Author: BriH

Welcome to 2019! Peter and I usually do a look-back and a look-forward at year’s end so I thought I would start the process. First off, I spent some time looking over the past year; due to my work on opening a new business, my blog output dropped off considerably; I think I only posted about 50 times or 1x week on average.

It’s interesting to read back through the last year. While 12 months seems like a short time, I barely remembered what i blogged! Between work related writing, game material and blogging I’m sitting at a computer quite a bit. It blurs together. I definitely have a “fire & forget” process when it comes to blogging; I write quickly when something comes to the forefront or I’m stimulated by someone else’s post or thought and then it’s out of my mind.

3 Blog post(s) that I wrote that I wanted to revisit:

1. The Messengers of the Iron Wind. I had fun with this and it forced me to finalize the specific spells lists for the six orders. I had most of them up to 10th lvl and used them for the Priests, but my overview made me rethink and now have the Messengers themselves with the order specific list. These are some of my favorite villains in Jaiman.
2. Early ICE advertising in Dragon Magazines. This brought back a lot of old memories! I had a long running subscription to Dragon starting at around issue 75 and this gave me the chance to read the older Dragons from Issue #1 to #60 cover to cover. It was a D&D and Rolemaster flashback.
3. Reviews of the Loremaster Series. (Iron Wind, Vog Mur, Cloudlords & Shade). Similar to the advertising review, I spend time really reading these modules again cover to cover; every word and try to reconcile them with my understanding of early I.C.E. and the evolution into Shadow World.

Rolemasterblog Adventures. 2018 wasn’t just blogging. Peter & Adrian really stepped up their game and published our 50 Adventures in 50 Weeks Challenge. We did it!…well mostly….I still have 3 left of my 25 still to be published. However, it was fantastic to go from concept to execution, see supplements reach metal status, generate hundreds of dollars and realize proof of concept in small publishing. To revisit the genesis of the project go HERE.

New faces and new ideas. 2018 brought us new writers and contributors to the blog. First in January, Brad posted a great article about the Magician; Spectre discussed “Absolute Success” thresholds in March and equipment combos in July, a tribute blog in August and an opinion piece on RMU this past December; Adrian (EGDCLTD) found time outside of publishing RMBlog adventures to write about RPG’s and complexity; starting in March we had a burst of great activity and new perspectives from Ovarwa who posted HERE, HERE, and an article on the “cost of charts” that generated a good bit of comments. Ovarwa, where did you go? In May we had another new poster, Bjorn, who started diving into HARP., returned in October to analyze falling in HARP.

Rolemasterblog hits puberty? To me, 2018 displayed a lot of maturing for the blog. A weekly adventure publication, monthly fanzine, new bloggers, new topics and coverage of other games. We are steadily approaching an inflection point where we will publish material with agnostic d100 stats compatible with Rolemaster and other systems. While the wait for RMU continues along, I wonder what RMBlog will bring to 2019?

What are your thoughts on 2018?

First off, Happy New Year to the “staff” and readers of RolemasterBlog.com! I’ve been working on a few different blog topics and I have to keep re-adjusting whenever a new post or comment is put up.

I had a few thoughts on the starting adventures, caravan guards and Peter’s prison he just blogged about. I’m generally driven by up-ending common tropes to surprise my players and keep things fresh for people that have been gaming for decades. So a few random streams of consciousness:

Starting Level. I’ve always liked the early levels of RM; the players have to face real challenges both in terms of resources and abilities, and the grittiness of the system lends itself to low fantasy style gaming. However, we have been having a blast with our high level adventure series–my players get to use high level spells and we can ignore most of the low level book-keeping around food, money or equipment. It feels more like a Super Hero adventure within Shadow World. At this point we’ve walked away from a long term SW campaign and the group has fully embraced the a la carte adventure experience I’m providing: test Priest King adventures, play a high level tourney series, do a quick all cleric adventure etc. While we lose a fulfilling plot continuity and investment into a PC, the players get to enjoy a wider range of setting material, a more diverse experience with character types and offer better feedback once disassociated from any emotional investment in their PC.

