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Probably will be after the KS. POD from Drivethrurpg would be my guess.Kind of wish there was a softback option here
What's cool about MERP or Rolemaster? I'm really happy with the Fantasy Trip, so don't want to miss out on any great classic FRPGs.
Is it similar to Warhammer in flavour then?
The only disconnect I had with Rolemaster was the lethality combined with chargen time. I agree it was fast enough in play.If you have a GM who knows the system well, it runs very smoothly, the charts aren't an issue at all and effectively players don't need to worry about them, that can all be done on the other side of the screen.
But character creation? A little bit painful, TBH, as is going up in level. It's all front-loaded certainly, so in play it's effectively not that crunchy, but that front-loading is a pain in the ass.
Thats classic RM/MERP I'm talking of though, haven't read this new game yet
Well, it shouldn't be that fast. I'm still holding, myself, as an example.You're right, i'm wavering already, but i really don't have the money for the hardback.
I guess they don't want to be accused of being late? If there's a lot more art to commission, it sounds actually kinda reasonable to me.September 2020 though!?
I'm thinking of getting the PDF. It looks like most of the book is setting and adventure. PDF let's me just print the rules.I went in on this. The promotion for this game was pretty good. It has good art, and the idea of redoing MERP with the serial numbers filed off seems a good idea.
But I'm having second thoughts. I really don't need yet another 600 page fantasy game. I guess before the Kickstarter I thought this would be a smaller and more accessible book instead of an armor class above and beyond Hero 5er.
Hi everyone, Max here, I'm one of the guys behind Against the Darkmaster, let me know if you have any question about the game of the KS campaign!
Welcome to The Pub Max!
Hi everyone, Max here, I'm one of the guys behind Against the Darkmaster, let me know if you have any question about the game of the KS campaign!
I know you've just started this kickstarter, but should this one be a success do you have any plans for further products?
I'm thinking of getting the PDF. It looks like most of the book is setting and adventure. PDF let's me just print the rules.
It sounds to me like the current direction is "start with MERP, add in some modern-style personality/passion mechanics, pack in a wide range of options and support material in the core book, provide abstracted systems for some previously-fiddly stuff like wealth and encumbrance and go setting-agnostic with it (though still with a bias to epic fantasy)". Is that fair?
I'm really glad you're saying that! I was just trying to figure out what your idea of "quick" would be...Pretty much, yes!
I mean, the basics of the game are all in the Quickstart (which, we realize, was misnamed. We should have probably called it "Basic Rules", like we did in the Italian translation), you can play entire campaigns just with that.
And that sounds...appetizing!In the Core Book we've expanded on those rules, and we've packed them with options and examples.
I'm really glad you're saying that! I was just trying to figure out what your idea of "quick" would be...
Isn't MERP copyright, even today?
Ghost Whistler may have been asking about the rules mechanics of MERP still being copyrighted, not the setting fluff.
Ghost Whistler may have been asking about the rules mechanics of MERP still being copyrighted, not the setting fluff.
You can't copyright rules mechanics, merely the presentation of same.Even if they were, Against the Darkmaster is ultimately a different game, so I don't see how that would be a problem.
I mean, sure, MERP is one of our sources of inspiration, we make no secret of that, but how's that related to copyright?
Not being familiar with MERP, I didn't know how close ATD was in terms of rules. As Dumarest said, while you can't copyright game mechanics per se, how those rules are presented can be. Since MERP doesn't (as far as I know) have an OGL, a direct clone could still be in murky waters, depending on how closely it might follow its source material.I mean, sure, MERP is one of our sources of inspiration, we make no secret of that, but how's that related to copyright?
Not being familiar with MERP, I didn't know how close ATD was in terms of rules. As Dumarest said, while you can't copyright game mechanics per se, how those rules are presented can be. Since MERP doesn't (as far as I know) have an OGL, a direct clone could still be in murky waters, depending on how closely it might follow its source material.
As an aside... I'd argue that most fantasy has been trying to be the OPPOSITE of Tolkien fantasy. Almost all the stories I've heard about settings and games have been how UNLIKE Lord of The Rings they are.We simply take some inspiration (as 99% of post-Tolkien fantasy fiction, probably) from Tolkien's corpus, but to be true our Darkmaster is probably more like "heavy metal fantasy" than "Tolkienesque fantasy"...
You cannot copyright rules, just the expression of them. It's why WoTC's OGL opened the flood doors, people realized that they could literally copy D&D and change some of the words in the process and you'd got a new game. Pathfinder is the prime example of it.Ghost Whistler may have been asking about the rules mechanics of MERP still being copyrighted, not the setting fluff.
But part of that is because of the OGL, right? Wouldn't making a clone of a game without an OGL at least be a little more tricky?You cannot copyright rules, just the expression of them. It's why WoTC's OGL opened the flood doors, people realized that they could literally copy D&D and change some of the words in the process and you'd got a new game. Pathfinder is the prime example of it.