Your Voice

With the ICE Forums apparently self isolating, means there is no where for people to ask questions, sign post other fans to great/interesting/amusing resources or any of other things that we used the forums for.

To that end, I want to extend the blog to anyone who wants to use it.

A blog is not a forum, which makes it a little less wieldly but…

If you have a question to ask, something that is going to probably gather a lot of different opinions then just ask the question as a comment under this post. I am going to ‘sticky’ this post so it remains visible.

Each question I will turn into a post of its own, probably one per day if that seems like a suitable rate. The discussions will then grow in the comments under each question. The posts will remain for ever, as a resource to others.

Anyone who wants to write in a long-form. There have been a few people who like to share campaign information or ideas, for example. If you register with the blog and then use the Contact Me link and ask to be upgraded to a Writer. I will then give you the required permissions to write your own posts and respond to comments. Using your Forum username or something similar will make life easier for everyone to join the dots.

Blogging is a lot of fun. Unlike the forum, you can use a lot more rich media, you can upload images or files without having to wait for approval, which can take a very long time on the forums.

This blog was started to try and help promote Rolemaster, but now it can also work to keep the community together.

13 Replies to “Your Voice”

  1. Hi Peter,

    Glad to see somewhere to post about RM! Thank you a lot!
    My concern is easy: does anyone have any insider news about the forums? They’ve been down for a few weeks now…

    1. The Director’s briefing said that they were moving to a new host, that is all I know. This is beyond anything that can be related to that. I have moved major websites, traffic in the millions of visitors, and it took a matter of hours. The biggest delay was waiting for the DNS to propagate around the world.

      This blog is by fans, for fans. I claim no ownership and no gatekeeping.

      1. I think the problem is now the forum software. It simply doesn’t seem to work any longer. I think they want to, somehow, keep everything that was posted but move to new software.

  2. As I recall, they moved to a new host a while ago — I think a year or more. That’s when some of the real problems started, like the constant 500 or 503 errors. At that time, they noted that the new host was causing problems and they tried to resolve them; but obviously they kept happening. Now I think they have realized they must change hosts (again), because the problems are too frequent, but they want to keep all the old content and are not sure how that might work if/when they switch.

    That is kind of a tough call. I would not want all that content to be erased; but something has to change, because the downtime is just too great right now.

    1. I cannot believe that whatever forum the are moving from and want to move to, that they are the first to do it.

      Export/import scripts are not difficult to write. You pain is that you frequently need to get everyone to reset their password the first time they log in to the new software.

      1. depends on how knowledgeable the moving person is.
        i have experienced a wiki/forum move, where the users were bloody pissed because the gap between the old and version was so large that is was easier to export all old stuff into static html pages and start anew.

        1. That is true for everything, but this is the prime web presence from a business ramping up to launch the latest version of their flagship product. FFS pay someone to do a proper job, and pair that with positive, upbeat updates by email, FB and Twitter. Let the fans and public know the company has not gone away.

          1. Coincidentally (or not) ICE have just sent out an email updating people and telling them to keep in touch on Twitter and Facebook.

  3. Still very belated, and buried in the marketing e-mail…which only hits people who actually signed up. And since both the forums AND the main site are down this would seem to go far beyond a simple e-mail. If I was just poking around, I’d assume the company was pretty much gone and go elsewhere for my gaming needs.

  4. I understand their issues with the Forum, and commiserate. It can be a tough, ugly mess of a job, and not one I’d want to be involved with (having helped with a forum migration in the past).
    But there is no reason they shouldn’t have at least a landing page up. Some simple HTML and an a brief message stating they are suffering technical problems, and for people to sit tight. It can’t be that hard (DNS redirects don’t take that long) and at the very least it would let people know (as INTOTHATDARKENSS suggest) the company is still around, just suffering technical issues. Given the other issues that are going on in the world, people would certainly understand.
    A little effort goes a LONG way in this kind of situation.

  5. Hey guys – First of all, let me say great site. I’ve been following the RM forum since about 2015 and this is a worthy successor/surrogate in light of ICE’s recent issues.

    My question is hopefully not too bulky: I am in the process of revamping/combining RMU and RM2 into a digital form for one of my sons who hopefully can inherit a system that gave me endless joy as a teenager/young adult. I am currently trying to combine/streamline/revive professions and could use some help from the sages in terms of advice. Here is the current list of professions I’m trying to bring into my meta game:

    Arms: Fighter / Rogue / Thief / Burglar / Barbarian / Warrior Monk / Shapechanger (from MERP 2.0)
    Communal Magic: Cleric / Animist / Shaman (slight WoW flavor)
    – Semis: Bard / Ranger / Delver (combo Sleuth/Delver… think Indiana Jones hunting info in cities and scouring ruins)
    Primal Magic: Mage / Alchemist / Caller (think Rydia from FF3 – modeled after a Conjuror)
    – Semis: Nightblade / Monk / Warrior Mage
    Personal Magic: Mentalist / Healer / Illusionist
    – Semis: Champion (Paladin/Noble Warrior combo) / Warder (think Steiner from FF9… a pure magic user guardian) / TBD
    Hybrid Casters: Astrologer / Mystic / Sorcerer / Archmage

    Without diverging into every profession description, here’s a few breakdowns The I’m looking for a unique profession to fit that third semi-user in the Mentalism/Personal magic realm. Nothing seems to be jumping out at me that is particularly balanced. Any advice or even commentary/questions on the direction I’m taking with these professions?

Leave a Reply to Peter R Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *