Spell Etiquette

Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is the newest edition of the roleplaying game whose lineage goes all the way back to the early eighties. Its origins lie in a series of supplements which could be used together or used on their own to replace parts of Dungeons & Dragons that a playing group did not like. First, in 1980, with Arms Laws, and then followed Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises, it would not be until 1984 that all four of these books would be collected in a box as Rolemaster, a roleplaying game of its very own as the first complete edition. In the four decades since, there have been three new editions, and all four have been known for their  complexity and push to offer a realistic alternative. These editions have likewise been known for their resolution mechanic, a percentile system in which the aim is not to roll low and under, but roll high and attempt to get as high as possible above one hundred, and likewise, they have always been known for the number of tables within their books—the critical hit tables in particular. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 2022, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law 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 original edition of rules—‘Character Law’ and ‘Arms Law’—with ‘Game Master Law’, enabling the creation of Player Characters, the use of skills and combat, healing, social skills, environmental dangers and situations, and a lot more. However, although playable, Rolemaster Unified CORE Law is not really complete on its own. For that the Game Master and her players will need Spell Law, Creature Law I, and Treasure Law.

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is the spell and magic system for Rolemaster Unified. It brings the rules for magic and spellcasting in line with updated core rules and in doing so presents one-hundred-and-seventy-one Spell Lists for all of the spellcasting Professions. Each Spell List consists of twenty spells from the most basic to the most complex, covering all twenty levels, and then is extended, so that an extra spell can be learned at the twenty-fifth, thirtieth, thirty-fifth, fortieth, and fiftieth levels, for a total of twenty-five spells per Spell List, and a grand total of over four thousand spells in the book! It is no wonder that two thirds of Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is devoted to these Spell Lists! What this means is that there are no empty spell levels up to level twenty and the thirty-fifth and fortieth level spells are new. 

Magic is divided into three types. The Realm of Channelling, whose Professions draw their power from an external source, typically a god of some kind; Realm of Essence draw upon the power around them; and the Realm of Mentalism draws directly upon the mind of the caster. Outside of the Professions of the Realm of Arms, each of the spell-casting Professions fits into one of these. Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law further classifies spellcasters into three types—Pure spellcasters, Hybrid spellcasters, and Semi-spellcasters. Pure spellcasters draw from one realm of power, for example, the Druid focuses on spells that interact with the natural world and Illusionists on spells of misdirection and illusion. Hybrid spellcasters combine two realms of power, such as the Healer drawing from Channelling and Mentalism to heal and learn Body Development, whilst the Sorcerer combines Essence and Channelling for raw destruction! Semi-spellcasters focus primarily on physical skills backed up some magical power. For example, the Bard improves his performance with his spells from the realm of essence, whilst aiding friends and baffling foes, whereas the Monk draws his spells from the realm of Mentalism to perform great physical feats and enhance himself Wuxia-style.

The history given is short and broad, really leaving a lot of room for the Game Master to create her own background, and the various spell types and spell parameters are described in short, but informative fashion. Notable here is that the Alchemical spell type is mentioned and not detailed in this supplement, instead described in Treasure Law. Advice suggests ways in which magic can be customized, whether changing it to fit a setting, adding flavour, or adjusting the mechanics. It is fairly broad advice given that it is only a few pages long and arguably it deserves a supplement of its own, but this is a good introduction. One example addresses ways in which the Game Master might think about Evil Spell Lists. There are Evil spell lists for all three Realms. For example, Curses and Demonic Summons for Channelling; Darkness and Necromantic Ways for Essence; and Mind Death and Mind Domination for Mentalism. Of course, whether or not they are actually ‘evil’ will depend upon the world that the Game Master is running and its morality, and to reflect that, the example suggests tying the Evil Spell Lists to corruptive vices. This lends their casting to entertaining roleplaying possibilities, but it is only one suggestion, and you do wish that there was room to explore this and other ideas more.

