From: apj6796@tamsun.tamu.edu (Albert Paul Jimenez III)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Rolemaster
Date: 25 Jan 1993 21:17:40 -0600
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: tamsun.tamu.edu

RE: Wanted: General RM comments

Not to beat a dead horse, but the gripe about disorganization and the desire 
for a comprehensive 2nd edition is certainly there... or perhaps a different
publishing format (Thre's a game... uh... Acesof the Pacific or something... it
comes as a sheaf of standard 3-hole punched pages in a large binder... and the
supplements are bound, but also 3hold punched and meant to be split up and 
spread among the main book... so when there's a new 'Arm's Law Supplement' it
goes in the appropriate section, etc... just an idea )

The combat system (as far as skills & such) is the best I've seen so far, but
the round system is annoying (Yes, I use Second-by-Second, or simplified CEATS)
; main objections to 'rounds': 1) quicker people should be able to do things 
faster than slower people (ie. an assasin who's really quick should be able to
attack in less time than a slow-witted fighter in platemail) 2) This one's kind
of nebulous, and arguable: second by second is more interactive, and therefore
more roleplaying focused

All thru the books (well, in *some* places) computer software is mentioned that
was used to generate tables, etc... how about a public version!? ie. Arms law 
says it uses xx (13 I think) pieces of info about weapons to generate the basic
tables... how about lettin us have a copy so we can make our own tables....
A GM-screen-program would also be useful since many people have computers in
their living rooms or laptops that they could use as a gm screen.. use it
to keep track of all the data, xref on the billions of charts, crit & otherwise
and, for even players use, howabout a complete electronic spellbook? (note: 
this is the wish of a complete computer junkie so it may be slightly biased)
I've even considered writing stuff for my HP48SX calculator that would help me
keep track of hits, PP, hits/rd, time, etc... (ducked due to lack of time)..

Shadow world: Is pretty good; The Jaiman supplement seemed more interested in 
describing the quest for the crown than in describing Jaiman.  Emer is good, 
but lacking in the ability to give a good 'feel' of each area on the continent.
Everything is laid out in a very scientific fashion that conveys info that has
only minimal bearing on what the players will encounter when they go there...
Also, Emer is missing a description of the Vorloi race (Had to find it in a 
White Wolf mag) as well as their homeland the Isle of Jade (in the same mag,
tho) I recently picked up _Vog Mur_ & _The Iron Wind_, and they are *much*
more detailed as to racs and culture and *feel* than Emer & other stuff...
Also, I found a small flaw in the general magic-present level of the world:
***** WARNING SPOILER FOR 'THE ORGILLION HORROR' *****









The crypt in orgillion manor is chock full of lotsa really nice items... the 
'wand of light' for instance: (Free use of Light law to 9th, & Lightning Bolts
 that consume charges) that's one hell of a magic item! as compared to the rest
 of the supplements I've looked at (Star Crown Empire, Tales II, some others)
 seem to have a very low 'magic availability' level... 

Oh, general rolemaster: Runes & glyphs & symbols aren't expalined really well 
anywhere...(at least not in the basic stuff, CI-VI, SUC, C&TI-II, or EC)...
I mean, there's lotsa stuff for creating them & things, but how are they
triggered? how about triggered by unwilling targets? does anyone who sees a 
rune or glyph trigger it automatically, or is there a way to keep from doing
so, wor what? It's not spelled out anywhere that I can find.

Also, general RM seems to assume a low level of mathematical ability... limited
addition & multiplication, no concept of percentages, etc...
ie. stat gain rolls: they're basically what you rolled (d100) is the percentage
of the difference between temp & pot that you gain.. with a max gain of 15..
my group has stopped putting the max there & now calculates it directly...
(easy with a calculator).

'Til Andraax meets Schrek...
     --Paul





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