Rolemaster Unified Releasing December 3rd

[Hurin70]

raises hand

I left Rolemaster about 25 years ago (something standard system?) What are the highlights in changes/updates/evolution of the game...

I think then that you were playing Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS for short). That's the second main incarnation of the game (the first being RM1 and RM2, very similar editions commonly just called RM2).

The big news is the publication of RMU, the third main edition of the game. It is an attempt to take what was best of previous editions and provide a new, supported edition.

The RMU Core Law book was published on 3 December 2022; Spell Law followed in March of 2023; Treasure Law in 2024; and now Creature Law I in 2025. They are available for purchase on DriveThruRpg: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/416633/Rolemaster-Core-Law-RMU

Future books are already in production. These include (in roughly pipeline order):

--The Character Companion, which adds new Arms classes (professions), fighting styles and talents, and more detail on skills.

--Creature Law II, with the more exotic creatures and rules for making and levelling your own creatures (archetypes).

--The Wilderness Companion, with new wilderness-focused professions and spells lists.

--The Arcane Companion, which reintroduces Arcane Magic.

RMU also has excellent VTT support now, on Roll20 and Foundry.

As for rules themselves: RMU plays much like earlier editions, though it does make an effort to clean up some of the problems with earlier editions and eliminate unnecessary complexities. For example, when you make a spell attack, instead of checking two separate charts (Base Attack Roll and RR chart), you just roll your Spell Casting Roll (no chart needed) and that sets the target number the defender needs to roll on their RR to succeed. So instead of two different charts, you need none.

Similarly, RMU reduces the number of armor types from 20 to 10, but in a way that actually makes more different types of armor possible. In previous editions, each basic genre of armor actually spanned 4 armor types: e.g. Chain was actually Armor Types 13-16, but really, 13 was just a chain shirt, 14 was a shirt with some greaves, 16 was full suit, etc. So, RMU now just has one Armor Type for chain (AT 8), and the coverage issue is solved by you being able to decide which specific parts of your body have armor on them (head, torso, arms, legs). Thus, RMU actually has 10 different types of armor rather than 5 types with different body coverage. They have at once streamlined the game but also opened it up to allow more types of armor (e.g. Lamellar, Brigandine, Scale).

Overall, then, RMU is considerably more playable (IMHO) while still retaining virtually all the granularity of previous editions.

 

[Clint_L]

Rolemaster was the first major campaign I ran post-D&D1e. I am looking forward to seeing how it has aged.

 

[Laurefindel]

I think then that you were playing Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS for short). That's the second main incarnation of the game (the first being RM1 and RM2, very similar editions commonly just called RM2).

The big news is the publication of RMU, the third main edition of the game. It is an attempt to take what was best of previous editions and provide a new, supported edition.

The RMU Core Law book was published on 3 December 2022; Spell Law followed in March of 2023; Treasure Law in 2024; and now Creature Law I in 2025. They are available for purchase on DriveThruRpg: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/416633/Rolemaster-Core-Law-RMU

Future books are already in production. These include (in roughly pipeline order):

--The Character Companion, which adds new Arms classes (professions), fighting styles and talents, and more detail on skills.

--Creature Law II, with the more exotic creatures and rules for making and levelling your own creatures (archetypes).

--The Wilderness Companion, with new wilderness-focused professions and spells lists.

--The Arcane Companion, which reintroduces Arcane Magic.

RMU also has excellent VTT support now, on Roll20 and Foundry.

As for rules themselves: RMU plays much like earlier editions, though it does make an effort to clean up some of the problems with earlier editions and eliminate unnecessary complexities. For example, when you make a spell attack, instead of checking two separate charts (Base Attack Roll and RR chart), you just roll your Spell Casting Roll (no chart needed) and that sets the target number the defender needs to roll on their RR to succeed. So instead of two different charts, you need none.

Similarly, RMU reduces the number of armor types from 20 to 10, but in a way that actually makes more different types of armor possible. In previous editions, each basic genre of armor actually spanned 4 armor types: e.g. Chain was actually Armor Types 13-16, but really, 13 was just a chain shirt, 14 was a shirt with some greaves, 16 was full suit, etc. So, RMU now just has one Armor Type for chain (AT 8), and the coverage issue is solved by you being able to decide which specific parts of your body have armor on them (head, torso, arms, legs). Thus, RMU actually has 10 different types of armor rather than 5 types with different body coverage. They have at once streamlined the game but also opened it up to allow more types of armor (e.g. Lamellar, Brigandine, Scale).

