Rolemaster

Rolemaster
Designer(s)	Coleman Charlton, John Curtis, Pete Fenlon, Steve Marvin
Publisher(s)	Iron Crown Enterprises
Publication date	1980 (Arms Law); 1982 (Character Law); 1984 (first complete edition); 1999 (fourth edition)
Genre(s)	Fantasy
System(s)	Rolemaster Standard System

Rolemaster is a role-playing game published by Iron Crown Enterprises. Rolemaster has come in four separate editions; the third edition, first published in 1995, is also known as the Rolemaster Standard System (or RMSS for short). Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying (or RMFRP) was first published in 1999 as a reorganized edition of RMSS, and is largely compatible with that edition; the most recent publication of the Rolemaster rule set is Rolemaster Classic (RMC), a republished set of the second edition rules.^[1]

Basic game mechanics[edit]

Rolemaster uses two ten-sided dice

Rolemaster uses a percentile dice system and employs both classes (called "Professions" in Rolemaster) and levels to describe character capabilities and advancement.

Task resolution is done by rolling percentile dice, applying relevant modifiers, and looking the result up on the appropriate chart to determine the result. There are various charts to increase the realism of the results, but most of these are optional, and many rolls can be made on a relatively small number of tables.

Combat[edit]

For combat each character has an Offensive Bonus (OB), which takes into account one's natural physical adeptness, weapon skill, and other factors, and a Defensive Bonus (DB), which takes into account natural agility, the use of shields and "Adrenal Defense", the ability of martial artists to avoid blows seemingly without effort. In addition various modifiers for position, wounds, and other factors are present.

An attacking combatant rolls percentile dice, adds his or her OB to the total, adds modifiers, and subtracts the defender's DB; the total is then applied to a table for the attacker's weapon. The attack total is cross-indexed with the type of armor (if any) worn by the defender and the result will be a number of concussion hits dealt, which are then subtracted from the defender's running total. If sufficient hits are dealt, the defender may go unconscious, but death seldom results purely from concussion hit damage.

In addition to concussion hits, however, a critical hit can be dealt by the result on the weapon table; these are described by type (slash, crush, puncture, etc.) and by severity (generally A through E, with E being the most severe). Critical Hits (or simply "crits"), can inflict additional concussion hits, bleeding (subtracted from concussion hits at the start of each new round), broken bones, loss of limbs or extremities, internal organ damage and outright death. If a crit is inflicted, a second roll is made on the appropriate critical table.

Thus, unlike, for example, Dungeons & Dragons, Rolemaster describes wounds not only in the number of points of damage dealt (which are then subtracted from an abstract pool of 'Hit Points'), but with specific details of the injury inflicted. Death occurs, for both player characters and Gamemaster-controlled adversaries, primarily through this critical damage, and not through loss of hit points. In addition, specific injuries carry with them injury penalties, which inhibit further actions on the part of the wounded part, and loss of concussion hits (which represent overall health), can bring about similar penalties.

Almost all die rolls in Rolemaster are 'open-ended', meaning that if a result is high enough (or low enough), one rolls again and add (or subtract) the new roll to the original result - and this can happen multiple times, so in theory, there is no upper limit to how well (or poorly) one can roll; this means that a halfling does have a chance, albeit slight, to put down a troll with one well-placed (and lucky) dagger strike.

However, the fact that one's opponents also fight using these same rules can make Rolemaster a very deadly game for both PCs and NPCs; a lucky shot may let an inexperienced fighter slay a war-hardened veteran.

Fans of the system maintain that this adds a great deal of realism not present in many other fantasy games, and reflects the true deadliness of a well-placed strike from a weapon, even a small one such as a dagger. Death from natural weapons (such as a fist or an animal's teeth and claws) can happen but is very rare against armored combatants. Unarmored characters may very well suffer serious wounds when mauled by animals, but again this allows for more credible confrontations than in other fantasy games, where the threat posed by an "unfantastic" beast such as a wolf, grizzly bear, or tiger is considered minimal.

Because Rolemaster's approach to combat favors a warrior that is properly armed and armored, a character that is poorly equipped (as is typically the case with newly generated characters) is decidedly vulnerable; such characters can have a tough time prevailing against even fairly mundane opponents. This can prove frustrating for new players, and has given rise to hyperbolic tales of housecats cutting down promising young heroes in their prime.

Rolemaster is sometimes derisively called 'Chartmaster' or 'Rulemonster' for depending upon numerous tables and charts for character generation and resolving game actions, and for its perceived vast array of rules covering every possible situation. Supporters of the game argue that many of these rules and charts are entirely optional.

