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High Level Rolemaster

Another Discord discussion caught my attention and I wanted to provide a few additional thoughts on high level Rolemaster. I’ve blogged about this a few times and the following posts might be worth reviewing:

Rolemaster High Level Play. Pt 1.
50th Level Adventures. Deconstruction & Design of Chapter 1: Legends of Shadow World.

I’ve now run my “Legends of Shadow World” roughly 11 times. That’s the average of all 5 chapters but I’ve run Chapter 1 twice that and the last chapter only half a dozen times. (although that’s my favorite).

MY overall impression is that Rolemaster holds up VERY well at high levels and its FUN! At the risk of repeating a few notes from previous blogs I’d offer the following:

  1. Melee. Offense v Defense Player Mindset. 1st Edition Rolemaster explicitly built in the OB/DB mechanism as a core mechanic that modelled a combatants defensive posture and added some tactical complexity to simple “roll for results” of D&D. However, my experience is that few players want to dedicate much, if any, OB to parrying and that does lead to a disconnect in the remaining game mechanics: criticals, damage types etc. Simply put, players are looking to maximize their changes of hitting and getting a critical. Every swing is an attempt at a home run. But RM’s famed lethality is meant to temper player aggression and utilize the parrying mechanic. Unlike lower leves with low OB’s, every attack roll result is random with unknown results. However, when using high level characters with OB of 150 to 200, you basically need to roll over the defendants DB to automatically hit and max out the attack table and critical result. The first attack becomes essential to disable, stun or incapacitate the foe. My experience is that players behaviors don’t change, and they still rarely use significant OB allocation to parrying even though at higher levels it’s even more essential to parry to avoid a killing blow directed at them.
  2. Magic. Spell Types. A quick perusal of spells show a considerable bias towards attack and damage spells. I did a deep analysis for BASiL year ago, but I think it was a 6 to 1 ratio of attack vs defense/protection spells. From a player engagement attack spells were more varied, more fun and more engaging than the handful of protection spells. Furthermore, while attack spells allowed for significant damage (tactical importance to gameplay) while defensive spells were generally weak, 1 dimensional, boring or to specific to use effectively in gameplay.

It’s my belief that the weighting of attack importance to defense contributes to problems encountered or perceived in high level play. While player behaviors towards OB/DB split can be trained into players, ell Law has structural issues that can’t be addressed through player choice. That was one of the mandates of BASiL–nuance and complexity in spell use and choice. That’s not to say that I solved all problems, or my solutions are better than anyone else; I constantly tinker with BASiL based on player feedback, game results and playtesting. But I stongly believe that Spell Law design should be weighted towards defensive/protection spells and not the other way around. It might be a subtle difference, but it would impact gameplay and could avoid the Fireball/Fly/Invisible Mage that outperforms Fighters fairly early on the level curve.

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Random Musings. Winter 2025.

Happy Holidays to the Rolemaster and Shadow World community! I thought I would stretch my legs after MANY months, and post up some quick items. With winter approaching and some scheduled time away I’m planning on finalizing a few projects and pushing out some more content in 2026.

