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Post by kaptaincarbon on Jan 27, 2017 7:32:29 GMT -5
This is the famous / infmous MERP which was played by Varg of Burzum and a bunch of other people during the 80's. If you were one of the unfortunate few to play Rolemaster, this is why this game never took off like it could have. I know we have our Swords and Wizardy game, but I am interested in seeing what this system is like in terms of characters and adventuring. I am sure I can find an adventure if people are interested in recreating a part of fantasy RPG history. This would be for a one shot as I do not think there is much for this game system to offer aside from fun gimmicks for a short while. HandbookCharacter Creation Guide Benefits and drawbacks of MERPS verus other systems. + extensive history and setting used to nestle within Tolkien's Legendarium. All adventures come with paragraphs of backstory. + Being cool and extending your experience with other archaic systems - Everything Else
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Post by sonofblashyrkh on Jan 27, 2017 8:17:06 GMT -5
I feel like your my dealer giving me the free cocaine to start
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Post by kaptaincarbon on Jan 27, 2017 8:22:35 GMT -5
If I was a dealer, I would not give you a Rolemaster style system to start, that would be the PCP laced pot I tell you afterward.
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Post by Ananoriel on Jan 27, 2017 8:30:32 GMT -5
Oh yes yes yes yes count me in! What is the downside of everything else by the way?
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Post by kaptaincarbon on Jan 27, 2017 8:50:47 GMT -5
Oh yes yes yes yes count me in! What is the downside of everything else by the way? A LOT of crunch in terms of rolling on tables and accounting. Supposedly this is a streamlined version of Rolemaster so I'm interested to see what it is like. I want to find some interesting adventures in terms of stories already printed but since it is the 80's/90's the meat of the action is still going to be dungeon crawling and adventure just in places like Mirkwood or the Land of the Witch King. As oppose to the One Ring RPG, this is still rooted in the classic style of play which is exploration based. Could be cool, could be terrible. The sort of cool thing ab out this system is you sort of pick the area you want to adventure in and then get the supplement. Like right now I am looking at Mirkwood and love the idea of dungeon crawling through Dol Guldur and could probqally do it using S&W instead of this complicated ass system.
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Post by Verminaard on Jan 27, 2017 8:54:30 GMT -5
Oh yes yes yes yes count me in! What is the downside of everything else by the way? Well, MERP hasn't exactly gone down as one of the greatest games of all time for reasons hahaha. For one, Rolemaster, the game that MERP is based on, is an incredibly finicky system. There's no problems with rules heavy systems, but the amount of minutiae that Rolemaster goes into is a bit ridiculous in a lot of peoples' opinions, mine included. MERP itself simplifies things a bit, or so I'm told, but only so much you can work with. In addition, MERP is not very true to the source material. For example, your average Joe can learn how to shoot lightning bolts. Basically anyone can use magic -- of course, magic in Tolkien's works was a very rare thing. EDIT: Kaptain got here before me, so I guess the main thing to take away from MY reply is the issue with not being true to the source material.
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Post by kaptaincarbon on Jan 27, 2017 9:20:53 GMT -5
Oh yes yes yes yes count me in! What is the downside of everything else by the way? Well, MERP hasn't exactly gone down as one of the greatest games of all time for reasons hahaha. For one, Rolemaster, the game that MERP is based on, is an incredibly finicky system. There's no problems with rules heavy systems, but the amount of minutiae that Rolemaster goes into is a bit ridiculous in a lot of peoples' opinions, mine included. MERP itself simplifies things a bit, or so I'm told, but only so much you can work with. In addition, MERP is not very true to the source material. For example, your average Joe can learn how to shoot lightning bolts. Basically anyone can use magic -- of course, magic in Tolkien's works was a very rare thing. EDIT: Kaptain got here before me, so I guess the main thing to take away from MY reply is the issue with not being true to the source material.Which is funny too becasue each of the modules I was looking in are pages and pages of backstory and location detail. What I am feeling, it is like the LOTR video game where it has to go noncannon to fill in the areas. As with the magic, I understand why magic would be given to much more people but I find it funny that OD&D sort of nails this better where Elves, clerics, and magic users (wizards) can use magic. Supposedly there is Ainur magic, dark magic, dwarven magic, Here is a good article on The use of magic in Tolkien's world. A
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Post by Ananoriel on Jan 27, 2017 9:38:34 GMT -5
I scanned through a bit of the guide and it seems to be much more complicated for the Rolemaster indeed. I find the idea of spells in this world a bit weird tbh. Of course you can tinker with it to get it a bit more lore appropriate.
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Post by dungeonsnake on Jan 27, 2017 10:56:59 GMT -5
I'm definitely in. I've always wanted to play in this system. Frankly I have no idea how it would even be possible to run a game like this in real-life play. The rules are truly monstrous. But, it might be easier online, when you have all day to track down and cross-reference 5 different tables for disarming a trap. I guess in the 80's people were a little bit more frivolous with their in-game time.
anyway, i've always been interested in this system because of the astonishing quality of the various location-based books that they issued. The I.C.E. books of Mt. Gundabad, Moria, Dol Guldur, Cirith Ungol and others are beautiful things, with a level of depth unsurpassed in any other Tolkien-derived work I've seen (except maybe the Peter Jackson movies). They are worth reading purely for enjoyment, and the fact that such a cryptic and impenetrable system is overlaid on them only makes them more appealing to me.
anyway long story short, yes I'd be interested in this. I'll re-read the rules and try to get a grasp on character creation, and see what I can come up with.
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Post by kaptaincarbon on Jan 27, 2017 11:18:23 GMT -5
I think what might be easier to try is to find a module with pregens and just run with those for a few sessions.
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Post by dungeonsnake on Jan 27, 2017 14:44:15 GMT -5
that sounds good too.
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