Caravans. The whole starting adventure to Priest-King (page 79-81) was predicated on the players being caravan guards. As a plot intro to a regional setting the caravan device worked quite well. First, I’m not a fan of the Gygaxian/adventurer as a profession world. Players need an occupation and the Forgotten Realms concept of chartered adventure groups is a little to “on the nose” for me. (however, I need utilize the concept of salvage/adventure charters later in Priest-King). Having the players become guards is a plausible use of low level characters to expose them to challenges and pay their way in the world. Second, a caravan gives the group a bubble of security–the GM can use NPC’s to aid, direct and protect the PC’s while they are learning their way. Thirdly, the traverse itself provides an opportunity for world-building through NPC exposition and the geographical travelogue. In PK, the first adventure requires the players to travel over 800 miles with numerous encounters and intra party politics. It takes about one month orhan (50 days) and was a great primer for the group. I think it took 9 game sessions and by the time they reached the city of Shade they had leveled up, learned quite a bit about the area cultures and were also quite unprepared for what the saw at the end of the journey!

Prison. The second to last adventure in our 50 in 50 is the Lair of Ozymandius. I blogged about it a year or two ago and now it will be published on RPGNow as part of the RMBlog series. It’s quite a bit more involved than the 1 page adventure seeds we’ve been putting out over the last year. I also like the idea of starting low level players in unfamiliar or uncontrollable environments: prisons, on the run, slaves etc. In Lair of Ozy, not only do they start as prisoners, but they also have no memory of who they are or what their skills are!

In summary, while I tend to avoid overt fantasy tropes, there is an opportunity to put a unique spin on these set-ups. If you are not intending to run a campaign from the outset, these might be the best adventure frames for starting adventures and as an introduction to RMU or the RM ruleset as a whole. Especially with pre-gen characters designed to meet the specific challenges of the adventure.

Plan for a campaign, but design like a tourney module!

Rather than responding via comments on my last post, I thought I would just post another blog addendum. For those that haven’t read one of my older posts on Channeling, you can find it HERE.

So a few thoughts, but first, a clarification! When I suggested the idea of no spell failure, I didn’t mean to suggest an automatic SUCCESSFUL spell casting. I was probably too vague; it was a new idea and I threw together the blog post in a rush. What I meant was no spell failure roll–so while the Diety might not grant the spell (to be discussed in a minute) there might not be a negative effect normally attributed to a failed SCR. The concept akin to a surge protector–the diety acts as a buffer to any negative backlash. Of course an “active” god can always punish a follower in a number of ways at anytime…

Per my previous Channeling blog, we have a Channeling SCR due to a casters attempts to cast a higher level spell, cast quicker than normal, or under other non-optimal conditions. But now I’m thinking that if they don’t make a successful SCR that’s it, no failure roll, they just don’t get any reaction from their god. In some ways that adds more cinema to the action than a purely mechanical resolution.

A few other thoughts:

1. Great feedback. My “deconstruction” posts are about stripping away memes, tropes and mental models, so I appreciate everyone that is willing to think outside their comfort zone. One of the great benefits of the RMBlog is the differing viewpoints, and the willingness to absorb other peoples ideas!
2. The ongoing debates between rules among the various RM versions really woke me to caring less about rules. To me, Rolemaster will always be a versatile and fundamental toolkit and game engine no matter what version. I feel the lack of adventure material (not rule companions) is the real challenge. RMU may not convert everyone, or even sell that well, but new adventures, campaign books and modules will continually expand the RM ‘verse.
3. I think everyone hit on a key point: Channeling is SO specific to setting that RM/Spell Law might be better to eliminate the realms in the primary book and create a framework where spells could be allocated to differing magical systems.
4. I would also re-iterate that the concept of Channeling may require a re-think of imbedded scrolls and magical items. Should you be able to imbed a Channeling spell onto a scroll and then have ANYONE (even an evil opponent of the Diety) use Runes to cast the spell. Does that make any sense? Not to me.
5. Ultimately, Channeling works best for me if it’s in direct correlation with the God(s) and their aspect and power. That requires a Channeling Realm to be developed simultaneously with the settings Divine plan. The idea that all clerics, followers or holy warriors have access to the same base powers is pretty boring and un-original.

