I’ve written often about the “gap” between the Rolemaster RAW and the Shadow World setting, but I’ve never touched upon some gaps in the Rolemaster rules themselves. I’ve been avoiding writing about rules in general, but this topic has come up recently and I thought I would dive into it a bit deeper.
So first, what am I referring to when I say “gaps in the rules”. Generally I’m referring to material that isn’t supported fully across the “Laws” or doesn’t have fully fleshed out rules to handle things. I think RMU made huge strides in addressing some of these gaps, clarifying fuzzy rules and tightening up language in the rule books. However it still feels like some items were missed or weren’t dealt with fully.
I think the most notable items are those around combat and damage. In my opinion EVERY combat damage type, effect or result should have a simple, working counter to offset it.
- Stun. There has been some discussion on stun relief and mechanisms to counter a stun effect on Discord. To be fair, all editions of RM had Stun Relief spells and herbs that also provided relief and later editions of RM added “Stunned Maneuver” as a work around for Stuns as well. So this is less an issue with a “gap” and more of poorly designed solutions for the Stun effect. Why? Even a single round of stun can be a devastating disadvantage and while an instantaneous Stun relief spell seems to address the need for a quick response, it begs how the caster would even know that the target has been stunned and that a spell is required? Using a stun relief herb (while stunned) also raises some process issues. One person suggested that the players keep instant herbs in their mouth during combat that could then be swallowed if needed. Hmmm…that’s a novel solutions but I’m not sure as a GM I would allow that. So we have some counters to Stun, but they require a bit of jockeying to make them work cohesively.
- Stagger (and Kock back or knock around) are new critical effects. Unlike Stun, there isn’t any real solutions barring 1 or 2 spells in RMU spell law. This is likely the result of combat rules being developed by different authors than the person working on the new Spell Law but it creates a common new critical effect without any real solution.
- “Life Levels” and/or Stat drain. In my discussions with Matt & Mark, I asked them about mechanisms around stat drain but the conversation digressed into a discussion around level drain in D&D. That aside, Rolemaster had a stat drain mechanism in C&T (usually by Undead) but no spell to correct it. Shadow World has tackled the issue around Unlife corruption and one of the companions introduced the idea of “Life Levels”. All of these effects are trying to model the intangible draining of our “essence”, “spirit”, “will” or “lifeforces”. This is an important mechanism(s) but it needs some fine tuning. Additionally, there needs to be spells, herbs or rituals that can correct, cure or repair this damage.
- Bleeding. While there are whole lists that tackle bleeding damage, to me it’s still a bit messy. Based on questions posted online, there is also some confusion around the bleeding relief spells. Some clot a bleeding wound that prohibits the target moving, some heal the bleeding instantly. It’s not clear if the spell cures a total # of hits/round or if it’s limited to a single bleeding wound etc. Luckily there are numerous herbs (and bloodstones in SW) that can reduce, clot or stop bleeding. I understand the need to scale spells in the spell lists, but I think the bleeding relief spells have always been “too little, too late”.
- Pain. There are criticals that impose a general penalty due to pain or as a proxy for physical damage. That too was never wholly addressed in the Spell Law. Pain blocking spells and/or pain relief spells should be more common throughout spell law.
Clearly, even the original RM 1st edition had very detailed healing spells for burns, nerves, organs, muscles, tendons etc. It’s VERY specific, and quite frankly, needed given the nature and specificity of the critical tables. But those spell lists don’t address every critical effect or the solutions aren’t that elegant or executable.
These are gaps, and given the importance of critical effects, should have solutions and counters better integrated into the rules. I’ve developed my own solutions–I’m curious if anyone else has come up with their own solutions?