This article is part of a semi-monthly column on the history of

roleplaying, one game company at a time. The intent is to cover

one large RPG company each month, then a smaller, but
related one. ICE is our third big company, and impressively a
company with a twenty-five year history. The written history of
ICE turned out to be quite long, so it's been split into two parts.
This first part covers the first incarnation of ICE, which ran
from 1980-1992, and ended in a near-bankruptcy.

1980. The RPG industry was six years old and still growing.
The second wave of fantasy roleplaying games was booming,
led by AD&D. Another member of that class, RuneQuest, had
opened up the industry to new ideas about skills divorced
from character classes. Traveller, Villains & Vigilantes, and
Gamma World were popularizing new roleplaying genres,
while Dallas first suggested the idea of licensed products.

Enter Pete Fenlon. He'd been playing Dungeons & Dragons

since its introduction in 1974 and had even rejected an offer
from TSR for some of his work. However, his role playing
group at the University of Virginia was interested in doing
more. In the late 1970s, while playing a campaign set in
J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, they began to develop a set of
roleplaying rules all their own.

And upon those ideas a company would be founded. It would

be called Iron Crown Enterprises, after the legendary regalia
of Middle-earth, or ICE.

Rolemaster Beginnings: 1980-1982

ICE was formed in 1980, shortly after most of the principals

graduated from the University of Virginia. Fenlon was at the
head of the company but at his side were S. Coleman
Charlton, who'd write most of the rules, Richard H. Britton,
Terry K. Amthor, Bruce Shelley (later of Avalon Hill,
Microprose, and Ensemble Corp.), Bruce Neidlinger, and
about four others. The company had little financing and its
principals would soon realize that it'd be years before they
could pay salaries to everyone, so very shortly the 10 people
who had founded the company became just 6 and those
remaining employees started working jobs on the side to
make ends meet. Fenlon himself commuted from law school
at William & Mary for two years, while Britton ran the firm.
Despite the part-time status of its employees, ICE soon had
put out three products: Arms Law (1980), The Iron Wind
(1980), and Manassas (1981).

Arms Law, ICE's first publication, would be the start of their

Rolemaster line--though it wasn't seen as its own RPG at the
time. Instead Arms Law was offered as an alternative combat
system for AD&D. This sort of freeform expansion to TSR's
core games was common in the industry at the time. Judges
Guild had made a business of it, but the shelves were full of
others such as Chaosium's All the Worlds' Monsters, early
releases of Arduin, and publications by Gamescience and
others.

Arms Law replaced the simple target-number based combat

of other early games with complex charts, which cross-
referenced weapon type and armor type to show very discrete
results for different ranges of die rolls. Each weapon had a
chart, so players pulled a table when they pulled their
weapon. In addition, the percentage-based system introduced
"open" dice rolls and integrated "critical hits," which could
result in maiming or death.

The Iron Wind, meanwhile, was a generic (AD&D) book that

described a campaign set on a fantastic island, complete with
weather, ethnologies, NPCs, and other background details. It
also featured an eight-level dungeon. It would form the basis
for the "Loremaster" set of campaign books (later subsumed
into "Shadow World"). Loremaster was by no means the
earliest campaign world. The City-State of the Invincible
Overlord, Glorantha, Greyhawk, Tekumel, and Traveller’s
Imperium were just a few of the worlds already being detailed
at various levels by 1980. Loremaster was nonetheless an
early entrant to the category. However after this first
publication the world would not be revisited for four years.

ICE's last early offering, Rick Britton's Manassas, was a Civil

War era wargame set in ICE's home state of Virginia. It was
well received, but lies largely outside of this history of RPGs,
though it does point toward ICE's interest in strategic games
from the very start.
The next Rolemaster release was Spell Law (1981), a plug-in
spell system that was most notable for the fact that it
organized spells into lists. These lists gave users access to
multiple, related spells, as they reached additional character
levels. Then ICE produced Character Law (1982), a book
which provided character creation rules, and thus finally tied
all of the books into a (somewhat) cohesive whole. Spell Law,
Arms Law, the related Claw Law, and Character Law were
then published as a boxed set, called Rolemaster (1982).

Despite its origins as an AD&D plug-in system, Rolemaster

ended up being a unique system all its own. If anything it
derived more from RuneQuest than AD&D, especially given its
focus on skill-based characters. Though they might seem a
bit quaint now, the Rolemaster system was pretty innovative
back in 1982. The critical hits of Arms Law were one of the
first systems of their type, while the related spell lists of Spell
Law can be seen as prefiguring later linked spell groups, from
the spheres of magic in the current Dungeons & Dragons to
Jonathan Tweet's original magic system in Ars Magica.

However, Rolemaster really made its own impact on the

industry through its careful simulation of real-life systems,
from its weapon-by-weapon hit charts to its complex
experience methods which gave points from everything from
receiving critical hits to traveling.

This careful simulation was based upon simple concepts that

were nonetheless rooted in a complex, table-based
presentation--and that would soon become a detriment when
ICE signed a very important license in 1982.

The Origins of MERP: 1982-1984

The original Rolemaster systems had been developed by

Fenlon, Charlton, and Kurt Fischer during Fenlon's 6-year
campaign set in Tolkien's Middle-earth. Thus it made sense
for the young ICE to approach Tolkien Enterprises seeking a
license for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. What's
surprising, however, is that they actually received it.
According to Tolkien Enterprises, the reason was simple: no
one else had ever asked.
Thus in 1982 ICE signed an exclusive, worldwide licensing
agreement with Saul Zaentz's Tolkien Enterprises and locked
down the biggest and best license in the history of the
roleplaying industry (at least until West End licensed Star
Wars about five years later).

ICE started the Middle-earth line off by following the same

path to success that they'd pioneered with Rolemaster. They
produced a generic sourcebook that could be used with
AD&D or other games. It was called A Campaign and
Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth (1982) and it was
mainly an excuse to package Pete Fenlon's first map of
Middle-earth.

The maps of Middle-earth produced by ICE are worthy of note.

Besides that first, large, map, Fenlon would also pen smaller
scale maps for all the campaign supplements. These designs
would be used until almost the end of the line. They covered
broad swaths of Middle-earth in exacting detail, and continue
to be lauded for their technical skill.

After the Middle-earth Guidebook ICE started producing

Middle-earth based sourcebooks for their brand-new
Rolemaster game. The first of these early supplements was
Angmar (1982) by Heike Kubasch (who continues on with ICE
to this day). There would be a total of six supplements
published for Rolemaster before ICE decided upon a different
tack.

In these early supplements, ICE also made an interesting

decision. Rather than setting their Middle-earth supplement
at the end of the Third Age, during the War of the Ring, they
instead decided to set it about 1400 years earlier. The first
supplements wobble from 1600-1700 T.A., but ICE eventually
selected 1640 T.A. as the official year of the ICE campaign.

This is always a hard decision in a licensed product, as you

must decide whether to place a game in the most interesting
era for players, when the books/movies/comics/etc. were
placed, or whether to place them in a different era where the
players will have more free will. As one of the earliest
contenders in the world of licensees, ICE took the latter path.
One of the flaws in the decision was ultimately their inability
to totally stick with that setting. Most books conformed to the
1640 T.A. line, but every book talked about how to use it in
other time eras, and the occasional book came out that just
couldn’t be used in the context of 1640 T.A.

(And, I don't know how common my own experiences are, but

the two MERP campaigns I've played in were both set near the
War of the Ring, not 1640.)

