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Rolemaster Classic

Last time I wrote about how we are attacking all the optional rules. My fellow GM has some of the oldest rule books in the known world, I think, and I convinced him that seeing that his ipad is basically welded to his hand anyway why not go for the pdf rules. He conceded and now is the proud owner of Rolemaster Classic.

I have been using the pdf Rolemaster Classic for a while now but most of my other books are on paper or home scanned versions.Just so we are both singing from the same hymn sheet I bought the Rolemaster Classic Arms Law, Spell Law and Creatures and Treasures this week.

In my mind Rolemaster (RM2) and Rolemaster Classic are pretty much the same game but I was shocked to see that the date on the RMC Spell Law was 2011! I always think of Rolemaster as a quality game from the 80s not something that new.

I have been reading my nice new rule books and I have to say I am even more impressed than I thought I would be. I loved the new and updated rules section in Arms Law but Spell Law is by far my favourite updated rulebook.

There is only one fly in the ointment and that is Creatures and Treasures. A lot of my time is spent converting creatures or monsters over from AD&D as they are native to Faerun. The rules for this have disappeared from Creatures and Treasures. I still have my old books so it is not a show stopper but it ould have been nice to be able to just have the four books and say that is it, everything I need to run my game.

On a side note I bought a cheap android tablet to accompany my new rules from Amazon and it cost me just £70. It is no ipad but it will only b used for displaying pdf rules and running combat minion. I have run the minion freebie version on my phone so I am pretty certain that the tablet will be up to the job. All my NPCs are in pdf format all ready as these are created using the RCU and printed using cutePDF writer. and the adventures are all in PDF format too. I think the next game session could be entirely run from the tablet. Up until now it has all been books, files, a laptop and copious print outs. I feel like in the last four months I have been ushered into the 21st century and have lost me preconceptions of pbp gaming and now I have bought my first tablet (I could never see the point of them before this).

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Quaggoths and Boogin

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These are the two races/creatures I discussed last week as being both tied deeply into Drow culture. These two are in my opinion near perfect low level monsters to throw at beginer parties.

Why? Well if you look at their stats below they have a low OB, low-ish DB and not many hits. So they should in theory be easy to kill. When you are very low level with a poor OB yourself it is in many ways easier to kill a large creature than it is a man-sized one. If you are only doing A & B criticals then the chance of getting a killing blow is probably just 1% but Large criticals are open ended so you have a 5% chance of getting a takedown as any open-ended critical is enough to take out one of these guys.

It is not just that they are easy to kill that makes these two interesting though. They both have the tendency to go into a Frenzy. this gives them effectively more hits and a higher OB (+30). So if the characters are doing well then they can go into a Frenzy and get tougher if they party are doing badly then they are unlikely to go into a rage and they stay relatively weak. If they do go berserk then the tactical advantage goes to the characters and there is a likelihood that a Quaggoth may accidentally take out one of its allies.

When the party meet the Quaggoth they could be just in a small partol of just two or a small tribe of over 20. They may be lead by Boogin, their more inteligent half breed cousins or even orcs. Finally where you find Quaggoths and Boogins you find Huge and Giant spiders.

All in all you get a creature that is both weak and defeatable but also challenging and dangerous, you can use them in small encounters on their own or in mixed groups of varied races and species. Finally they are so closely linked to the Drow that I would suggest that a character with Faerie Lore (a fairly common skill) would recognise them as a race often enthralled by the Drow. Thus a single Quaggoth could be a plot hook into a bigger adventure.

So down to stats…

I have used the standard rules from Creatures and Treasures I to do the conversion to RM2/RMC

Quaggoths

Quaggoths are sometimes enslaved by other races, notably drow. Quaggoths usually live in underground lairs. They are about seven feet tall and covered in shaggy white hair, though brown-haired quaggoths are sometimes seen. When quaggoths live above ground they are savage, bestial hunters who live in nomadic tribes.

AT3(30), MV 150MS/AQ VF, Level 2, #Hits 20, Number encountered 2-20. Attacks Lge Claw (30OB) or Greatsword (20OB). All Quaggoth are immune to poison. They are 11′ tall and take Large criticals.

70% of Quaggoths groups are unarmed and will fight with their claws but 30% of groups will be armed with greatswords. For every 12 Quaggoths encountered there will be a leader wielding a battleaxe.

Quaggoths can speak haltingly and have a vary limited vocabulary.

They hate all surface dwelling elves.

Boogin

Boogins are brutish, hairy orc-quaggoth crossbreeds sometimes known as “spider killers,” a nod to the constant pressure from drow slavers. These half-breeds are more like quaggoths than orcs, though slightly weaker and more in control of their rages than their beast side.

AT3(30), MV 120MS/AQ F, Level 3, #Hits 55, Number encountered 1-10. Attacks Greatsword (35OB) or Spiked Club (20OB). All Boogin get +100RR vs poison. They will go into a Frenzy when attacked to get +30 OB and x2 concussion damage.

Boogin are the slightly more inteligent half orc/half quaggoth cousins of the pure quaggoth. They are often employed by drow as overseers of quaggoth patrols and are better able to follow orders.

 

Race Ag Co Em In Me Pr Qu Re SD St Chn Ess Men Poison Disease Size Fat Hits Rec Life DP
 Quaggoth -2 +1 -2 +1 -2 -2 -1 +2 immune L 25 x1 100 11
 Boogin -1 +1 -2 +1 -2 -1 -1 +2 immune L 25 x1 100 8

 Traits and Flaws

Quaggoth
Immunity to poison (costed the same as immunity to disease), Giantism I (11′ tall), Natural Armour AT 3, Natural Attack (Claw), Animal Empathy (Spiders), Frenzy.

Boogin
Immunity to poison (costed the same as immunity to disease), Giantism I (11′ tall), Animal Empathy (Spiders), Frenzy.

I have not created these races as player character races. I am just aware that there are a lack of creatures for the RMU playtest and with these, the drow I published this week and the orcs goblins and trolls from Character Law and the few creatures from the sample Creature Law (add in the special mushrooms and fungi from the herbs and poisons tables for good measure) that is almost enough to run an adventure into the Underdark.