Posted on

Updated 4-5-2025: Shadow World File List

I was recently asked about several of my upload files and thought this would be a good time to update my master Shadow World file list with the working forum links.

Please note that some of these files may be here on the Rolemasterblog, but to access these links to the RM Forums will require a Forum account–otherwise you cannot see or access.

Here we go:

  1. SW Healing Chart. This was a quick reference chart for cinematic healing, but taking into account cultural access to healing skills. I use it between adventures to quickly establish healing times & costs without a lot of more complicated calculations. It was included in my Master Atlas, but probably needs to fleshed out.
  2. RM/RMU Class Comparison. Another chart from my Master Atlas, this was a quick guide to mapping RMU professions to classic RM professions with notes specific to SW.
  3. SW Research Chart. Small chart to generate research results.
  4. Invoke Chart. I’ve blogged and written about invocation quite a bit. This chart allows PCs to call/pray for their gods intervention. This is a common mechanism in my SW campaign and brings the gods into gameplay in a less abstract way.
  5. SW Lore Table. Incomplete, but the start of summarizing skill levels/competence level and knowledge of various skills and lores.
  6. SW Metal Chart. Summary of SW metals and alloys with a unifying “breakage” number that use for material RRs and enchantments/imbedding.
  7. Master Herb Chart. Collated list of all herbs, plants, and poisons found in all RM books. May need some updates to include Terry’s more recent books.
  8. SW Crystal Summary. Crystals play a key role in SW, but Terry never really fleshed out a full system for the. This chart assumes that all “Essence Crystals” are basically the same–even if know as Zirix Crystals, or Essaence Crystals or Jewel Slime etc. It needs some work, but I use crystals as PP storage devices that can be drawn upon or recharged with channeling skill.
  9. Cantrips. Really this is part of BASiL, but in the thread.
  10. God Invocation Summary. This chart is used with the Invocation chart. Summarizes modifiers to SW’s gods responses and specific things they may do.
  11. SW Encounter Chart. This is a comprehensive chart for random encounters by region. Includes weather and Essence effects. Inspired by the encounter tables in the AD&D DM’s guide. Needs a little updating but I think a very useful tool!
  12. Void Knight Base List. Spell list for a organization I use in my SW campaign and features in “Priest-King of Shade”. It needs some touch up.
  13. Soulless. Update Pending. This is my effort to consolidate the concept of the Unlife, traditional fantasy Undead, corruption and possession. In my SW campaign, the Unlife possesses or inhabits creatures to various degrees.
  14. Hierax Guard. Organization dedicated to fighting Demon’s. Uses the Void Knight base list.
  15. Xiosians. My interpretation of the Xio Warriors mentioned in a few places and a way to integrate them into the larger SW story.
  16. History of the Earthwardens. I went through every single SW book and collated all the references to the Earthwardens. This is my conclusions.
  17. Notes on Tech & Languages. Quick excerpt from my Master Atlas.
  18. Elves. Again, this is my fleshing out of Elves: how they came to be and their place in the larger story. Plus a Shadow World explanation of the various types of Elves beyond the Tolkien archetypes.
