMSS; when I finally got all of the RMSS my RPG activity fell down) I was really active. I submitted a lot of material at ICE (and there was no internet at that time), but only two little contributions ever saw the light (being printed in the RMCIV - that was nicknamed "the international companion", containing contributions from all over the world!).
I keep dreaming of coming back to actual playing. And it seems that, after all, this is the right year to start again: I've discovered that the father of one of my 6 years old daughter's schoolmates used to play RM in his youth and we are resolving to give it a try again one of the next sundays. WOW!
Ciao!
Alessandro
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I originally injected Arms/Claw Law into my AD&D1e game when they were first packaged together in a box. Pre-Character Law. So, whenever that was.
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That's "Some time in the 80s"
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That's "Some time in the 80s"
Knew that, and that's how I answered the poll. Just didn't know the exact year.
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(Don't tell anyone, but I'm not exactly sure either)
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(Don't tell anyone, but I'm not exactly sure either)
Yeah, that. Red box. Tables on heavy card stock. Spell Law was 4 books, I'm pretty sure Character Law hadn't been published yet. I'm tempted to say RM had been out less than a year, and I'm fairly certain it was less than 2.
But beyond that? Sheesh, it's been nearly 30 years, I'm old, I can't remember what year it was. Early 80s, okay that much I can swear to.
;D
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I remember my year at least. My cousin took me to a local game tournament in 79. I played a mage and got my you know what handed to me. I had no idea what I was doing. They all looked very surprised when my mage was attacking after I cast my 2 or 3 spells. Again I had no idea what I was doing they simply said her you go and let the game begin.
MDC
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Well, I grew up on DnD, it was my parents and uncles game of choice. I'd sit up and listen through my bedroom door while they played. It was High School before I really got a chance to play, and buy my own books, and the first books I bought were Middle Earth.
That's funny, in a way, because I wouldn't read LoTR for another two decades, and didn't know that wizards in that setting couldn't do all of that stuff.
Then I played almost every other game out there before finally coming back to RMFRP. I've only gotten a few games together over the years, and now that I'm collecting RMSS books again (I have a habit of selling books that I don't get much use from), I'm hoping to get something together.
Now if only I didn't live in a gaming black hole...
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90s with Palladium; After the Bomb. Then Star Wars D6. Rolemaster & Battletech.
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Well, I grew up on DnD, it was my parents and uncles game of choice. I'd sit up and listen through my bedroom door while they played. It was High School before I really got a chance to play, and buy my own books, and the first books I bought were Middle Earth.
That's a fraking shame! My older bro intro'd me to AD&D when I was 7. Been playing for 33 years. Graduated to MERP about 7 years after playing D&D and moved on to RM/RMSS/HARP there after.
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I started also with MERP in the first years of 90's.
80% of votes where in the two first options.
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80% of votes where in the two first options.
But that's also 17 years of its 30 year history as well. Not to mention that pretty much all of the business issues ICE has had have been in the other 13, no? So I can't say I find that too surprising.
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Man, I can't believe I've been playing RPGs for like 30 years and MERP/RM for like 20. I think the urge to run out and buy a sportscar might come on strong soon. ;)
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Man, I can't believe I've been playing RPGs for like 30 years and MERP/RM for like 20. I think the urge to run out and buy a sportscar might come on strong soon. ;)
Man, I cant believe I've been playing ICE games for more than a decade, and Im practically a newbie compared to the average gamer in here!
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Somebody write up a Cane attack table so we can discipline this whippersnapper!
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Have not played for well over 10 years, but find that I want to get back into it. I was in Charlottesville for about a year and a half in the late 70's where I met people. Never played in Pete Fenlon's game, only in some of the games being run by others. Played well into the 80's before real life required my priority. Played SM some as well.
Draeck
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I was playing D&D in the 80's when I discovered the cool Iron Crown symbol. If memory serves it was wrapped in plastic and was yellow or white card stock I forget which. I loved what I read but didn't use the material immediately. Later I began adding stuff in and it all went from there. I only play Rolemaster and HARP now as all other systems leave me stale by comparison. I need the fear of instant death, hit points just don't cut it for me.
Every time I "indoctrinate" a new RM disciple they never go back to D&D or any other system....muhahahahaha my following (aka cult) grows...
Long live the crown!
James
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I started in 1985 when I was stationed in England with the Air Force.
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There needs to be a "what ICE products do you currently use" poll and a thread that keeps track of the comparison.
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We've had a lot of those, this one is rather original.
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I'm saying we need the comparison between the two. I can see the results are rather original, I want to see exactly how they differ from the usual.
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The first time I played Rolemaster was somewhere between 1996-1998, and likely near the latter. Same GM who introduced me says that RM Classic is most like what he ran then.
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MERP liberated me from TSR :P
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I originally injected Arms/Claw Law into my AD&D1e game when they were first packaged together in a box. Pre-Character Law. So, whenever that was.
The original parchment set came out in 1981/82. I only remember because I was a freshman in high school and at the gaming shop looking to buy a monster manual for AD&D and noticed this very fun set of attack and spell charts in parchment and cardboard stock.
Spell Law was similar it came in a box with little parchment booklets. "Of Mentalism" was green, "Of Channeling" was blue, and "Of Essence" was burnt yellow and each spell attack table was on an off white cardboard stock. I still have the Channeling booklet.
I don't remember when character law came out because the first time we played Rolemaster we spent 10 hours making five characters and they all got whacked to pieces by 3 orcs in the very first encounter in the first dungeon. We all thought "huh? this is impossible!" and it took me about 2 years before I could talk my friends into giving it another shot. Once we adapted it stuck and it's been our campaign gaming system since 1984. (Some of those original players still game with our current group from time to time.)
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I remember those... I may even still have mine.
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(http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/RM1/images/RM1_1400_SpellLawBoxInside1.jpg)(http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/RM1/images/RM1_1400_SpellLawBoxInside2.jpg)(http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/RM1/images/RM1_1600_ArmsLawClawLawBoxInside.jpg)
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Aha! Now those look familiar, thanks ob1!
Makes me wish I had them all intact... except for Channeling mine have all been pilfered or "folded, spindled, and mutilated"*
* 3 points for anyone who gets that reference.
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Yep, those are the ones. I think my copy of Spell Law has a small embellishment added later by one of my players.... there's a crate labeled "Beholder Yummies" with something disgusting dangling out of it.