Early on, ICE was also intent on using the Middle-earth

license to their best ability, and not just for RPG books. From
1982-1984, ICE put out several board games, from The
Riddle of the Ring (1982), a clever game of card management
and bluffing, to The Battle of Five Armies (1984), a chit-based
wargame. However, by 1984 ICE was largely moving out of
the board game industry. It'd be 10 years before they
published another Middle-earth based board game.

The actual Middle-earth Roleplaying, or MERP, system was

only released in 1984. The MERP system itself would always
be a somewhat controversial. It simplified Rolemaster,
because ICE wanted to make it easier for people drawn in by
the background to play the game. However it still retained the
very mechanical, highly simulationistic details of its parent.
Combat was much more detailed than was really necessary
for a game that many thought should be about characters
and story--and the magic system, which was pretty vanilla-
RPG with some small encouragement not to cast spells,
seemed totally out-of-whack with the background. In later
years games like Pendragon (1985) would show the power of
deeply wedding a background and a game system, but
unfortunately MERP did not.

Even though they now had a game system, ICE continued to

push MERP books as generic. The logos for MERP and
Rolemaster didn't appear on MERP supplements until 1987.
Pete Fenlon would later admit in a 1992 open letter that he
suspected more people used the MERP supplements with
D&D than with the MERP rules themselves. Nonetheless,
beginning in 1984, there was indeed a game system at the
core of the Middle-earth releases.
And somewhere along the line, ICE became a truly
professional company. Between the release of the boxed
Rolemaster in 1982 and the first Middle-Earth modules, ICE
was making money. Neidlinger and Coleman both went full-
time in late 1982, and started taking salaries. ICE was on its
way up.

Early MERP Releases: 1982-1987

MERP was one of the best selling RPGs in the mid-1980s,

largely because of its success in the book trade and overseas.
A couple of different reports suggest that first-edition
English-language sales were in the 250,000-300,00 range.
MERP did better in Europe than in the United States, and it
was translated into 12 languages over its lifetime. However,
despite any success it found, it was a remarkably ungamelike
game during its first edition run, from 1982-1992. MERP was
background heavy and there were no truly crunchy game-
mechanic books published at any time during MERP's first
edition history.

The Middle-earth campaign/background books, which began

with Angmar (1982), and ran to 21 books by the end of the
first edition, were the core of the MERP line. Edited by Fenlon
and, later, Jessica Ney-Grimm, they were some of the best
and most extensive setting books ever published for
roleplaying, begun 5 years before TSR started a similar
program for the Forgotten Realms. Today they still utterly
eclipse other attempts to detail worlds like Glorantha,
Talislanta, and Tekumel. (Though some comment that the
MERP sourcebook releases oddly avoided many of the most
important realms of Middle-earth. For example, The Shire
was not detailed until 1995, 13 years after the line began.
Barad Dur never was.)

Despite their success as setting backgrounds (or perhaps

because of it) the MERP campaign books were also somewhat
odd ducks in the world of RPGs. Some call them
"Encyclopedia Middle-earthia." They provided such specific &
deep details, with so little game information, that they
probably encouraged an even greater reader-to-player ratio
than most RPG lines, which isn't a very healthy pattern for
longevity.
There were 15 actual adventure modules published in
MERP's original adventure line, from Bree and the Barrow-
Downs (1984) to Dark Mage of Rhuduar (1989), but up until
1987 these read more like small-focus background books,
with a few (usually very short) adventures thrown in.

It seemed to underline the same philosophy shown in the

campaign books: lots of background, and just a little bit of
game material thrown in to spice things up. Insiders at ICE
say that they believed that MERP and Rolemaster
gamemasters wanted a lot of creative freedom. The attitude
was pretty common in RPGs throughout the 1980s, and
perhaps the MERP supplements don't suffer when compared
to the other publications of the period; they just took a
different tack--settings instead of dungeons. However, with
MERP now divorced from Rolemaster, the lack of crunchy
rules for Middle-earth became increasingly noticeable.

It wasn't until the late 1980s that MERP started to really

develop as its own game system--not just a series of system-
agnostic campaign books. As noted, the MERP logo entered
wider user around this time. In addition ICE produced a
series of stat books, beginning with Lords of Middle-Earth
(1986) and continuing on with more books of NPCs, monsters,
and treasures.

Down the line, new campaign modules would provide more

precise details for cities like Minas Tirith (1988) and Minas
Ithil (1991), offering more gameable backgrounds. Finally,
new "Ready-to-Run" adventures (1988-1992) would finally
put the focus on real RPG adventures in a way that MERP
hadn't seen before.

More Rolemaster Editions: 1984-1989

Meanwhile ICE was facing the opposite problem with their

other line. With the release of MERP as its own game, ICE's
Rolemaster system was suddenly without a setting. In 1984
ICE introduced a fourth book to their core line, Campaign
Law. Even more novel than some of their earlier books,
Campaign Law described how to run an entire campaign, and
thus was one of the earliest GM guidebooks on the markets.
Addressing the problem of a setting, Campaign Law also
reintroduced the world of Loremaster by describing three new
islands, called "The World of Vog Mur". At the same time ICE
re-released The Iron Wind and published a few other
supplements set in that world. However, the experiment was
short lived, and soon the Loremaster line would be
abandoned for a second time.

Rolemaster itself, however, remained more successful. It

underwent a minor revision and was republished in a second
edition in 1986. ICE would soon afterward introduce a series
of yearly rule supplements, beginning with Rolemaster
Companion (1986). Each of these books offered new spell lists,
new classes, and other new rule systems for Rolemaster. On
the one hand it seemed a good direction for a rules-heavy
system, but on the other hand it highlighted the system's
weakness by making it even more complex and convoluted
with every release. Some would also complain about poor
playtesting in the Companions, and that many of the new
rules greatly unbalanced the game.

Another iteration of Rolemaster second edition appeared in

1989. This remains one of the best-loved editions of the rules
by most early fans. At the same time the new "Shadow World"
background, designed by Terry Amthor, appeared. The Wold
of Vog Mur and other older Loremaster elements were
retrofitted into the new campaign, which was extensively
supported over the next year.

Piles of New Products: 1985-1989

At the same time as Rolemaster and MERP were picking up

speed, ICE continued to try and expand their company in
about every way possible. At least six major new lines
appeared in the late 1980s, covering RPGs, solo game books,
and miniatures.

The first new product line was the Space Master RPG,
designed by Amthor and Kevin Barrett, which enjoyed first
(1985) and second (1988) editions in the eighties. By the
second edition, with its extensive world building and starship
construction systems, it was obvious that Space Master was
trying to go straight up against Megatraveller (1987), the
recent rerelease of GDW's classic SF game.
The second new product line was the Cyberspace RPG (1989),
which used an iteration of the Space Master system, but set it
in a new, future cyberpunk era. As with many of their
releases, ICE was following the trends. R. Talsorian's
Cyberpunk (1988) had just kicked off the genre, and FASA's
Shadowrun (1989) was released that same year as
Cyberspace. There was a joke running around the ICE office
in 1989, following the release of Cyperspace, that said "if ICE
does a game in a genre, you know that genre is dead now".

The third new product line consisted of a set of three different

solo game book series. By the mid-eighties full-fledged solo
gaming books had become very popular, with product lines
such as Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf in full production,
and ICE wanted into this booming market too. They started
off with Night of the Nazgul (1985), the first of their Tolkien
Quest books (later renamed Middle-earth Quest). A few years
later they'd build on this with a series of Sherlock Holmes
Solo Mysteries, the first of which was Muder at the Diogenes
Club (1987), and a series of Narnia Solo Games, the first of
which was Return to Deathwater (1988). Unfortunately there
were serious problems with this line, which we'll return to
momentarily.

