I've been tidying up my library. Had a quick browse through the 1984 MERP boxed set and amused myself remembering these. MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying) was a lighter version of Rolemaster from Iron Crown Enterprises. Tolkein Enterprises subsequently ended ICE's Middle Earth license in 1999.
Remember these MERP/Rolemaster critical hit tables?
I've been tidying up my library. Had a quick browse through the 1984 MERP boxed set and amused myself remembering these. MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying) was a lighter version of Rolemaster from Iron Crown Enterprises. Tolkein Enterprises subsequently ended ICE's Middle Earth license in 1999.
dwayne
Adventurer
I loved those kind of tables made players less like to rush into something and be like we take cover and use our brains. I always used a house rule that if you had 50% or more cover you could neg a crit and just be normal damage, but the object would also take the damage too. Served well for sold things not so much for wood tables and chairs and the fighter if the thief used him as a shield lol 
It has been a long process, and the goal has been to get it right rather than just get it out. Beta1 was 2012; beta2 was 2015. They decided against doing a third beta, and have most of Character/Arms, and Spell Law where they want it. The sticking point recently has been Creature Law, since the original draft had so many creatures that it was unprintably long. They've since decided to tone it down to mostly just the creatures that were in the original Creatures and Treasures book, saving the more exotic creatures for a later supplement.
So yes, you're right -- they initially announced the game years ago. But it does look like they are close to the 'Rolemaster singularity' (the point at which everything is sufficiently polished that they can move towards the release).
That is awesome!
Just to put that in context for anyone who hasn't played in Shadow World (the main RM fantasy world, other than Middle Earth): The Dragonlords are usually around level 60. In terms of their stats, they are virtually gods.
Kannik
Hero
Forever shall the text for Blast Type E critical, 100, be seared into my mind: "Blast annihilates foes' entire skeleton. Foe is reduced to a gelatinous pulp. Try a spatula."
(Technically that was from Space Master, the sci-fi version of Rolemaster, but I bet the same existed somewhere within the Rolemaster crit tables)
(Technically that was from Space Master, the sci-fi version of Rolemaster, but I bet the same existed somewhere within the Rolemaster crit tables)
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
We had a DM who used these tables in his 1e AD&D game. If you hit with a natural 20 or scored at least 5 over what you needed to hit, you got to roll on the crit tables. You could add +5% for every point by which you exceeded the target's AC. Wearing armor would reduce the severity of any crits against your character. You subtracted 5% for every step of AC you had better than 10. So wearing plate mail (AC 3) allowed you to subtract 35% from the enemy's crit roll.
I don't remember what he allowed for specific repair of crit damage. Cure wounds spells might have been directly dumpable into crit repair for some effects.
I don't recall the body count being that much higher than any other AD&D game I played despite the use of those tables - but I seem to recall more odd permanent scarring.
I don't remember what he allowed for specific repair of crit damage. Cure wounds spells might have been directly dumpable into crit repair for some effects.
I don't recall the body count being that much higher than any other AD&D game I played despite the use of those tables - but I seem to recall more odd permanent scarring.
Alexander Kalinowski
Explorer
Well, Rolemaster is of course not for those who hate tables. That much is obvious. (Personally, I think anyone who considers himself a self-respecting nerd should not be afraid of tables but that's just me.) But I don't think that was the cumbersome part. What I could do without was the calculating of how much percentage of my round a certain action took. That dragged down the speed greatly at times.
Table lookups can be fairly speedy if they're at hand (and you should have the most common tables at hand in RM).
Table lookups can be fairly speedy if they're at hand (and you should have the most common tables at hand in RM).
trancejeremy
Adventurer
While fun, the thing with critical hits/fumbles is that player characters are going to be on the receiving end of more of them in the long run (since they are the ones in every combat) and with the unforgiving nature of the RM crits, they end up dying from them eventually. I think 3rd level was the highest we ever got in RM because of this.
And this was specially annoying since RM took a lot of work to make. Not only did you roll for a lot more stats, you had to roll potential stats. And skills were confusing.
And this was specially annoying since RM took a lot of work to make. Not only did you roll for a lot more stats, you had to roll potential stats. And skills were confusing.
The new version of RMU is going with an action point system, where you get 4 action points to spend each turn and different actions cost different amounts. I think it will speed the round up quite a bit.
These came up quite a bit in our games - if something emotionally shocking happened to a PC then that player might call for a roll on the Depression crit table, or the GM might instead make the call.
I prefer a game in which PCs are vulnerable emotionally/mentally (and not just to magic) as well as physically.
Mercule
Adventurer
I never played, or even read, Space Master, but that result sounds extremely familiar. So, I'd say it's in Rolemaster, somewhere. Probably one whatever table would be appropriate for something like Bigby's Crushing Hand.Forever shall the text for Blast Type E critical, 100, be seared into my mind: "Blast annihilates foes' entire skeleton. Foe is reduced to a gelatinous pulp. Try a spatula."
(Technically that was from Space Master, the sci-fi version of Rolemaster, but I bet the same existed somewhere within the Rolemaster crit tables)
Similar Threads
Related Articles
-
-
-
Freebies, Sales, and Charity Bundles for March 24, 2024- Started by Abstruse
- Replies: 4
-
RPG Crowdfunding News – Dolmen, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, Shadowdark, and more
- Started by Egg Embry
- Replies: 21
-
Freebies, Sales, and Charity Bundles for March 10, 2024
- Started by Abstruse
- Replies: 0