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When I looked at D&D without the "I like this game" filter, I noticed that it is actually more mechanically complicated than HARP and RM. There's still a setting I'll continue to use D&D rules for, and the other you may have noticed I'm converting to HARP.
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I started with a mishmash of AD&D and Moldvay Basic in late '81. At the time, none of us realized they were supposed to be two separate games so we just glopped it all together. Within a month, I was already looking for different genres and game systems to try. I got into Avalon Hill wargames at this time as well. My friend and I had a friendly competition to see who could play the most complex games (the old AH games had a complexity rating from 1-10).
I avoided buying a new fantasy game until some time in '84. With $10 in my pocket, I went to the awesome, but sadly long gone, Fantasy Game Shop in Des Moines. The only thing I could afford was the MERP rulebook, which was going for $7 or $8. The ads for ICE in Dragon magazine had been enticing me for years, so I made the jump. I was very wary of playing in such an established world, but loved the criticals and character creation. It really appealed to the realist/wargamer in me. I soon saved up the whopping $35 it took to buy the Rolemaster box set with the winged creatures fighting on the cover (still my favorite cover art). This was right when RM was going through its first major revision. The box included the new Arms Law/Claw Law and Spell Law. Character Law was not yet revised, so it still had the original blue cover version that didn’t include Campaign Law. It took me several months of digesting the rules before I could actually play, but by ’87, it was my main fantasy system.
I was also on the original mailing lists and was there for the first ICE web site. Man, I used to get a ton of emails! I wrapped up a long running RMSS Hyborian game a few years ago and haven’t really done much with RM since then. I finally took the RMC plunge last November, and picked up all of the RMXs that appealed to me. Little did I know how prescient that was!
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Just this year. I have been aware of ICE and its products since the late 80s when I got my rpg start with Champions; I got the ICE catalog when I ordered that game. Back then, I couldn't afford another system (especially one like Rolemaster that seemed intimidating rules-wise). But the descriptions for products like Shadow World and its supplements intrigued me. Heck, there was even a semi-successful meshing of Fantasy Hero and Shadow World stuff.
Anyway, I hit high school in the early 90s and rpg's fell to the wayside. When the 5th ed. of the Hero System came out, I got back into it. I dug out my old books, including a couple of ICE catalogs. At the time I did a quick search for ICE.com but nothing solid came up.
Years later, I came upon a Shadow World link in the Hero Games forums. I saw there was a new players' guide (perfect for newcomers!), did some browsing on the RPG Now site, bought RM Character Law and Arms Law, and am learning the RMC system.
Although it's kinda constricting compared to Hero, its got many aspects that I like that integrate well with the fantasy genre (descriptive crits, specific weapon to armor results,some randomness to character creation).
Alright, enough rambling. Now that I have most of the system down, I'm gonna go purchase the SW Players' Guide. :)
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My introduction was a thickly homebrew of RM2 (I think, GM says RM original but I'm not so sure) in the mid-2000's. I was in high school, and I'm just about to graduate college now (which is where I have been for those that may notice my absence. I'm terrified of post-graduate life!).
Soon after getting into the RM/2 game I bought over a hundred dollars in RMSS/FRP material via ICE and amazon. I started working on a lot of projects, but never got too far. Eventually in college I bought HARP and found it to be excellent for newer players, and ran that for a bit (though the combat systems fall short of what I want).
Now that I'm not running any games, I am considering going back to FRP/SS to make my homebrew stew in. It's such a lovely system.
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My first exposure to ICE was with the very first publication of Arms Law back in 1980. Or, was it first published in 1981? Can't remember. I saw Arms Law in a hobby store in Jacksonville FL (was stationed at Mayport). Bought it and immediately fell in love with it. It gave us something the D&D folks never have gotten into their brains: Critical Damage.
Then a year later, I bought the first RM set and never looked back to D&D. I still find the RM system the best there is.
rmfr
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The first ICE product I saw was the arms law charts released in 1980. A friend of mine tried to get us to play D&D using them. That did not go over very well. Later, I played one game at college (around 1983) using pre-generated characters.
I did not get into RM until 1990, when i got into a RM campaign set in middle earth.
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I picked up the 1st Edition of Tech Law back in '85 or '86. I thought the "SF" on the cover meant "Star Frontiers", a short adventure of which I had recently played. At first I was disappointed, but as I read it I thought, "This is cool!" The critical results were hilarious ("Foe bursts into a bloody pulp. You need a spatula."). I later picked up Future Law 1st Edition, and then the 2nd Edition Boxed Set when it came out. At one point I owned every Spacemaster product created (with the exception of Time Riders, if you can call it that).
I didn't get into Rolemaster until the early 90's, when I managed to grab RMSS...about a year before RMFRP came out (argh).
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I started gaming with TSR's Top Secret (first edition, no less), and then added Boot Hill. D&D never really grabbed me. I was introduced to RM in 1985. The gaming group was a bit odd (you tended to die spectacularly when you hit 5th level...I think because they didn't know what to do with higher-level characters), but I loved the rules. Over time I've modded Top Secret into a RM-type system, actually redid almost all the character classes (RM through RMCIII) to fit my campaign environment (which was being considered for publication around the time of the demise of ICE during the Standard System era in the 1990s), and developed a gunpowder hit table and crit charts for Outlaw.
Never really got into SpaceMaster that much, although I do have some of the earlier books.
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Nice I found my 1st Ed Top Secret the other day with my James Bond 007 RPG stuff. You have to love the Fame Points back then.
MDC
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Yeah, I played James Bond, too. Actually started working on a Miami Vice mod for those rules (something that would have allowed players to play cops or drug runners...with possibilities for an adversarial campaign). Ah...the days of youth and ambition... ;)
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I started in 1985-86 with Merp. We stuck with it for a while.
Started rolemaster with the blue box. I think it had a big rat coming through a door? maybe 2nd or 3rd edition? not sure.
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Sounds like RM2 - initial box set (1984)
(http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/RM2/images/RM2_1000_Rolemaster_Box1984.jpg)
http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/Product_Page.php?product_id=200%20Rolemaster%20Box
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Sounds like RM2 - initial box set (1984)
Yes, that's the one
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I started with RM when it was just Arms Law. About the time I bought it they had just released Character Law and Spell law. I was running a AD&D game at the time and then converted the world to R<. Those I taught never looked back. The world had gone from RM to D&D and back a few times and now we are back to RM.
