Rolemaster Unified?

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The guy's notion is that training packages and skill category ranks are just a way to get things for free and break the game. He's not totally wrong. Training package stacking does allow more competent first level characters but that doesn't really bother me but he's right you could start out at a higher level if you want more competent characters.. Skill categories as written in RMSS basically make you pay double to get the same bonus on individual skills as the progression is 2 for category and 3 for skill while RM2 is 5 for skill (for the first ten ranks in both games) Even so, I've often said that the skill / category split could have been better implemented to allow for a variety of approaches but was instead done so rigidly that you couldn't really ditch them if you wanted to use culture and training packages.
 
The guy's notion is that training packages and skill category ranks are just a way to get things for free and break the game. He's not totally wrong. Training package stacking does allow more competent first level characters but that doesn't really bother me but he's right you could start out at a higher level if you want more competent characters.. Skill categories as written in RMSS basically make you pay double to get the same bonus on individual skills as the progression is 2 for category and 3 for skill while RM2 is 5 for skill (for the first ten ranks in both games) Even so, I've often said that the skill / category split could have been better implemented to allow for a variety of approaches but was instead done so rigidly that you couldn't really ditch them if you wanted to use culture and training packages.
That seems like an issue of fixing the math, to my mind.
 
Yeah. I read the bit in the collated summary of changes to RMU the line developer was bragging about; some of them were promising, like rules for creating races, professions, etc.

When I hit the number of skills (95!) and that purchasing categories instead of individual skills had been eliminated in order to simplify (?) the game, I facepalmed. How does eliminating the option to buy skills in groups to save yourself a headache streamlining the game? It actually makes it more complicated! Even with the idea of similar skill usage! This idea seems pants-on-head crazy.

TBF, it's almost the other way around in practice. You purchase individual skills and then specialize to your heart's content. So you can purchase "melee" and call it good, or specialize in arming sword if you want to drill down.
 
Still reading through it, so please take that into consideration. I skimmed the whole thing, but I'm now reading in earnest. I might could have gotten through it one read, but I have been fairly busy and I wanted to give it my full attention.

I like most of what I'm reading. My main issues appear to be organizational, specifically the order some things are introduced. It leads to the conclusion, a minor issue, that there is an authorial assumption that the reader is already passingly familiar with the material.

I'm not keen on the twelve characteristics, but that's a preference, not a critique. However, it might put some off.

The costs for a skill vs skill block are confusing. In my mind, it would make more sense to rank up the whole block, then stack individual skill ranks on to that, as skill stacked in the old WEG D6; I'm uncertain how to buy a block if the cost is predicated on the highest skill in the block, especially if I just want to invest in the block and not in any individual skills. Would I buy up a single skill to the rank I want the whole block, say, 4 ranks for 12 points, then spend 4 more points? I apologize. Math is my old, hated foe. I'm much more comfortable with composition and English.

Some readability issues may be formating gaffs. On pg 17, the Enchanter, under characteristics, reads 'Initial Per level' instead of the same entry as the previous two pages. Willpower indicates an initial bonus of +7, followed by '66' with no context. I assume that was supposed to be, +1, following the rules and formatting.

Overall, the presentation is clear and the characters seem easily approachable in complexity, I'm just uncertain how everything comes together.

I like the tightness of the rules set. I especially love the simplicity of the bestiary and NPC stat blocks.

I am not certain I would be able to use the character sheet at the back.
 
TBF, it's almost the other way around in practice. You purchase individual skills and then specialize to your heart's content. So you can purchase "melee" and call it good, or specialize in arming sword if you want to drill down.
Unfortunately, that's not very clear from the text and statements about the categories makes if feel like I will need to track all 95 skills on my sheet.
 
Unfortunately, that's not very clear from the text and statements about the categories makes if feel like I will need to track all 95 skills on my sheet.
Perhaps that is the case. I'm still digesting it, and may have misread a few things.
 
Are the 'Rolemaster Express' line of PDF's still available, as if so I'd like to check them out.

A quick search of DriveThruRPG comes up with zilch.
 
That actually came up recently. There was a C&D from the legal team from the Tolkien estate sometime back as the attack and crit tables in RMX were too close to the ones in MERPS. RMX is not available for sale anywhere legally.

That isn't to say you cannot find the files. They just aren't available for sale.
 
