Games of my youth... and Rolemaster Express

[JoeGKushner]

My friends and I enjoyed some of the material in D&D but stopped using a lot of the material due to the high damage/critical output.

However, we also enjoyed Rolemaster for its own material and often mixed things form Shadow World, which was set in the Spacemaster Setting, along with the Dark Space book. That was a time when I actually did some writing that wound up in Gray Worlds fanazine and the in one of the companions. Worked out fantastic for me because I used the money as credit and nicely filled out my Hero/Rolemaster collection since they were both under one house.

Our biggest problem, and it may have been me as the GM, was getting the characters to a high enough level where a random encounter wouldn't be so terrible in aspect. I remember one of my friends had something like a 9th level baskar and he was fighting a wraith. It's cold aura rolled open ended and froze his brain! He was not happy.

Unlike earlier editions of D&D, character creation was NOT a snap and could be quite time consuming. The advancement of characters was also somewhat difficult to track if your a control freak like I can be sometimes due to the unstatic nature of development points which could vary with your development stats.

Rolemaster Express seems a good step to introduce players to the wonder of ye old Rolemaster.

 

[MerricB]

I recall the spell system as fine, and one of the questions you should ask is why would someone cast a spell of the same level?

But you can't in RM Express. You are limited to your level or under... and there is no 1st level attacking spell for the Magician.

When I say dreadful design, I mean it. The rest of the game looks quite playable - but this oversight makes a mockery of the goals of the release.

 

[Rel]

But you can't in RM Express. You are limited to your level or under... and there is no 1st level attacking spell for the Magician.

When I say dreadful design, I mean it. The rest of the game looks quite playable - but this oversight makes a mockery of the goals of the release.

Interesting. I should be perfectly clear that I know not the first thing about RM Express.

But yes, in RM2 and RMSS, casting spells higher than your level was pretty typical. Doing so by only a couple levels was risky but a fairly safe gamble if you did everything else right*. Casting spells five levels above you was major league Russian Roulette. But if you were up against heavy opposition then it might be your best option.




*One of my problems with RM was that "doing everything else right" was kind of un-fun. Basically the default assumption was that, for a spell of your level, you would prepare a spell for two rounds and cast it on the third. You took penalties to your casting roll for casting spells above your level but could offset these penalties by taking more time to cast the spell. This was perfectly fine outside of combat because you'd just say, "I spend a minute or two in concentration and then cast this spell..." But spending 5 or 6 rounds in combat where, on your turn you say, "I'm still preparing my spell," was boring.

 

[ashockney]

Rel speaks truth, as usual. I agree on all points.

MerricB, that is horrible about RM express. Hysterical, and would seem to be an obvious oversight. Rule zero has never been more needed.

Good gaming!

 

[Korgoth]

Given the limb-severing mayhem of RM melee combat, how could anyone resist playing a fighting man anyway?

 

[MerricB]

Given the limb-severing mayhem of RM melee combat, how could anyone resist playing a fighting man anyway?

The spell crits are also pretty amusing.

Cheers!