The fourth new product line included a couple of miniatures

games. The first was Barrett's Silent Death (1990), a combat
game which used the Space Master background, but soon
became a solid gameline of its own. Another was Bladestorm
(1990), which came in a big box of rules, but also linked to a
miniatures line.

Even more notable than these new internally-developed

product lines was a 1986 publication deal with Hero Games.
Hero Games was similar in ICE to many ways. Hero had
gotten started just a year after ICE, and they had a solid core
game system that was successful enough that they'd used it
as the basis for several different games, including Champions,
Danger International, Fantasy Hero, and others. However,
unlike ICE (or at least, moreso), Hero Games was constantly
struggling, with production and financial problems that
plagued the company. Thus in January 1986 ICE arranged to
take over the game production and distribution for Hero
Games, leaving Hero with the editorial and other creative
tasks.

There were problems with the changeover, however. Within a

year all of the original creators from Hero--George McDonald,
Steve Peterson, and Ray Greer--had taken jobs in the
computer and movie industries and the Hero Games
production had become anemic. As a result, ICE decided to
do things themselves, and they brought on a new editor, Rob
Bell, who would be the head of Hero Games production under
ICE for several years.

Before Rob Bell the Hero System had been disjoint, with
similar, but not identical systems being used on many games
(much as was the case with Chaosium's BRP system). But by
now GURPS (1986) was gaining steam, and the benefits of a
truly universal system were becoming more obvious. So, Rob
Bell unified the Hero System. With the release of Champions
Fourth Edition (1989), Hero System Rulesbook (1990), and
Fantasy Hero (1990), there was a second generic and
universal system on the market.

(A more complete discussion of the Hero System will have to

await a history of Hero Games, sometime in the future.)

The sixth new product line of the late 1980s was ICE's
"Campaign Classics" line, which detailed various historic and
mythic backgrounds in excellent one-off sourcebooks that
were dual-statted for both Rolemaster and Fantasy Hero.
There were five in all: Robin Hood (1987), Mythic Greece
(1988), Vikings (1989), Pirates (1989), and Mythic Egypt
(1990).

Though well-regarded and generally lauded, the Campaign

Classics line also highlighted how poor the Hero/ICE fit was.
Fans, freelance authors, and even in-house authors for ICE
wanted little to do with Hero, and vice-versa. Monte Cook, for
a time the editor in charge of both lines, would later recount
having to deal with complaints from fans on a daily basis,
who all felt like space was being wasted in their books with
stats they'd never used.
By the start of 1990, things looked generally good for ICE,
with Rolemaster, Space Master, Cyperspace, Silent Death, the
"Campaign Classics" line, three solo book lines, a few
miniature lines, and the entire Hero System set of games all
under the ICE umbrella. However, problems had been
brewing in the background since 1986, and by the end of
1990 they'd become much more visible to the general gaming
public.

The Bad Years: 1990-1992

There tend to be three notable signs when an RPG company

is floundering.

First of all, freelancers stop getting paid. And, this was

definitely the case for ICE by 1990. Freelancers have stated
since that during this time period they stopped submitting
proposals to ICE as a result. One staff member recounts that
in this time period perhaps 20% of his time was spent talking
with (rightfully) irate freelancers.

Second, the employees face pay cuts or delays. Between the

late 1980s and 1992 experienced ICE employees like Kevin
Barrett, John Morgan, Monte Cook, and even Rick Britton
(the VP of the company!) left ICE for more stable pastures.

Third, book production grinds to a halt. Sherlock Holmes Solo

and Narnia Solo both ended in 1988, Middle-earth Quest in
1989, in all cases with unpublished books awaiting
production. At least one of these books, a final Sherlock
Holmes mystery, was even published overseas, but not by
ICE. MERP production dropped from a dozen books a year to
just two in each of 1991 and 1992. Space Master saw just a
single book in each of 1991-1992, while Cyberspace was
supported with a princely three supplements in 1991, plus a
new edition in 1992. Rolemaster proper was the only line
supported at its old levels during the 1991-1992 crash, with
over a half-dozen books total, plus some new "genre books"
which replaced the "Campaign Classics" line, but without the
controversial Hero support. However, Shadow World only saw
two books, after 15 releases in 1989-1990.
The ups and downs of ICE were really dramatic. In the mid-
1980s they were selling 5000 copies of their average books,
and more of their best-selling Rolemaster Companions and
MERP books. But by 1992 they were at a nadir. One day staff
members showed up to work and found the door locked, with
a sign that said "closed by order of the sheriff." ICE hadn't
been paying its rent. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of
debt would be run up during this low point--but then repaid
during the next ICE high point, in the middle of the 1990s.

The problems leading to ICE's near-bankruptcy in 1990-1992

originated from those solo gaming books, especially the
Middle-earth Quest books.

By 1986 the first three MEQ books had been released as

"Tolkien Quest" gamebooks, and the fourth was on the way.
The books had already been approved by Tolkien Enterprises,
but suddenly Tolkien's book publishing licensee George Allen
& Unwin (also ICE's UK book distributor) claimed that both
ICE and Tolkien Enterprises were in violation of their contract.
ICE was forced to recall and destroy all four books. Two
different sources put the loss from this and other Solo Quest
issues at $2.25 million to $2.5 million dollars, a disaster for a
self-financed firm.

Meanwhile a remarkably similar problem overtook the Narnia

Solo books. The Narnia licensor turned out to not have all the
necessary rights, and went bankrupt owing ICE considerable
damages.

By 1988 ICE had renegotiated a gamebook license with the

Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien, and put four more Middle-earth
Quest books out under license from George Allen & Unwin.
This didn't make up for the lost revenues of all those
destroyed books, but it at least gave ICE a new opportunity to
take advantage of the book mass-market. Unfortunately the
solo game market had already peaked in 1985-1986. By
1986-1988 it was going soft, with other lines like Wizards,
Warriors & You, Sagard the Barbarian, GrailQuest, Endless
Quest, and Super Endless Quest all ending during this period.
ICE had missed the wave.
This would ultimately push ICE even further over the edge.
Returns--always a danger in the book trade--apparently
weren't that bad until the end of the Sherlock Holmes series.
A larger problem was that when ICE cancelled the various
Solo book lines, they had already invested in over a dozen
books which were being prepared for publication in the
various lines. This wasted investment just added to the injury
of all those destroyed books. However, that original, and
costly letter from George Allen & Unwin that told ICE to cease
publishing the Middle-earth Quest books appears to be the
real reasons behind ICE almost entering bankruptcy starting
around 1990.

Bruce Harlick, the new line editor for Hero, offered one of the
few public statements on ICE's troubles, in a response to the
Internet in 1993. He said:

ICE is NOT in Chapter 7, Chapter 11, or Chapter 13. They were

in a voluntary-type of receivership, but it wasn't a formal one.
They are out of that now. They are even starting to pay off
their back author debt! Or so I've heard. ICE should be in fine
financial shape.

And indeed by 1993 things started to look up. In a pattern

also seen in other game companies recovering from
downturns, the period immediately after the near-bankruptcy
was a revival for the remaining game lines. Though
Cyberspace, Space Master, and the solo books were not
published after the downturn, MERP and Rolemaster
continued on, and each would receive some careful attention
from ICE in the next few years, including new editions that
were the most massive revisions that either game had ever
seen (or would ever seen under this iteration of ICE).

The Fan Component: 1989-1993

However, not all of ICE's growth came from within. The late
1980s and early 1990s were really a bumper time for fan-
created magazines being published in support of RPG lines,
thanks primarily to the advent of desktop publishing
technology. Among the many fanzines started in this time
were: Redcap (Ars Magica, 1992), Tales of the Reaching Moon
(RuneQuest, 1989), and The Traveller Chronicle (Traveller,
1993). Often these fanzines were able to support RPG lines
through hard times, keeping interest in them up when
production was down.

