Metal, Magic, and Lore is a new fantasy role-playing game by Andrew D. Kozak and Vito J. Pandolfo, of 5th Epoch Publishing. It clocks in at a beefy 374 pages in a thick, solidly-built hardcover book. The text is clear and coherent. The art, apart from one color plate in the back of the book, is black and white. It’s clean, professional, realistic, and completely evocative of the style and sensibility of the game.
The book is divided into seven sections, six chapters of rules and some appendices. The first section is an introduction and overview of the game. This section feels immediately familiar, presenting humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings (hilfolk) in their customary Tolkienesque roles. The various races have fewer racial abilities than they do in other games and are overall less superpowered. Their cultures, however, are well-defined and distinct enough to make them interesting options for players.
The second section details character generation. There are nine primary attributes, ranged 1—20. These can be randomly generated or bought with numbers of points that vary according to the scale of campaign the GM wishes to run. There are some secondary characteristics requiring some calculation. Characters are then assigned percentile skills from a reasonably specific but not overwhelming list. Suggestions are offered for the numbers of skills and the ranges of starting skills for the players, based on the scale of the campaign, but final numbers are left to consensus among the GM and players. There are no classes or feats or talents or special abilities. Mechanically, characters are simple. There are a number of variations by race and enough detail for the character to feel unique and viable in the game world.
The third section, entitled Economy and Equipment, offers provisions and gear useful for characters. It opens with an attempt to ground the economy of the game world in actual principles of supply and demand. There are explanations of currency, the value of occupational tools, and quite a bit on mounts and beasts of burden. The section emphasizes realistic equipment for a medieval setting and encourages consideration of the character’s role in a vital economy.
The fourth section outlines options for armor and weapons. Armor appears to be a particular specialization of this game. There is a lot of detail in the armor system and a lot of explanation about exactly what each piece does and how it’s employed. It can seem overwhelming for a player used to worrying only about how many points of damage the character’s suit will soak. But this game attempts to immerse the players in details that would be important to characters in the fantasy world. Real flesh and blood characters would be intimately concerned with the use of their armor in life or death situations, and the game uses armor extensively to help ground the players in their characters’ reality. Weapons are detailed, and given some variation based on how different races regard their use. They aren’t given nearly the attention given to armor.
The fifth chapter contains the combat system. This is a dense chapter. Though MML is a full-featured role-playing game with concerns outside of combat, it clearly regards combat as Serious Business. It’s detailed and deadly, striving for a level of realism comparable to the rest of the game. As deadly as it is, it’s not surprising that the game would go into close, crisp detail. An elaborate initiative system uses a countdown mechanic to offer fast characters multiple actions in combat without resorting to phases. Attacks and defenses are resolved with percentile skills. A matrix determines the likelihood of hitting a particular location based on the type of attack and defense. The hit location system is highly detailed, but cleverly engineered, easily accounting for called shots or differences in elevation between combatants. Damage is differentiated by type. Hit points are deducted from specific locations, and severe wounds penalize appropriate actions. Wound severity is based on the number of hit points lost, leaving the GM to adjudicate fussy details like blood loss or broken bones. There are a number of tactics that can affect melee and a number of details like fatigue and knockdown that a careful player will consider. Despite this detail, combat in play is swift and efficient. Many of the details are completed during character generation, and only a couple charts are frequently referenced during play.
The sixth and final chapter explains the magic system. Magic available to players includes wizardry, elementalism, and symbol magic, a kind of arcane geometry. Magic is skill-based, with a number of spells and spell-like effects offered for each school. Several factors affect magic, including some interesting gender-based differences. A matrix is offered to determine the effects of opposed magic. Careful players will be aware of these considerations and will marshal strength. Magic is definitely potent in MML, but it doesn’t carry the same cosmic reality warping potential as magic in other games. As with the other sections of this book, magic is detailed to the degree that it would be pragmatic and useful to the characters that use it. More information and several more schools of magic are scheduled for future releases.
There isn’t anything about this game I don’t like. In fact, it suits my preferences, my style of play, and my sensibilities as a GM perfectly. However, I’ve been around the block enough times to see some things that are going to bother or perplex some people. The following items are noted not as flaws, but simply as aspects of the game that are going to appeal to some players and not others.
No index. This is the hot new thing to complain about with game books. MML does not have an index, but it does have a detailed heading number convention, similar to a web document or a technical manual. I haven’t had any problem finding rules or flipping for charts.
No GM advice. MML presently consists only of its basic book. Though there are other books planned, it has to stand alone on its players’ book. There is more than adequate information to support the creation of detailed, distinct characters, and specific rules for enough situations to create very involved and satisfying scenarios. But there are no monsters, no evil schools of magic, no NPC races or guidelines, no rules for character development, none of the stuff you expect in a GM’s book or section of a book. Some of this information is offered on the company’s website, but for a book this size, this is a little surprising. The players’ information has detailed, logical, and consistent enough to for me to infer the additional information I’ve needed as a GM. But other GMs will find the lack of information frustrating.
No “hazards” rules. Several unfortunate events can befall characters in a scenario that aren’t combat. They can fall, drown, become sick, pull muscles, and be struck by venomous snakes. So far, I’ve found the character attribute system robust enough to logically cover these contingencies. As a GM, I determine the amount of damage coming at a character, offer a chance for players to roll an attribute to avoid or mitigate this damage and adjudicate the result. But I’ve been running games for 30 years and it comes easy to me. Novice GMs would feel more supported with guidelines for making these kinds of determinations.
No “overland travel” rules. The book provides plenty of information about how heavily laden a number of different draught animals can be, cost of feeding and maintaining them, and uses to which the various races put them. But there are no rules governing the average length of time necessary for long voyages, over land or sea. In fact, the map of the default setting isn’t keyed for distance. Again, as a GM, I’m very comfortable setting these values and ranges myself, and this information would be better contained in a GM’s book. But players that love these kinds of games tend to want this sort of information.
Charts and Tables. I don’t know why anyone hates charts and tables. They’re an efficient and useful way to organize information. Love them or hate them, MML relies on a large number of charts. Most are only used during character generation, but some are frequently consulted in play. Aging grognard that I am, I found no difficulty in scanning the charts I needed in play and putting them on a GM screen. Others, traumatized by the thrice-nested charts in RoleMaster will certainly complain that the game is dense and unwieldy. The fussy bits of combat are completed during character generation, though, so in actual play, combat is smooth and easy.
“Roll Under” mechanics. Rolling under an attribute or skill level on a die that represents the approximate range of humanoid capability is a time-honored, logical, and intuitive means of resolving tasks. But some players have never been able to wrap their minds around the convention that rolling low can be good. Others prefer to play with an open-ended mechanic where the dice can yield results outside the approximate range of humanoid capability, offering potentially superheroic results. This definitely runs counter to the brutally realistic spirit of MML. The lack of high-level magic or super powered feats and abilities will further be disappointing to some.
In summary, MML is a detailed, realistic-feeling fantasy role-playing game that will offer a rich, engaging challenge to players that want to feel like they are actually living, surviving, and trying to thrive in a tough, unforgiving fantasy world. The basic book provides an excellent foundation for the system, and offers experienced GMs enough material to run rudimentary scenarios. However, even a substantial book cannot offer all the material every GM would want and cover it with the comprehensive detail MML uses. While its emphasis on realism is perhaps not for everyone, the game definitely fills a neglected niche in fantasy gaming and fans will be eagerly anticipating more installments in the system.
More information can be found at:
http://www.metalmagicandlore.com/Home.aspx
Review Summary