Hey Jimbo! I've been comparing the combat systems over the past few days and I actually like both the Martial Law system and the Rolemaster Express (RMX) system found in HB#11. I don't have much of an interest in the Hack & Slash system as it seems way too deadly and too abbreviated for me. I guess I like getting as much detail as possible as quickly as possible (I blame RPG video games).
Anyway, after reading all the available combat systems, there is actually two more that I can see. One that I call MERPmaster, and a Location Specific Rolemaster Express system or LSRMX (lol - god, I'm such a dork). Maybe it's been covered before, but I'm brand new to the HARP system but an old school RM and MERP pro. Here are the benefits that I can see so far the best current systems and my little MERPmaster System:
1) Martial Law (only one chart per damage type with five critical location columns; I love this new system and I'd give it 5/5 stars for its simplicity and brilliance):
- Beside some varying combat factors, in short you pretty much roll the dice and add your OB vs their DB and if the number is above zero, you check the appropriate combat critical chart.
- The second die in your percentile roll (or the "ones" die) determines which critical column you use (hands, feet, legs, chest, or head). The column you get also also adds a little extra excitement to the game because upper body and head areas can be particularly deadly.
- There are some additional factors such as adding or subtracting additional damage, stuns, penalties, and blood loss depending on the armor type, but most of this is fairly simple to remember w/o the need to constantly look it up.
- You can have players join in on the fun by giving them a copy of the Crit charts they use or the GM can manage the whole thing. In any case, the results are detailed and varied and you won't get bogged down having to look at multiple charts for each individual attack -- BRILLIANT!!!
2) Rolemaster Express (multiple simplified weapon damage charts plus one critical detail column for each damage type; I loved the weapon tables but I'm not a fan of abbreviated critical columns so it gets 3/5 stars):
- My friends and I have already renamed this as the "MERP System" because it's pretty close if not exactly the same as the old school Middle Earth Role Playing combat and critical charts.
- Two attack tables are referenced for each individual attack. The weapon damage table (1H-slash, 1H-crush, 2H, missiles, etc.) and a separate critical column to be referenced as needed.
- This system allows for a greater variance on the damage of different weapon attack types while simplifying the critical process down to one column per damage type. There are different columns in the weapon table for the armor type you're attacking which determine the likelihood and level of a critical if you land one.
- Pretty fast overall thanks to the simplified crits, but my friends all like the critical details because they make the combat both fun and memorable.
3) MERPmaster (multiple simplified weapon damage charts plus critical tables with 5 levels on each; I prefer the crits of RM over the simplified RMX crits so I would give this 4/5 stars):
- While this is heading in the opposite direction than HARP's simplification, it was "our" simplified system back when we played Rolemaster. In essence, it's a combination of the RMX/MERP and Rolemaster systems.
- The benefits of the RMX/MERP weapon charts are hard to deny and the detailed critical result of Rolemaster are super fun and memorable. So my group used to combine the two of them into our "MERPmaster" system.
- The only difference from RMX is that you use the old Rolemaster critical tables (of which there are practically billions of them) instead of the simplified RMX critical columns.
- RMX has a single column for each critical type with a bonus depending on the crit levels A thru E. Rolemaster has a whole chart for each critical type with separate columns for crit levels A thru E. Yaaaa!
- RM Crit tables provide lots of detail and fun for your players while the RMX/MERP weapon tables keep the combat simpler than the old school Rolemaster tables (there was an entire chart with 20 armor columns for each and every individual weapon type).
4) RMX Attack Tables with Martial Law Crits (multiple simplified weapon damage charts plus 5 level critical tables from Martial Law; this actually may be the way to go 5/5 stars).
- I was just thinking of this and it makes total sense especially if you don't have the old Rolemaster critical tables. It's similar to #3 listed above except you rename the Martial Law critical columns with A thru E (which kind of makes sense anyway) and wind up with the following...
- Critical letter = Martial Law Column:
- A = Hands and Arms
- B = Legs and Feet
- C = Abdomen and Groin
- D = Chest and Back
- E = Head and Neck
- It should make for an exciting combination of the benefits of all the systems.
So that's my input. If you want to have one table for each player attack, stick with Martial Law. If you want weapon tables and simplified criticals, stick with the Rolemaster Express system. If you want a combination of the two and have the old Rolemaster charts, try MERPmaster. If you don't have the old Rolemaster critical tables, and you want to combine methods 1 and 2, then try RMX Attack Tables with Martial Law Crits (RMXATwMLC). LOL - Is there a better way to abbreviate that? Maybe ML+RMX?