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law covers learning and casting spells in a straightforward  fashion. This is via academic means as a default, which does leave the Game Master to develop other means (and perhaps the subject of another supplement) of learning. The actual casting roll consists of a standard open-ended percentile roll to which will be added the ranks that the caster has in the Spell List, his Realm Stat, and the bonus for the type of list. Additional modifiers can be applied for how subtle the caster wants the spellcasting to be, how fast, how preparation has been done beforehand, whether the caster is ‘overcasting’ and casting a spell higher than his Level, armour worn, and spell mastery. The latter allows some modification of a spell, like changing its colour, changing its effects in terms of duration, range, area affected, and so on. Power Points typically equal to the spell’s level are expended in the process. If the result is a failure and negative, the player rolls on the appropriate spell failure table. There is one for each Realm. If appropriate, a Resistance Roll can be made against the effects of the spell, and given that this is a dice roll, can lead to situations where the target of the spell heroically withstands the effects of a powerful spell or oddly, falls prey to the effects of a much weaker spell!

Besides standard spellcasting, Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law also explains a number of other options. This includes magic items that add spells or Power Points, casting from Runes, and innate casting—typically found amongst magical creatures and races, but the most significant addition is that of ritual casting. Where ordinary spellcasting is tactical, this is strategic, requiring time, preparation, ritual items, and possibly, multiple participants and greater investment of Power Points and even the caster’s own blood! These all provide modifiers of their own, but others come from the ritualist’s knowledge of the spell, the Spell List it comes from, the realms the Power Points are drawn from, and the auspiciousness of the time, place, and any associated prophecy. Then it comes down to a straightforward casting roll and the interpretation of its effects. This is all really simple and easy to understand, but that simplicity and ease leaves room for the Game Master and her players to add detail and flavour and roleplay it as is their wont. 

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law comes to close with specific spell notes such as how Curse and Disease spells are handled, demons and familiars summoned, Dream spells interpreted, and Illusion and Mind Trick spells work. These notes are not extensive, but clarify specific aspects of these spells and make them easier to use in play. And then in between, there are the Spell Lists, extensive and detailed almost every spell that a Game Master and her players might want.

Coming to Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law and its nearly three hundred pages and you would expect that it is going to be a complex affair. It is not. Spellcasting and learning spells and casting rituals are all covered in fifty pages, with clear explanations and examples. The basics of spellcasting are going to be easy to understand. The complexity comes in the extensive Spell Lists with their multiple spells and having to learn what the spells do. In other words, the learning curve comes here rather than at the beginning. Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law does actually list more spells than in previous editions and whilst that does give more spells to choose from, there are no gaps in the Spell Lists, so that a spellcaster learns a spell at every level. Some of those spells are repetitions of previous spells, or rather repetitions of previous spells with minor tweaks and adjustments. What this represents is not so much repetitions as learning new ways to cast a spell and extend its parameters.

Physically, Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is serviceable at best. The layout is perfunctory, and the text is dense. The unprepossessing layout is not helped by the artwork which is bland. Of course, it does not help that two third of the book consists of tables. 

Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law carries the tagline of “A Magic System Adaptable To Any Fantasy Role Playing System” and there is no denying that Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law could be used with the fantasy roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice. In that, it harks back to the intent of the original supplements—Arms Laws, Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law—which were intended to replace parts of whatever roleplaying game that the Game Master was unhappy with. Most obviously, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. That though, was forty years ago and there is less of a desire to hybridise or kitbash a roleplaying game these days and there are fewer roleplaying games which are compatible with Rolemaster Unified, let alone Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law. If a Game Master wanted an alternative spellcasting system, then there can be no doubt that Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law is a good choice, and certainly a comprehensive choice, just for the hundreds of spells alone. Yet it is in conjunction with Rolemaster Unified CORE Law that Rolemaster Unified SPELL Law will come into its own, supporting all of its fifteen spell-casting Professions and bringing their full capabilities to life with clearly explained rules and additions.

