- Paperback: 255 pages
- Publisher: Iron Crown Enterprises,U.S. (May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1558065504
- ISBN-13: 978-1558065505
- Product Dimensions: 27.9 x 20.5 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,259,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An enjoyable game once you get your head round the system, and the vast amount of tables. If you're looking for more realistic combat involving lots of detail and small skirmishes, then this is the roleplaying game for you. It's not as fast or abstract as the popular D&D D20 system as regards combat, but i prefer to run a game with less combat and more roleplaying. I've never run any other game where the players are so cautious before entering combat.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Awe-inspiring work covering every profession, spell, skill, gaming concept that you can imagine and one or two others you can't!
This 'starter' kit contains the basics needed and can be expanded later with various add-ons and companion guides.
This 'starter' kit contains the basics needed and can be expanded later with various add-ons and companion guides.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
The FRP system for any situation
26 April 2006
Format:Paperback
I have been playing Rolemaster system for about 17 years. It is the game system that I prefer as hands down the best (I started out on D&D). Iron Crown (ICE) has since updated the game system to what they call Rolemaster Standard System or Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying, but the group that I game with still uses the materials from the Rolemaster Second Edition (1994). What makes it such a great game system? 1) Because you can account for any game situation. The manuever charts alone add the dimension of allowing a PC to attempt anything. It's up to the gamemaster to assign a level of difficulty and any other mod's he sees fit to the situation. 2) Character development is comprehensive. The ability to create unique characters with skills of their choosing is both fun and rewarding. 3) The Arms/Combat and Spell user systems add variety to the gameplay. Yes, keeping track of some things can be tedious if you let them. Our group made some slight modifications to the combat system (our house rules) that quickened the gameplay, but at the same time did not take anything away from what the system has to offer. As a base system, Rolemaster can't be beat. My experience is with the 2nd Edition. If you take the time to get the hang of this system (I also recommend that you get the Rolemaster Companions for numerous other professions, spell lists, optional rules, etc.), you will be rewarded with a rich and detailed playing environment.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
It's been a really long time...
7 April 2005
Format:Paperback
Since I've used this game system but I still own all of the stuff against the day I might want to play it again.
The basic concept of the game is simple, each character has 10 stats such as strength, intuition, etc. that are rated 1-100 and a bunch of skills rated from -25 to 150+.
There is lots of classes, most of which are magic-users of some variety. There's lots of overlap between the classes so there are at least 3 different ways to make any character archtype you'd like. Fun for replayability.
The combat system sounds simple and has some neat critical hits and fumbles but here's where things start breaking down. The players have to be willing to do a LOT of math and consult a lot of charts to find out what is happening. Characters can suffer from continuing blood loss, after-effects of criticals, and such things as being stunned by seeing their leg chopped off. Very realistic and morbidly humorous. Also VERY slow. Battles that take a minute of game time can easily take 2-3 hours of real time. I don't know about you, but I've got better things to do with my time.
The other problem with the game system also naturally flows out of the combat system. If combat is so bloody, how do the characters keep going? Lots of spells. Lots and lots of spells. You can't use this system for low-magic situations because the characters would be incapacitated by a bar-fight for weeks. Realistic but not fun.
Managing all of the wounds, bleeding, rounds of stun, spells, spell points, effects of spells, and spell point-enhancing items can be quite a chore as well. This isn't a game system for the faint of heart, folks.
So you're probably wondering why I'm giving this game as high a rating as I do. The reason is also simple, I love Middle Earth and I've yet to find a game system that does more justice to Middle Earth than Rolemaster.
Yes, the system is dated (dates back to the late 1970's, in fact). Yes, it's clunky and requires a calculator and 3 sheets of scrap paper per player per game session. When you bring it all together in Middle Earth it still plays great!
The basic concept of the game is simple, each character has 10 stats such as strength, intuition, etc. that are rated 1-100 and a bunch of skills rated from -25 to 150+.
There is lots of classes, most of which are magic-users of some variety. There's lots of overlap between the classes so there are at least 3 different ways to make any character archtype you'd like. Fun for replayability.
The combat system sounds simple and has some neat critical hits and fumbles but here's where things start breaking down. The players have to be willing to do a LOT of math and consult a lot of charts to find out what is happening. Characters can suffer from continuing blood loss, after-effects of criticals, and such things as being stunned by seeing their leg chopped off. Very realistic and morbidly humorous. Also VERY slow. Battles that take a minute of game time can easily take 2-3 hours of real time. I don't know about you, but I've got better things to do with my time.
The other problem with the game system also naturally flows out of the combat system. If combat is so bloody, how do the characters keep going? Lots of spells. Lots and lots of spells. You can't use this system for low-magic situations because the characters would be incapacitated by a bar-fight for weeks. Realistic but not fun.
Managing all of the wounds, bleeding, rounds of stun, spells, spell points, effects of spells, and spell point-enhancing items can be quite a chore as well. This isn't a game system for the faint of heart, folks.
So you're probably wondering why I'm giving this game as high a rating as I do. The reason is also simple, I love Middle Earth and I've yet to find a game system that does more justice to Middle Earth than Rolemaster.
Yes, the system is dated (dates back to the late 1970's, in fact). Yes, it's clunky and requires a calculator and 3 sheets of scrap paper per player per game session. When you bring it all together in Middle Earth it still plays great!
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