I guess that truly shows my age. I remember saving my money and sending away for the stuff from ICE. Was told it was a waste. It is one of the time I was glad to prove those around me wrong.
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When I looked at D&D without the "I like this game" filter, I noticed that it is actually more mechanically complicated than HARP and RM.
I fully agree. Each class seems to have its own set of rules and I've always had difficulties mastering battles activities (when do I need to roll? What are the mods again?). In RM, the rules are more consistents : when you know how to handle combat with one weapon, you can do it with all of the others. You may even try magic, as it is very similar!
To come back to the subject, I answered in the HARP era (using RM2), but I remember trying it once with Not-RM by the end of the '90 or beginning of 2000. It took one evening to create my character (even with the help of a computer!) and know almost anything about Tolkien world!... I came back to it when my brother-in-law GM'ed a campaign for my sisters and I around 2004. I enjoyed RMSS/FRP a lot when I was able to read it. I ovelooked HARP when it first came out but now I like it. I can't decide which spell system I like the most, since each has its own merit. :D
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Yeah, I played James Bond, too. Actually started working on a Miami Vice mod for those rules (something that would have allowed players to play cops or drug runners...with possibilities for an adversarial campaign). Ah...the days of youth and ambition... ;)
Wow.. That sounds hilarious. I would play that in a heartbeat! I might want to convert it to Top Secret 1st ed. rules. I think that's what we were playing way back then.
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Although I started with RM2 I actually started playing in the early to mid 90s; the group that introduced me to it didn't play the newer versions. As such, RM2 will always be dearest to my heart. *hugs it!*
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Aha! Now those look familiar, thanks ob1!
Makes me wish I had them all intact... except for Channeling mine have all been pilfered or "folded, spindled, and mutilated"*
* 3 points for anyone who gets that reference.
In the US Postal Service, it mainly refers to sending photographs in the mail (although who does that anymore?). It also refered to any documents that were considered Fragile and had to remain flat.
The first ICE product I saw was the arms law charts released in 1980. A friend of mine tried to get us to play D&D using them. That did not go over very well.
At least someone is as old as I am when it comes to RM. But, I guarantee Brent still has an original 1980 Arms Law edition. The only original 1st editions I still have is Character Law & Campaign Law.
(http://www.conceptvisions.net84.net/websiteimgs/ChLCaL.jpg)
However, my wife easily integrated the criticials in Arms Law into D&D. I forget exactly how she did it, but it had something to do with rolling a natural 20 for criticals and natural 1 for fumbles.
rmfr
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From arakish:
However, my wife easily integrated the criticials in Arms Law into D&D. I forget exactly how she did it, but it had something to do with rolling a natural 20 for criticals and natural 1 for fumbles.
We used the crit tables from a Dragon Mag. I'll bet TSR made these because so many people were using ICE crit tables. :)
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From arakish:
However, my wife easily integrated the criticials in Arms Law into D&D. I forget exactly how she did it, but it had something to do with rolling a natural 20 for criticals and natural 1 for fumbles.
We used the crit tables from a Dragon Mag. I'll bet TSR made these because so many people were using ICE crit tables. :)
I also used the table from the Dragon Mag and then another GM moved over to Arms Law crits in his home brew system.
MDC
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Most of my gaming group have 15+ years of gaming. My wife and I met at a gaming convention. My eldest took her first crawl at a local convention. So I can say that I have been gaming a long time. I bought Arms Law when it was the only product of ICE.
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I started back in the early 90's, might have even been in the late-80's.
My first RPG session was actually in RM2 with the RM2.5 (on rpg.net) boxed set and Middle-Earth map from the finnish translation of LotR. To be honest, it wasn't all that good, our GM gave us 100/101 in all our stats and the rules didn't play too high of role in any case (not that I think that is a bad thing, but when you ignore them fully it kinda makes having a character sheet pointless).
Later on, around -91 or so, I met a guy at my new school that had the rules as well and bunch of other books. We ended up playing D&D however and didn't touch RM until years later, but that Shadow World campaign left a big mark on me and I still count it as the best campaign I've ever been in.
At one point or another we also played Space Master, Cyberspace & MERP. And had plenty of those books and adventures.
In 2001 I moved to Sweden and my group in Finland got left behind, I haven't been playing anything until I got on a Skype group about a year ago and only started buying books again, RM2.5 boxed set was one of the first things I got and I found it in perfect (as in the books had not even been opened) condition. The same guy also sold me his SW Master Atlas and Emer boxes, both in perfect condition as well. I'm now collecting all the SW material as I love that world.
So, a long time ICE fan.
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TAK,
Nice. It is nice to find some good old(er) stuff and use them today.
MDC
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From arakish:
However, my wife easily integrated the criticials in Arms Law into D&D. I forget exactly how she did it, but it had something to do with rolling a natural 20 for criticals and natural 1 for fumbles.
We used the crit tables from a Dragon Mag. I'll bet TSR made these because so many people were using ICE crit tables. :)
I also used the table from the Dragon Mag and then another GM moved over to Arms Law crits in his home brew system.
MDC
Really? I never even thought those folks at TSR were capable of such.
Then again, I never have seen a Dragon mag, and as I wrote in another topic, I had never seen anything having to do with D&D until my brother bought the 3rd Edition D&D books for me (dug them out of the closet that holds my "never see the light of day again" books).
Even in that edition, it is still nothing more bludgeoning each other to 0 hits, which I still think is stupid (may the RPG gods forgive me :o). Before those 3rd Ed books, the only other thing D&D I had seen were the original 1st Ed D&D books in 1975? 1976?.
My science fiction group is even thinking of getting another group to join us since I introduced them to SM and GMing the game. All I can say is cool. A group of former D&Ders getting another D&Der group to join in on the RM/SM games. Maybe I'll start a revolution?
rmfr
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TAK,
Nice. It is nice to find some good old(er) stuff and use them today.
MDC
Oh yeah and as a box fiend I love getting them in such condition. Now I will have to try and find Space Master boxed set somewhere, our group used to have that one as well, but I doubt it's any good now.
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TAK,
Nice. It is nice to find some good old(er) stuff and use them today.
MDC
Oh yeah and as a box fiend I love getting them in such condition. Now I will have to try and find Space Master boxed set somewhere, our group used to have that one as well, but I doubt it's any good now.
It should also be out on PDF soon if not already if you need a copy to get you buy. If it is not at DrivethroughRPG.com then it is in ICE's re-branding cue and should be there by the end of the year (hopefully and do not quote me as I have nothing to do with re-branding).