Happy Holidays! A couple interesting threads over at the RMForums worth reading, but many of them touch upon a favorite subject here on the RMBlog: the relationship between rules and setting.

Someone raised the issue of the realms (Essence, Channeling, Mentalism) as being integral to a setting. I’ve already ret-conned my own version of Spell Law to better fit into Shadow World but continually tweak it as my views change or someone raises a compelling argument.

My most recent thought, part of my attempts to REALLY differentiate the realms, is whether Channelers should even be subject to spell failure. If you see all the realms as relatively the same (casting time, casting roll, etc) then this wouldn’t make sense. However, if you see each realm as functioning quite differently, then casting times, casting rolls and even spell failure can be adjusted. That gives each realm clear advantages and disadvantages. If Channeling spells are drawn from a Diety you could make the argument that the caster will either have the spell “bestowed” upon them or not, but it shouldn’t work as capriciously as Essence or Mentalism spells. The outside agency the Diety represents might shield the caster from mundane failures.

It’s just a thought–not fully fleshed out yet but worth pondering further.

The title may be a little misleading, but hang with me. I was talking to Matt over the holiday and the subject of “balanced groups” came up–not game mechanic “class balance”, but whether individual player’s self-interest trump any attempts at group parity, team work and fairness. Even playing with friends, most players are actively trying to improve their characters, level up and gain the most advantages (whether through min/max strategies, obtaining items etc). One or two characters/players will eventually develop a character that maximizes their abilities to the game and the particular GM’s style–whether those efforts are for the best of the group.

That’s probably the best you can hope for with a group of friends or a long-term gaming group. How about tournaments or pick up games where you are gaming with people you just met, strangers. Are you really going to put teamwork first or your own characters survival and performance? 

One of the reasons I abandoned any semblance of alignments is that player/character self-interest was pre-eminent in gaming behavior. Sure, a player may try to hide his intentions, rationalize them via roleplaying or try and subtly influence events, but in the end they are looking out for numero uno. 

Does teamwork really exist in roleplaying or is it a group of rivals that cooperate for mutual benefit? 

It’s been quite a long time since I delved into my BASiL project and in the interim there has been several interesting threads over at the Forums that have made me reconsider (again) the scope and nature of spells in Rolemaster and FRPG’s in general.

In my mind, I’ve divided spells into four rough classifications: “keystone”, “mechanic” and “gameplay”, “weapon”. Those aren’t very descriptive, but it’s just my mental model, so let’s dive down into them.

“Keystone” spells are iconic spells/spell ability that are generally found in almost every magic system. These are so ingrained into fantasy DNA that we rarely challenge them even if they imbalancing. Three big “keystone” spells are Invisibility, Flying and Fireball. If I think a spell is in Rolemaster “just because” I spend time really thinking about it.

Mechanic spells are those spells that are the primary result on the game system. A good example in Rolemaster are all of the spells that add a bonus to some action or specific skill. Converting Spell Law to a non-skill based system would render many of the spells useless or irrelevant. Generally, I’m not a fan of skill bonus spells–feels lazy and diminishes the value of skill acquisition.

Weapon spells are the casters version of a sword, bow or dagger. They allow the caster to inflict melee or missile damage in generally the same way a fighter can. Firebolts and Magic Missile are good examples. Firebolts, Ice Bolts, Shock Bolts–all pretty much the same thing but necessary nonetheless.

Gameplay spells are the rest–spells with varying utility, scope or benefit that provides for interesting gameplay, solutions to problems or adds atmosphere. These can be the most challenging because they can be the most open-ended. 

So what does this mean and how is it important or relevant? For me, understanding a spell’s role or objective in the game was critical to my re-write.  Let’s take Fly as an example-a spell that is often abused and sometimes despised by GM’s. Was Fly just a keystone spell that had to be included in BASiL? Is it a critical ability necessary for fantasy? With so many powerful spells available in spell law how could Fly NOT be a magical spell?

So then I looked at the spell from a gameplay standpoint. Is Fly about allowing the magic-user to hover over a combat and fling spells from a safe distance? Is it just a combat exploit? I came to the conclusion that Fly is really about transportation in the game system. Once I accepted that, then a whole range of possibilities presented themselves and Fly was just one method of magical transportation. In fact, I made Fly a function of “wind” or “gravity” and removed it as a general (open or closed) spell ability. Other magical aspects were given different transportation spells: Long Door, Fire Travel, Shadow Skipping etc. Can the Wind Mage that has Fly still hover above the group and cast spells. Sure, but not every Mage will have access to Fly and other transport spells will provide different types of benefits.

