Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is the newest edition of the roleplaying game. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises, it is the heart of Rolemaster Unified and can be seen as the fifth edition of the venerable roleplaying game. It combines two aspects of the rules—‘Character Law’ and ‘Arms Law’—with ‘Game Master Law’, so that Game Master could create and run a no- or very low magic campaign. That said, there are supplements needed to complete the roleplaying game. The first of these is, of course, Spell Law, but Treasure Law, will also be useful. What Rolemaster Unified CORE Law offers is twenty-two Professions, twenty-three Races, ten Cultures, a system for creating Player Characters with talents, flaws, and potential, streamlined mechanics for resolving actions, magic, and attacks. Combat encompasses melee, ranged and spell combat, complete with thirty-nine attack tables for weapons, animal, monstrous, and spell attacks, plus fifteen critical strike tables for Acid, Cold, Electricity, Grapple, Heat, Holy, Impact, Krush, Puncture, Slash, Steam, Strikes, Subdual, Sweeps, and Unbalance attacks. Then there are the expected rules for healing, social skills, environmental dangers and situations, and much more.
A Player Character in Rolemaster Unified CORE Law has ten statistics, a Race, Culture, Profession, Level, Talents, and Flaws. The ten statistics are Agility, Constitution, Empathy, Intuition, Memory, Presence, Quickness, Reasoning, Self-Discipline, and Strength. These have two values, both of which range between one and one hundred. The two are Temporary Value, which represents the current value for the statistic, and Potential Value, which is the limit to which the Temporary Value can be raised through training or magic. Rolemaster Unified CORE Law offers not just the traditional Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Halfling, and Human of traditional roleplaying fantasy as a choice. A Player Character could be a Fair Elf, Grey Elf, High Elf, or Wood Elf, or a Cave Human, Common Human, High Human, or Mixed Human, or a Greater Orc, Grey Orc, Lesser Orc, Scrug Orc, or a Vard Orc—and that just represents the variations upon the traditional Races. It is also possible to play a Gnoll, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kobold, or Troll, and then on top of that, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law adds Races of its own. These include the frog-like Grator with anti-social tendencies and Gecko-like sight, the Hvasstonn or Giantlings, the lionesque Idiyva, the deer-like Plynos, the jackal-like Sibbicai, and more. There is a degree of anthropomorphism and a surfeit of options, but of course, the Game Master need not include all of them in her world. The ten Cultures consist of Cosmopolitan, Harsh, Highland, Mariner, Nomad, Reaver, Rural, Sylvan, and Urban. The Professions start with the ‘No Profession’, which can either be used as the generic cost of all skills in a setting or for Profession that does not specialise. The Professions are divided in six categories. These start with the Realm of Arms, which includes Rogue, Labourer, Thief, Fighter, Warrior Monk, and oddly, Scholar. The Realm of Channelling, whose Professions draw their power from an external source, typically a god of some kind, includes Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Ranger. The Professions from the Realm of Essence draw upon the power around them and include Magician, Illusionist, Bard, and Dabbler. The Mentalist, Lay healer, Monk, and Magient—the latter a Semi-Spellcaster combing magic and stealth—come from the Realm of Mentalism. Lastly, the Hybrid Realms include the Healer, Sorcerer, and Mystic.
The statistics provide a straight bonus to skills, whilst each Race gives modifiers to these bonuses, plus modifiers to the Player Characters’ Resistances and Health stats. A Culture provides Ranks in skills, whilst the Professions set skill costs, Professional Bonuses, and Knacks—skills in which they particularly adept. For spellcasters, the Profession provides the Realm for casting spells. To create a character, the player decides on a concept and selects Race, Culture, and Profession. He selects Talents, purchases skills, the costs depending on the profession, and finally purchases equipment and calculates bonuses and so on.