That actually came up recently. There was a C&D from the legal team from the Tolkien estate sometime back as the attack and crit tables in RMX were too close to the ones in MERPS. RMX is not available for sale anywhere legally.

That isn't to say you cannot find the files. They just aren't available for sale.

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Are the 'Rolemaster Express' line of PDF's still available, as if so I'd like to check them out.

A quick search of DriveThruRPG comes up with zilch.

RMX starts out as essentially MERP with DPs instead of discrete ranks bought by category such as in MERP/VsD and build up form there. Overall, it's quite good.
 
The costs for a skill vs skill block are confusing. In my mind, it would make more sense to rank up the whole block, then stack individual skill ranks on to that, as skill stacked in the old WEG D6; I'm uncertain how to buy a block if the cost is predicated on the highest skill in the block, especially if I just want to invest in the block and not in any individual skills. Would I buy up a single skill to the rank I want the whole block, say, 4 ranks for 12 points, then spend 4 more points? I apologize. Math is my old, hated foe. I'm much more comfortable with composition and English.

The skill block costs the same as the skill, one point per point, it's just capped at the best skill in the block. Attributes are 5 points per point. I really struggled with wanting to do a 1 - 100 range and have them cost 1 point per point but then you wind up with an additional "modifier" number for each characteristic. On the other hand it would be an easy way to hide the unskilled penalty, people are almost always happier to recieve a bonus even when the numbers are exactly the same either way.

I've got a booklet of resources I generated with javascript I wrote, monster combat stats and coalated spells. I just need to add it to the website. It was there until the payment got screwed up a couple months ago and the web provider deleted my site.
 
Hmmm I don't think my group will jump from HARP or VsD, but I'm following this thread with interest anyway.

I spent much of my adolesence flipping thru my mate's MERP and RM2 books

I guess at least RMU is in existence now
 
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The skill block costs the same as the skill, one point per point, it's just capped at the best skill in the block. Attributes are 5 points per point. I really struggled with wanting to do a 1 - 100 range and have them cost 1 point per point but then you wind up with an additional "modifier" number for each characteristic. On the other hand it would be an easy way to hide the unskilled penalty, people are almost always happier to recieve a bonus even when the numbers are exactly the same either way.

I've got a booklet of resources I generated with javascript I wrote, monster combat stats and coalated spells. I just need to add it to the website. It was there until the payment got screwed up a couple months ago and the web provider deleted my site.
That is unfortunate that things got messed up because of that. I'll keep looking it over.
 
The problem was that in my current financial straits I had to use an echeque which took a week to clear during which time they cancelled my account. Then they posted a positive balance to my account while claiming I owed them the money they'd already received. It took a while to sort out but now I have to rebuild the website. I'm not sure if I'll put the comics back up right now. I need a better way to show them than their existing slideshow widget.

there you go, pregenerated monster stats and spell lists http://www.uncouthsavage.com/uploads/1/3/3/2/133279619/arcconres.pdf
 
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RMU is now the DTRPG Featured Product of the Day. I do not know if the sales bump happened because of this or if it's featured because of the sales.
RMU_featured.PNG

I'm just glad to see fantasy RPGs that aren't 5e topping the sales charts.
 
Oddly I posted on the wrong thread. Someone was talking about garden gnomes in another thread and I thought I was posting there. I guess I need to go to bed.

I just re-read the Amber books a few weeks ago. Hehe, now I wish I'd read them after this post so I could amuse myself with the same mental image of gnome Corwin, Random, Benedict etc. :smile:
Fortunately you're at the Pub and no one noticed it was in the wrong thread!
 
RMU is now the DTRPG Featured Product of the Day. I do not know if the sales bump happened because of this or if it's featured because of the sales.
View attachment 52583

I'm just glad to see fantasy RPGs that aren't 5e topping the sales charts.
The game that had previously been in that spot was Fabula Ultima, a fantastic Italian game based on the Japanese Ryuutama. There are quite a few gamers who want other things than D&D5E.
 
The game that had previously been in that spot was Fabula Ultima, a fantastic Italian game based on the Japanese Ryuutama. There are quite a few gamers who want other things than D&D5E.
That one's on my Wishlist.
 
I would encourage you to pull the trigger. It's so good. You can do so many different styles of game with that system.
 