Overall, then, RMU is considerably more playable (IMHO) while still retaining virtually all the granularity of previous editions.

Ah crud, I didn't realize I was replying to a four years old post… thanks for the detailed answer though, I’m gonna give it a good look!

 

[SkidAce]

I didn't realize it was an old post either, but its very fortuitous for me that it was...

A noob DnD player was talking about other systems that his friends had "discovered" and asked me what versions of "DnD" I had played.

I chuckled and stared at him and said "all of them". He goes "oh, have you played Rolemaster?"

I busted out laughing (in a good way) and he said "whats funny?" "Charts" I said. (I had played RM 1/2)

But then we talked about the differences and the grit, and the focus. Sounds like he and his friends will have a good time, they have ALL the RM pdfs are are planning a session to build characters soon.

BL: I showed them the link, thinking a revised version was being released, but lo and behold, its years old and all the books are available! They seemed even more excited about that.

Lucky necro....

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes, Spell Law should be coming out shortly after the Core book, as it is already laid out. Treasure Law will be a bit further out. Unfortunately, there are no hard dates for those yet.

Did they ever release Creature Law II?

 

[Hurin70]

Did they ever release Creature Law II?

It is in the publication pipeline, after Character Companion (I'm not exactly sure where Arcane Companion will fit into that pipeline though).

Creature Law I has all the basic creatures, and is quite comprehensive, so we do have enough to play. But Creature Law II will have both the strange/exotic creatures and the rules for creating creatures, so it will be a bit before you get those. ICE has recognized that their pipeline has moved too slowly and they have taken steps to speed it up, though, so hopefully not too long.

 

[Hurin70]

I didn't realize it was an old post either, but its very fortuitous for me that it was...

A noob DnD player was talking about other systems that his friends had "discovered" and asked me what versions of "DnD" I had played.

I chuckled and stared at him and said "all of them". He goes "oh, have you played Rolemaster?"

I busted out laughing (in a good way) and he said "whats funny?" "Charts" I said. (I had played RM 1/2)

But then we talked about the differences and the grit, and the focus. Sounds like he and his friends will have a good time, they have ALL the RM pdfs are are planning a session to build characters soon.

BL: I showed them the link, thinking a revised version was being released, but lo and behold, its years old and all the books are available! They seemed even more excited about that.

Lucky necro....

That's awesome!

My one bit of important advice for them is this: Core Law presents two different options for how to handle the action economy, and another two for how to handle player movement. While all the options are roughly compatible, two options are much easier for first-time players to understand (and much less complicated). So, I strongly recommend that first time players choose one of two options for each of the two:

--For the action economy, don't use the 'Phased Round', but rather the 'Faster Rounds' (aka 'Simple Round') option. In the Simple Round, each character spends all 4 of his action points at once (i.e. takes all their actions for the round) at once, and then you move on to the next character in the initiative order. This is similar to the D&D/Pathfinder system.
Core Law also outlines a more detailed system whereby each character only spends 1 AP at a time before moving on to the next character. You can definitely do this if you want a very gritty, tactical system that gives characters more of a chance to react to what other characters do; but it also slows the game down a lot, so I recommend just going with Faster/Simple Rounds to start.

--Similarly, Core Law outlines two options for handling movement. In one system, you just spend action points simply: each action point you spend on movement allows you to move up to your movement rate (BMR, or Base Movement Rate). This is similar to the PF2e system, and I've found players pick it up quickly.
Core Law also outlines another roughly compatible option, where players choose a 'pace' (walk, jog, sprint, etc.) and take a correlating penalty to actions in the round. This system again is more granular and more like previous RM editions, so you can definitely use it; but it is more complicated and likewise slows down play because players will often need to consult a chart to see how far they can move in any given phase.

So, I strongly recommend new players choose the two simpler options for actions and movement.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It is in the publication pipeline, after Character Companion (I'm not exactly sure where Arcane Companion will fit into that pipeline though).

Creature Law I has all the basic creatures, and is quite comprehensive, so we do have enough to play. But Creature Law II will have both the strange/exotic creatures and the rules for creating creatures, so it will be a bit before you get those. ICE has recognized that their pipeline has moved too slowly and they have taken steps to speed it up, though, so hopefully not too long.

Thanks! I've been fascinated with Rolemaster since the old MERP days (the first non-D&D RPG I ever read), and picked up Core, Spell, Creature, and Treasure Law at the Iron Crown booth at Gen Con last year. Haven't had a chance to play it yet and would love to get into a game.