The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The RoleMaster Standard System 2nd Revision (RMSS) represents Iron Crown Enterprise's (ICE) attempt to make RoleMaster more approachable to new gamers. It gets about half way there.

One of the things that made RMSS hard for new players to use was extreme complexity. The layout of the three main books was somewhat chaotic and all three were necessary in order to play the game. Many of the rules were hard to understand and poorly explained. There were no gaming aids to speak of; the closest thing available being Shadow World that had some interesting ideas, but not in creating adventures for starting PC's.

The new revision improves a few of these areas. The layout is more logical, making it easier to find the required charts. All of the basic information from Character Law, Arms Law, and Spell Law has been integrated into one book, which is an improvement.

Even the text is better. There are more examples in the book explaining the more complex rules so most gamers will be able to use pretty much all of them if they care to. Of course, using all of them would make the game completely unplayable. There are still far too many rules.

The detail of the game holds a lot of appeal for those who desire realism, but ICE has, gone overboard and added a lot of detail which makes the game harder to digest than necessary. For example, what is the point in having math and advanced math in a game designed around a medieval technology level? This is a world where calculus hasn't been invented so advanced math just makes the list of skills longer without adding anything to game play. The same holds for ballistics, physics, and astrogation. Many of these skills could have been compressed into one or two general-purpose skills without sacrificing game play, which should be the primary goal of the game system. Realism is a plus, but this is a fantasy game, realism should not be the only goal.

The spells are another area where ICE dropped the ball. The list system has some advantages when it comes to balancing the power of spellcasters relative to each other, but it also leads to a lot of repetition. Nearly every spell list contains at least one or two spells that appear more than once - first there is a firebolt, then later a firebolt with longer range, etc. This has a tendency to lessen the appeal of the magic system; it doesn't encourage people to experiment with creating new spells and modifying existing spells, even though there are rules for doing both in the rules. Still, creating new spells and tweaking existing ones is not something that is easy to balance. It would not be a loss to newcomers if these rules didn't exist, which is probably why they are so de-emphasized in the new revision.

The new revision also limits its spell lists to up to 10th level. This has the effect of turning long time fans away. In a game that is based on a 1st to 20th level power scale stopping at 10th is somewhat limiting. Even if people won't be playing at those high levels, it's nice for world designers because it gives them ideas about what more powerful NPC's can do.

The hit and critical system in RMSS requires a lot of tables. It is a rich system, but fails to take into account things like called shots, which discourages quite a few gamers. Making the hit location matter makes the system more interesting and realistic, but not being able to choose the location takes some of the fun out of combat. It also takes away some of the opportunities for role-playing by reducing combat to dice rolls. The other disadvantage of those tables is that there are a lot of them, which is why RM gets its nickname 'chartmaster'. In RM's defense, however, the damage models are pretty realistic. Armor gets realistic treatment, wearing it makes PC's easier to hit, but absorbs some of the damage. Some types of armor are more effective against certain types of attacks. For example, leather armor is better than metal armor if your opponent is using electricity, but not if your opponent is using fire.

The martial arts (Karate, Aikido, etc) system is mediocre, but this is not an easy thing to model. There are a large number of martial arts styles out there, and it's obvious from reading the books that no one on the design team at ICE has actually practiced any of them. In any case, the rules for this are unnecessarily complex and difficult to put into practice.

The biggest problem with RMSS 2nd edition is nothing new - there is nothing in the game to help a new GM start a campaign. D&D has a plethora of modules to play with, many of which a GM can pick up and run almost immediately. There are none such for RM. Some of the older Shadow World modules have adventure ideas, but most of the Shadow World is so high-level that new PC's and GM's won't be able to do anything with it. Without ICE's support, Shadow World seems to be fading, and ICE doesn't seem to be in any great hurry to rectify that deficiency, instead developing more and more rules that no one will be able to use.