So if keystone spells are ubiquitous, weapon spells are fairly straight foward and mechanic spells are system dependent then we are left with gameplay spells as the real creative task. I’m endlessly fascinated by gameplay spells, especially in the context of Shadow World. Coming up with new spells can be difficult, and coming up with new spells that enhance gameplay is even more challenging. Rather than measure a spell by it’s overall utility, maybe think of a spell’s role in enhancing gameplay. What spell in Rolemaster is the most interesting?

the journey continues…

Greetings! It feels like it’s been some time since I’ve blogged and certainly since I’ve blogged consistently. Now that I have had a little break and refreshed my creative batteries I’m going to focus almost exclusively on adventure content and let the rules focus take a back seat. As we’ve discussed here, hopefully we can develop a bit of statblock “shorthand” that will avoid any IP issues and still be compatible with our d100 products and just let that work for our various adventure publications. For me personally, I’m going to just let the whole RMU/RM2/RMSS/RMFRP/MERP etc. rule arbitration process go away.

While parsing and developing rules is exciting,  RM seems to have less game/adventure content than other systems. That’s where I want to put my focus on for 2019. Peter, Adrian and I have a great concept for the next iteration of the 50 Adventures in 50 Weeks for basic d100 applications–hopefully we can finalize and announce those plans shortly. In the meantime I’m still 3 adventures short of my 25 total for the 50in50! I’ve submitted 1 and working on the last two. I’ve also been slow on the remaining chapters of my “Legends of Shadow World” high level adventure. My group never played more than 1 iteration of the last two chapters, but they are pretty fluid and I should have them out here on on the RM Forums this winter. Finally, I hoping that a new artistic break-through will help me finalize the Empire of the Black Dragon. Like Priest-King of Shade, this will be put out as a free download in a rough draft format. My goal now is to get things out there and then maybe, one day, ICE will decide to polish them up, add new content and officially publish them. Until that day comes I want to wrap long gestating or languishing products before I get too old, too tired or distracted by real life.

Back in 2013 I submitted to I.C.E., and they accepted, my manuscript for “Priest-King of Shade”. There was no formal agreement, but at the time, product output was slow, RMU was just getting rolling and Terry was open to third party submissions. Nicholas gave the go-ahead and both he and Terry gave it a few editorial passes early on. Then things slowed down. For years.

Over the ensuing years, I continued to refine and add content, edit my own work and found various artists and others to help with floorplans and layouts. I continued to submit my new updated versions until I was told not to work on it anymore until a complete editorial pass was finished. 

That was several years ago. In a few weeks I’m turning 49 and staring down the barrel of 50! I have 3 more comprehensive modules nearing completion plus all the other RMBlog stuff I’ve been working on. Terry has announced he doesn’t have time to edit my project and I haven’t heard that anyone else will take on editing duties. The product needs artwork, layout, floorplans and probably another 20 pages to really polish things up. While I was really looking forward to having an “official” published ICE/SW module, I have no interest in waiting forever. My brother Matt (Vroomfogle) did all the work on the Shadow World Players Guide and was the lead design on RMU, so I’ll let that be our family’s official testament to our long standing commitment to I.C.E.

With that said, I’m attaching an early version of Priest-King in PDF format. It’s rough, the charts don’t quite fit on the page, these floorplans are shite and it just needs a lot of work. However, I have complete versions of all charts in excel, clarifications and can provide them if you email me. Since I never had a formal contract with ICE and I’m offering this for free I can’t imagine anyone will care.  Let’s call this PK.v.2. My most recent version has several more adventures and is hitting 180 pages. With professional artwork, layouts and newer material there is still a publishable product here. 

If you haven’t followed my blogs here, Priest-King is actually Chapter 2 in the middle of my extended “The Grand Campaign”. Chapter 3, The Empire of the Black Dragon segues into one of the Dragonlords storylines and injects the PC’s into the world spanning battle with the Jerak Ahrenrath and the Eyes. Heady stuff in my campaign!!