Caution & Chicanery

Rogues, thieves, con artists, burglars, pirates, fences, pickpockets, plunders, muggers, thugs, spies, ninja, let alone scouts and rangers. All use guile, deception, and chicanery to achieve their aims in one fashion or another, and they, along with cunning and stealth, are the subject of HARP Subterfuge. As the title suggests, this is a supplement for High Adventure Role Playing Fantasy or HARP Fantasy, the roleplaying game descended from 1980’s Rolemaster. It is designed as the definitive guide to the classic fantasy roleplaying figure, the thief, and just about anyone who might use subterfuge or stealth to achieve his aims. This includes not just the aforementioned thief—and the many variations upon that role—but also those that use such skills as part their role, yet are not thieves or rogues. The classic Ranger is foremost amongst them, but there are several others that use such skills and who are not wanted by the city watch as a consequence of their use. HARP Subterfuge gives new Professions and spells, a guide to creating the perfect thief, advice on using the right skill for the right job, ways in handle stealth and subterfuge goes wrong (and a Player Character winds up in the hands of the law), suggestions on setting up a suitable underworld for any would be thief Player Character, and more. Although it is a supplement for HARP Fantasy, what HARP Subterfuge really does is move away from the ‘high adventure’ of HARP Fantasy and into a legally and morally grey area, inspired as it is Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories as well as The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels by Scott Lynch. What this means is that its contents may not be suitable for a high fantasy campaign, but if the Game Master wanted to set her campaign on the mean streets of some city decried as a den of iniquity, then HARP Subterfuge would be the supplement to help her do that.

HARP Subterfuge primarily requires HARP Fantasy, being built around its Ranger, Rogue, and Thief Professions, but it also needs HARP Folkways for the Hunter, the Scoundrel, and Seeker. It typecasts these and the new Professions into three categories—physical, dextrous, and intellectual, and suggests not just ways in which to build them, including skills to prioritise and talents are useful, but also why you might play them. These include Assassin, burglar, Con Artist, Fence, Pickpocket, Pirate, Plunderer (or archaeologist), Ruffian, Spy, Ranger, Scout/Guide, and Wayfarer (or explorer). The new Professions are the Ninja, Nightblade, and Beguiler. The Ninja is obvious in what it does, but the Nightblade is a spy that specialises in movement, distraction, disguise, and poison, whilst the Beguiler is spell user that specialises in mental misdirection, manipulation, and deception, particularly the Sphere of Beguilement. This is coupled with the Racial and Cultural perspectives for all of the Races and Cultures given in both HARP Fantasy and HARP Folkways, as well as adding the Dark Warrens Culture. This represents growing up in a culture with a reputation for crime, sin, and evil. Social class is not ignored, though that does require access to HARP Martial Law.

Similarly, there is advice and a review of skills and Talents useful to thieves and rogues, as well as the new skills, Intimidation and Crafts: Trap Making and Setting, and numerous new Talents, including ‘Backstabbing’, ‘Master Negotiator’, Opportunistic Attacking’, and ‘Thieves’ Insight’. It then shows the Game Master how to apply these skills and Talents as Manoeuvres. Under ‘Tricks of the Trade’ it examines everything from stalking, hiding, and camouflage, perception, and pickpocketing to disguises and infiltration, streetwise, and trickery—and it does so in exhaustive detail. For example, for crafting and setting traps, it looks at the possible difficulties crafting and setting traps, trap components, purchasing readymade traps, improvising traps, snares and lures (or non-lethal traps), and even magical traps. It backs this up with examples of play and interestingly, draws parallels between magical traps and chemical warfare in that they can be particularly deadly, and their use can escalate. However, a similar ethical approach is not applied to the discussion on seduction under its otherwise well done treatment of Influence, which covers rumours, propaganda, bribery, blackmail, and reputation. Each of the ‘Tricks of the Trade’ is treated in similar, detailed fashion, as the ‘Tools of the Trade’, which covers climbing, picking locks, making a getaway, and more.

For poisons, HARP Subterfuge does consider their implications and effects upon culture and society. This includes their use as medicines (depending upon dosage), in mysticism and cults to instil trance, euphoric, or hallucinatory states, in hunting and war—the latter typically held as dishonourable, and in general, their use being regarded as taboo. Of course, this is not going stop the Player Characters or NPCs from using poison, so sources of poison are examined, rules for harvesting and cultivating sources, preparing, and using them are all provided. The later includes applying poisons to weapons, adding them to food, or blowing them as a dust. There is a guide too to ‘Mithridatism’, the immunisation against a certain poison through application or ingestion of tiny doses, as well as tables for the Game Master to create poisons for her own campaign.