  19. Alchemy Notes. I use alchemy skill a lot in my game. This is my simplified but flexible rules on alchemy. I plan on expanding on it at some point.
  20. SW Trade Goods. Treasure is more than gems, jewelry and gold!
  21. SW Civilization Summary. Chart from my Master Atlas with overview of the various ancient civilizations.
  22. Cult of Hraask. I wanted a “spider/insect” spell list grounded in SW.
  23. SW Cultural Skills. This is part of SWARM rules (Shadow World Alternate Role Master) and my “build a character in 10 minutes. Includes specific SW cultures rather than the broader types in RMU.
  24. SW Professions. List of vocations and skill packages for quick character generation.
  25. SW Background Table. Random background table, SW specific.
  26. SW Material Strength. Unifying method for breakage, VS RR’s and imbedding, enchanting and weapon runes.
  27. Weapon Modifier Chart. Combat modifiers and stats for specific weapons rather than general modifiers used in RM.
  28. SW Racial Chart. Conversion of bonuses to RMU. Probably will need a re-edit after RMU publication.
  29. Orhanian Base Spells Lists. God specific lists for Clerics and Followers. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  30. Charon Base Lists. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  31. Religious Organizations. Orhan. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  32. Religious Organizations. Charon. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  33. History of SW in narrative form. My Master Atlas version.
  34. SW Languages. My notes, needs some work.
  35. SW Special Armor. Cool armors.
  36. SW Archaeology. Notes on ancient SW civilizations.
  37. SW Antiquities. Price chart for REALLY ancient, “priceless” stuff!
  38. Jaiman Tradegoods. More trade items specific to Jaiman cities and cultures.
  39. Iron Wind Base Lists. Lyak. Yarthraak. Gaath. Athimurl. Dansart. Thargondaak.
  40. SW Notes on Currency. Summary of various coins and currencies.
  41. Shrapnel & Swarm Crit Chart. I use for explosions or insect swarms.
  42. SW Trade Goods: Drugs & Alcohol. Small file that needs more work!
  43. BASIL: Essence Lists.
  44. BASIL: Channeling Lists.
  45. BASIL: Mentalism Lists. Still working on these.
  46. For links to the spell lists above.
  47. Legends of Shadow World. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5. Alternate all Priest PCs.
  48. Priest-King of Shade. Priest King Charts. Small module that takes place in SW Agyra.
  49. The Book of Pales. Summary and overview of the Pales.
  50. SW Religions and Channeling Handbook.
  51. Book of Herbs. White background version. Illustrated guide to all of the herbs found in the Shadow World books.
  52. SW Channeling Canticles. (Adventure Paths). Kuor. Phaon. Teris. Shaal. Updates Pending.
  53. Shadow World Suggested Patrons. Suggestions for patron Gods (Orhan and Charon) based on Professions.
  54. SW Transport Costs.
  55. Earthwarden Base Lists. Updates in Progress. Creations. Essaence Master, Dimension Mastery, Shapechanging & Life Mastery, Time Mastery, Mana Fires, Earthworks, Sound Mastery, Words of Power, Warding.
  56. Matt (Vroomfogle) Hanson Files. Languages of Kulthea, SW Combat Styles, Vroomfogles Magic Treasures, Compass Rules. Legacy of the Y’Kin.
  57. Misc Files & Maps. Esov Inquirer, Esov Inquirer 2, Meluria Map, Rhakhaan South Map
  58. Martin’s “Lethys” file.
  59. Jengada’s Files. Scorpion Attack, Rip/Tear Critical Strikes.
  60. Ultimate Shadow World Trivia Test.
  61. Empire of the Black Dragon. PENDING. Companion supplement to Priest-King covering the realms of Uyla Shek.