MDC
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It should also be out on PDF soon if not already if you need a copy to get you buy. If it is not at DrivethroughRPG.com then it is in ICE's re-branding cue and should be there by the end of the year (hopefully and do not quote me as I have nothing to do with re-branding).
MDC
Ah, yes, but you see, I like the boxes, so the PDF can be out all it wants, if I don't have the box... :P
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I understand but if you need a book before you find the box then it can come in handy.
MDC
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I understand but if you need a book before you find the box then it can come in handy.
MDC
Well, tbh, I don't expect to ever play Space Master, unless HARP SF is complete crap :P :P
(I intend to buy HARP SF in the near future...)
But I tend to buy PDFs for most of my games when possible, so I will look into it when I have the box.
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I like HARP SF a lot. But then I also like SM:P a lot also.
MDC
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Yeah, I played James Bond, too. Actually started working on a Miami Vice mod for those rules (something that would have allowed players to play cops or drug runners...with possibilities for an adversarial campaign). Ah...the days of youth and ambition... ;)
Wow.. That sounds hilarious. I would play that in a heartbeat! I might want to convert it to Top Secret 1st ed. rules. I think that's what we were playing way back then.
I still have the Miami Vice mod rules floating around somewhere. They were about 3/4 done, since it was pretty easy to convert those sort of things into the James Bond rules. Competing party gaming always fascinated me...had a Top Secret group running like that for about a year.
My kinda rough TS conversion for RM2 is actually in the Vault here.
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I fondly remember hiding under the kitchen table and secretly stealing the GM's (my dads or uncles) books and reading them when ever they set them down. It is basically what sparked my interest in reading and role playing! that would have been early 90's.
While I always kept an open mind and love experimenting with different systems, I've always preferred rolemaster over the competitors and I greatly enjoy teaching people how to play :)
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I remember and infact still have the very first thing I ever purchased about RoleMaster - it was a "universal" game supplement called Character Law that tlks about skills, personality & background, and conversions of stats to/from a 100% stand point - since then, I have tried very hard to make sure I got a hold of RM/SM/MERP/HARP/SD products at to date have virtually everything published by ICE on those product lines ...
funny thing - I actually bought it used in about 1984 and I liked it so well that I have been 'obsesively hooked' on the ICE line ever since - I don't even know what is going on with any other game brand/style anymore :P
Needless to say, I am extremely happy to see RM/SM/HARP taking off again and I am more than willing to assist if there would be anything that would be needed for the game ...
As from another post elsewhere ... "Long Live The Crown" :D
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Mentioned it elsewhere, but the heavy parchment tables in the original box sets were what caught my eye - but the content of those tables hooked me. I also liked the idea of a skill-driven system at a time when AD&D didn't really have any.
By the age of 12 I was going downtown to my local University Union and playing with the adults. Runequest, Tunnels and Trolls, and so forth. I've played tons of games, lost most of them in 2 moves. GURPS, Dirt, Paranoia, Lords of Creation, Boot Hill, Gamma World (the original), Fringeworthy, Traveller, The Morrow Project, a WW II squad rpg with deadly realistic combat that I don't remember the name of and wish I had, Palladium, Rifts, Shadow Run, TWERPS, Talislanta (an awesome setting - the guy who made the game held on to the rights, and after the market bottomed out on it he put everything online for free! 8) I really recommend checking out his game/setting), D&D (basic-expert-etc), AD&D (1, 2, and 3rd edition - never really did 3.5 and no point in looking at 4... did one beta playtest for the new edition and stopped participating), Chill, Changling, Mekton II, Villians and Vigilantes, Champions, DC Heroes, Marvel Superheroes, Vampire: The Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu, and so many more I can't recall, but I wish I still had all my games now. :'(
Looking up at the shelf right now I can see HARP, RM2 (all companions, war law, sea law, character sheets, heroes and rogues, etc), RMSS and RMFRP (got the FRP for cheap and I collected all editions), Space Master (like the ship design rules better in this version), Privateers (like the robot design rules better in this version, setting was kind of bland for me), most of the Shadow World setting, Cyberpunk (still remember the firefight where the bodyguard couldn't hit the broad side of the barn, but a nerdy scientist with 1 rank in a energy pistol took out two attackers with kill shots and incapacitated a third... I twisted it into a "Bubble Gum Crisis" game setting.), and even a few of the Loremaster modules. No matter my moves, I tried hard to hold onto my Rolemaster games while everything else was lost (all my non-rolemaster stuff is from a coworker of my wife's who use to be a gamer that retired... mostly Rifts and superhero games).
I know I am getting old because I am getting nostalgic for the golden age of RPGs. I didn't care that it was geeky and the ultimate act of social pariahism. I remember roleplaying before work, coming home from work to staying up all night and day gaming, having to go back to work, drinking mountain dew and popping no-doze until my boss sent me home due to really bad shakes and inability to form cohesive sentences. I had a friend who worked as a janitor. He let us in after hours so he could take his breaks gaming with us - and we got to use the offices for several hours. I remember thriving game shops filled with wide eyed kids like me.
Now? Video games, movies, and the internet has replace so much. I shouldn't complain. My town has had a stable FLGS for quite some time, there was a second one I didn't realize existed (it focuses on miniatures and war gaming, but still does some RPGs), and one opened up in the last year that focuses on board games more than RPGs.
I miss the good old days of childhood when I could game all weekend, or the early days of adulthood before the evil of CCGs descended. However, through all my decades of gaming, I've always come back to Rolemaster. Even when not actively playing Rolemaster products I would buy them and read them. I wish the hobby would come back, but I don't think it will ever be the same. Still, nice to know it won't completely die off in my lifetime either.
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In 2003, A friend arranged an evening with a one-shot. The system was not properly RMFRP but a hybrid of merp/ Rolemaster and full of house rules. To me and my friends we liked it very much. Me and my friends liked it a lot and started a campain (lasting 3 years)... With time I became the GM and gradually we took of almost all merp parts and many house rules... In nine years, little by little (and after a little disgression with D&D4) now we use a Rolemaster with only some simplified parts. :D
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Go my first copy of Character Law in 89. I was in my last years of school playing D&D at the time and I picked Character Law up off the shelf of my local gaming store as an impulse buy.