Character creation and development[edit]

Rolemaster is a skill-based system in which very few absolute restrictions on skill selection are employed. All character abilities (fighting, stealth, spell use, etc.) are ultimately handled through the skill system. A character's profession represents not a rigid set of abilities available to the character, but rather a set of natural proficiencies in numerous areas; these proficiencies are reflected in the cost to purchase the skills themselves.

Rolemaster characters have ten attributes, called "stats", which represent their natural abilities in such areas as physical strength, memory, self-discipline, agility. Both random and points-based methods for determining stat totals exist, but the final result will be a number on a percentile scale (1-100), which is then used to determine the character's skill bonus at actions which employ that stat. A self-governing system is in place also such that each skill closer to 100 is more costly than the last. Moving a skill from 50 to 51 is almost trivial; from 98 to 99 nigh impossible.

In character creation, and as characters advance in levels, Development Points are assigned, and can be used to purchase skills. In RMSS and RFRP, they can also be spent on Training Packages, which represent a specific bundle of skills, equipment and contacts gained through training; these are optional, and can be ignored if the player prefers to design his or her character entirely from the ground up.

Skills are purchased in Ranks; the more ranks a character has in a skill, the more able he is at actions covered by that skill; the number of ranks is multiplied by a set number dependent on the total number of ranks the character has, then added to the bonus for the relevant stats. The final number is the character's skill bonus, which is the number actually added to the dice when actions are attempted.

History[edit]

Over the years, a large number of products have been brought out for Rolemaster and it can be rather confusing to figure out which of these were put out for which version of the game and what books are needed to actually play.

There have been four versions of the game produced, which fall into two major groups with a fifth currently in the beta testing phase. First Edition and Second Edition Rolemaster belong to the first group, usually just referred to as RM2. There was then a fairly major revision to the game when the third version, Rolemaster Standard System was released (RMSS); this was then reorganized and very lightly revised into the fourth version, Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying (RMFRP). RMSS and RMFRP comprise the second group; the latest release of Rolemaster which was released for playtesting in September 2012 is an attempt to unify all previous versions of the game.

Products within one group tend to be almost 100% compatible with other products in the same group. Compatibility between the groups is also high, but problematic, especially in the case of RM2's vast array of optional rules, some of which will simply not work in RMSS or RMFRP without modification. Many of RM2's options were added as part of the RMSS/RMFRP core in different forms.

Rolemaster first and second editions[edit]

The term Rolemaster First Edition (RM1) is generally used to refer to the products released between 1980 and 1982, including the original versions of Arms Law, Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law and Campaign Law; these were available initially as individual books, and later as combined volumes (Character Law & Campaign Law and Arms Law & Claw Law were combined virtually unaltered into single books), and in boxed sets.

The original concept was to produce a series of modular supplements which could be used to replace portions of existing roleplaying games (in particular Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but also including other contemporary games such as RuneQuest, which was closer to Rolemaster in many respects than AD&D was). However, with the publication of Character Law, the full Rolemaster system became able to stand on its own as a distinct game system.

In 1984 the information in the books was expanded and revised and some of the books were combined and the material in them rearranged. An initial boxed set was brought out in 1984 which resembled the previous Spell Law and Arms Law/Claw Law boxed set but contained a new Spell Law, a combined Arms Law/Claw and the existing Character Law, as well as the Vog Mur campaign setting module.

A new boxed set was released shortly thereafter containing the combined Arms Law/Claw Law, the updated Spell Law and the combined Character Law/Campaign Law book, as well as The Cloudlords of Tanara, a detailed setting and adventure supplement which introduced ICE's original Loremaster setting, which would later develop into the more sophisticated Shadow World.

Several additional books were published from 1985 to 1988, including Rolemaster Companions 1, 2, and 3 and the first Creatures and Treasures book; the official start of the Second Edition Rolemaster series came with a Boxed Set (the so-called "Red Spine" set) containing redesigned editions of Arms Law & Claw Law, Spell Law, and Character Law & Campaign Law, all with red-bordered covers.

Technically, the products released between 1984 and 1988 are also First Edition Rolemaster products, but actual differences between RM1 and RM2 were slight (limited to a minor modification to the combat sequence, some rearranging of material, and a major graphical overhaul), and few (if any) compatibility issues ever arose.

