awayfarer said:
Thats interesting. It takes my group only 5 minutes to get through 7 rounds of combat when I run Rolemaster. Although that was my first on-line group. My second, the last rolemaster combat I did took about 4 minutes (but the combat only went one round then).
You see, there are short cuts. I completely understand why you aren't seeing them. You see, my job as Gamemaster is to see that my players are properly entertained. If that means ignoring 90% of the rules in both games, then thats what it means. I've honestly run sessions for both games where no dice have been rolled the whole session.
But taking a look at both games and how they've grown, D&D has grown a lot bigger than Rolemaster over the years. And even the mechanics in Rolemaster Core and D&D Core are exactly the same size. It's just that Rolemaster has less mechanics in its Core than D&D does.
D&D has described lots of conditions, lots of actions in the PHB that you could take. RM does not have these listed. No AoCs, Bull Rushes, no rules for any of that. Arms Law, Spell Law, and Character Law might be bigger than the whole PHB put together. However, you won't find any of the descriptions of extra actions that are taken.
Rolemaster looks big, but its smaller than D&D because it is simpler in my experience. I dare say, you are the only one that is making Rolemaster more complicated than it has to be. I might be making D&D more complicated than it is in your eyes.
But then, I ignore 99% of the rules in both systems when I run them, only invoking a needed rule when the occasion arises. So, honestly, both games can be as complicated or as simple as we desire them to be in our hearts. So, please don't wave your credentials around as if you have superior experience.