Posted on

Assessing the Rolemaster Community

One of the common subjects that my friends and I discuss is just how large the player base is for Rolemaster (and to a lesser extent Shadow World). One of the ways we can assess the strength of the community is through membership and participation in the various RM channels. Unfortunately there are only a handful. This has become more relevant to me as I continue to roll out new episodes of “In Search of Andraax”, monitor listener rates and try and grow the audience. But the podcast is just one data point. What other Rolemaster channels might be informative about the user base?

FACEBOOK. Recently I started following the Rolemaster Group on Facebook. For a variety of reasons, I minimize my use of FB, noting that the Shadow World page is basically DOA and the ICE page is generally a echo of the Rolemaster Forums. But the Rolemaster Group seems somewhat active with 2.2k members and typically several posts a week. Many of the names on the FB group are unknown to me; usernames tend to be used across platforms, but perhaps it’s the same users with different monikers. It’s not clear what, if any, crossover there is and if it’s possible that FB Rolemaster Group members are unaware or uncurious about the Forums, RMBlog etc.

DRIVETHRURPG. Perhaps the best way to gauge user activity is their economic activity. RMU Core & Spell Law are both “Platinum” level and the recently released Treasure Law is “Gold” level. I forget the sales #’s to reach those levels, but that does provide a bit of context. In terms of Shadow World, the Players Guide is “Platinum” while the Master Atlas is only “Electrum”. That could be a function of the buyers: the Players Guide is a purchase any player would make, while the Master Atlas is theoretically geared towards GMs?

ROLEMASTERBLOG.COM. I think the blog is somewhat active, although I would prefer a broader reader engagement. Various TTRPG gaming polls ranks the RMBlog in the top 50, so that’s encouraging. We are one of the few non-D&D or OSR blogs that are typically ranked.

ICE FORUMS. The Forums has gotten a shot in the arm since RMU was released with new users that engage with questions. There is a also a noticeable increase in online users (unregistered) , but many of them could be bots.

DISCORD SERVERS. Despite my old world curmudgeonly attitude against short form conversation, apparently it’s popular. The Discords are the most active of the various RM/SW channels with a lot more back and forth, discussion, ideas and conversation. That’s fantastic, since that engagement keeps our game alive and relevant.

DOWNLOADS. I’ve uploaded around 280 files to the RM Forums and posted several of them at the RMBlog as well. The most popular files have been downloaded 150-200 times over the last 10 years. So that’s not spectacular but it’s something. Our d100 adventures on RPG have reached Copper, Silver and even a few Electrum which is kind of cool!

PODCASTS. Besides my podcast, there are 2-3 channels of actual RM/SW gameplay that are posted regularly and have around 275 subscribers.

Beyond that, there are the occasional RM reviews, look backs and remembrances among the various RPG blogs and gaming forums. But not much more.

So what can we make of all this? I don’t have the time or energy to play other systems, so I’m siloed in my RM and Shadow World ecosystem. Every game has it’s own vernacular and experiences and I really enjoy reading and hearing about other peoples Rolemaster games, rules and ideas. Do I want the system to grow? Of course. But ultimately if there are only a handful of dedicated players and GM’s that’s good enough for me. I’ve been able to meet a bunch through my podcast and I look forward to meeting more.

To end with a few questions:

  1. Which sites do you visit regularly? Are there channels mentioned above you didn’t know about or just don’t visit? Why?
  2. Do you leave comments?
  3. Have you thought about writing a blog post or participating in a podcast?
  4. Where do you find the most interesting OR engaging environment for RM or SW?
  5. Beside just “more”, is there something ICE, RM or SW should have to engage players that is common in other game systems?
Posted on

Rolemaster, Rolemasterblog and the Future!

I was reading James recent blog over at Grognardia, and it made me think about the current state of this blog and what topics to write about in the future. While James has written more posts (orders of magnitude more), I’m currently sitting at 426 posts over the last 10 years. That’s not bad considering I’ve had lots of downtime and gaps in my output.

Also like James, it’s harder for me to find new material to discuss and/or I realize I’ve already written on the topic years ago. I always thought it was odd when someone would tell me they couldn’t remember how old they were (it tracks now that I’m in my 50’s), and it can also be difficult to remember what I blogged about five, eight or even ten years ago! I think I’ve mined some interesting angles with Rolemaster and Shadow World, but I’m not sure where else I can go with this. Inspiration will occur, but I suspect at a much slower rate.

