Topic: "New" Rolemaster schedule?

[Theros]

When "new" Rolemaster will be published? I tried to find a schedule, but I was not able to. Hard copies?

[Cory Magel]

I do not believe there's a hard schedule, it will simply take however long it takes.  A good number of companies have learned it's worse to give a date and miss it than be vague about the publishing date in the first place.

[Theros]

Ok.

I was hoping to get some schedule. I am interested to buy some books and I am not willing to buy current (old) books, when there are new books in horizon. I guess that I have to participate to that beta test ... Even books are not hard copies...

[Cory Magel]

I'm sure ICE is wanting to release by GenCon, but I (personal opinion only - I don't speak for them) don't think that's feasible.

My group of friends have a (utterly realistic) 'joke' that you take any given date in the gaming industry and add at least three months to it... and that typically turns out to be a generous estimate.  Every once in a while we get shocked by someone putting something out both on time and without major problems, but these days release dates (even from large companies) tend to be more along the lines of "Summer of 2013" rather than a more specific time frame.

[sunwolf]

I'm sure ICE is wanting to release by GenCon, but I (personal opinion only - I don't speak for them) don't think that's feasible.

My group of friends have a (utterly realistic) 'joke' that you take any given date in the gaming industry and add at least three months to it... and that typically turns out to be a generous estimate.  Every once in a while we get shocked by someone putting something out both on time and without major problems, but these days release dates (even from large companies) tend to be more along the lines of "Summer of 2013" rather than a more specific time frame.

We Always used the MEGS (old Mayfair DC Heroes) to determine release date.  Roll 2D10, if doubles roll again and add and that is how many months late it will be.  If you roll snake eyes it comes out on time or is cancelled.

[InTheGenes]

In the video game development industry, we sometimes go by the saying, "Definitely sometime around Junetember".

[Cory Magel]

Our fiends always say: Take the quoted release date and add at least three months.  So far the only company that has made that untrue of any game we were waiting for is Blizzard.
Course then there are the companies that release an, essentially, unfinished game before they should have just so they can hit the stated release date.  That's actually MORE annoying imo.

[Moostik]

"Release Date: When its Done" has always been the best approach. Finish the product first, then announce the real date. Other than that, you could always estimate progress, e.g. "beta 2, 15%", but during betas the number of revisions until the finished product is always hard to estimate.

RMU is simply in development.

[Kanaboshi]

I'm pretty keen to upgrade too. I have the old RM box set from the 90s and the books themselves are looking a bit tired. Some new shiny volumes would be more than welcome.

On that note, will RMU be compatible with past ICE releases? I'm thinking specifically of my old MERP modules here.

[VladD]

The RMU development curve is pretty similar to RMC. It lags slightly behind and you might be beter off reading animal and monster scores from Creature Law an develop NPCs under the RMU rules but I think MERP and RMU would turn out pretty similar.

[Kanaboshi]

but I think MERP and RMU would turn out pretty similar.

Great. Some friends of mine (4e players,) are quite keen to try RM in an ME setting. However, I thought I'd wait until RMU is released before introducing them to the system (none have played before.). So, yes, quite looking forward to the release.  The other question would be, which MERP module to use? I always liked "Bree". One of my friends liked the sound of "Southern Mirkwood" which I'd need to pick up from ebay. Any other suggestions?

[VladD]

Bree is a great starter area. The remnants of Cardolan and Rhudaur are very adventurous and it is near the Shire, which is of course a more well known area. Arthedain makes for a good base of operations for humans and there is even a chance for Dwarves to join the campaign. Southern Mirkwood is focused more on the Rohirrim and the growing menace of the Necromancer: but not a bad area to start in.

I personally like Gondor more and there is some good material on it.

Also you may have to make a choice between using first edition material and second edition MERP. First edition gives you the thinner booklets and loads of adventures, but the second edition material bundles some logical areas (Gondor, Arnor, Mirkwood) and you might fill in the gaps using the first edition MERP campaign modules and of course the adventures. The 1.5 edition (that's what I call it anyway) (Citadel of the Nazgul, Gorgoroth, some others) are among the best materials I have seen and worth getting.

The second edition books do leave out some of the material printed in the first edition, but I feel it has undergone quite a clean up and I feel I use those books more because they seem more connected.

The southern material is fine as well, but quite unrelated, but that leaves big gaps for a creative GM to fill in.

All of the material is great and gives a good base for adventuring in Middle Earth, but reading the books (never mind the movies) still provides me with excellent ideas and insights. Best use the MERP material as a reference but try to stick with the canon.

[Marrethiel]

...which MERP module to use? I always liked "Bree". One of my friends liked the sound of "Southern Mirkwood" which I'd need to pick up from ebay. Any other suggestions?

I have a friend who ran some newbies through the Lord of the Rings book... Frodo was an Assasin and I think Samwise a Nighblade. /grin
I remember watching the game and getting reports from my friend, he really enjoyed running it and the players had a blast.

[Kanaboshi]

.....Best use the MERP material as a reference but try to stick with the canon.

Cool. Thanks for the advice. Re: "sticking with the canon", one of the oft mentioned criticisms of ICE's MERP was the powerful magic in Tolkien's relatively low magic world. To be honest, it never bothered me much and I always loved the more earth shattering high level spells in Spell Law. But, in the interests of authenticity, has anyone tried limiting spell use in a MERP game, say to open/closed lists? Or any other limitations? How did that work out?

Thanks.

[Kanaboshi]

I have a friend who ran some newbies through the Lord of the Rings book... Frodo was an Assasin and I think Samwise a Nighblade. /grin

Ambitious. 

The frequency we manage to get together these days this could be a campaign to see us through to the end of our days.

[VladD]

This is from a Tolkien group that makes campaign modules. They have been very active for a long time. The link points to an area used for storage of the Middle Earth Adventure Game: based on other ME products. It is a very short RPG only for ME. Maybe you can mine it.

http://fanmodules.free.fr/Our%20Resources/MEAG/