Topic: Make August 23rd Rolemaster Day

[Peter R]

I don't know if anyone reads RPG blogs but right now many are running RPGaDay2018 and the prompt question for August 23rd is Which RPG do you think deserves greater recognition?

If you are reading blogs running the RPGaDay questions why not post a comment putting Rolemaster up as a candidate for a system that deserves more recognition? If we can sway just one more gaming group to give RM a go then the whole community gains. Back in the past century jibes like rulesmaster and chartmaster may have been justified but by today's standards RM is positively rules light compared to all the feats in Pathfinder and in Dollar terms it is cheap as chips, you don't have to buy the books and then pay monthly to rent the same content online for a start (looking at you 5e)!

[Hurin]

Huzzah!

[Peter R]

I should have said August 24th, today, not yesterday.

[intothatdarkness]

As I mentioned on one blog, I've never thought the Chartmaster stuff was justified. If you look at RM2 in its core form, you're looking at three books. Add in C&T and you have four. That's it. The Companions were ALWAYS optional, and the RM community did itself no favors by acting otherwise. AD&D was 3-4 books (player's handbook, DM's guide, and monster manual, with deities and demigods thrown in for good measure), and don't think for a minute that Gary's system was lighter in tables. He LOVED tables, all the way down to the henchmen table for higher level characters and so on. He just scattered them (almost at random) throughout the books, whereas Arms Law is basically a collection of tables.

[jdale]

RM combat requires each successful attack to be resolved on two tables (attack and critical), where D&D required one (and in later editions none). Offensive spells required two tables (the BAR and the RR), where D&D required one (saving throws, again later reduced to none). I don't think the appellation is completely vacuous. There are a ton of tables in both systems that are largely optional (e.g. the individual tables for maneuvers in each skill category) but right at the core there is a difference.

Some of those things we've decided are unnecessary and are dispensing with (e.g. the BAR and RR tables). But others we've decided benefit the game. We like the detail in combat, it makes combat more interesting to have the variety of effects rather than just slogging through a pile of hit points, and the differences between armor and weapons are more than just a single number. Tables make those strengths possible.

[Peter R]

I think Hurin put it perfectly regarding combat... "Once you have rolled one d8 damage you have rolled them all."

Today is a chance to pitch the Rolemaster name and even the RMU beta on dozens of blogs when it otherwise would never get a mention.

[Peter R]

If anyone from ICE reads this, would it be possible to throw a complimentary copy of the RMFRP book at The Kind GM?

A pdf would cost you nothing but there is a chance for some good press coverage on the blog.... https://thekindgm.wordpress.com/2018/08/24/rpgaday-2018-day-24-which-rpg-do-you-think-deserves-more-recognition/