  1. Player engagement. I check in to the RMForums and Discord every now and then to get a sense of participation; both regular contributors, new players and ICE “staff”. I also get updated on any RM mentions in Reddit, RPG forums and other channels. The Forums have been continually hit with spammers and activity seems really depressed over this past year. Discord seems the preferred channel and there are certainly a handful of very active participants to drive discussion and support new players. I’ve said this before, and it’s probably a feature and not a bug of Rolemaster in general, but the predominance of discussion seems around rule arbitration/clarification. I don’t really see this level of technical support in other RPG forums and threads.
  2. Ritual Magic. This is very intriguing and exciting to me! On one hand, magic rituals could really just be a hand wave by the GM that occurs off screen with some general guidelines and guard rails. However, as an in-game mechanic it really opens up the sand box. As I’ve fine tuned my organigram of magic in SW, it’s clear that early magic use had to be less constrained, less defined–more ritualistic. While this challenges my need to organize, index and disambiguate, it leans into my desire for a more flexible, ad hoc, approach to GMing.
  3. GMing. Finally, after a few years I’m close to rebuilding a gaming group. The mainstreaming of gaming and the opening of new game cafes in my area has allowed me to find new players. Of course there are additional hurdles of building consistency, but one step at a time. Game sessions really help me dynamically test ideas, both rules and SW content with players–especially players without a strong background in RM. New perspectives and all that.
  4. Adrenal Defense. I should broaden this to DB in general with the new RMU rules. I admit a bit of confusion on all the different ways to increase DB: AD, dodge, partial dodge, parry, running, footwork etc. Not sure if that’s a complete list, or if it’s even correct, but reading comments overwhelms me. It’s not just the parsing of complex action but the actual need for it. OB was always meant to reflect a flurry of blows and DB was meant to represent active and passive avoidance by the target. I remind myself that Adrenal Defense was just another example of “Rules for Rules”: AD was meant to address the lack of armor for Monks/Warrior Monks and model the cinematic version of martial artists that could dodge attacks. But this need was predicated on the idea that you needed a weapon to parry and Monks used martial arts. Simply allowing the idea that MA included techniques for dodging within the forms would have alleviated the need for AD. Of course, that would have removed the extreme DBs possible for monks.
  5. Shadow World. Basically nothing going on here, with virtually no updates from management. There are, or were, a number of unsanctioned Rolemaster products on Drivethru. That was curious. It seems that all of my various files that were pulled from our definitive Master Atlas really need to be put back together into 1 comprehensive document.
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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.

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Earthwarden Spell Lists

With so many projects going on, some are just gestating while others I pick away at when I get an inspiration or idea. One small project, an intersection between my BASiL lists and Shadow World material was designing 10 proto/Arcane lists that would have been the underpinnings of the original magic system used by the Ka’ta’viir and later Earthwardens. You can read my previous posts on this HERE and HERE. Well, in fact, I actually did the first run through on these lists under the general guidelines:

  1. As archetype lists, they are less singular and specific as the later spells broken into the 3 Realms. That also means the spells are subject to broader interpretation in the application and effects.
  2. These lists are powered by raw unrefined Essaence. I still used the Spell Law level format, but I wouldn’t say that the spell level is analogous to Essence/Channeling/Mentalism spells or the basic power levels in RM or RMU.
  3. These are powerful spells, and I’ve built in the idea that they are physically demanding to focus and cast. It’s unlikely most contemporary mortal races on Shadow World could cast them unless they had some mix of Ka’ta’viir blood, offspring of a Major or Lesser or local Diety or similar.
  4. These were created by several inputs, creative and specific: some BASiL spell lists (Physics & Time Mastery), Companion I Arcane lists, Loremaster and Navigator lists and others. It’s difficult to credit sources (and impossible to remember) when they are so varied, but let’s just say it’s a group effort and not mine alone!

I arbitrarily chose to make 10 lists. This seemed to cover on the various magical aspects I thought best represented the foundation of magic and it was achievable! Here are the final categories:

Creations – Crafting magical artifacts, constructs, and living statues.

Essaence Mastery – Foci, Power Point flows, travel, and arcane energy control.

Dimension Mastery – Gates, teleportation, interdimensional travel.

Shapechanging & Life Mastery – Polymorphing, biological manipulation, and ascension.

Time Mastery – Mastery over time, including dilation, stasis, and time travel.

Mana-Fires – Plasma-based energy manipulation, precursor to Elemental Essence.

Earthworks – Megalithic construction, geoglyphs, stonework, and tectonic forces.

Sound Mastery – Vibration-based effects, levitation, disintegration.

Words of Power – Spoken arcane forces, immediate and reality-altering.

Warding – Protective proto-magic, runes, barriers, and mystical safeguards.

I’ll be posting these lists over at the RMForums for download over the next few days and turn the titles above into hyperlinks. Note that you have to have a RMForums account to see and download files there. Then I’ll be returning to Part II and Part III of my Agyra series: Empire of the Black Dragon and Nontataku: City of Sails. On the off chance that Priest-King actually get’s published I’ll have the rest of the trilogy in edit review mode for queueing up.

