I have literally 5 minutes to spare so I thought I would get in a quick blog! As RMBlogs reader have seen, activity is WAY DOWN on the blog and even the RM Forums are pretty slow moving. Let’s chalk it up to the dog days of summer, real life commitments and a temporary lull in the conversation. I have 5-6 posts stewing on the dashboard that I hope to get to, some polishing up on the 50in50’s and then of course the rest of my projects.
So what have I gleaned from quick and random perusals around RM land?
- It feels like RMU is close. There was a flurry of activity on the development forums on several topics and it looks like some tightening of the rules. Generally though it feels like most everything is now set and close to publication. That is just my sense–no inside info.
- GenCon. I was sad to see Terry had to cancel his GenCon game. I think his presence would have been a big hit and brought some exposure to Rolemaster and Shadow World. On the other hand, it’s time for newer younger players to take up the banner and run with it via RMU and new products.
- Real life news. No not politics! There has been a ton of cool archaeology news lately. I should do a weekend round up soon!
- According to Terry, my SW submission and Lethys are on the shelf! He has asked Nicholas to find a new editor since he is busy with his own projects. That’s discouraging… I’m leading towards just publishing it for free so I can have closure and move on to the next one.
- When things free up we are going to put together a super edition of the Fanzine with a compilation of updated SW material. I promise Peter!
ok, back to the grindstone. If anyone wants to put their big toe into the land of RM or RPG blogging now would be the time! And it would be a great help.
Yes, it is the dog days of summer and I think a lot of people (like me) are busy with family and vacations and all that sort of stuff.
I too was sad Terry had to cancel his appearance at GenCon. I get the sense that he was a bit worried not only about his health, but also that he wouldn’t know as many people anymore and it might be a bit hard to get around. I tried to assure him that there are lots of people who would love to meet him and help him out. But hopefully he will be up for it next year– if RMU is out then, it would be a great time!
I would really love to see you publish your SW adventure as an official module, with ICE. I know you can publish it yourself, but I think it would be better for Rolemaster if it has more official adventures. Have you thought about statting it out for RMU? Then it could be the flagship adventure for the new edition, which would be awesome!
I’ve toyed with doing more deconstructing combat, especially in light of this thread over on the RM forums: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=18650.0
But I don’t know how much of my stuff I can really talk about in light of an RMU NDA (which they’ve been silent about for about two years, so like you I’m becoming more tempted to just put stuff out). But the sort of gaming I often do (non-magic) doesn’t really fit here, either, so maybe it’s a wash.
I was wondering just what skills would be needed to edit the two non-Terry projects. On the bright side, if an editor is found, they might move forward more quickly.
Dont you have a copy of “Priest-King”? How much work does it need besides art and professional layouts?
I do, although I haven’t sat down and given it a thorough read as yet.
I think what I’m wondering is “What does ICE want doing to the module?” Is it something as simple as going through and checking for errors, whether in grammar, references and game stats, or something more thorough?
I have three days of my trip to Iceland left and then I am back and ready to start posting again!
Good luck defending The Wall from Wildlings; it should help keep your archery skills sharp.
I want to believe. I really do. But honestly from a slightly outsider perspective, it just looks dead. My account on the Ice forums is pending for over a year now. There is zero publicity, no betas, etc. I don’t come here to bury Rolemaster – I love the game – I come here seeking some ray of hope.
Can anyone cheer me up?
Not sure why your account is pending? We are not associated with ICE so I cannot answer that.
If you were signed up to the BETA test forums (not trying to rub salt into the wounds) you would see that there is still constant testing, discussion and revision of the new rules. There is a thread which aggregates most of the changes settled upon so far but there is no Beta 3 planned.
It is my intention to house rule the heck out of RMU from the day it is released and I can tell you now that there is nothing in Beta 2 that I could not fix to my own tastes, right now.
Obviously we are all waiting for the official release and want to at least start from the same place.
So please do not extrapolate a possibly technical glitch with verifying your email address on the forums to RMU flatlining. There is a pulse and there are signs of life.
There, was that a sufficient ray of hope?
In addition to what Peter said, I would add that the discussions on the ICE boards in April and May were very crunchy and detailed; they showed that RMU is still very much moving forwards.
Like Peter, I too plan to mod the heck out of RMU, and like him there is nothing that I can’t fix. That’s not to say RMU is broken, just that I and my group have played my own heavily modded version of RM2 for so long that we have very particular tastes, and it will take a moderate amount of work to make RMU fit them. (The main things I plan to do are add individual skill costs; tweak the weapon charts or houserules to make two-handed weapons more viable and cut down on the amount of size upscaling/downscaling math players are required to do; and amend the action economy to make it more intuitive for my group). Once those changes are done, we’ll finally have a version of Rolemaster that is current and supported, with a full suite of electronic tools to boot. I can’t wait!
If your account of the forums hit a snafu, I would try to register again with a different name/email. If that still doesn’t work, let me know, and I will post a thread on their forums letting them know that you aren’t able to register. I’ll try to make sure that your problem gets solved (keeping in mind that I am just a forum poster and not affiliated with ICE in any way).
Thanks for the advice. I reapplied and now all is well. I have an account on the forums.
That is good. You should check out the Beta forums now you can access them.