It has to be the Roll d100 and add something then prey for an Open Ended.
That is the basic core mechanic of RM in all its flavours and it is just so flexible that it can be applied to just about every situation, skilled or not and has that little bit of excitement about the open ended roll.
I really try and avoid D100 rolls that are not OE as they seem a bit flat to me, I think the only real use for them is stats and criticals and I like point buy stats. It is the magic 66 result that adds the same sort of excitement to the critical roll.
So it is the simplicity of the Rolemaster core mechanic that I like the most and it is also the one that is chartless/table-less and the one we use the most.
If we’re talking totally basic mechanics, I prefer d100 to just about anything else. It’s simple, easy to modify if needed, and only requires two dice.
I do like that touch of excitement that the open ended roll can offer.
I prefer d100 to pretty much everything and had high hopes for RMU until I saw how badly you had dumbed down and trashed the game I love. Of ciurse since it’s pretty obvious after 6 years that you have no real plans for this pile of crap I guess it isn’t too bad.
Sorry you feel like that. You do realise that we are nothing to do with ICE. We are just RM fans.
Do your research, please. As Peter mentioned this is a fan-based gaming blog, not anything directly related to ICE.
I love d100 because it’s percentile. A percentage chance you succeed/fail. You can open end up and down on some skills. Even on the MM table, the result could be 120…. 120% chance of success but because of the open-end possibility, you can still fail with 120% ! The gods giveth and the gods taketh and the gods maketh a fun game!
Who do you hit? 2 people? 50%. 3 people? 33% chance to hit one. 4 people? 25%. Roll the dice.
For skills, I’ve had players roll foraging. They give me the total say… 88%. OK. 88% chance you find the herb you’re looking for. I roll the dice. 1-88 = success! 89+ = sorry.
TL/DR: For the MM roll failing at 120%… If the player is allowed to use opened ended up/down for the initial attack/skill/task/attempt to end up with a really high percent-chance-to-succeed, then to be fair, the actual physical attempt should also be open-ended.
Gronk the Ball Spiker wants to kick in the door. He rolls and adds ST bonus. Gronk open ends high! Total attempt to kick in the door = 155. After referencing the MM table for Difficult, the percent chance of success is 120. OK Gronk, roll your kick. You have 120% chance to succeed. Gronk open ends again. Great day for Gronk. But he rolls high again. He over powers the kick, ends up with 147 total roll. Gronk puts so much effort into the kick that he loses his balance. The door holds fast and Gronk propels himself backwards with the kick and over the balcony down onto the ground. (True story. Only the name was changed because I can’t remember the PC’s name.)
You are a mean GM. The poor guy had a 120% chance of success, rolled really well and still failed!
I would have had him go through the door, but his stellar kick would then propel him into the room, possibly resulting in his foot becoming stuck in the far wall, sailing through a window, or something else. He would have succeeded, true enough, but with things like that I usually aim for a humorous (and non-damaging) result.
I agree I would have injected some humour but also maybe give some future advantage like the door bursting in with such force that the party gain surprise or even that the physical door itself hits one of the bad guys, stunning it but leaving it out of sight, under the door. Then 3 rounds into any combat the smashed door crashes over and a ‘new’ enemy staggers up takes in the scene.
Oh, it was funny as all heck! We were crying from laughing so hard. Hey, dice happens. He fell onto a cart and didn’t take any damage.
But I’ve seen people open a door into their forehead. I’ve seen people turn around to leave a room and smack right into the door jamb. I walked into a screen door and fell backwards onto my ass. It was a black nylon screen and very resilient, I stretched it and bounced backwards like a cartoon.
Errr… I mean I SAW someone walk into a screen door and fall on his ass.
Sometimes, just sometimes… something so simple leads to something really funny.
* – PeterR: I’ve seen some really mean GM’s on the boards! I think I’m pretty tame. Some of you guys are brutal. LOL