Name: Skulom
Race: Gratar
Profession: Rogue
Level: 1
Culture: Harsh
Size: Medium Height: 5’ 4” Weight: 230 lbs
Resistances
Channelling: +01 Essence: 00
Fear: -01 Mentalism: +02
Physical: +06
Health and Development
Endurance: 4 Recovery Multiplier: ×1
Base Hits: 29 Bonus Development Points: 11
Base Movement: 20’ Defensive Bonus: +15
Initiative: +5
TALENTS
Sight, Gecko (+10 to vision-based Perception Manoeuvres)
Recurved Musculature (+20 Acrobatics, Climbing, Jumping, and Running Manoeuvres)
Ambidextrous
Fast Attack/1 (+5 to Initiative)
Pressing the Advantage/2 (+20 OB after inflicting a critical)
FLAWS
Maths Illiterate
STATISTICS (Temporary/Potential)
Agility 93/97 Bonus +10
Constitution 66/91 Bonus +06
Empathy 61/68 Bonus +00
Intuition 56/78 Bonus +01
Memory 56/78 Bonus +01
Presence 74/81 Bonus +02
Quickness 80/96 Bonus +05
Reasoning 45/88 Bonus -01
Self-Discipline 54/99 Bonus -01
Strength 50/90 Bonus +02
SKILLS
Animal: Riding 1
Awareness: Perception 3, Tracking 1
Battle Expertise: Manoeuvring in Armour 2 (P), Restricted Quarters 3 (P),
Brawn: Body Development 4
Combat Expertise: Blind Fighting 1 (P)
Combat Training: Unarmed 1, Melee Weapons (Blade) 3 (P) (Knack), Melee Weapons (Polearm) 2 (P), Ranged Weapons (Thrown) 1 (P)
Crafting & Vocation: Crafting 2, Crafting 2
Environmental: Navigation 1, Survival (Swamp) 3, Survival (Urban) 1 (P)
Gymnastics: Jumping 1
Lore: Language (Own) 8, Region (Own) 5, Other Lores 2
Medical: Medicine 2, Poison Mastery 1 (P)
Movement: Climbing 1, Running 3
Social: Influence 1
Subterfuge: Ambush 2 (P), Concealment 1, Stalking 3 (P) (Knack)
Technical: Trapping 1
The process is not quick nor easy. For example, to generate statistics, the player rolls percentile three times for each one. The lowest is discarded, the middle value is kept as the Temporary Value, and the highest as the Potential Value. Skills are bought in Ranks, with a cost in Development Points for the first Rank and a higher cost for subsequent Ranks, and these costs vary from Profession to Profession. These costs are the only limitation on the skills that a player could purchase, so that a Fighter could learn to cast a spell or two and an Illusionist could learn to wield a mace. All that is stopping either one is that the Development Point cost will be higher for Ranks in skills outside of the character’s Profession. Initially, this means that a Player Character is unlikely to stray too far from the skills his Profession trains him in, but in the long term, there is plenty of scope for development and change. Plus, there is a lot of page flipping back and forth, and one thing that Rolemaster Unified CORE Law does need is a clearer step-by-step guide to the character creation process.
Mechanically, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is a percentile system. It uses what it calls a ‘d100OE’ or ‘d100 Open Ended’. Whether it rolling to have his character make a difficult manoeuvre, test a skill, or make an attack, the player will be rolling percentile dice and aiming to roll high. If the roll on the dice, before modifiers, is ninety-six and above, then the player gets to roll again and add the result. To the roll he will add the Ranks of the skill being tested, the bonuses for both statistics associated with the skill and its category, plus bonuses from a Knack or Professional Bonus if appropriate, and any applicable Talents. The Game Master will assign the task or manoeuvre a difficulty. Results below seventy-five are counted as a failure, and if low enough, can result in a Critical Failure. Results between seventy-six and one hundred can be a partial success if that is possible, whilst results of one-hundred-and-one to one-hundred-and-seventy-five are counted as a success. Any roll above that is an absolute success and grants an extra benefit. If sixty-six is rolled, then there is the possibility of an unusual event occurring.
For example, Skulom has been hired by a merchant to intimidate the merchant’s rival. First, he has to deal with the target’s bodyguard and decides to do so after the merchant is returning home from seeing his mistress. This will be an opposed roll between Skulom’s Stalking skill and the bodyguard’s Perception skill. Skulom’s bonus for this is equal to bonus from the associated statistic, which is Intuition, so with only statistic involved, it is doubled; plus, the Ranks for the skill as well as the Professional bonus and the Knack for the skill. This gives a total bonus of +25. The Game Master assigns a total bonus of +20 to the bodyguard for his Perception and grants a bonus of +20 to Skulom because it is dark. The Game Master rolls 38 and adds the bodyguard’s Perception bonus for a total of 58. Skulom’s player rolls 63 and adds the complete bonus of +45 for a total of 108. The bodyguard has definitely not spotted the batrachian thug as he creeps up on him!‘Arms Law’ covers melee, ranged, and directed attack by spells. Combat uses a surprisingly simple Action Point economy. Every combatant has four Action Points, each of which represents an action that can be taken in a combat round’s four Action Phases. Basic movement takes a single Action Point, a melee attack or casting a spell between two and four Action Points. Thus, a combatant might strike twice in a round if his weapon is fast enough or draw a weapon, move, and attack. Some actions, such as loading a crossbow take more than four Action Points—six for a light crossbow and fourteen for a heavy crossbow—so will take more than the one round to complete. Mechanically, the roll is a standard ‘d100OE’ roll to which is added the attacker’s total Offence Bonus, whilst the defender’s total Defensive Bonus is deducted from the roll. Other modifiers can come from the positioning of the combatants. Here the rules cover facing and flanking, restricted quarters, being flatfooted or surprised, cover, parrying, and more. Once per round, a shield can be used to block an attack and also increase the defender’s Defensive Bonus—and they can also be used as a weapon too!