The point of ‘Deceptive Combat’ in HARP Subterfuge is that it does not involve what more martial types would call a ‘fair’ fight. Instead of meeting on the battlefield, a deceptive combatant uses every advantage he can—attacking first, ambushes, higher ground, knocking opponents down or stunning them, and so on. Scaling these up and what you have is guerrilla warfare, but either allows weaker or poorly equipped individuals or forces to fight the larger or better equipped. HARP Fantasy Professions which fall under this include the Ranger, Rogue, and Thief, as do the Hunter and Seeker from HARP Folkways, whilst HARP Subterfuge most notably adds the Ninja. ‘Deceptive Combat’ examines various ways in which a combatant will fight less than fair, including dodging, parrying, knocking prone and fighting from prone, taunting, flanking, and more. Then when things get ugly, it also looks at dirty fighting and brawling. Of course, much of this can apply to normal combat too, but it particularly applies to the new Profession of Ninja, which is given a chapter of its own covering Ninja tools, weapons, and martial arts.

Since all Professions in HARP Fantasy can have access to magic, HARP Subterfuge explores several paths via which the stealthy or the cunning can add a touch of magic to their arsenal. These scale up from not actually learning to use spells, but to better use the stored magic in charms, potions, and magical items to actually combining a spell-casting Profession with a Subterfuge Profession, with the new spell-casting Professions in HARP Subterfuge of Beguiler and Nightblade somewhere in between. The supplement examines these in turn, also adding lists of spells from other Spheres that will be useful to subterfuge Professions (some of which come from HARP College of Magics). There are useful lists too, of spells granted by their deity, such as a god of trickery or god of secrecy, for the Cleric/Thief Profession combination, and lastly, the ‘Sphere of Shadows’. This is for the Nightblade Profession and includes spells from the Spheres of Necromancy and Elementialism from the HARP College of Magics, as well as new spells particular to the Nightblade, such as Acute Senses, Phantasmal Duplicates, and Nightblade’s Focus, the latter enabling the Nightblade to enter into a trance state with his weapon to enhance his skill.

The last part of HARP Subterfuge looks at subterfuge and society. This includes its criminal elements or underworld, described here more as an overlay (or as it alternatively suggests, an ‘underlay’) which may or may not dominate a bad part of town. The Streetwise skill is what needs to know in order to get around either and who he might know such as informants, fixers, and fences, plus of course, who is in charge at any one time and who wants to be. This includes organisations too, from the classic fantasy thieves’ guild and rural to heist teams and spy agencies. Amongst these are nomadic groups, suggesting that not all members of a nomadic group engage in subterfuge and gypsies as an example. This is problematic as it veers towards stereotyping, and whilst ultimately that may come down to their portrayal by the Game Master, this could have been addressed in the book. ‘Robin Hood and his Merry Men’ are given as example of a rural organisation, complete with gaol and purpose, membership requirements, group structure, means and methods, which is a pleasing counterpart to the more generic treatment of a thieves’ guild that follows. It is more structured though, as you would expect in a classic fantasy roleplaying sense, and it provides a template that the Game Master can use or adjust as is her wont. There are sections too on loot that a thief might steal, the amount or type depending upon the wealth of the society he is preying on. It includes some new magical items like the Dagger of Silent Screams that five times a day dulls all sound with a foot, including screams and the Gloves of Finnius ‘Four-Thumbs’ (a nice gaming reference there) which an extra thumb, taken from the dead body of a master thief, sown into a finger outside the little finger! The gloves need time to adjust to, but give a bonus to pickpocketing and picking locks, but reducing the wearer’s chance of fumbling in combat!

Of course, the downside to carrying out acts of subterfuge is that a Player Character can get caught. HARP Subterfuge does not simply look at the ways in which a thief might be caught, treated by the legal system—if any, and if found guilty, punished, it asks what constitutes a crime taking into consideration a society’s norms, customs, and laws, and how that can affect a Player Character. It looks at these from point of view of the different Races from both HARP Fantasy and HARP Folkways, as well as what each generally thinks of capital punishment (important, because historically in the medieval-style cultures that fantasy roleplaying games are based, capital punishment was the punishment de jour). Although there is a decision tree that the Game Master can follow to make a quick and dirty ruling—based on the offender’s relation to a group, the justice he faces, the offender’s criminal history, object of the crime and the means, and more—there is no one size fits all system here and ultimately, the Game Master will need to design a justice system to fit her campaign, and possibly more than one, if the campaign focuses on thievery and subterfuge. In response to thieves, there are some suggestions as to possible countermeasures that the law-abiding and/or the rich can take to prevent the theft of their valuables.