I remember being on holiday in Scarborough (Yorkshire) with my girlfriend in the early nineties when RMSS first landed, that was probably the beginning of the end of our relationship when I spent the whole week reading the core rulebook :D
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At the time we didn't even know what Rolemaster was. A good friend of mine bought the middle earth rpg in 1985 and we played it for a couple years. I picked up some Spacemaster at the same time. Around 89-90 I discovered RM2.5 and got the core books, but it waited a year or two before my friends decided to try it out. We had such a blast, crit charts can just wreck a GM's night. ;D
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Note - I have only listed the products to help people remember what was being published during each period. If your introduction to ICE rpg's was RM2, but not until 2004 - then mark it as the HARP era.
i voted first then read this..
my answer should be late mid to late 90's playing Rolemaster after a failed attempt at DnD first edition..failed because the party got bored and tried to kill each other..
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...the party got bored and tried to kill each other...
We've done that. Three party members left alive out of seven plus an NPC I believe. Needless to say we were getting tired of the campaign/GM's attitude. It was a really fun fight. And the look on the GM's face was priceless (especially since we didn't need him for the fight once the NPC went down).
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Started GMing RM2 in the early 90´s. In an earlier thread (2009) I said it was RMC but I was mistaken as I did not know the proper names of different versions.
I moved from Runequest to RM2. I like both because of their "free for the GM to create" -spirit.
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Mid 80s. I was all MERP for several years. Never got into RM until the 90s.
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A little story: It all started for me back in 1981 when my best friend back then got the basic d&d set for Christmas on accident (He actually wanted the TSR electronic dragon hunt game). It was me, my best friend, his younger brother, and another good friend in a group. In high school a couple of years later I started playing AD&D with some guys in our study hour. One of the guys in that group came up to me one day and handed me three books and said I could have them if I was interested. They were the original Character Law/Campaign Law, Spell Law, and Arms Law. I started reading, and was hooked. At first I tried implementing some of the stuff into our d&d games but it didn't really work. We played a few games and no one in our group (except me) really enjoyed the rules system that much. We continued playing d&d and other RPGs, mostly Marvel Super Heroes. In 1986 I ran a few successful RM games in my Army AIT school. Then in 1990 after joining the navy I went to the base rec center and ended up GMing my very last d&d campaign. Which led me to develop a regular RM group and start gaming on a regular basis for the next 15 years. I purchased and started running HARP as soon as it came out way back when. But unfortunately I went into a hiatus for about 7 years or so, though I did have a good game of pseudo HARP for about a year in there (pseudo HARP meaning I created all the rules from memory,...).
Currently, I am weathering some gaming in pathfinder. Mainly to draw players to HARP. Secondly to just game and get a good feel for the atmosphere again. Two problems, one it isn't RM or HARP and two I am a GM, I don't care for being on the other side of the screen to much, though it can be fun at times and others tend to enjoy my characters sometimes. My HARP game is starting soon though.
Bruce
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Started gaming in the year 2003.
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It's interesting that RMFRP and RMC have zero while The Guild Companion has 2. It's also interesting that it appears the majority of RMSS/RMFRP users here started with RM1/RM2 - I wonder how much of that was using it piecemeal with another system early on.
While we here on the boards are probably not the 'normal' demographic for the system the poll would seem to imply RM has had a hard time getting new users post-RM2 in general. There may be an impact from the possibility that those who started with RM1/RM2 are likely more hard-core fans and more likely to register here though.
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Cory,
Since this poll has so few entries it is really not relevant in regards to actual forum member breakdown.
In addition, it was posted in Jan 2011, after a number of years where HARP support had dwindled and forum activity had fallen way off.
We're doing everything we can to bring out product support for RM and HARP, and we're trying to recover some of the wayward souls who left the ICE forums years ago. The plan is that these initiatives will return knowledge of ICE game systems to the general gaming populace, and as we continue to put out quality, new products we'll grow the following. We know our limitations using a part-time and freelance workforce, but that is what let's us exist without high overhead and allows us to begin looking at sinking money into marketing and con support.
We'll also be looking for help from the fanbase.... but you'll have to wait a little longer to hear how we plan to handle that. ;D
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While I was aware of the RM1 and RM2 rule sets, I don't think that I actually started playing RM until RMSS in the early 90's, shortly after getting out of the Marine Corps. Of course, I fell in love with the system and have tried to make it my go-to system, though it has been difficult.
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Cory,
Since this poll has so few entries it is really not relevant in regards to actual forum member breakdown.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying major business efforts should be based on this - as I said we are almost surely not the 'normal' demographic. Although, with 135 replies it does cover the majority of active posters. The numbers are still useful, you just don't want to go running off to the presses based on them.
In addition, it was posted in Jan 2011, after a number of years where HARP support had dwindled and forum activity had fallen way off.
Heh, this in no way reflects on the current effort, but "support had dwindled" can be said about ICE products in general previous to the last change of hands of the license.
The plan is that these initiatives will return knowledge of ICE game systems to the general gaming populace, and as we continue to put out quality, new products we'll grow the following.
That's the tough part I think. 'Getting the word out' (without actually advertising or being on the shelf) is what's been going on for a very long time. Hopefully you guys have some good ideas apart from relying on the fan base to spread the word as it were.
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Got a free copy of MERP and RM 1 or 2, SM 2 back in 83-84 did not play it but bought a lot of MERP stuff for reference for a home brew game. Started playing RM 2 in 96-97 picked up books as I could but also picked up RMSS and loved it even thought the group I was gaming with did not. They had way to much time (personal and game related) tied up with the RM2 system to switch. We did encounter some of the RM 2 edition problems but it was having to do with profession skill costs and such. They used RMSS SL as they liked it better.
So I am a RM 2 convert from around 96-97 but during my analysis and with input from people who had been playing since the 80's I decided to go with RMSS.
MDC
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My main group got together in the mid 90's and used RMSS. We tried out the the expansion stuff ICE released beyond the Big 3 from RM2 but it never stuck except for maybe Arcane Companion. After all this time, we're trying to pick it back up and do it using Google Hangouts since we've all moved around over the years.
Edit: meant RMSS and for some reason typed RM2.
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I have been playing ICE RPGs off and on since 1983. Originally started with the old Rolemaster, and then MERP (both versions). I also played Space Master. It really took off when I started running HARP for my group when it came out.
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electron_god,
I would like to welcome you to the ICE Forums if no one has done so yet.