So where does that leave us? RMU is finally out (mostly), Terry has passed leaving Shadow World indeterminate, TTRPG’s are as popular as they have ever been, and there are numerous channels to explore gaming topics. What conclusions can we draw from these basic observations:

  1. The environment is right to promote Rolemaster/RMU. The system is still one of the few “complex” systems for gamers looking for more verisimilitude. Just like in the early 80’s, players converted to Rolemaster for greater realism or grittiness. Those conditions still exist today–most games embrace simplicity and “rule lite’ structures; there will always be a need for complexity for maturing gamers. It’s a cycle. We need a blogger to cover RMU rules and issues.
  2. Shadow World is still a viable setting for Rolemaster and with a bit of tweeking, RMU. I’ll continue to focus on SW as my main blogging topic, and continue to produce material for that setting. I’m currently focusing on using AI tools to leverage that effort.
  3. In general we need more writers with other viewpoints, ideas and material to contribute to this blog. If you prefer long form over short tweets or discord give blogging a try. There isn’t much RM blogging out there, so it might be better to consolidate output into the Rolemasterblog?
  4. Overall we need to keep the Rolemaster flame lit. RMU has drawn new users and brought old users back. When they search the web they need to find a home, content or a community to engage. Basically there are 3 choices: Rolemaster Forums, Rolemasterblog and RM discord servers.

Sometimes it’s hard to gauge engagement when there is a lack of comments–so let me ask directly. What do you like to read about? Is there material or topics that we haven’t touched upon? Is there something we should focus on more? What material would you find more engaging or comfortable commenting or participating in?

Posted on

Rolemasterbloggery: Happy Anniversary–to ME!

It completely escaped my notice until today, but April 26th was 1 year since my first post on Rolemasterblog.com. Since that first blog I was able to put up 114 posts in 12 months–almost 1 blog post every 3 days! I’m not sure how long I can continue that pace; part of the reason Peter and I would like to see other contributors on the blog (plus it’s nice to have new voices, thoughts and viewpoints).

I’ve started reviewing some of these older posts; even in one years time some of my ideas and positions have changed.  Plus I couldn’t even recall half of what I wrote so it’s fun to reread some of them to remind myself what I was thinking at the time. In no particular order, here are a few that I thought are worth revisiting:

5/15/16. Skill Atrophy. Judging by the response, there wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm for this rule proposal, but, we’ve been using it for quite some time and I still like it. For anyone that took the winter off from exercise, you know that loss of physical fitness is a real phenomena. Skill atrophy models that,  it incentives players to continue spending DPs on core competencies,  and it tackles skill bloat at higher levels.

5/28 Missile Parry.  We’ve been using missile parry for so long I think of it as core RAW. Our missile parry encompasses the missile DB of Adrenal Defense, the secondary skill for blocking missiles and adds cinematic elements of master swordsmen knocking arrows out of the air. Like other combat modifiers, parrying a missile is subject to a modifier based on the missile type and the effectiveness of the weapon iteself. So blocking an arrow with a war mattock is not going to be that effective. ( Martial Arts generally have the lowest penalties).

6/4/16. Cool Shadow World Mounts. Terry’s use of cool animals for mounts is a great ADD for SW!

7/12/16. Quantitative Labeling.  I moved almost completely away from qualitative labeling in my RM game. Difficulties are just assigned penalties, creature sizes are numbered etc.

11/9/16. Interview with Terry Amthor. Always worth a re-read. I keep thinking of new questions to ask Terry but he is just too busy!!

12/12/16. Chartless Rolemaster.  This wasn’t the best written post, but it’s an important argument. Barring attack charts, crits and fumble charts we’ve eliminated virtually all charts in our RM game. My recent blog about character creation in 15 minutes and there is a path and counter narrative to the “RM Complexity/Chartmaster” complaints.

For this coming year, we are focusing on more game content rather than just rule hacks. Our 50in50 will introduce 50 adventure hooks: 1 per day for 50 days. For my own goals, I’ll be putting out a 50 page magic item supplement, a adventure guide for the Shadow World “Pales”, 5 high level adventures (hopefully with some help), SWARM ruleset…plus Mentalism realm for my BASiL project!!! In that time, I’m really hoping to have ICE/Terry move ahead with publishing “Priest King” and starting the review of “Empire of the Black Dragon”.