This means that, in common parlance, the term "Rolemaster Second Edition" (RM2) is often used to refer everything published from 1984 to 1994. In particular, Rolemaster Companion II included the complete Skill list and descriptions section and Master Development Point Cost Tables as well as several Professions that are often considered the distinguishing features of Rolemaster Second Edition.

Numerous additional supplements were produced for the Second Edition, including "numbered" Companions 4-7, the Alchemy, Oriental, Elemental Spell Users' and Arms Companions, and two additional Creatures and Treasures volumes.

Much of this material, and the material that was published under the aegis of the first edition, took the form of optional and variant rules (some of which, like the greatly expanded skill system of Rolemaster Companion II, were widely adopted), and new professions and spell lists. Given this, many regarded RM2 as a toolkit for outfitting and developing one's own game; some variants even replaced whole sections of distinctively "Rolemaster" rules, such as the combat system, with more traditional systems closer to the line established by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Debate still persists over whether this toolkit approach was RM2's greatest asset or a terrible weakness. Ultimately it made for a very flexible system with a vast array of options, but could easily suffer from play balance problems if particular sets of rules were used together, since little effort was made to balance different variants against each other, and power creep in the later professions and spell lists was very much in evidence.

Rolemaster Standard System[edit]

In 1995 the game was revamped and re-released as Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS); the biggest changes were to Character Generation, particularly in the number of skills available and the way bonuses for the skills were calculated. Skills were now grouped into Categories of similar skills and one could buy ranks separately in the Category and the actual Skill; also the combat sequence was revised again, and some of the details of spellcasting were changed. The way Spell Lists were learned was completely overhauled and most of the Spell lists were adjusted and rebalanced; the actual method of attacking and adjudicating damage did not change much, and there weren't much more than cosmetic changes to the stats for Creatures and Monsters.

Like most changes, opinions on whether the changes were for the better or not vary widely; some fans really liked the changes, while others were unimpressed and elected to stick with the more familiar RM2. For the most part the objections from RM2 players had more to do with feeling that Rolemaster did not need such a radical overhaul, and disappointment over the fact that RM2 was no longer going to be supported as such.

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying[edit]

In 1999 the game underwent a slight restructuring when Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying (RMFRP) was released, but this was mostly a rearranging of material with very few changes to the rules themselves.

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying is the current edition of the Rolemaster rules, and is thus well-supported and easier for interested new players to pick up and try out. One positive change made in RMFRP was a single core book (Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying), containing a stripped-down version of the complete game, so that only one book was necessary for play. Arms Law adds additional Attack and Critical tables, while Character Law adds additional races, professions, skills and the full talent and flaw system.

RMFRP has broken the older single-volume Spell Law into three separate books, Of Essence, Of Channelling and Of Mentalism, each of which expands that realm of power with additional professions and spell lists, and expanding each spell list to 50th level spells. All of this material was previously available under RMSS as part of the single-volume Spell Law and the Rolemaster Standard Rules.

Rolemaster Classic[edit]

The problems that drove Iron Crown Enterprises into voluntary receivership^[2] also created problems with the intellectual property that was the RM1 and RM2 systems. Multiple parties owned the content of those original publications, so Iron Crown wasn't able to republish the originals; as a result, Iron Crown cleaned up and republished the RM2 rules with new typesetting and illustrations in 2007 as Rolemaster Classic (RMC). The core books of Rolemaster Classic are Character Law, Arms Law, and Spell Law.

Rolemaster Express[edit]

Iron Crown also published the core of the Rolemaster Classic rules, with most of the options removed, as Rolemaster Express; the company describes RMX as an experimental publication,^[3] designed to address the persistent criticism of Rolemaster as being too complex. Rolemaster Express is a single, 88-page book that contains everything necessary to play.

Unified Rolemaster[edit]

In September 2012 Iron Crown Enterprises announced the release of a new version of Rolemaster for playtesting. Known as Rolemaster Unified, the game is an attempt to combine the previous versions of the game into one system.

Reception[edit]

Rolemaster was ranked 15th in the 1996 reader poll of Arcane magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time; the UK magazine's editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Often used as an archetypal example of a complex roleplaying system, Rolemaster is a fairly numbers-heavy game that also relies on the use of a lot of tables. Most notable are its notorious 'critical hit' charts, which are subdivided by damage type and describe various horrific wounds in graphic detail. If you're looking for a highly detailed and fairly complex system, Rolemaster has a great deal to recommend it; the rules are fairly well organised and very flexible, easily adaptable to a wide variety of situations. On the other hand, if you're not one for tables and calculations, it's probably not going to ring your bell."^[4]