Topic: What is the Essence of Rolemaster?

[intothatdarkness]

Oh, and intothat darkness, my very first Top Secret character was killed with a single round: after 2-3 hours of creating the character, he was killed in the first round of combat (about 10-15 minutes into the game) by a single bullet to the head. So TS could kill with a single round, and not only in a single round, as well.

I know. For the average TS character the chance was always there that a single shot would do you in. Even after a few levels of XP-spending the chance was always still there. Hence the Fame and Fortune Points (which would have saved your first character if you chose to use one or the other). Recon was even more brutal (5d10 damage from a SINGLE 5.56mm round, and your hits were stock percentile-based).

Personally I loved the Fortune point aspect of TS. As a player, you NEVER knew how many you had (or shouldn't have known if the Admin was working correctly). You could use them whenever, but there would always come a day when you'd used up all your luck.

[intothatdarkness]

+1

Funny, I just used crossbow in RM vs. crossbow in D&D as an example, on tuesday while talking to my soon to be RM GM. I've also mentioned before that the deadliness enhances roleplay as you can't just rush into combat all the time.

I think the system also makes you more interested in the world and actually living there (roleplaying) and this demands a lot from the GM as there tends to be a lot more improvisation.

+1 from me, too. I also agree about the system making you more interested in the setting, especially if you use the system's flexibility to make it "fit" your world better. And the improvisation aspect is certainly there.

[RandalThor]

Continuing the tangent: Did TS 1E have Fame & Fortune points? Well, anyway, if it did, the GM decided to not use any, the bum.

[intothatdarkness]

Continuing the tangent: Did TS 1E have Fame & Fortune points? Well, anyway, if it did, the GM decided to not use any, the bum.

It certainly did. Sounds like you got hosed. The only difference between original TS 1 and Original TS 2 (everything before TS/SI) was that TS 1 had a Wresting value that you were supposed to use for something between hand-to-hand and possession combat (I don't have that book anymore, so don't remember the specifics, sorry).

[RandalThor]

Continuing the tangent: Did TS 1E have Fame & Fortune points? Well, anyway, if it did, the GM decided to not use any, the bum.

It certainly did. Sounds like you got hosed. The only difference between original TS 1 and Original TS 2 (everything before TS/SI) was that TS 1 had a Wresting value that you were supposed to use for something between hand-to-hand and possession combat (I don't have that book anymore, so don't remember the specifics, sorry).

I do, but looking up would mean doing something, and that is just crazy talk! 

But, back OT, Rolemaster was is to me, a game I felt feel like my character was is 3D (and not 2D, like in D&D and other games), and just more real. Which is what my brain needs in order to be able to get into a game, too much abstraction and I am right out - like seeing the director or other "behind the camera" crewmember in a scene of a movie.