Penultimately, and surprisingly, HARP Subterfuge steps away from the mechanics of playing a Thief or subterfuge-type character to look at the ethics—the principles behind right and wrong behaviour, and the morals—the attitude and behaviour of the individual. Backed up by examples, this examines how some actions and outlooks of certain Player Character types can be perceived as negative and ultimately affect both the other players and the other characters. This stems from that the fact that the character type in HARP Subterfuge is stealing or being underhanded, which in today’s society is regarded as immoral in the first case and at least frowned upon in the second. After all, the character type that is likely to be the most selfish is the Thief and if that extends to theft from the rest of the party, that can have consequences in and out of the game. Really, what the section is doing is suggesting that the Game Master and her players consider the personal versus group dynamics of the party and set boundaries in terms of what their characters will and will not do. Of course, not every group of players is going to want to address this or even feel the need to do so, but it is there if they do. Certainly, for some groups, it is definitely something to think about.

Lastly, HARP Subterfuge includes an appendix that outlines the long con, which like earlier chapters, looks at different applicable Professions and skills and Talents, how the different Races and Cultures regard them, how to handle the Manoeuvres necessary to carry one off, all the way down to the ethics and morals involved. This is a great addition to the rest of the book, since it sets up the possibility of a mini-campaign focused on a single job in which the Player Characters prey upon the trust and/or greed of others, but emphasising verbal interaction as much as physical action, if not more.

Physically, HARP Subterfuge is neat and tidy. The artwork varies in quality, and in the main, this is a text-heavy book with a lot of detail. This does not mean that it is hard to read by any means. Notably, each chapter is headed by a suitable quote and their sources are listed at the front, so the reader can use them as a bibliography.

How much use a playing group will get out of HARP Subterfuge will depend upon how much it focuses on the activities of the Thief Profession and other subterfuge-based Player Characters. There is content here that will always be of use to the Thief of the classic fantasy roleplaying, whether that is the ‘Backstabbing’ Talent or the use of various Manoeuvres like climbing, laying traps, and picking locks, all of which are described in detailed fashion. Beyond this, there is plenty here that will really benefit a Thief- or subterfuge-focused campaign, perhaps providing almost too much for the Game Master to work through and take into consideration when setting up such a campaign. Ultimately, HARP Subterfuge is the definitively exhaustive sourcebook for thieves and other ne’er-do-wells for HARP Fantasy, with plenty of ways to add variations upon the classic thief- or rogue-type character to an ongoing campaign or focus upon them for the entirety of the campaign.

Table Etiquette

Almost immediately after the first roleplaying game was published, someone said that I can do better. The first roleplaying game to do that was Tunnels & Trolls published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. It was soon followed by one roleplaying game after another, one roleplaying supplement after another, all saying that they could do Dungeons & Dragons better or an aspect of Dungeons & Dragons better. In most cases, they were offering more choice or more realism or more detail. Sometimes one, sometimes a combination of two, and sometimes, such as in the case of Rolemaster, a combination of all three. Rolemaster was originally published by Iron Crown Enterprises, not as a complete roleplaying game, but as a series of supplements which could be used together or used on their own to replace parts of Dungeons & Dragons that a playing group did not like. First, in 1980, with Arms Laws, and then followed Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law. In 1984, the first four of these book would be collected in a box as Rolemaster, a roleplaying game of its very own as the first complete edition. It has had three subsequent editions, but across all four, it has always been known for its complexity. It was, after all, published in the eighties when there was a shift in roleplaying design towards complexity and realism, often still in reaction to Dungeons & Dragons. It has likewise been known for its resolution mechanic, a percentile system in which aim is not to roll low and under, but roll high and attempt to get as high as possible above one hundred, and likewise, it has always been known for the number of tables within its books—the critical hit tables in particular.

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.

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 a third time—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…

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.

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.

Anthropological Fantasy

Folkways is a supplement for High Adventure Role Playing Fantasy or HARP Fantasy, the roleplaying game descended from 1980’s Rolemaster. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises, it does two things for the percentile-based game. One is to provide the Game Master with the means to create and build interesting and gameable races, cultures, and nations. The other is to provide both Game Master and players alike with new races, professions, and training packages to add to their campaign, be that in either of Iron Crown Enterprises’ home settings of Shadow World and Cyradon.

