That is the only Rolemaster I have ever had a chance to run. I liked it.MERP 2e. I've owned it multiple times over the years, but could never find a group of people willing to give it a chance.
Ah, good ol' Phoenix Command. With it's optional book of 63 different hit locations. I too at the time thought that would be excellently cool and realistic. Perhaps it's fortunate I never played/ran it and thus could keep that illusion intact.And that's when it hit me. I did know this combat system. It wasn't the same, but it was really similar. A year prior, a friend of mine had roped us into playing Phoenix Command. This was a modified Phoenix Command combat system. Oh noes ... We had this great scenario set up, and it was an exciting 45 minutes, and then there was a combat .... and the next two hours (which was less than thirty seconds, I think, game time) was a horror show in all senses of the word.
I wonder: is the problem just the difficulty in doing all the rolling? If so, it seems like apps or VTTs could solve that and RPGs with crunchy, granular combat would make a resurgence.Ah, good ol' Phoenix Command. With it's optional book of 63 different hit locations. I too at the time thought that would be excellently cool and realistic. Perhaps it's fortunate I never played/ran it and thus could keep that illusion intact.
(To be clear, even without playing I no longer have that illusion...)
I wonder: is the problem just the difficulty in doing all the rolling? If so, it seems like apps or VTTs could solve that and RPGs with crunchy, granular combat would make a resurgence.