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Ilife.I would encourage you to pull the trigger. It's so good. You can do so many different styles of game with that system.
Will do once my Christmas shopping is done. I mean, I wouldn't be much of a weeb if I turned up my nose at a JRPG system, would I? :grin:
 
I thought Rolemaster Express was cool. Why isn't it still available?
because I was involved in writing it...

If you look at their catalog, anything I wrote (other than the core HARP, which they quickly revised when they took over), nothing I wrote is there anymore...

The attack tables were too much like the MERP ones and they got a C&D from Tolkien Enterprises. Also the author got screwed pretty badly by the change in management. Really they only got screwed because they were loyal to the old management.

I doubt that they got a C&D (if they never showed it to you, they never received it). Caldwell was whining about the tables claiming they would cause problems well before he and John Seal's brohter-in-law (Thom Jones) sabotage's Mjolnir's relationship with Seal (and also laying most of the blame for "problems" on me....)

In fact, right after they took over, Caldwell and Jones kept trying to ban me -- repeatedly, even for comments I made on sites other than the ICE site.

RMX starts out as essentially MERP with DPs instead of discrete ranks bought by category such as in MERP/VsD and build up form there. Overall, it's quite good.

RMX was nothing more than the CORE RM2 rules, with maybe 3 or 4 minor options implemented to make play easier overall. (different way of figuring hits, adding/subtracting a couple of skills to make characters more rounded, etc)

The combat table were based on those from MERP (which belonged to Seal, since those tables were rules implementations, not something owned by TE), but they were not the MERP tables (regardless of what some idiots claimed.

I even tried to get permission to release them on my own (RMX and Express Additions), and even offered to rebrand it and give Seal 50% or more of all profits from DTRPG and was turned down cold.

Hmmm I don't think my group will jump from HARP or VsD, but I'm following this thread with interest anyway.

If you liked HARP, you ought to check out Novus (which is in its 2nd Edition now -- the first version is fully on the website in a wiki-like format and 2e is released under Creative Commons).
 
If you liked HARP, you ought to check out Novus (which is in its 2nd Edition now -- the first version is fully on the website in a wiki-like format and 2e is released under Creative Commons).
Do you have a link handy?
 
because I was involved in writing it...

If you look at their catalog, anything I wrote (other than the core HARP, which they quickly revised when they took over), nothing I wrote is there anymore...

This explains why the Combat Companion for Rolemaster Classic is also MIA, while all the other books in the line outside Express and the Additions (where they could use the 'MERP infringement' excuse) are still available.
 
I doubt that they got a C&D (if they never showed it to you, they never received it). Caldwell was whining about the tables claiming they would cause problems well before he and John Seal's brohter-in-law (Thom Jones) sabotage's Mjolnir's relationship with Seal (and also laying most of the blame for "problems" on me....)

In fact, right after they took over, Caldwell and Jones kept trying to ban me -- repeatedly, even for comments I made on sites other than the ICE site.
huh, I wonder where I heard that. So much noise and so little signal over the years.
 
Do you have a link handy?

All you had to do was click on Firehawk Games in my sig. :smile:

But in any case, here is a direct link to Novus 1e TOC for the wiki-like version -- https://www.firehawkgames.biz/index.php?page=n1etoc

I even had a free license for Novus 1e on the website (which I lost from the site after a site crash), but you can consider it to be released under a CC-BY-SA license as well for all intents and purposes.

I have not yet given 2e a wiki-like treament, but I have created a site for the setting I am developing for 2e -- you can find it in the Novus 2e section on the left menubar, which opens it in an iframe, or uinsg this linke to visit it directly -- http://anwyn.firehawkgames.biz/index.html
 
This explains why the Combat Companion for Rolemaster Classic is also MIA, while all the other books in the line outside Express and the Additions (where they could use the 'MERP infringement' excuse) are still available.

IIRC, somebody asked why once, and was told there was a rights issue with some of the art, which was a totally bogus since all the art in that product was either purchased for it, or re-use art from previous projects.
 
I was huge fan of I.C.E. from its starts until around the mid 90's. Got busy with life, military, family. Lost track of what happened to them, the founders, developers, writers etc. Until Terry's passing I only had a vague memories and notions as to what had happened.