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Professions in Shadow World using RMU

Many years back during the early beta of RMU I built a quick conversion chart from RM2 to RMU for use with Shadow World. Now that RMU is published, with final professions, I’ve spent some time thinking about what changes would need to be made in Shadow World to align it with the new ruleset.

Before I dive into some thoughts on Professions I wanted to offer one change to be used in “Societal” background options. Currently, RMU offers seven societal back ground options which credibly covers most types of societal styles. But it is missing one important background that could be described as “Ascetic”, “Monastic” or “Gnostic”. This background would include the very young that are indoctrinated into a very rigid and specialized group for intense education and training. It’s clear that very specialized skills and knowledges held by religious organizations, secret societies or similar group would need to start training at a very young age. Examples of these would certainly be the Changramai, but could include Navigators and Loremasters as well as some of Terry’s specialized groups given the very specialized nature of their skillset. It’s hard to imagine becoming one of the feared Changramai or master the skills and spells of the Navigators or Loremasters without an early childhood inception.

Of course, specialized skills at early ages would be very appealing to the character build so it has to be taken in context of the setting and perhaps provide some limitations as well.

To return to the topic of professions, one well known rule “handwave” Terry was known to use often was the “dual profession”. That is, he would have NPC’s with a primary profession and then add a new quasi profession to allow for specialized skills or more commonly an entire new set of base lists. From a rule standpoint, this was always awkward, and it also made for some particular powerful NPC’s.

Even now, it sounds like Nicholas is grappling with this issue. Per the most recent Director’s Briefing he notes:

There are also comments indicating areas where RMU mechanics will need to be incorporated. In thinking my way through this and noting areas where we might have to consider further alterations to make things easier for the RMU edition, such as organisations where members are expected to have two professions, it similarly prompts me to note areas where we might utilise HARP rules to better support Shadow World.

The thing is, that none of this should be much of an issue. Instead, with RMU mechanics, it’s easy to build several new specific professions than rely upon a carve out rule for a dual class. Referring back to my earlier paragragh, it’s clear to me that INTENSIVE training, probably from the earliest age, would be needed to become a Loremaster, Changramai, Navigator or even a Warlock of Itanis. In fact, these organizations would prefer to train the young to ensure their loyalty to the group and to direct all aspects of their development.

If a RMU Shadow World handbook were to be developed, it’s a simple thing to build profession templates for these groups. They are mostly NPC’s, but for some GM’s they would also provide a ruleset for unique player characters. In my mind, having these dual classes was always awkward and the solution is simple.

Does it make sense to have this rule carve out? Should it be addressed with character options? Or, should there be no professions created using the RMU mechanics?

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In Search of Andraax. Episode 04. Interview with Derrick Kong.

Derrick was the GM of an epic 10+ year Shadow World campaign that took his players from start to mid 20th level. Derrick was able to incorporate much of Terry’s Shadow World material in his game and is a great example of the breadth and scope of the setting. Derrick’s players kept an adventure log and notes with 428 individual sessions that can be found here. ⁠https://web.mit.edu/mjperson/WWW/Kulthea/⁠.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-04-interview-with-derrick-kong-gm-of/id1742613254?i=1000665801660&itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200&ls=1

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The Book of Herbs: An Illustrated Guide to Magical & Medicinal Plants of Kulthea

I’ve finished up my first draft of a game aid I’ve been picking away at for a few years. This is a visual guide and expanded description of the 120+ Shadow World herbs/substances that is found in the Master Atlas.

In my campaign, players learn a new Herb for each skill rank of Herb Lore (they can do additional research of course) and I can just print out the appropriate page so they can add to their own “Lore folder”. There are some rule mechanics and modifiers in some of the text, but I wanted to make it more of a reference book that ideally could be used in RMU or any other setting without a lot of work.

This does not include poisons, but I’ve got notes for an expanded version of poisons, antidotes and nefarious substances from my Alchemy rules that I’ll put in a short primer: Book of Dark Arts. A few of the plants don’t have pictures, and I need to make some changes to those-too many “green leafy” herbs.

Now that I’ve finished this, I want to go back and really expand my “Book of Pales” to include a variety of summoning and protection circles, more creature and Demon pictures and powerful artifacts or cool devices found in the Pales.