MDC
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I started playing RM and Spacemaster in the late 80's. We used the old Middle Earth resources for our adventures. It was the best system in my opinion at the time, and still is.
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Corvinius, welcome to the ICE Forums.
MDC
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Corvinius, welcome to the ICE Forums.
MDC
Thank you for the warm welcome.
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I started Playing D&D and then got introduced into Arms Law for critical tables in the early 80's. Me and my friends chipped in to by the MERP and modules and eventually the RM green boxed set. I have been upgrading ever since. Currently I stay with RMSS and have introduced my 3 boys into playing and they love the system and started to become GM's. I have played many systems over the years but keep coming back to RM, that must say something.
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I started when Spell Law came out. When was that released?
Mal
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Which version? And it was released at various times (editions). If it was the first version is should be after the RM2 Spell Law was released.
MDC
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D&D 1978, AD&D 1980, RM 1987ish, SM 1989, MERP 1990 onwards.
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my first rolemaster game was MERPS!
THEN CYBERSPACE AND SPACEMASTER all 80's It was hard to get my group to play it , so i had to give gameS to fringe and one shoot groups. now all my old friends that i use to game with are ether dead, dying or are not my friend any more, so I packed up and moved to Buffalo Mountain where My wife, My children and My Neighbors kids game a lot, as I illustrate to pay the bills < THAT MY DELUSION AND i AM STICKING TOO IT, I am not a kept man , I tell you>. My wife is not very found of rolemaster, so I have to make her character for her, even with harp. but I am such a good game master that it could be stick people and she would play, or maybe it's because she lov....mE? nah it's because I am so good , any way that the run down. next week we look in to my Box----LOL
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I think I'd been out for the Marines for... I dont know, a few months. that was in '90.
I started hanging around the local game store, how many of you remember WarGames West out of Albuquerque, NM?!
anyways... I became friends with a guy that worked there and one day I was in and looking at CP2020, asked if I was interested in joining a game and I took the hook...
it was a brain blasting explosion of CyberSpace and SpaceMaster colliding at sub light speeds and it was (insert long Marine-ish string of expletives) AWESOME. Those games went on for years, only interrupted for when we fired up RM2 for some High Fantasy play. Those games went on for years.
I got talked into playing D&D3e a few years ago... well I hadnt played in a long time and I really wanted to play and... was left disappointed and wanting more.
Found a pretty good group for RM2/RMSS for a few years and then people move, jobs change, all that.
I'm looking to run or play again soon, but gotta be RM or CS/SM. gotta.
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I started buying the rolemaster books in the early to mid 80's I guess. But didn't start playing until the early 90's when I joined the locate games club. I had a lot of success with shadow world and ran a very long running campaign. I think changes to the membership meant that the few people who would play rolemaster stopped coming.
With changes to my personal life, getting married, starting a new job having to go to uni eventually mean that I just couldn't continue gaming.
Would like to restart playing just haven't got a group to game with.
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Yea I have been playing for a long time. Fell in love with the whole Arcane Magic Idea from RMC1 and have been Wanting to play an Arcane Caster from then on...If I could ever find someone in the area Running a game, as opposed to me being the GM (My Usual Role).
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My first introduction to any type of gaming at all was freshman year in college with RM2. I happened to walk into a session that was going on with some friends and they were all laughing so hard we were in tears. The night was a blast and I was only a spectator! I asked them if it was like D&D and they said "D&D is here.... Rolemaster is waaaaaaaayyyyyy over here. It's worlds and worlds apart from what D&D is."
Having never played D&D I had no basis for comparison. I only knew that it was fun, funny, exciting, and a heck of a great time. I asked if I could make up a character. They helped me, taught me the dice conventions, and I have been hooked ever since.
If you follow my posts in any of the other threads, you'll see that I was the only one with all of the Companions. They stopped buying them since they knew I would get them. My Cavalier PC was the perfect build for a spell caster and an absolutely mediocre fighter because a spell-caster player configured him that way and I knew no better.
Now, decades later, I have my own kids and they play Rolemaster and they love it too. Granted, it's RM2, but with the hundreds of dollars I have invested in those books, I'm not ready to give them up.
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When were the fighting fantasy books released? I am not sure if I read/played The Warlock of Firetop Mountain before or after my first intro to D&D.
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Ah, Google says 1982 so D&D came first for me.
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Hi,
I started roleplaying by playing MERP in 1993...dabbled in some AD&D 2e. Loved their sourcebooks, not so much the mechanics. Tried Rolemaster, but apart from using spell law in my MERP games didn't really like it (don't hurt me ;) ), so basically I played MERP...a lot.
I stopped playing at the beginning of my working career, but at some point found someone who was GM-ing an Exalted 2nd ed. game, which I joined for a couple of years and had a lot of fun even though the game mechanics are HORRIBLE...the setting though is just awesome (or at least I think so).
Wanted to GM myself again at some point, so checked out here to see if ICE had a new MERP of sorts...found HARP 1st ed. and have been playing and GM-ing that ever since. Mostly PbP due to the day job, but occassionally face to face with the old Exalted group.
I'm trying to find a more regular face 2 face or online (real time) gaming group...so open for suggestions
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Originally start playing with "Call of Chtulu", and mastering with the french version of MERP called JRTM in the late 80
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Aug/Sept 1993. Freshman in college, a bunch of people roleplaying in my dorm.
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My first exposure to ICE was with the very first publication of Arms Law back in 1980. Or, was it first published in 1981? Can't remember. I saw Arms Law in a hobby store in Jacksonville FL (was stationed at Mayport). Bought it and immediately fell in love with it. It gave us something the D&D folks never have gotten into their brains: Critical Damage.
Then a year later, I bought the first RM set and never looked back to D&D. I still find the RM system the best there is.
rmfr
And a Footnote.
I actually started using ICE materials B4 there ever was an ICE RPG. I actually bought three copies of the original Arms Law Booklet. I kept one. Sent two home to wife. No longer have any. :'(
We lovingly called it the ICE RIG. "Let's play with the ICE RIG."
Try rolling dice on a rocking ship. Fun. I still have the original dice rolling box I made in the USNavy. Used to have a lid that slid over. Age killed the lid.
rmfr
P.S. - Maybe I'll post a pic in a second footnote. 8)
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That is an interesting poll. The vast majority of players started with RM2 or before.
I wonder how many people made the switch to RMSS or FRP? The RMU boards seem pretty evenly divided between RM2 and RMSS though.
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Here's a small pic [Attachment]. Await approval.
That is an interesting poll. The vast majority of players started with RM2 or before.
I wonder how many people made the switch to RMSS or FRP? The RMU boards seem pretty evenly divided between RM2 and RMSS though.
Yes. It is. 87.3% for ≤RM2; 94.1% for ≤RMSS.
I tried to port my world of Udava to RMFRP. Then realized I had to "sift" through almost a TB of info. One person ain't gonna do it. At least I ain't.
Re-wrote the world from memory, re-naming it Onaviu. And ported it into RMU Bv1 at the same time.
rmfr
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Started with MERP and then the RM2 boxed set in high school. (I think? Maybe it was RM2 and then MERP.) Our current RMSS campaign started with the RM2 rules but quickly switched over the RMSS once we discovered it. That was in the 1990's. We will probably switch to RMU once the rules are finalized. Running a separate game in the RMU beta lets us see how that will go.
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My current campaign world started with the boxed set and mimeographed sheets. I have included most of RMSS and left it there, but I have used the same setting for other (DnD and Pathfinder) games and always converted back to RMSS. Most of my players like the campaign and rule set.
We are looking at using RMU when it it finalized. We have a test game running now using the Beta 2 rules.
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As a teenager with MERP back in 2002, run a campaign and played online on forums along with some sessions at the table. Then RMFRP for just a little while, then stopped played because of writer's block just when I found HARP.
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The first ICS game I played was MERP 1st Ed. in 1984 or 1985, then with full on Rolemaster soon after that.
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As with the majority, modified RM2(Crystal Warrior Mage, anyone?) with MERP/T$R adventures.
Later to RM2 ShadowWorld, with a sprinkling of RMSS rules applied but more just for owning the books than using the ruleset...didn't bother with RMFRP(watered down RMSS with a tonne of replication without full citing of rules/too many errors).
I think this is why most folks want to see a return to RM2 glory days at the height of ICE's success.
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Cyberspace - I ran it back in the day though I owned the 1st RM box set; it was too confusing at the time.
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I conned my parents into buying me the big blue box for Christmas in 87.
Those were some good times, all night games and whole heap of coffee and raisin toast.
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Mainly MERP around '88.
Later we incorporated some Rolemaster rules and Shadow world modules.
Also we had lots of Drangonlance campaings with self made stat and bonus conversions.
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Technically it was pre-Rolemaster.
It was when Arms Law came out.
There was no Rolemaster yet. ;)
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For Christmas one year my Mom got my Dad the Star Trek RPG & he got her MERP. My Mom & I tried both. Then we moved to a new city & I fell in with the RPG crowd of kids at the new school. I GM'd a Star Trek & then a MERP game for friends before going on to being a PC in my buddy's Shadow-World-based RM2 game (where we hated his NPC Jax ;D). From there he & I took turns GMing RM2 campaigns until we graduated high school & moved onto being in bands. Since then I've basically used a RM2/RMSS-Frankenstein as the backbone to my creative writing, though from time to time I have GMd a game. Still miss the good times around the table… Thanks for all the great memories!
Nightblade ->--
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1976 UVA, I was 17, Pete's proto-rolemaster game. ;)
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I was first introduced to Rolemaster in 93, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. One of my friends wanted to break away from the AD&D games we were playing off and on, and he had just picked up this new system in Australia. As it was a chance for me to play, rather then GM, I jumped at it. Played that campaign in his setting for the next two years, till I got out of the Navy. Picked up RMSS when it first came out, and have been there ever since. Lost all the books a few years ago, but still want to play it.
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I voted RMSS, with qualifications.
My affair with RM is long and storied. Back in the 80s I used Arms Law for both D&D and to replace the crit table in DragonQuest. In the 90s, we played MERP and when we hit 5th level we converted our characters to RMSS (we'd been using Spell Law with MERP already anyway). I've owned and run RMFRP which is where I still am.
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1989, when I bought the boxed character/campaign, spell and arms law set it came with the Cloudlords of Tanara. Originally I slotted Tanara into my existing game world. It wasn't until 91 that I moved all my games into the Shadow World.
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Back in the 80s I used Arms Law for both D&D and to replace the crit table in DragonQuest. In the 90s, we played MERP and when we hit 5th level we converted our characters to RMSS (we'd been using Spell Law with MERP already anyway). I've owned and run RMFRP which is where I still am.
That sounds almost exactly like our groups progression (although we didn't bother much with RMFRP unless it was actually new material).
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Bought the individual Arms Law, Spell Law and Character Law books in I think 1982 or '83, when I first saw them in a store for the first time after seeing an ad in the unmentionable magazine that ICE's biggest competitor put out. The black and white drawing along with the text explaining something to the effect of there should be no limits to your imagination and with Rolemaster anything is possible. Had been playing the other game for a couple of years prior, but had actually gotten started in fantasy gaming with Avalon Hill's Magic Realm game, which I got for Christmas in 1979. Picked up MERP a year or so later, but never really used it much (except as source material for Rolemaster, as well as a few other MERP modules over the following few years).
After getting Rolemaster, that was nearly all I used for nearly 20 years (90% of my gaming, with me and then one other GM in college (Patrick F.) running a lot of Rolemaster).
Over the past 15 years or so have started to play other RPG's a little more often, but still will choose Rolemaster/Spacemaster over anything else in a heartbeat.
Got to hear the story behind the game incident that started Rolemaster from Coleman Carlton at GenCon in 2017. Was great getting to chat with him and learn about a lot of the early history of Rolemaster and MERP and ICE. Have also gotten to talk in person to a couple of other early employees of the company at GenCon that year.
Was also interesting as last year (2018) at GenCon was chatting with Larry Elmore at his birthday party and he was telling me and couple of the other people who were operating the ICE booth that he had actually done a little work for ICE (artwork for a single MERP module).
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I wonder what MERP module that was the Larry Elmore was working on?
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8114 River Running cover.
(Had to look it up ;))
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8114 River Running cover.
(Had to look it up ;))
Thanks -- nice job!
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1st off, I just joined this forum, I never knew there was a dedicated group to I.C.E.
I first ran across it back in the mid 80's in High School playing D&D, and never went back. The sheer amount of detail in Rolemaster floored me. I snagged every book I could get my paws on including all the Spacemaster stuff, and later Rolemaster supplements. Warmaster was a huge part of some of my massive campaigns in the 90's.