So while this is rough, it’s also free. How about this as an idea? If you want to contribute to this, help with one of the floorplans, or insert an idea etc, let me know. We can crowdsource this a bit and make it even better. I’m open to that and can focus on all my other projects!

In a previous blog, I offered up some suggestions on a obvious core profession that should have been included in Rolemaster: The Shaman.  Today I thought I would dive deeper into another profession that could also be core to the system: The Witch.

For that follow other blogs and specifically The Other Side, Tim is an avid “witch guy”. (I think he actually designed the witch for some version of D&D). Anyway, Tim wrote about witches in early D&D and referenced some work by Tom Moldvay. You can read that blog HERE. The first take away is Tom’s summary of core witch abilities:

According to Moldvay a witch class should include the following:
1. The ability to use herbs for healing and magic.  

2. The power of fascination, like a super-charm ability.  

3. A combination of both Clerical and Magic-User abilities.

4. The ability to practice sympathetic magic.  

5. Be worshipers, in secret, of a religion otherwise forbidden in a particular era.

6. Powers based on nature and the cycle of seasons, similar to Druidic* powers.

To me, those abilities draw from standard western tropes, and at the time helped form the basis of an alternate D&D profession. But let’s look at these in the context of Rolemaster.

#1 Healing & Magic Herbs. That one is a bulls-eye for Rolemaster that has a much more detailed and integrated system for magical and natural herbs. Additionally, this doesn’t even need to be a basis of magical spells, just herb lore and/or various similar skills. Or, a Witch could use Herb Mastery as a Base list.

#2 “Super-charm”. This touches on the witch trope of casting glamours, using love potions and charming unsuspecting targets. It would be easy to use Spirit Mastery as a Base list for the Witch profession.

#3 A combination of Clerical and M-U. Again, Rolemaster can easily define a witch as a Hybrid profession using Channeling and Essence.

#4 Sympathetic Magic. Tom is probably referring to curses, hexes, talismans that are common in Witch folklore. Here we could give the Witch a “Curses” or “Disease” list.

#5 Secret society. As a Channeler, a Witch should have a patron god. It doesn’t have to be a secret god, just that the witch doesn’t practice within an organized religion. Or, the witch could worship an ancient “dead” god or a minor god of indeterminate morality. That doesn’t suggest that witches must be evil or suspect! Why can’t you have “good” witches?

#6 Nature Magic. Giving a witch nature based spells could make sense. One or two Druid or Cleric Open/closed would round out the witches base lists and their witch-like abilities.

So for those wanting a traditional witch, it’s fairly easy to bolt together the profession using existing skills and spell lists. Of course, RM Companion offered up a variant with “Candle Magic”, “Familiars” and other tropey spells. But we can’t discuss professions in my blogs without deconstructing the topic!!!

While Tom Moldvay offers a traditional package for a witch, does that work in non-westerncentric fantasy settings? What is a witch really, using the broadest sense of the concept. A few thoughts that use Moldvay’s foundation, but might be more flexible for various types of settings.

1. The ability to use “natural magic”. Whether that’s herbs, nature, familiars or something else, a Witch accesses fundamental powers rooted in the natural world. You could argue these are Arcane Powers.
2. Well-rounded. A witch is mostly solitary or lacks a open organized society or group to work within. Therefore they have a broad skill set for both offense and defense. This does not just need to be subtle charms or passive aggressive curses. A witch could easily utilize fire magic or other elemental powers in certain settings.
3. Power flexibility. Whether a hybrid or just has access to a variety of power types, a witch should be versatile but not formally trained.
4. Secret Worship. A witch should have a patron god, but worships secretly and protects the god’s identity. A witch will be secretive and elusive about their powers. This provides them with a sense of mystery and solitary nature, even if they operate within an organized society. (see the 50 in 50 blog HERE). Witches don’t have to be hermit crones living deep in a swamp.

Once you dismiss the specific powers of potions, charms, cackling and glamours you have a versatile, unique and powerful professional template. Using these 4 basic criteria, a witch could be very adaptable to many settings without regressing back to fantasy norms.