We are now regularly playing using Fantasy Grounds and I don’t think I have ever played so much Rolemaster. I am running one game, playing in a Shadow World game, and there is a another game just about to start using a much more historically accurate Viking setting, and Rolemaster rules.
There was a fourth RM game, but the GM has decided to ditch it, in preference to running a 5e game instead.
I ran a couple of training sessions, for me to get used to running a game in FG, and for the players. I have now launched into a campaign.
Before starting the campaign proper, I ask the players how they felt about character death. The consensus was that they were happy with letting the dice fall as they may. That is fine by me, but the players were also happy that creating characters in Fantasy Grounds is very quick and easy, as is leveling them up.
Everyone can keep a back up character on hand should they suddenly need it.
That was all well and good.
We have played three sessions so far in this campaign, they survived the first but were defeated and taken captive. They then did a task in exchange for their freedom. Along the way, the [NPC] ranger lost a leg and then died from blood loss.
In the second session a critical facially disfigured the fighter. He was saved by his helm, but scarred as a result.
Last night the thief lost an ear to a wolf attack, winged wolves, not your common land-based ones.
I wonder if I am just getting a run of criticals that are leaving permanent marks or did I just not notice before?
Another possibility is that normally, this group of players plough everything into getting a high an OB as possible, which means that they are are often doing E criticals or nothing.
Now they are back to first level, we are seeing a lot of A-C criticals. It is possible that what would kill as an E critical is marking them as an A to C critical.
I am finding it quite amusing. It is almost as if they are being dismantled piece by piece.
Where they are going next week is full of fire hazards, lava, fiery monsters, and the like. I was browsing through the low level criticals, and they destroy a lot of armour and clothing, as well as burning off body hair. I am looking forward to see what state they emerge on the other side of that!
I can relate. I feel like my party have had more than their share of scarring or lethal crits, than parties in my past campaigns. These are all new players compared to my old groups, but maybe it’s just the law of averages – more players and longer campaign-> more chance of those crits showing up. Ear loss is indeed a thing.
And as chance has it, they, too, are now in a place with fire, lava fiery monsters and the like. They may figure out why the locals have no body hair.