ICE was no exception to this trend. In 1989, just before ICE

started faltering, Ross Henton and Lem Richards began
publishing Grey Worlds, a Rolemaster 'zine. It ran for 14
issues through 1992 at which time it was taken over by ICE
itself and produced at a more professional level.
Unfortunately ICE was ultimately unable to make Grey
Worlds work as a professional magazine. They published
three issues in two years, then dropped the line just before
the new release of Rolemaster. It would be replaced a few
years later by Portals, which produced just two issues in two
years, from 1996-1997.

The MERP fanzine, Other Hands had much better luck. Chris
Seeman's 'zine began publication in 1993, and was thus in on
the ground floor of the new second edition MERP line.
Working with Jessica Ney-Grimm, Chris Seeman would act as
a nexus of content throughout MERP second edition and
Chris Seeman would later become an Assistant Line Editor
for ICE. Even after MERP's demise, Other Hands would
continue on for several more years. Other Hands also had the
privilege of publishing ICE's first announcement of their new
edition of MERP.

But for now let us pause in 1993, prior to that announcement.

ICE is just recovering from its near bankruptcy of the early
1990s. Grey Worlds and Other Hands alike are supporting
ICE's game lines. A few of the company's less successful lines
have been shut down, but after their near miss ICE has
decided to totally renovate their surviving products. In the
coming years ICE will massively revise both their MERP and
Rolemaster lines, and we'll look at that in the next article,
which covers the second and third incarnations of ICE,
running from 1993 to the present day.

Thanks to Pete Fenlon, Bruce Neidlinger, Monte Cook, Kevin

Barrett, Nicholas Caldwell and Matt Forbeck for various
comments and additions. Fenlon, Neidlinger, and Cook in
particular gave lots of insight. Also thanks to several other
former ICE employees who were kind enough to read over this
piece. It's overall one of the most extensively reviewed and
edited articles in this series. This article is otherwise based on
a variety of sources including old USENET postings and
columns & interviews from Adventurers Club, Grey Worlds,
Other Hands, and "The Official MECCG Newsletter".

A Brief History of Rolemaster

Copyright Brent Knorr © 2004

Edited by Nicholas HM Caldwell for The Guild Companion
"Rolemaster is -- contrary to common belief -- not a very
complex system"

This article aims to give a short introduction to the various

versions of Rolemaster to aid those that may be thinking of
trying the game out. It will first give an overview of the history
of the game and then will offer some suggestions on which
books are recommended for purchase for playing Rolemaster.

First of all, what exactly is the Rolemaster System?

Rolemaster is the Fantasy Roleplaying system from ICE (Iron

Crown Enterprises).

Kalu (Kaspar Lundsby) has come up with an excellent

description of the Rolemaster system:

Rolemaster is -- contrary to common belief -- not a very complex

system. It is a very detailed system, but since it's generally
very consistent and intuitive, it is a simple system to
understand and use. At the same time, it's a highly
customizable system, which, paired with the fact that it's so
consistent, makes it very modular.

The main features of the system are the number of skills it

contains and the combat system.
Since Rolemaster is a skill-based system, all abilities of a
character are recorded as skills with a certain proficiency in
each skill. All skills are available to all professions -- what
differentiates one profession from the other is the cost of
developing certain skills. The result of this approach is that
characters are more thoroughly described than in most other
systems.

The combat system in Rolemaster is often considered to be one

of the most deadly combat systems in role-playing games. It is
based on the expectation that combatants parry as a natural
part of the fighting in order to avoid getting hit. Once hit,
damage consists of hit points and often also of a critical that
can give various additional effects (e.g. stun, bleeding,
penalties to maneuvering or even death). It is often said that
it's not the hits that kill; it's the crits! Thus it is possible for the
lowliest peasant to kill the best knight in the realm with an
incredibly lucky blow. However, combat is certainly not just
arbitrary -- usually the most skilled combatant will win -- but in
the end, skilled characters are never invincible, and unskilled
characters are never completely hopeless. The result is that
combat is always very tense.

Over the years, a large number of products have been

brought out for Rolemaster. It can be rather confusing to
figure out which of these were put out for which version of
the game and what books are needed to actually play.

There have been four versions of the game produced, which

fall into two major groups. First Edition and Second Edition
Rolemaster belong to the first group, usually just referred to
as RM2. There was then a fairly major revision to the game
when the third version, Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS)
was released. This was then reorganized somewhat, with very
few actual rule changes for the fourth version, Rolemaster
Fantasy Roleplaying (RMFRP). Lists with cover images of all of
the products for the various Rolemaster versions can be
found at: http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_products.shtml

The term Rolemaster First Edition (RM1) is generally used to

refer to the products released between 1980 and 1982,
namely the first versions of Arms Law, Claw Law, Spell Law,
Character Law and Campaign Law. These were available as
individual items and in various boxed sets. The original idea
of these products was to replace portions of existing role-
playing games (particularly Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
rather than being a stand-alone game on its own. However,
once the full set of material was available, it was quite
capable of being an independent game.

In 1984 the information in the books was expanded and

revised, some of the books were combined and the material in
them was rearranged. A new boxed set was released
containing three rulebooks and an Adventure module. The
three rulebooks were a combined Arms Law/Claw Law book,
a Spell Law book and a combined Character Law/Campaign
Law book. Several additional books were published from 1985
to 1988, including Rolemaster Companions 1, 2, and 3 and
the first Creatures and Treasures book

Technically, the products released between 1984 and 1988

are also First Edition Rolemaster products. The official start
of the Second Edition Rolemaster series came with the Boxed
Set containing the Arms Law & Claw Law book, the Spell Law
book, and the Character Law and Campaign Law book, all
with red-bordered covers.

However, other than a slight modification to the Combat

Sequence and some rearranging of material, there are very
few differences between the 1984 Rule Books and the 1989
Rule Books. This means that in most cases the term
Rolemaster Second Edition (RM2) is used to refer everything
published from 1984 to 1994. In particular, Rolemaster
Companion II included the Complete Skill Descriptions
section and Master Development Point Cost Tables as well as
several Professions that are often considered the
distinguishing features of Rolemaster Second Edition.

With all the material that was published for Rolemaster

Second Edition, it really became more of a method of
developing a roleplaying game than an actual game itself. You
could play in several different campaigns, all of them using
Rolemaster, and they could all be quite different. It's a matter
of debate whether that was the strongest point of RM2 or its
weakest point. It made for a very flexible system with a lot of
options, but could easily suffer from play balance problems if
particular sets of rules were used together.

In 1995 the game was revamped and released as Rolemaster

Standard System (RMSS). The biggest changes were to
Character Generation, particularly in the number of skills
available and the way bonuses for the skills were calculated.
Skills were now grouped into Categories of similar skills and
you could buy ranks (bonuses) separately in the Category and
the actual Skill. Also the way combat rounds were laid out
changed as well. The method of learning Spell Lists was
changed and most of the Spell lists were adjusted and
rebalanced. The actual method of doing attacks and figuring
out damage did not change much, and there weren't much
more than cosmetic changes to the stats for Creatures and
Monsters.