RM could be a very good system if ICE were to take some time to simplify it and create a worthwhile campaign world. There is one in the works from what I understand, but it doesn't sound like it's going to be available anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong, and I hope it's a good one, there are not a lot of gaming systems out there that allow players to create characters that are almost completely unique, and play them with a combat system that is both rich and realistic. It's hard to get used to playing with pure hit point based systems after reading some of the more amusing critical hits that RM offers.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying
Author: John Curtis Category: game Company/Publisher: ICE Line: Rolemaster Cost: $30 Page count: 256 ISBN: 1-55806-550-4 Capsule Review by Rakesh Malik on 02/16/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	The RoleMaster Standard System 2nd Revision (RMSS) represents Iron Crown Enterprise's (ICE) attempt to make RoleMaster more approachable to new gamers. It gets about half way there. One of the things that made RMSS hard for new players to use was extreme complexity. The layout of the three main books was somewhat chaotic and all three were necessary in order to play the game. Many of the rules were hard to understand and poorly explained. There were no gaming aids to speak of; the closest thing available being Shadow World that had some interesting ideas, but not in creating adventures for starting PC's. The new revision improves a few of these areas. The layout is more logical, making it easier to find the required charts. All of the basic information from Character Law, Arms Law, and Spell Law has been integrated into one book, which is an improvement. Even the text is better. There are more examples in the book explaining the more complex rules so most gamers will be able to use pretty much all of them if they care to. Of course, using all of them would make the game completely unplayable. There are still far too many rules. The detail of the game holds a lot of appeal for those who desire realism, but ICE has, gone overboard and added a lot of detail which makes the game harder to digest than necessary. For example, what is the point in having math and advanced math in a game designed around a medieval technology level? This is a world where calculus hasn't been invented so advanced math just makes the list of skills longer without adding anything to game play. The same holds for ballistics, physics, and astrogation. Many of these skills could have been compressed into one or two general-purpose skills without sacrificing game play, which should be the primary goal of the game system. Realism is a plus, but this is a fantasy game, realism should not be the only goal. The spells are another area where ICE dropped the ball. The list system has some advantages when it comes to balancing the power of spellcasters relative to each other, but it also leads to a lot of repetition. Nearly every spell list contains at least one or two spells that appear more than once - first there is a firebolt, then later a firebolt with longer range, etc. This has a tendency to lessen the appeal of the magic system; it doesn't encourage people to experiment with creating new spells and modifying existing spells, even though there are rules for doing both in the rules. Still, creating new spells and tweaking existing ones is not something that is easy to balance. It would not be a loss to newcomers if these rules didn't exist, which is probably why they are so de-emphasized in the new revision. The new revision also limits its spell lists to up to 10th level. This has the effect of turning long time fans away. In a game that is based on a 1st to 20th level power scale stopping at 10th is somewhat limiting. Even if people won't be playing at those high levels, it's nice for world designers because it gives them ideas about what more powerful NPC's can do. The hit and critical system in RMSS requires a lot of tables. It is a rich system, but fails to take into account things like called shots, which discourages quite a few gamers. Making the hit location matter makes the system more interesting and realistic, but not being able to choose the location takes some of the fun out of combat. It also takes away some of the opportunities for role-playing by reducing combat to dice rolls. The other disadvantage of those tables is that there are a lot of them, which is why RM gets its nickname 'chartmaster'. In RM's defense, however, the damage models are pretty realistic. Armor gets realistic treatment, wearing it makes PC's easier to hit, but absorbs some of the damage. Some types of armor are more effective against certain types of attacks. For example, leather armor is better than metal armor if your opponent is using electricity, but not if your opponent is using fire. The martial arts (Karate, Aikido, etc) system is mediocre, but this is not an easy thing to model. There are a large number of martial arts styles out there, and it's obvious from reading the books that no one on the design team at ICE has actually practiced any of them. In any case, the rules for this are unnecessarily complex and difficult to put into practice. The biggest problem with RMSS 2nd edition is nothing new - there is nothing in the game to help a new GM start a campaign. D&D has a plethora of modules to play with, many of which a GM can pick up and run almost immediately. There are none such for RM. Some of the older Shadow World modules have adventure ideas, but most of the Shadow World is so high-level that new PC's and GM's won't be able to do anything with it. Without ICE's support, Shadow World seems to be fading, and ICE doesn't seem to be in any great hurry to rectify that deficiency, instead developing more and more rules that no one will be able to use. RM could be a very good system if ICE were to take some time to simplify it and create a worthwhile campaign world. There is one in the works from what I understand, but it doesn't sound like it's going to be available anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong, and I hope it's a good one, there are not a lot of gaming systems out there that allow players to create characters that are almost completely unique, and play them with a combat system that is both rich and realistic. It's hard to get used to playing with pure hit point based systems after reading some of the more amusing critical hits that RM offers. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 3 (Average)

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying