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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nisarg" data-source="post: 2140438" data-attributes="member: 19893">Given that the people who designed D&D 3rd have disavowed this "rolemaster-based" theory, I think its pretty safe to say that the idea of RM as a precursor to D&D is a fantasy/conspiracy theory cooked up in the minds of the Rolemaster fanatics that actually want to believe that their highly unpopular game is responsible for all that is good about the most popular game in the world.Tweet (and Monte Cook too, I believe) has stated repeatedly that the number one influence on D&D 3rd is ALL EARLIER EDITIONS OF D&D. That is the obvious and logical inspiration, not a rules-inflated monstrosity that barely anyone plays.Its been generally accepted as well that a distant second to earlier D&D editions are some of the intermediate rpgs like Gamma World 4th or Alternity (in both of which you can see many of the "innovations" some people here are attributing to RM).  Hell, GW 4th is so close to D20 that you could almost run it unconverted.  As for non-tsr games, the main influence would have to be Ars Magica, it had far more influence than any other rpg besides the ones mentioned above. So RM doesn't even make the top five.The only games RM has seriously influenced have been MERP and HARP, both of which are just RM-lite, and are pretty well only played by RM-fans.Nisarg</blockquote>