From: "Grover C. Browning" Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Rolemaster: Version Question Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 10:01:28 -0500 Organization: Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis,IN Lines: 25 Message-ID: <8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: 134.68.11.82 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.indiana.edu!news.iupui.edu!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:8001 I've selling about 80 GURPS books on eBay, so I have a little cash to spend. I'm thinking about purchasing some Rolemaster items, but I have a few questions about the game. Actually, it all boils down to one point. I'm TOTALLY confused about Rolemaster versions. As far as I can tell, there are at least two versions. One is the "current" version, marked by a black border around the books. The second is an older version marked (it seems) by a variety of covers that mainly use pstel colors. Am I correct here? Are the versions anything alike? If someone has some time, I'd appreciate a primer on "Rolemaster: The Different Versions, How to tell them apart, and why you want version ." (I'm pretty much only interested in the Fantasy aspects of the game, I plan on still using GURPS for my modern Shoot-em-up games.) Thanks! Grov gcbrowni@iu.edu ###### From: ichabod@dmtcorp.com (Ichabod) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Rolemaster: Version Question Message-ID: References: <8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu> Organization: DMT X-Newsreader: MT-NewsWatcher 2.4.4 Lines: 54 Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 15:42:39 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.174.13.181 X-Complaints-To: abuse@adelphia.net X-Trace: news1.news.adelphia.net 960219759 216.174.13.181 (Mon, 05 Jun 2000 11:42:39 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 11:42:39 EDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!newsfeed.direct.ca!router1.news.adelphia.net!news.hyperioncom.net!news1.news.adelphia.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:7990 In article <8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu>, "Grover C. Browning" wrote: > I've selling about 80 GURPS books on eBay, so I have a little cash to spend. > I'm thinking about purchasing some Rolemaster items, but I have a few > questions about the game. > > Actually, it all boils down to one point. I'm TOTALLY confused about > Rolemaster versions. As far as I can tell, there are at least two versions. > One is the "current" version, marked by a black border around the books. The > second is an older version marked (it seems) by a variety of covers that > mainly use pstel colors. > > Am I correct here? Are the versions anything alike? There are really three "versions" of Rolemaster out there. First is RM2, the old totally out of print version. These are the covers where the art goes all the way to the edge of the cover, and includes all 7 "Rolemaster Companions." The base rules are in Arms Law, Spell Law, and Character Law. The companions are just collections of optional rules. Next is RMSS, the mostly out of print version. These are the covers where there is a border of brownish-black marble pattern. The base rules are in Rolemaster Standard Rules, Arms Law, and Spell Law. There were several changes made for this edition: point based stats, skill categories to better handle similar skills, removal of division, reworking of the turn sequence, and some others I can't recall. Also, rather than put out a series of companions with optional rules for all parts of the game, the companions are centered around one part: martial arts, one of the realms of magic, treasure, etc. The current version is RMFRP. These are the covers with the red marble pattern border on the cover. The base rules are in Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying. Note that this is a subset of the base rules in RMSS: not all of the weapon tables, not all of the proffessions, not all of the spells. It does however contain everything you need to get started. This was the whole idea behind RMFRP, it is less a new edition than a repackaging of RMSS. The only significant change was in the way talents and flaws are handled. To get all the professions, attack tables and such from RMSS, you would need to also get Arms Law, Of Essence, Of Channeling, of Mentalism, and Character Law (all that actually gives you a little extra, since talents/flaws were a companion in RMSS). Note that Spell Law was divided into the three "of" books, so that players only had to buy the one book for the realm of their character. Ichabod Official RM Rules Dude ###### Reply-To: "Michael T. Richter" From: "Michael T. Richter" Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc References: <8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu> Subject: Re: Rolemaster: Version Question Lines: 34 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2014.211 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2014.211 Message-ID: <5XP_4.66$cg1.34192@198.235.216.4> Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 15:46:09 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.101.128.170 X-Trace: 198.235.216.4 960219969 204.101.128.170 (Mon, 05 Jun 2000 11:46:09 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 11:46:09 EDT Organization: Bell Solutions Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!torn!nf1.mgmt.sympatico.ca!news1.bellglobal.com!198.235.216.4.