There is so much SW material that can be expanded upon–it’s endless! You can download the Book of Herbs over at the Rolemaster Forums, but you need an account to see and access it here:

https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?topic=15879.msg247765#msg247765

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Resetting Shadow World post Terry Amthor

There has been a lot of discussion around the future of Shadow World since Terry passed away, generally around 2 basic topics:

  1. Finishing up Terry’s projects that were in the works: Emer IV, Loremaster Legacy 2, Wurilis etc.
  2. Creating new SW material. What would that look like and who would do it?

Putting aside #1, I think much of the hesitancy around bringing in new authors is concerns around the quality and consistency of new material. But I also think there is a secondary reason: Shadow World is not just a static setting for roleplaying, it’s an ongoing story that is left partially untold. That story arc is ostensibly the “Grand Campaign” but includes earlier campaigns like the “Legacy of the Seakdrake” found in Jaiman, various adventures in Emer books and the meta plot around the Secret Circle. It felt like this was slowly unfolding in each successive SW book, but the Loremaster Legacy novel basically packaged it up in fiction rather than gaming material. This was Terry’s story to tell and it basically drives a large part of the Kulthean timeline and major events in the Second and Third Era.

It feels like a lot of loose threads, even if we know where the story might eventual go–the destruction of the Shadow Stone and/or the return of the Northern Eye. How can a new writer come in and wrap this all up? It’s hard to imagine–a bit of Brandon Sanderson finishing up the Wheel of Time. At the same time, we know where and how it ends, so does it really need to be mapped out?

But I have an idea to “reset” the Shadow World setting: start the Fourth Era. For those that listened to my podcast with Max, he mentioned that his campaign ventured into the Fourth Era and I’ve spoken to a couple other GMs that also took the group into the future Era. I originally thought that the Fourth Era boundary would be the loss of the Northern Eye, but in hindsight, it now seems obvious that the Fourth Era should start with the return of the Northern Eye.

What would Kulthea look like in the Fourth Era? Several people I’ve talked to have gamed out their version of the Grand Campaign and given me some ideas. For the gaming group, this would be an epic quest, but would also involve notable NPCs, some major battles and probably some type of geographic damage caused by severe Essaence fluctuations and tertiary events (tidal waves, earthquakes etc). Key people would be killed! As a thought experiment, the possibilities are endless:

  1. Tarania emerges again from the sea due to shifts in the planets crust. The island, long submerged, reveals it’s secrets…
  2. Arriving in the nick of time to confront XXX, Andraax helps win the day but is killed or is missing.
  3. With the defeat of the Secret Circle, the Dragonlords being a campaign of conquest over various lands.
  4. Eidolon is destroyed and crashes to the earth. It’s ruins are guarded by the Prince of Sel-Kai, but adventurers sneak in anyway!
  5. Essaence flows are permanently shifted into new locations and pathways. The Navigators obelisk network is disrupted and needs to be recalibrated. In the meantime, Navigator Jump services are unreliable.
  6. The massive Essaence surges that preceded the Eye’s return, opened large portals to the Pales and hordes of Demons poured into Kulthea.
  7. Earthquakes, tidal waves and severe storms destroy coastal cities.
  8. The balance of power shifts and the Alliance grows in influence throughout Kulthea.

I’ve discussed previously about adventuring in Kulthea during the Interregnum but remaking Kulthea and starting the Fourth Era is a clean slate that closes out the plot(s) that Terry established and builds for the a new future. It would be logical to map out massive changes to Kulthea that would occur on a near global cataclysm and give Kulthea a “refresher”. Perhaps one that better incorporates the RMU ruleset.

RMU: Shadow World. Adventures in the 4th Era. “The Age of Woe”.

Kulthea is saved! The return of the Northern Eye rebalanced the erratic Flows of Essaence but at what cost? Gods battled Gods, Heroes fell and catastrophic storms left scars across the planet. New powers are emerging from the ashes of the Great Battle and vying for dominance in the Shadow World. The Unlife is unchecked and Demons run amok among the lands. Will the new world order be for good or evil?

This feels like a clean break from the unfinished past and a start with the new RMU ruleset. What do you think?