Like most changes, opinions on whether the changes were for

the better or not varied widely, some people really like the
changes, others are not so excited by the changes. To quote
Smug (Adam) from the ICE Forums: "RM2 was the highpoint
of the game of Rolemaster. RMSS and RMFRP are widely
considered to be harbingers of the end of the world from a
calamitous impact with a huge asteroid from outer space"

For the most part, the objections to RMSS from RM2 players
was more to do with not feeling that Rolemaster needed an
overhaul and a feeling of sadness that RM2 was no longer
going to be supported rather than any major complaints
about the new version itself

In 1999, the game underwent a slight restructuring when

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying was released, but this was
mostly a rearranging of material with very few changes to the
rules themselves. A detailed comparison of the RMSS and
RMFRP systems can be found at:
http://www.icewebring.com/RMSSvsRMFRP/RMSSvsRMFRP
full.shtml

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying is the only version of

Rolemaster that is currently being sold and supported. It is
thus the version that is the easiest to get hold of and the one
a new player is most likely to pick up. One of the changes
made for this version was to come out with one book, stock
number 5800 simply called "Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying"
that has all the information needed to play the game. You can
choose from one of six Races and nine Professions. You can
also choose one or more of the fifteen Training Packages to
flesh out your character. There are equipment lists, a list of
creatures, and ninety-six spell lists, each containing
descriptions of the spells up to tenth level. You get six
weapon attack tables, one for each category of weapon. You
also get the Tooth & Claw, Bash & Grapple, Bolt Spell Attack
and Ball Spell Attack Tables. There are nine critical hit tables
to accompany the attack tables and a Weapon Fumble and a
Spell Failure Table. And, of course there are all the rules you
need to use the tables as well as some sections on the basics
of gamemastering and building a setting for your players to
adventure in. A full review of the Rolemaster Fantasy
Roleplaying book can be found at:
http://www.icewebring.com/Reviews/RMFRPreview.shtml

There are several other core books that are recommended if

you wish to expand upon the information in the main RMFRP
book.

Arms Law adds additional Attack and Critical tables,

replacing the condensed and generalized tables from the main
book with tables that are more detailed and individualized for
specific weapons. There are actually two versions of Arms
Law that have been put out for Rolemaster Fantasy
Roleplaying. A detailed discussion of the different versions of
Arms Law for all the editions of Rolemaster can be found at:
http://www.icewebring.com/docs/Arms_Law.pdf

Character Law adds additional races, professions, skills and

the full talent and flaw system. A detailed review of Character
Law can be found at:
http://www.icewebring.com/Reviews/character_law_review.s
html

There are three Spell Law books (Of Essence, Of Channelling,

Of Mentalism), each of which adds additional professions and
spell lists for one area of magic expanding the lists to 50th
level spells.
If you are planning on being the GM for a Rolemaster
campaign, then you will want to get a copy of the Creatures &
Monsters book as well.

If you have all the books listed above, then you have all the
core material needed to play a full Rolemaster game. There
are other excellent supplements as well, but most of them
build upon the material presented in the books I've listed.

Rolemaster (3rd Edition) published in 1995 was named

Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS) while Rolemaster (4th
Edition) published in 1999 was named Rolemaster Fantasy
Roleplaying (RMFRP).
The original Rolemaster rules were changed significantly
around 1995 when the 3rd Edition was republished as
Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS). The character skill
development method was changed along with the skill
bonuses allowing a character to buy ranks in either a skill or
a category of skills. The combat sequence was revised. The
spell list development was completely changed and the spell
lists were adjusted and rebalanced, and some of the details of
spell-casting were also changed. Rolemaster (3rd Edition),
Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS), books typically have a
dark brown border.
In 1999, the game was slightly restructured again when the
4th Edition, Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying (RMFRP), was
published. Rolemaster (4th Edition), Rolemaster Fantasy
Roleplaying (RMFRP), books typically have dark red border.
Note: This Rolemaster system of rules refers to most of the
Rolemaster material that was published in 1995 or
afterwards with the exception of the reprints of earlier
material.

Quais são as diferenças entre a primeira e a segunda edições

do Rolemaster?

Eu tenho estado no clima de um antigo RPG amor ala

Rolemaster recentemente e descobri que havia algumas
diferenças entre a primeira e segunda edições do jogo (já
estou familiarizado com o 3º e clássico) - alguém pode listar
as diferenças entre as duas versões e comentar sobre a
compatibilidade dos livros de referência?

adicionado 14 Outubro 2010 a 05:45 o autor rjstreet editado

06 Julho 2017 a 05:49

Visualizações: 1

fonte

RO RU FR ES DE ZH HI BN AR

1 Respostas
De acordo com minha memória e RPG Geek , resume-se ao
layout, formatação visual e algumas opções.

2nd ed tem opções adicionais, também, acrescentou.

O segundo ed revisado tem poucas opções adicionais, mas é

uma reformatação completa para oferecer os padrões de
publicação modernos.

O 1st Ed Arms Law e o Claw Law foram dois livros separados,

por exemplo, mas o segundo ed deles foi combinado em um
único volume.

A Lei de Caráter e a Lei de Campanha também foram duas

separações que foram incluídas em um único volume para a
2ª ed.

1st Ed Spell Law foi um conjunto de 4 livretos; 2ª ed foi um

único livro e adicionou 3 páginas de opções adicionais

2ª Edição Revisada (A edição "Red Stripe") também foi uma

errata e uma obra de arte.

Mecanicamente, eles são o mesmo jogo.

RM Classic também é o mesmo jogo, mas com algumas

opções despojadas.
Rolemaster: um sistema das antigas!