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:8036 Grover C. Browning wrote in message news:8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu... > Actually, it all boils down to one point. I'm TOTALLY confused about > Rolemaster versions. As far as I can tell, there are at least two versions. > One is the "current" version, marked by a black border around the books. The > second is an older version marked (it seems) by a variety of covers that > mainly use pstel colors. > Am I correct here? Are the versions anything alike? > If someone has some time, I'd appreciate a primer on "Rolemaster: The > Different Versions, How to tell them apart, and why you want version > ." > (I'm pretty much only interested in the Fantasy aspects of the game, I plan > on still using GURPS for my modern Shoot-em-up games.) There is only one form of Rolemaster currently available from ICE: Rolemaster Fantasy Role-Playing (RFRP). There is also The Standard System (RMSS), but its core books are no longer in print and the only books left conform to the reinvented status (http://www.ironcrown.com/rmss_page.htm) of "a series of Rolemaster products designed to plug in to variety of game settings and systems". Distinguishing between the older RMSS rule books and the newer RFRP books is a bit of a bitch. The easiest way to distinguish between them is to look for the RFRP logo -- a graphic bit with a shield and three weapons radiating from its centre. (See http://www.ironcrown.com/rmfrp_page.htm at the top for an example.) All of the RFRP books have that logo at the top left. ###### From: ichabod@dmtcorp.com (Ichabod) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Rolemaster: Version Question Message-ID: References: <8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu> <5XP_4.66$cg1.34192@198.235.216.4> Organization: DMT X-Newsreader: MT-NewsWatcher 2.4.4 Lines: 35 Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 17:00:15 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 216.174.13.181 X-Complaints-To: abuse@adelphia.net X-Trace: news1.news.adelphia.net 960224415 216.174.13.181 (Mon, 05 Jun 2000 13:00:15 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 13:00:15 EDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!logbridge.uoregon.edu!router1.news.adelphia.net!news.hyperioncom.net!news1.news.adelphia.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:7992 In article <5XP_4.66$cg1.34192@198.235.216.4>, "Michael T. Richter" wrote: > Grover C. Browning wrote in message > news:8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu... > > Actually, it all boils down to one point. I'm TOTALLY confused about > > Rolemaster versions. As far as I can tell, there are at least two > versions. > > One is the "current" version, marked by a black border around the books. > The > > second is an older version marked (it seems) by a variety of covers that > > mainly use pstel colors. > > > Am I correct here? Are the versions anything alike? > > > If someone has some time, I'd appreciate a primer on "Rolemaster: The > > Different Versions, How to tell them apart, and why you want version > > ." > > > (I'm pretty much only interested in the Fantasy aspects of the game, I > plan > > on still using GURPS for my modern Shoot-em-up games.) > > There is only one form of Rolemaster currently available from ICE: > Rolemaster Fantasy Role-Playing (RFRP). There is also The Standard System > (RMSS), but its core books are no longer in print and the only books left > conform to the reinvented status (http://www.ironcrown.com/rmss_page.htm) of > "a series of Rolemaster products designed to plug in to variety of game > settings and systems". This is slightly incorrect. Some of the RMSS books are being reprinted in small batches until they can be redone as RMFRP books. You are correct that the core books are no longer available, although Arms Law is practically identical between the two versions. ###### From: Douglas Seay Subject: Re: Rolemaster: Version Question Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 22:37:48 GMT Organization: Road Runner - NC Message-ID: <393C196C.D64283E8@acm.org> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.12-20 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <8hgeue$p89$1@hercules.iupui.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 42 NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.162.226.86 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: typhoon.southeast.rr.com 960331068 24.162.226.86 (Tue, 06 Jun 2000 18:37:48 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 18:37:48 EDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.cwix.com!cyclone.southeast.rr.com!typhoon.southeast.rr.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:8397 Ichabod wrote: > > First is RM2, the old totally out of print version. These are > the covers where the art goes all the way to the edge of the > cover, and includes all 7 "Rolemaster Companions." The base > rules are in Arms Law, Spell Law, and Character Law. The > companions are just collections of optional rules. While this is technically true, I only consider it to RM2 if you are using "RoleMaster Companion 2" (RMC2). Without I consider it to be old RM (RM1?). The reason for the qualification is that RMC2 goes hog wild with new skills. In the "old days" (pre-RMC1, am I showing my age? I started with RM before Character Law showed up) there were a lot of skills and it took a long time compared to AD&D or RuneQuest to come up with a character. With RMC2 double the time to create a new character, as there are many more skills, groups of which are somewhat related so some bonuses can apply to multiple skills (previously, only weapons had the concept of "similar skills"). In the RM2 era, pure spell users almost never buy Body Development (the skill that gives hit points) because Distance Running is often much less than half the price, and is related at 1/2. Buy one level of Distance Running every level, so every other level you get an additional roll for hit points. Slow, but if you are planning for the long term, it is cheeper, and this way you can run. Many mages can run for hours. This is the main game I've played since about 1988 and to write up a new high level character (15+) it takes me days. Much of that is simply thinking about what I want to do, best done while driving to/from work. Sitting down and spending the development points can take a long time too. I wrote up a 20th level Magus around Christmas. I think it took me about 5 hours of number crunching to spend all those points and get what I wanted. Note that I'm really bad at remembering which skills are related, so I'm always flipping to the back of RMC2. Ichabod, I realize that you know this. I only want to mention it because RM and RM2 play quite differently. You may consider this to be ancient history, but it is the game I'm going to be playing in about 2 hours. - doug