I knew that Magic the Gathering impacted a lot of companies around the mid 90's negatively. I saw it as more and more folks would rather pick up a deck and play the card games. They had almost no prep time in comparison to ttrpgs. That btw really soured me on MtG among other aspects of it.

I owned almost everything that they put out from 1980 until the early 90's. I loved Fenlon's maps and Terrys' creative ability. Anyhow my point is that I'd love to know more about what happened with I.C.E and how it got to where it's at now.
 
Anyhow my point is that I'd love to know more about what happened with I.C.E and how it got to where it's at now.

I had somebody else ask me questions like this not long ago (had something similar on my personal website previously, but a crash caused me to lose a lot of what I had there), so I wrote this up for him..

Please take it with a grain of salt as this is from MY PERSONAL perspective, and some of the information I gleaned second hand (about the frist version of ICE).

 
I'm a snowplow driver and I just got a call from hell.

Heh!

Hey David, I was just looking over the RMC Combat Companion and spotted your name under Special Contributions. I cannot for the life of me remember what those are, but I know my getting you listed there does show that SOME PEOPLE appreciated your input and feedback.... :smile:
 
I wrote the critical tables in the Combat Companion. It's really my only professional writing credit. I did it for free. I got invited because I wrote criticals for the Mullet Attack table which always deserved better than just Unbalance crits. So much comedy potential in whacking someone with a fish. Probably my proudest contribution to gaming to date.
 
I wrote the critical tables in the Combat Companion. It's really my only professional writing credit. I did it for free. I got invited because I wrote criticals for the Mullet Attack table which always deserved better than just Unbalance crits. So much comedy potential in whacking someone with a fish. Probably my proudest contribution to gaming to date.

Oh, yeah! Now I remember, and IIRC part of the reason we offered you the opportunity was because I really hated writing critical tables...

I also remember the flack I took for having attack tables with only 10 columns (for 10 Armor Types), and now RMU has 10 Armor types....
 
So what is it:grin:?

It is apparently Character Law, Arms Law, and GM Law all bundled into a single product.
It apparently has no spells, and no monsters at all in it.
It apparently has 20+ races (many from RM2's C&TII), so if you want to use them as monsters, you first have to build them as characters....

Caveat: I do not have the released version, only the most recent Betas (sent to me by somebody) and the "preview" bit you can download from DTRPG which contains the TOC.
 
Well, I was cleaning up my in box yesterday and discovered Nicholas Caldwell had sent me an offer of a comp copy. I missed it somehow. I've been getting a lot of spam thanks to a survey I fllled out that was actually just fishing for emails for a political party. Anyhow, I told him I didn't really contribute anything and plan to buy it when the other books come out.

But, just for the record, it wasn't me who sent Tim a copy.
 
But, just for the record, it wasn't me who sent Tim a copy.

Nope, not you, but I also cannot remember who it was (as I had several people offer me copies) heheh

Wait, 20+ races?!?

Like I said, the preview has a TOC, and in that TOC it lists the following (total of 23 races). I am going to have to go back to my RM2 books to see what some of those actually are..

Avinarcs - (C&T II -- bird people, covered in feathers, no wings, but do have arms)
Dwarves
Evles
Gnolls -- (C&T I -- small men with grey skin, 3-4' tall)
Gnomes (C&T I -- bald, wizened men living in shallow caves, 4-5' tall)
Goblins
Gratar (C&T II -- frog men, come in 5 colors - Green, Yellow, Glack, Grey, Red)
Half-Elves
Halflings
Hobgoblins
Humans (apparently has Common, High, and Cave men)
Hvasstonn (had to do a google search -- apparently were previously known as Great Men)
Idiyva (C&T I - cat men)
Kobolds
Nycamerith (C&T II -- 4-4'8" tall, with blue skin, maybe related to Gnomes)
Orcs (C&T I - Lesser and Greater)
Plynos (C&T II -- Deer-men, can have atlers)
Sea-Krals (C&T I -- ape-like men with white fur)
Sibbicai (C&T II -- jackal-men)
Sohleugir (C&T I - Lizardmen)
Sstoi'isslythi (C&T I - Reptile men)
Trolls (C&T I -- Cave, Forest, Hill, Mountain, Snow, Stone, War -- not sure which this is)
Vulfen (C&T I - Wolf men)
 
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