Unfortunately life happened and a friend sold all my books, so I've been collecting the pdf versions from DriveThruRPG.com. I might start looking for an online group that plays through Discord or some such thing. As an aside, I also do 3D work, so I might be persuaded to do game related artwork for people. Here's my artstation: https://www.artstation.com/madbat
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Welcome back to it all, again, man!
Lots to see and relive on these boards, especially when comparing how your group house ruled things as no two RM games were ever GMd the same due to all the options available via the RoCos...
Lots of games out there to lurk or even join via Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, TTRPG.
Catch ours on Weds and Fris!
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I like your Spaceship art; it might be good for SMU, assuming there is one in the future.
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Welcome back to it all, again, man!
Lots to see and relive on these boards, especially when comparing how your group house ruled things as no two RM games were ever GMd the same due to all the options available via the RoCos...
Lots of games out there to lurk or even join via Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, TTRPG.
Catch ours on Weds and Fris!
Thanks, I gave you a follow on Twitch!
Yup, everyone has a different style of doing things. I've never seen any two games ever played exactly the same.
As to art in SpaceMaster/Privateers and HarpSF, it's interesting to see a lot of Daz Studio/Poser stuff in there as artwork, but I always had a soft spot for pen and ink drawings and line work. Personally, I do need to do more ship art.
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Thanks for the follows, man.
Of course I was AWOL today, and didn’t have my normal setup with sound effects for weapon swings or bow twangs, heh.
That and not following the action via the dungeon maps that our GMs create! Doh.
Next session I should be healed up again, for sure.
PS: good on you for picking the art back up again if you do.
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When MERP reached the UK we took it up and expanded to RM1 quickly. Now I'm persuading an established group to use RMSS/FRP for a campaign - if I get traction it will be time to buy another generation.
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I started with MERP in spanish, in Spain, so the Era I voted might not correlate with the original. I have a 1992 Joc Internacional's book while in ICE's Era it's a 1984 book.
I still GM with it.
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I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
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I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
You have to give us more than this. Especially if you have embarassing stories about young Nicholas or Terry ;)
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I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
You have to give us more than this. Especially if you have embarassing stories about young Nicholas or Terry ;)
Here's the embarrassing truth. That was 30 years ago, and I really don't remember their names, (besides my housemate, who also gamed with us). I am pretty sure I did not game with any of the founders, but with some of their early employees. I was in Charlottesville almost a decade into ICE being founded.
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I started freshman in college in 1984 at St. Bonas... We played 3 sessions with that group and I have been hooked ever since. The group broke up but I took over and was a DM for about 10 years. Got burned out then then MMOs took over. :) Started playing casual Dnd 5e with some work mates and my interest to Rolemaster picked up once again.
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Started playing after college 1998. Discovered HARP after playing Rolemaster for about a year
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Somewhere around 1993 maybe? Revised second edition RM, updated Space Master. Good times.
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Somewhere around 1993 maybe? Revised second edition RM, updated Space Master. Good times.
The best of times, imho!
At least until the present.
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I had been playing GDW Traveller for several years, and I wanted something different, that meshed vehicles into combat scenarios. My friend, who owned a comic book / gaming store, showed me a new game and said it had promise. I bought that first edition box and also the second edition box and finally the Privateers book. I have enjoyed the game for many years, but my main form of gaming these days takes place in my head mostly designing settings, vehicles, and ships.
(https://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/SM1/images/SM1_9000_Spacemaster_box_interior.jpg)
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I so loved the way Spacemaster integrated individual combat, vehicular combat, and space combat!
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Now if I could only find all the Spacemaster software that a guy named Felix created and put online years ago; when the internet was still useful for things other than shopping. I lost count of all the vehicles I used to create using his software.
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I got my first taste with 1st edition MERP (made a character but that was it), but I REALLY got into RM with the 2nd edition "Classic" books in the late 80's. Still have them all too.
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I first saw Rolemaster being advertised in a Middle Earth choose your own adventure book. Then my cousin introduced me to RM2 with his collection of scanned Rolemaster material. I created a character using RM2 and the Rolemaster Companion II. I wanted to be a magician. After that, in 1993, I bought my own RM2 books (except for Arms Law).
I collected a few RMSS books as a ambassador for ICE (that's how much I loved Rolemaster), and my cousin introduced me to RMSS, saying it's much easier than RM2/RMC. I played D&D 3rd Edition and Pathfinder, but Rolemaster was where it's at.
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Now if I could only find all the Spacemaster software that a guy named Felix created and put online years ago; when the internet was still useful for things other than shopping. I lost count of all the vehicles I used to create using his software.
Is this what you are looking for http://pararaum.freeservers.com/sm_page/software.html (http://pararaum.freeservers.com/sm_page/software.html)
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I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
You have to give us more than this. Especially if you have embarassing stories about young Nicholas or Terry ;)
I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
You have to give us more than this. Especially if you have embarassing stories about young Nicholas or Terry ;)
I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
You have to give us more than this. Especially if you have embarassing stories about young Nicholas or Terry ;)
LOL, Nicholas only joined (and helped create the 'new' ICE) a few years ago, and he lives in the UK. Maybe you meant Pete or me?
Terry
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LOL, Nicholas only joined (and helped create the 'new' ICE) a few years ago, and he lives in the UK. Maybe you meant Pete or me?
Terry
I think I confused Caldwell with Charlton, with you as the other, yes!
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I went to college in Charlottesville, and played with the original ICE folks. This was the late 80s but we played RM2 and SM2.
You have to give us more than this. Especially if you have embarassing stories about young Nicholas or Terry ;)
LOL, Nicholas only joined (and helped create the 'new' ICE) a few years ago, and he lives in the UK. Maybe you meant Pete or me?
Terry
Pete sounds close to what I remember, maybe? I don't think it was you Terry. Our names were Jeff and Pat - Pat drove a banana yellow Porche 911. We played D&D, Rolemaster and Spacemaster. Any of that ringing bells?
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August 1981.
Had only been exposed to D&D and Traveler to that point. Never went back to D&D. Did play Gamma World though. Through 1985 anyway. RM and then Spacemaster, then when Shadow World came out it was that or Shadowrun, till 2000. After that pretty much RM/SM with Shadow World only.
Peace
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Never played DND ever. First game was Chivalry and Sorcery first edition. Got a new gaming group when i moved in 1986 and they turned me on to RM and SM and never played anything other fantasy RPG after that. I was hooked at first sight