Rolemaster é um RPG publicado pela ICE (Iron Crown

Enterprises). Seu sistema de regras é focado em cenários de
fantasia medieval, sendo baseado em tabelas derivadas de
equações matemáticas idealizadas por seus criadores: físicos,
matemáticos e engenheiros. Tal ocorreu devido à época em
que foi concebido, naquele tempo a maioria dos jogos de RPG
era escrita por engenheiros e matemáticos, não devido a uma
exigência profissional, mas pela difusão do hobby entre eles.
Um exemplo clássico dessa época é o Traveller RPG.
O Sistema
O sistema possui três livros básicos: Character Law, que
mostra como construir personagens e explica o
funcionamento de um RPG, como organizar uma aventura etc;
Arms Law, que explicada as regras dos vários tipos de
combate não mágico existentes e onde encontramos as
famosas e gigantescas “tabelas de resolução de ataque”. Há
uma para cada arma, cabendo ao mestre familiarizar-se com
elas sob pena de, literalmente, “enrolar-se todo” caso não o
faça; e, Spell Law, que descreve as regras de magia, junto
com as listas de feitiços a serem utilizados em jogo.
Apesar de ser um sistema para jogos genéricos de fantasia
medieval, o Rolemaster inspirou-se claramente na obra de
J.R.R. Tolkien ( autor de “O Senhor dos Anéis” e “O
Silmarillion”, entre outros), dada a descrição de raças e
classes de personagem.
O sistema usa classes (chamadas profissões) e níveis para
descrever as habilidades e o avanço dos personagens, sendo a
mecânica central o dado de porcentagem (d100, através do
uso de 2d10): o jogador rola os dados, aplica os modificadores
relevantes e consulta a tabela apropriada (são várias, uma
pra cada tipo de ação e arma).
Os ferimentos também são descritos com bastante realismo,
bem como seus efeitos em jogo. Neste sentido difere de D&D,
pois o personagem não perde apenas pontos de vida, há
sempre um efeito a se considerar. Os combates são em geral
bastante mortais, até mesmo pela quantidade de acertos
críticos que as tabelas proporcionam. Há tipos de dano, de
forma parecida com GURPS: os ferimentos e seus efeitos
também estão organizados em tabelas de acordo com o tipo
de dano (frio, calor, impacto, corte, perfuração, etc).
Devido a esse uso excessivo de tabelas e detalhismo, os
jogadores estadounidenses o apelidaram de Chartmaster
(Mestre das Tabelas) ou Rulemonster (Monstro das Regras),
brincando com o nome Rolemaster.
Cada personagem de Rolemaster possui dez atributos que
variam de 1 a 100, sendo fácil progredir atributos de 50 para
51, e praticamente impossível de 98 para 99. Apesar disso o
sistema é baseado em perícias e não em atributos. As perícias
possuem ranks (níveis), multiplicados por um valor fixo e
então somado ao bônus do atributo correspondente para
produzir o modificador que vai ser usado na rolagem de
dados. Cada profissão tem um grupo de perícias
correspondentes.
A História das Publicações
A história das publicações é muito confusa, mas os
estudiosos costumam dividir em dois grupos: o primeiro
contendo a primeira (RM1) e a segunda (RM2) edições, e o
segundo incluindo a terceira (RMSS) e a quarta (RMFRP ou
RFRP) edições.
Rolemaster First Edition (RM1) diz respeito às edições
publicadas entre 1980 e 1984, enquanto que Rolemaster
Second Edition diz respeito às publicações de 1984 a 1994.
Oficialmente a RM2 veio numa caixa conhecida como Red
Spine, que reeditava os livros básicos. Esses anos foram
muito confusos, haviam muitos suplementos de regras.
No entanto, em 1995 o sistema foi redesenhado e publicado
como Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS). As maiores
mudanças foram na criação de personagens, especialmente
no número de perícias disponíveis e na forma como os bônus
para as perícias eram calculados. As perícias foram
agrupadas em categorias de perícias semelhantes. Também a
sequência de combate foi revista de novo, e alguns dos
detalhes da conjuração de magias foram alteradas.
Em 1999, o jogo passou por uma reestruturação rápida
sendo lançado como Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying
(RMFRP), mas esta era principalmente uma reorganização de
material com muito poucas mudanças nas regras.
RMFRP é a edição atual das regras de Rolemaster e é,
portanto, mais bem provida de novos livros e publicações,
sendo mais fácil para novos jogadores interessados. Uma
mudança positiva feita em RMFRP foi a adoção de um livro
único, contendo uma versão reduzida do jogo completo, de
modo que apenas um livro é necessário para jogar. O livro
Arms Law proporciona ataques e tabelas novas, enquanto
que Character Law acrescenta novas raças, profissões,
perícias, talentos e falhas. O antigo livro Spell Law foi dividido
em três (Of Essence, Of Channelling e Of Mentalism), cada
um apresentando as listas de magia de um dos reinos de
poder até o nível 50.
Os problemas que levaram a ICE à liquidação voluntária
(uma espécie de falência) também criou problemas com a
propriedade intelectual dos sistemas das edições RM1 e RM2.
Várias partes possuíam diversos direitos sobre o conteúdo
dessas publicações originais, por isso a ICE não foi capaz de
republicar os originais. Como resultado, a ICE republicou as
regras do RM2 com nova composição e ilustrações em 2007,
sob o título Rolemaster Classic (RMC). O núcleo de livros
clássicos são Rolemaster Character Law, Arms Law, e Spell
Law.
Segundo a editora, não houve alterações nas regras, que são
as mesmas. O que mudou profundamente foram a arte
interna e a organização das regras, isto é, as regras foram
melhor apresentadas de forma a facilitar a leitura e o
entendimento, coisa nem sempre presente nas regras da RM2.

Middle-Earth Role Playing

MERP, ou Middle-Earth Role Playing é um jogo de RPG

lançado em 1984 ambientado na Terra-média, um universo
de fantasia medieval criado por J.R.R.Tolkien e publicada
pela Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.). Ele foi criado para ser
uma versão simplificada das regras do Rolemaster, também
publicado pela mesma editora[1]. No Brasil foi lançado em
1995 pela Ediouro com o nome de Senhor dos Anéis - Jogos
de Aventura[2].
O sistema era em partes similar ao D&D, como as classes de
personagens (como Bardo, Mago e Guerreiro) e seus níveis.
O MERP construiu um forte e leal público, o suficiente para a
ICE dizer que era o mais popular, só perdendo para o D&D.
No entanto, ele é freqüentemente alvo de críticas pela pouca
fidelidade da Terra-média apresentada nos livros de Tolkien.
A Ediourou também publicou quatro volumes da série de
livro-jogos "Aventuras na Terra-Média", versão de Middle-
earth Quest[3][4]
Duas edições foram publicadas e em 1997 a ICE declarou
falência pela revogação do contrato pela Tolkien Enterprises,
marcando o fim da linha MERP. Um outro jogo de RPG, O
Senhor dos Anéis RPG, foi publicado pela Decipher Inc. e pela
editora brasileira Devir Livraria, e apesar da temática ser a
mesma, não existe nenhuma relação entre essa obra e o
MERP[5].
At a con yesterday I was at the auction and picked up a
number of things, including a Rolemaster boxed set in very
good condition for about $10.

Since I know next to nothing of the system, I'm curious to

what edition it is. Neither the box or the books inside say
anything about this. The only editions I know of right now are
the Standard System (brown softcovers) and the newest
edition, whatever it's called (red hardcover core book).

The logo looks like this, and the box cover is a picture of a
wizard clutching his shoulder, while his companions peer
down a chasm. I've seen the same picture on lots of other
Rolemaster stuff in the past.

What edition is this?

-L, turned on by tables that fill up whole pages.

 Belor

Thank You Kindly

Validated User

Apr 11, 2004

#2

Apr 11, 2004

#2

If the stat bonus system goes in multiples of 5 then it is 2nd

edition anything else then i think it is either Standard system
or FRP.

Lautrec

lord of the underdark

Apr 11, 2004

#3

Apr 11, 2004

#3

Belor said:

If the stat bonus system goes in multiples of 5 then it is

2nd edition anything else then i think it is either
Standard system or FRP.

*checks*

Yep, in that case it's 2nd edition.

Thanks.
-L

Rasyr

Novus Rex!
Validated User

Apr 11, 2004

#4

Apr 11, 2004

#4

Lautrec said:

At a con yesterday I was at the auction and picked up a

number of things, including a Rolemaster boxed set in
very good condition for about $10.

Since I know next to nothing of the system, I'm curious

to what edition it is. Neither the box or the books inside
say anything about this. The only editions I know of right
now are the Standard System (brown softcovers) and the
newest edition, whatever it's called (red hardcover core
book).

The logo looks like this, and the box cover is a picture of
a wizard clutching his shoulder, while his companions
peer down a chasm. I've seen the same picture on lots of
other Rolemaster stuff in the past.

What edition is this?

/B]
If the box looked like this:
http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/RM2/RM2_10
00_Rolemaster_Box1984.shtml
or
http://www.icewebring.com/ICE_Products/RM2/RM2_10
00_Rolemaster_Box1989.shtml
then it is Second Edition.

Marius B

Euro-Trash
Validated User

Apr 11, 2004

#5

Apr 11, 2004

#5

That is indeed the 2nd ed. with that logo.

It's a cool fantasy game and a lot less complicated than it

appears although it's atrociously poorly organized. And spell
users suck. They don't suck quite so much in the more recent
versions (RMSS and RMFRP the differences between which
I'm told are almost entirely cosmetic).

I love the low-level spells on the Evil Cleric base list in Spell
Law. There's a spell called Chill that gives the victim a mild
cold (if he fails his Resistance Roll). There's something
comically pathetic about the low-level evil spells.
 R

Ron

Registered User
Validated User

Apr 11, 2004

#6

Apr 11, 2004

#6

Considering the logo it should be the second edition which is

the best one ICE published. There are a lot of supplements
called Rolemaster Companions that add a lot to the game. I
disrecomend them as if used unwisely the new rules will spoil
your game. However, Monster & Treasures is a good addition
to you RM library.

