Topic: new player to rolemaster. what to change If I was ice.

[ahammer]

I have never played rolemaster before but Im going to start running one(after hearing it on rpgmp3)..
I had merps a while back we played a few games of that.
I had the rmfrp book already but one look at the book I never read it. going back now its not so bad.
as I do have some what of a outside view I wanted to make a post and go over things that I think a should be changed to bring in new players. (please no flaming me :Þ)

1st even when I was not playing rolemaster I always loved the idea of charts.. and the rolemaster charts are the best.
Im not sure I like the idea of a full page per weapon.. im sure there has to be some way of we can keep the idea of weapon acting differently on different armor but without having to have a full page. 

way im thinking about do this.(also thinking lowering it down to 8 ats like it has been said in the past would pry be for the best. )
 
one chart for all weapons. with each weapon having changes to the chart listed per armor class.
on chart per weapon with the changes per armor class listed at the bottom.
no charts and a formla for working out the damage/crits. with mods to this based on weapon/at.

[ahammer]

part two. based on current player base. I think there should be four copys of rolemaster(this is looking at pasted notes too)
light > core > basic > advanced


light: pre gen char(or very very simple gen rules) and core combat/skills and a free quest or somthing like that for the gm to run.
 this would be given free to help get new players (like sj games and dp9 has done).
 
core: basic of what you need to play with char gen rules. skill system is the most simple. (harp player)
basic: (this may not need to be a full book.) skill system gets a bit more complex and a few rules added to char gen. (rmc\rm2 players)
advanced: add in extra complixys to give a lots of skills and a few more rules added to char gen. (rmss player)

right now if you have a rmss char. I have to do some convert to get them to play in a rmc or harp game. the goal would be to let the gm pick what system and the players can easy take there char from one system to the other. without need to convert. not sure how you do this right now it would be a big task. means a re think the base skill system I think.

[Arioch]

light: pre gen char(or very very simple gen rules) and core combat/skills and a free quest or somthing like that for the gm to run.

Sounds very similar to RM Express (save for the pre-gen characters) 

[ahammer]

light: pre gen char(or very very simple gen rules) and core combat/skills and a free quest or somthing like that for the gm to run.

Sounds very similar to RM Express (save for the pre-gen characters) 

yup what I was thinking but free gets more people to look at somthing then even 5$ will stop some..

[ahammer]

Ok thinking about the charts in rm they are realy made up of two parts. Crit and damage.

I think I have a good way to do crit without a chart but keep the same feel.

Ok here is the idea for ever 10 points you get to hit after factoring ob and db.
You get a crit point. You start by taking off 3 crit points(the point at where you would not hit with the weapon. Then you can spend the rest of you points to buy crits..

What I'm thinking is a=4,b=6,c=8,d=10,e=12

So a player rolls a 110 then he can pick 1c or 2a's.

This system allows for a 100% open end roll. Also based on the weapon you could changed the numbers needed for diffrent types of crits.

Armor would changed the number of crit points you would get. So plate would give you -8 crit points vs you.

More when I'm not posting from my phone. What do you guys think?

[markc]

 In the Combat Companion there are reduced weapon and crit charts. IMO I like the one chart for one weapon style and not the reduced chart. To me it adds flavor that a simple +10 or mod cannot.

 In the past there have been people that have created their own weapon tables and formulas and your proposal sounds like quite a few of them except for the 1c or 2a pick your crit option.

MDC

BTW other GM's have made a chart like you have for their monsters and NPC's to use and kept letting the PC's use the charts in the book. That way the GM had faster resolution or even computer resolution for multiple combatants which speed up play.
 
 Also BTW just because I may not like does not mean it is right for your game. It is your game have fun. What ever makes that more fun you should do as long as it does not destroy the game.

MDC

[Fornitus]

 A few things to look at in the direction you are thinking.

 1) compiled attack charts-pg 61 of Comp I has a reduced combat for faster figuring of results.

 2) Light -  Rolemaster Express was the result of this idea.

 3) Core - This is what the RMC books will be when all finished. Light on skills.

 4) Basic - you want added skills here. That is what came of RM Comp II. It added a wide varaity of skills as an option.  I think reprinting it is still a goal of ICE in the future.

 5) Advanced - Since no 2 games are ran the same, this is cant be done as a blanket book. Each group creates their own "advanced" system by using some options and discarding others to their taste. This is the reason for so many Comps in the old system.

 6) Converting from  one system to another is a real pain. However, the way to do it is to colapse some of the skill set in RMFRP or RMSS if going to RMC and expanding the other way. If such a system is created it could be put in one of the Addendum issues hopefuly.

 7) I dont think there is a way (other than the Express way) of combining the crit charts. Once we just used the "C" chart for a simple game. A "C" crit is NOT the same a 2 "A" crits as  each roll can kill, there by multiplying the chance of a one hit one kill result.

 Good luck on finding the options that work best for your group.