I've often joked that I want to buy the rights to Dungeons & Dragons so I can release Rolemaster Standard System under the title Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and enjoy it being the number one game on the market.
Sadly, I'm not likely to have the money to buy Rolemaster from ICE let alone D&D from Hasbro anytime soon. And even I'd release a Basic Dungeons and Dragons that wasn't as involved as RMSS. I may be a crazy, frothing fan boy, but I'm not 100% stupid (well depending on your rounding convention I suppose)
Still, I always wish my favourite game was more popular. So, out side of changing the rules, or going back to RM2 (which ICE's done anyhow) how would you go about increasing the popularity of a game that intimidates the heck out of people?
My own list would be:
1 - character editior software - because if some people can't make a basic D&D character without a computer you can bet they won't be making an RMSS one by hand.
2 - Setting and adventure support - by this I mean, if you're going to bring back Shadow World, you need a module for it evey quarter. Same with Cyradon or any other setting you could choose. Really, a strong setting will sell beyond the RM market and eventually even get new people to try RM so we can get beyond the endless scrapping between the RM2 and RMSS fans.
3 - New edition - now I'm not talking about changing the rules, I've been opposed to that from the start. Sure there's rules I'd love to change but other people have their own favourites. What I would like is an edition with more advice on how to make the rules managable and more explanations of why they aren't as scary and unmanagable as people imagine on first glance / first session.
4 - Liscence Dennis L Mckerrin's Iron Tower setting and set the basic version of the game there.
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"You're rational sir. It's only us crazy people who get to swap out realities on a whim"
Last edited by Scurrilous; 09-30-2009 at 11:14 PM..
Mind you, I'd love a nice boxed set with parchment charts and battle maps with sepia print and a full run of Ralpartha's early fantasy figures.
Let me ask you: would a cool enough product format draw people in?
Alternately, the material could be repackaged to put all the character material from the core book, Essence Companion, Mentalism Companion, Channelling Companion, Castles and Ruins into a single volume. All the combat material from the core book, Arms Law, the Armoury, Martial Arts Companion, and Castles and Ruins into a second volume. And all of the spell lists from Spell Law, Essence Companion, Channelling Companion, Mentalism Companion, Elemental Companion, and The Treasure Companion into a single volume.
All leather bound and on parchment of course!
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"You're rational sir. It's only us crazy people who get to swap out realities on a whim"
So, out side of changing the rules, or going back to RM2 (which ICE's done anyhow) how would you go about increasing the popularity of a game that intimidates the heck out of people?
If your not willing to change the rules then nothing.
People don't play D&D because it has D&D on it's logo(well some do, not most. and yes D&Ds notability is huge.), they play it because it's fun and comparatively easy to grasp.
Casual friendliness is the most important quality in determining your customer base.
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1 Boo! Lander point.
For it is better to serve in heaven, than to reign in hell.
Seriously, Rolemaster's biggest issue has always been organization. Of the rules, and of the people playing it. At this point, though, I'd call Rolemaster's existing audience irrevocably split between the RMSS crowd and the RM Classic/RM2 bunch. I lean toward the former myself, but I'll readily admit that RMSS added a lot of bloat in places - enough so that I'm not really willing to run the thing anymore.
In other words, I think it's too late - the waters are already poisoned and the game carries with it too much baggage. But who cares if it's popular if it works for you and your group?
I'd say introduce people to HARP. If you find you enjoy it then just stick with it. But if you still want to play Rolemaster, you can use HARP as a way to ease people into it.
- New edition. The organization in the current edition (RMFRP) drives me up the wall and helps make the game harder to play than it needs to be.
- Try to make it look less intimidating. RMSS and RMFRP just look terrifyingly complex. I take a look at the DP costs chart and think "Man, I'll never figure that shit out!" and I've been playing the game for years. I've no idea how to present the attack/crit tables in a less intimidating way, though.
- The Shadow World setting is a nice setting but not IMHO well suited for Rolemaster as it shows off the system's weaknesses a little too well. I'd go with something new and more S&S'ish with no races significantly larger or smaller than humans. Maybe try to to buy the Perilous Lands setting from Richard Snider or whoever currently has the rights.
- Rebrand the RM Classic system as RM Basic and RMFRP as Advanced RM so there's an easy way to start with the system and then, when you feel that the basic rules just aren't detailed enough, you can take a stab at Advanced RM.
But ultimately, I don't think it's going to work. It'll simply be too hard to make all the charts in RM look appealing.
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Creating a character for every RPG I own. Clicky.
We are quite new to rolemaster (fine "new" german translation of RMFRP) - and we recognize that the game has an enormous learning threshold which - combined with the disorganization (the translation is better organized than the original though) - makes the game very difficult to begin with - without help from long-time players.
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Scourge of Humanity
Currently playing: Cthulhu Orient Express, GURPS Traveller, Rolemaster Midnight
Preparing: Trail of Cthulhu, Rolemaster/Spacemaster *whatever*
ICE is persisting in trying to support several games at once, and doesn't have the stamina to scrap all but one. This lack of focus is crippling.
Then of course HARP would be a (much) better product to promote (being much more accessible). It still needs much development of course - particularly a real round of heavy playtesting and balancing, which seems to have been no concern at all so far, and which simply won't cut it when up against something well-oiled like 4E.
But basically it's a matter of being handled by a developer that have the guts to kill its darlings; and trim down its offerings to one well-packaged product.
Rolemaster and ICE had what it took for success twenty-five years ago. Today RM as a game but particularly ICE as a organization is hopelessly outclassed.
Ah, Rolemaster... (note, I'm only really familiar with RM2)
I. Simplify Character generation to the point where it does not require three Companions and a spreadsheet program. I mean really: Generate Base Stat, then roll Potential Stat, then roll Stat Gain, then figure bonuses, then apply racial bonus, then roll for background options, then apply Arms Companion, etc etc.
You don't need anything other than the bonus, the actual stat numbers are meaningless and vapid. One character with a 91 Presence could have a +15 Bonus while another a 91 Presence with more backgrounds and racial bonuses could have a bonus of +40
This should all be boiled down to one die roll + background options (including race) to figure out the bonus.
A Character Creation system as opposed to some Random Pile of Stats might be nice too.
II. Give non-combat skills/maneuvers a realistic chance of success.
An average person with +0 stat and 4 ranks in a skill has a +20 bonus. To succeed in an average maneuver requires that you break 100 or so, thus a 1st level village blacksmith has a 1 in 5 chance to repair your broken sword. You know, the sword might not be the only thing that's broken...
III. Decrease the rarity of critical failure.
A typical spellcaster has a one in twenty chance of extreme spell failure. So if you shoot a hundred fireballs over a series of long battles or something, you can expect five of those fireballs to blow up in your face or permanently lower your power points or something.
Murphy's Rules entry on Rolemaster suggested that over the course of an average 30 minute battle featuring 6000 warriors armed with greataxes, something like ten percent of them will behead themselves.
This one is personal with me, as every single character death I've suffered in Rolemaster has been due to a critical failure. (four characters so far over three campaigns)
IV. FOR THE LOVE OF MANWE DO NOT OMIT THE CRITICAL TABLES. They are like the only thing making Rolemaster tolerable.
A electronic application that takes the pain out of flipping through two dense charts during combat that you could run on your pc or even your pda or phone would be great. A decent npc monster generator program would be nice. And last of all some solid advice how to use either Arms law or Spell law with OGL games like D20 and Runequest would be a great way of drawing in new players
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