The new edition fixed many of the second edition problems,

but introduced a degree of complexity that is far beyond my
taste.

Lautrec

lord of the underdark

Apr 11, 2004

#7

Apr 11, 2004

#7
*checks pictures of box covers*

Yeah, it's most definitely Second Edition.

So...anyone know where I can get supplements for it?

-L

Rasyr

Novus Rex!
Validated User

Apr 11, 2004

#8

Apr 11, 2004

#8

Lautrec said:

So...anyone know where I can get supplements for it?

Your best bet is going to be e-bay....

Or, you could always check out ICE's new game, HARP. It is
very reminiscent of RM2, and it has a supplement coming out
this week called Martial Law, which introduces new critical
tables that are keyed to hit locations (i.e. there is a column
for torso, one for arms/hands, one for legs/feet, one for
head/neck, etc..) Just go to
http://www.harphq.com/SneakPeek/3001_main.htm for a
sneak peek of one of the critical tables (the page 64 one is the
crit table).

If nothing else, the critical tables can easily be used with

Rolemaster....

Stoerm

Retired User
Apr 12, 2004

#9

Apr 12, 2004

#9

Rolemaster is a great game. RM 2nd edition without the use

of the "Companions" is an excellent system. It's a bit simpler
than the current incarnations, though not as well organized.
There are many RM fans who still play RM2 to this day,
refusing to move to the more current rulesets.

My advice to you for understanding RM is this: Be patient. It

seems overly complicated at first, but the system is extremely
elegant once you begin to understand the rules conceptually.
Visit the official rolemaster forums and ask questions about
anything you need to know (there are some really great folks
there). Don't give your players carte blanche with the talents.
Make photocopies of whatever you need to be prepared for the
game without shuffling around.

Don't be afraid to change things to suit your taste, either. RM

is so flexible in many ways that it enjoys a lot of houserule
goody-ness. Some people like things a different flavor than
others and the system allows for flexibility. The ICE forums
can suggest many, many ways to modify your game to suit
your tastes.

Once you get used to the system, nearly all other systems
seem watered down in comparison. It's a very rewarding game
to play. If money is no object, you might check out HARP as
well. it's $25 and it's a self-contained RPG. There are other
supplements being released, but you don't need them to
playHARP is also made in such a way that it's a no-mod task
to swap in parts of RM where you want increased realism or
detail. At the moment, I run a game that is probably about 40%
HARP, 40% RM, and 20% ME. It's an eclectic mix that suits
my tastes perfectly.

Here's the forum address:

http://www.ironcrown.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=
14

Abulia

Kushiel's Scion
Validated User

Apr 12, 2004

#10

Apr 12, 2004

#10

I'm going to step in and advise you to with Rolemaster

Standard System (RMSS) or Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying
(RMFRP). They are essentially 2nd Edition "fixed." You'll find
a lot of fans of both systems (2nd edition/RMSS) but the
RMSS/RMFRP material is easier to find.

HARP doesn't have nearly the product support behind it and

is (IMO) watered down. It (HARP) doesn't go nearly as far as a
RM/RMSS rewrite should have gone. By ICE's own admission
HARP is solely a revenue-generator. I'm hoping for more
RMSS support.

[Glances at shelf] I count over 35 RMSS/RMFRP supplements

and accessories out there. (Mind you, my 2nd edition
material is in storage in my garage.) I'm not counting Shadow
World material, either.

Actually, if you really like 2nd edition, you wanna buy my

2nd edition stuff? I have pretty much the entire product line.

Rolemaster Classic and Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying

comparison

What are the differences between Rolemaster Classic and

Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying? The following table gives
a brief description of each games outlining the major
differences between them.

Rolemaster Fantasy
Rolemaster Classic Roleplaying
System Item (RMC) (RMFRP)

RMFRP uses the

same 10 stats that
RMC has the same 10 are found in RMC.
stats that RMFRP However, RMFRP has
has. However, the smaller stat bonuses.
stats bonuses are This is due to how the
approximately two to stat bonuses are
three times as large applied to the skills
Stats as those in RMFRP. (see below).
 RMFRP only has 5
races in its core book.
However, the
expansion RMFRP
book, Character Law,
adds 7 more races to
the mix.

6 of these 7 are the

same races as are
found in RMC, but
RMC’s Fair Elves have
been renamed to Grey
RMC contains 11 Elves and RMFRP’s
races for players to Character Law adds
choose from in the Mixed Men to the list
Races book, Character Law. of available races.

Cultures in RMFRP
are fuller and provide
more detail in
creating characters by
describing things like
Clothing &
Decoration, Fears &
Culture has no effect
Inabilities, Lifestyle,
except to determine
Hobbies, Religion,
what languages might
Marriage Patterns,
be available. A Game
and much, much
Master (GM) is also
more.
advised that Cultures
can be used to
The RMFRP Character
restrict what skills
Law also expands the
and/or equipment are
concept of Cultures
available to a starting
so that Common and
Cultures character.
Mixed Men are able to
 select what Culture
they are from by
providing more
generic cultures for
those 2 races.

The core RMFRP book

contains 9
professions, of which
6 are spell users. The
RMFRP Character
The core RMC book, Law adds another 11
Character Law professions to bring
contains 20 this total up to 20,
professions, 15 of with 15 of those 20
them being spell being spell users.
using professions.
Of those 15 spell Of those 15 spell
using professions, 3 users,6 are Semi-spell
are Semi-spell Users, Users, 3 are Hybrid
3 are Hybrid Spell Spell Users, and the
Users and the rest are remainder are Pure
Professions Pure spell users. Spell Users.

RMC has a core list of RMFRP has 300+

28 primary skills. It skills divided among
also has a list of 43 56 different skill
optional Secondary categories.
skills. The Secondary A player is able to
skills may be added purchase skill ranks
in any combination in both categories and
by the GM. Each skill individual skills. Each
is associated with 1 skill is associated
or 2 stats, and uses with 3 stats and the
the average of those stat bonuses from
Skills
stats as a bonus to each are all added to
 the skill itself. the bonus from the
skill ranks. Different
Learning spells is also categories and skills
considered a skill, so use different
any character may progression rates for
learn spells, although determining their
a character’s bonuses
profession and realm
(the source of their In addition to the
magic) determines standard costs for the
what spells they learn profession, RMFRP
and to what level they also include
can be learned. Restricted, Everyman,
and Occupational
The GM is the one skill classifications.
who determines what These classifications
skills will be used in can change the
the game. number of ranks
actually received from
the purchase of a
single rank, from
requiring 2 purchased
ranks to gain a single
actual rank to
receiving 3 ranks for
each one purchased.

In RMC, all but the In RMFRP,

Pure and Hybrid spell professional bonuses
users receive a bonus are a single static
to their weapon skills. bonus that is applied
This bonus ranges when the character is
from a +1 to a +3 and first created. These
is received at each bonuses are given in
Profession
level and applied multiples of +5 (i.e.
Bonuses
equally to all weapon +5, +10, +15, +20,
 skills. Pure and etc.), and they apply
Hyrbrid spell users equally to all skills in
receive a bonus of +1 a given category.
per level to all of their
spell casting.

In RMFRP, Training
Packages (TPs) are
special packages that
when purchased,
grant the character a
number of ranks
spread across several
skills, as well as the
chance to gain some
special items.

RMC does not contain Each TP has a

Training any rules for Training specific cost for each
Packages Packages. profession

RMC’s Spell Law In RMFRP, Spell Law

contains all of the has actually been
spells you need for divided into 3
the professions given seperate books, Of
in RMC’s Character Channeling, Of
Law. You also get evil Essence and Of
spell lists for each Mentalism. Each book
realm. contains all of the
spells needed for that
In RMC, the core realm, including the
method of learning evil spell lists for that
spells is relatively realm.
simple, but of a Each rank purchased
random nature. The in a spell list
Spells
player purchases as indicates that the
 many ranks in the character knows that
spell list as he wants particular spell list to
and then makes a a level equal to the
percentile roll, adding number of ranks
+5 to the roll for each known. Characters
rank purchased. If have different costs
the total is 100 or for the different spell
higher, then the lists based on the
character learns a type of list that they
portion of the spell are purchasing (i.e.
list (determined by Open, Closed, Base,
both profession and Other Base, Other
the type of list – Realm, etc.).
Open, Closed, or
Base). There are also
other optional
methods of Spell List
aquisition available.

RMC’s Spell Law also

contain a very
complete and
thorough discussion
of the various types of
spells and how they
are resolved. The spell
type known as
Passive in RM2, now
has those spells
identified as either
Informational or
Utility.

RMC’s Arms Law RMFRP contains a

contains 30 condensed set of
Combat
individual weapon combat tables in its
tables, 13 special core book with one
attack tables, and attack table for each
hundreds of critical basic type of attack.
and fumble results. The critical table
format differs from
Arms Law also RMC. In RMFRP the
contains a special flavor text is
tactical/initiative completely separate
system designed from the additional
specifically for RMC. damage dealt by the
It is an activity blow.
percentage system
that allows for a The tactical/initiative
simple, yet flexible system is similar to
method of handling the one used in RMC,
actions in combat. but it is split into 3
different phases
(Snap, Normal, &
Deliberate), with a
character being able
to perform a full
action in any of the
phases so long as
their total activity
percentage does not
exceed 100%.

RMFRP has its own

version of Arms Law
which is essentially
the same as in RMC
(except for the critical
descriptions as noted
above) and some of
the additional text
that it contains.
 In the RMFRP book,
RMC contains five you will find the same
types of Background Background Options
Options; Set Options, as are found in RMC.
Special Abilities,
Special Items, Special In RMFRP’s Character
Wealth, and Special Law, there is an
Status. alternative to this
Background Options
These 5 categories of system. This
Background Options alternative involves a
provide the character very well defined
with free skill ranks, system of Talents and
special backgrounds Flaws as separate
that affect the game entities that can be
in play (i.e. acquired to help make
impoverished or royal characters even more
blood), magic items, unique. This system
extra starting money, allows for both choice
and even abilities that and for random
Background combine both a talent rolling on several
Options (& and a flaw into a tables to assign the
Talents/Flaws) single package. talents/flaws.

Across RMC’s three

core books (Character
Law, Arms Law, &
Spell Law), there are
literally dozens of
options that a GM RMFRP contains very
can use to customize few options that a GM
Rolemaster to make it can use to customize
Options better fit their setting. their game.

Books In order to play RMC, In order to play

Required to a group will require RMFRP, a group will
Play all three of RMC’s only require the
core books. This RMFRP core book,
means the RMC Rolemaster Fantasy
Character Law, the Roleplaying. However,
RMC Spell Law, and that is not the only
the RMC Arms Law. core book. That is a
single book
Rolemaster Classic introduction to the
has few expansion system, and as noted
books available, in several places
though most of the above, only contains a
RM2 products are subset of the full
fully compatible. RMFRP system. To
have everything
described above in
full, you would need
the RMFRP core book,
the RMFRP Character
Law, the RMFRP
Arms Law, and the
three spell books; Of
Channeling, Of
Essence, & Of
Mentalism.

There are a number of

other products that
can be used to
expand the RMFRP
system.

Depends what game I'm running. I prefer RM2 for Shadow

World games. Generally I think that RMSS/RMFRP are better
systems - describing skill usage etc. BUT char generation is
much slower for a newbie. I wouldn't say more difficult but
there are more phases before PC is ready. But when PC is
ready is is more complete ( RM2 chars are pretty complete
compared to chars most other games)

The differences between edition, when character is ready, are

minimal. Arms Law and Spell Law work alike, there are only a
minor difference between maneuvers.

Still RM2 is a bit faster in game use. If I run RMSS/RMFRP

game (and not RM2) I wan't to use the full power of the tool. If
I'd run the same session with RMSS it would take 2% more
time. Of that 2% 50 % goes to char gen (in my games PCs are
allowed use devs as they get them if they have reason).

You are only able to get RM2 from secondary market. RMSS
is available in limited quantities from ICE. RMFRP is the
current version. RMSS is actually rolemaster standard rules
and although there is fantasy game in the book it is genric
RPG. There are genre books for RMSS ( black ops, pulp,
firearm rules). RMFRP is Slightly simpier (some actions and
combat round)

Yeah, but you have to handwave at a lot of things that aren't

covered by the basic RM1/2 skillset. That's a valid approach,
but it's also the reason many people choose to see Rolemaster
Companion 2 (which fleshes out the skill system) as non-
optional.

It is indeed very easy (and I say this from experience,) to

overload on optional rules and crap your game up. (That's
true of most games with a lot of options, and certainly applies
to, say, d20.) In the case of RMSS/RFRP, however, I think
that the options are much better built into the core structure
and are in general easier to integrate into a campaign. In
contrast, RM2 had many, many options that were not only
way out there, but were at odds with the basic ethos of
Rolemaster's design.

I can see the appeal of core RM2, though. It is in many

respects a much leaner system than RMSS, though it's less
complete for the same reasons.

Incedentally (for the benefit of those who don't know,) RM1

and RM2 are very, very similar - the rules changes between
the two are pretty small. But frankly the RM2 stuff is easier
to get and easier to play with.

Há muito tempo estou interessado em um sistema de RPG

um pouco antigo. É de uma época onde o RPG era mais
primordial e fantástico e o mercado não era influenciado
pelos MMOs Hack n’ Slash que hoje poluem as mentes dos
probres desalmados que jogam tibia e line age (não entendo o
porquê). O nome deste sistema é Rolemaster. Ele promete um
nível superior de realismo sem comprometer a jogabilidade.
para mais informações acesse este link:
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolemaster.
Não existe maior fã de D&D do que eu. Eu venero este
maravilhoso sistema desde a epigênese de minha jornada
RPGística. Mas o RPG é uma ideologia muito grandiosa pra
ser vista e apreciada de apenas um ângulo. Eu gosto de
transcender todas as facetas e dimensões da realidade em
busca da energia primordial para, então, compreender com
uma maestria superior os seus rebatimentos vetorias nas
camadas da superfície.
Pretendo iniciar (e quem sabe até terminar) a tradução do
módulo básico de Rolemaster apenas por conhecimento.
Porém se tudo der certo gostaria de que nosso nobre grupo de
adoradores do grande Deus RPG compartilhasse comigo desta
experiência nova (com um sistema antigo) para que possamos
levar algo de bom para as nossas sessões regulares e quem
sabe até agregar mais esse sistema na nossa gama de Jogos.
Quem quiser ajudar na tradução (indireta para thiago) favor
contactar-me.
Conforme eu vá traduzindo irei postando no blog para que
vcs dêem suas opiniões a respeito deste sistema, talvez
possamos aplicar algumas destar regras para nós… não sei.
O tempo nos dirá.
Adianto para atiçar suas curiosidades que o sistema é
baseado em d10 (mais precisamente d100) e possui 10
atributos (Agilidade, Constituição, Memória, Raciocínio, Auto-
Disciplina, Empatia, Intuição, Presença, Velocidade e Força).
Comentem o que vcs acham da idéia e destes breves dados
que eu lhes informei.