Each weapon or attack type has not one, but three tables to determine the effects of an attack, one table for small version of the weapon, one for a medium version, and one for the large. The result is compared on the appropriate table against the armour worn by the defender. Armour is given an Armour Type value, from one to ten, according to its type, one and none, two and heavy cloth, and three and soft leather to eight and mail, nine and brigandine, and ten and plate. The outcome is either a miss, hits inflicted, or hits inflicted and a critical. In the case of the latter, the result will indicate both the severity and the type of the critical inflicted. Rolling on these critical results tables were always the highlight of playing Rolemasterr as the bloody demise of one villain or monster was played out, and so it is with Rolemaster Unified CORE Law. Similarly, the fumble tables in Rolemaster Unified CORE Law are as entertaining as they were in previous editions of the roleplaying game. The Attack Tables and then the Critical Tables and the Fumble Tables have chapters of their own, and together consist of one fifth of Rolemaster Unified CORE Law.
Previously, Skulom successfully stalked the merchant he has been hired to intimidate and his bodyguard. The bodyguard has not noticed Skulom and is therefore surprised. Skulom will gain a +25 bonus for this, whilst the bodyguard only has Defensive Bonus equal to his Quickness, so +9. Skulom is using a medium-sized dagger and thus his Offensive Bonus is +15 for the Ranks in his Melee Weapons (Blade) skill, +5 for his Knack in it, and +3 for the Professional Ranks in it. To this is added twice the Strength bonus for a total Offensive Bonus of +53. In terms of armour, both Skulom and the bodyguard are wearing suits of soft leather, which is Armour Type 3, which has a penalty of -15 to their manoeuvres, so for Skulom’s attack, his player will adding an Offensive Bonus of +38.The combat rules also cover a variety of special manoeuvres, like called shots, firing into melee, protecting others, and slaying attacks. The various critical effects are explained in depth and there is also a detailed example of combat to help the Game Master understand how it works. Rounding out Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is ‘Game Master Law’, which includes advice on running the roleplaying game along with the rules for healing, psychology and social interaction, fear and morale, and a quick overview of environmental dangers. The advice is decent though not extensive, and the various rules are as detailed as you would expect for Rolemaster Unified CORE Law.
Skulom’s player rolls for his attack and the result is 98! This means that he roll again and add the result. This time, he rolls 97, meaning that he can roll a third time, but only—only—rolls 12. So, the total result is 98+97+12, plus Skulom’s Offensive Bonus of +38 and minus the bodyguard’s Defensive Bonus of +9. That is grand total of the 236! Consulting the damage table for the Medium Dagger, the result for 236 is ‘9CP’, meaning nine hits and a severity C Puncture strike. Rolling on column C for the table, the result of 19 gives the following: “Point tears skin along jaw line” and inflicts another fifteen hits and a heavy fatigue penalty! The bodyguard has a vicious cut under his jaw that if it does not kill him, means he is heavily bleeding, and if he survives, will have a nasty scar to remember Skulom by! The Gratar may have made an enemy. For now, though, he needs to deal with the merchant…
So, what is missing in Rolemaster Unified CORE Law? Although there are rules for creating spellcasters of all types and for using magic as a direct attack, there are no rules for magic or spells. Nor are there monsters or threats (other than NPCs) or treasure or a setting or scenario. However, none of these fall within the remit of this, the core rulebook and they either have or will have, supplements of their own.
Physically, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is decently presented with lots of generic fantasy artwork. The book in general is well written, more so when it gets to explaining the rules and how they work rather than for character generation. Given its complexity and detail, there is a very welcome index at the end of the Rolemaster Unified CORE Law.
Ultimately, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law has one problem and that is the fact that it is Rolemaster. And the problem with Rolemaster is that it is a technical, detailed, and complex roleplaying game and it has a steep learning curve. This does not mean that it is a bad game by any means. Rather, it offers a lot of choice in terms of characters that players can create and develop and elements such as the different races that the Game Master can decide to use in her campaign world, and it provides for detail in the outcomes of what the characters do. However, this means that it is a game that takes both time and commitment to learn to play. There is nothing casual about playing Rolemaster and that is still after an effective streamlining of the rules by Iron Crown Enterprises for this new edition. For veteran fans of Rolemaster and for those who are looking to return to the game they played in the eighties, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is undoubtedly a more accessible and welcome new edition. For new players, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law provides all of the rules they need to get started; they just need to provide the time and the commitment that Rolemaster demands.
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