The supplement is divided into two parts. The first presents a discussion and examination of ‘Folkways’, in sociology and anthropology, the norms for routine or casual interaction. Essentially, why a race, culture, or society acts the way it does. There are twenty of these—Environment Ways, Urban Ways, Family Ways, Marriage Ways, Lifespan Ways, Gender and Sexuality Ways, Association Ways, Rank Ways, Order Ways, Authority Ways, Freedom ways, Wealth Ways, Work Ways, Leisure Ways, Dress Ways, Food Ways, Language Ways, Magic ways, Supernatural Ways, and Self-Reflection Ways—and the author turns them into Twenty Questions which the Game Master can ask when creating content for her game world. So the first examines how the topography of region, access to water, its ecosystem, and weather affect a culture’s outlook, habits, and customs, so a culture with limited access to water might place a strong value upon gaining access to and not wasting water, moving from water source to source in a nomadic lifestyle, whereas a culture with ready access might settle down near the water and take advantage its regular ebb and flow to grow and harvest crops. For Work Ways, it asks who does the work and why, whether that work is simply to exist or to earn to pay for goods, how much that work is valued, and lastly, if slavery exists. So a culture working to live at a subsistence level would be of a different character, whereas a feudal society imposes greater obligation upon its members.

When asking these questions, the author not only presents examples in our own world, but goes on to apply them to any number of fantasy settings—the Twenty Questions spurred by the Folkways can equally be applied to cultures of other genres, whether Science Fiction or horror, but this supplement is for a fantasy roleplaying game—drawn from fiction and gaming. These include J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, Stephen R. Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, George R.R.. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and others, as well as the MMORPG, World of Warcraft and HARP itself. This altogether, is an interesting read, questions about these settings and others being raised as the reader proceeds through the book. It is very much a pity that the author does not look at roleplaying game settings which are regarded as being culturally based—Glorantha of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, Rokugan of Legend of the Five Rings, and Tékumel of Empire of the Petal Throne—as the answers which would be generated by the asking of the Twenty Questions of them would make for fascinating reading. Of course, such answers are really outside the scope of a supplement devoted to HARP.

So far so academically stolid, but then since Folkways is a supplement for HARP, it is no surprise that two races from HARP Fantasy are the subject of these Twenty Questions. These are the Gryx and the Gnomes. The answers for both are useful. For the Gryx because they are a race not only new to HARP Fantasy, but new to fantasy, so unfamiliar from the run of the mill Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and whatnot. For the Gnomes, this brings a few answers to a race that is often dismissed as being silly.

The second part of HARP Folkways is where the actual new game rules occur, which means that the first part is essentially systemless and could easily applied to the setting and races—fantasy or not—of the Game Master’s choice. The new mechanics include some eleven new races, ten new professions and associated talents, new cultural adolescence packages, and twenty-three new training packages. The new races include the minotaur-like Amarvish—which feel just a little too much like the Tauren from World of Warcraft; the Menomenee, aquatic sea-elves, and the gigantic, arctic-dwelling Navrothor with Dwarf-like attitudes. These have only the one of the Twenty Questions asked of them, but again, they provide further examples of answers to those questions. Some of the races do feel as if they are stretching the boundary between what works and what is just a bit silly, for example, the overly gregarious and weasel-like Tomalak and the pack-rat, rat-like Gordaz, universally disliked for their attitudes to property and ownership. 

The new cultures, from Aquatic and Aerial to Coastal and Deeping (below Deep Warrens),  feel more sober enough, as do the new Professions. Those like Artisan, Hunter, Labourer, Sailor, Trader, and so on, will probably find their way into most settings, but the tonal mix really continues with the Training Packages. The Fisherfolk are normal enough, but Clowns, Conquistadors, Nestorians (professional storytellers), Private Eyes, and Stylites (ascetic monks), and others are highly specific and the Game Master will want to pick and choose which of these she wants to have in her campaign. Other Training Packages are more setting-specific, but without specifying that setting. Lastly, Folkways returns to the Twenty Questions and asks about the two default settings for HARP Fantasy—Shadow World and Cyradon. In particular, it asks them of the Theocracy of Asut and the Orsai Empire for Cyradon, and of the Vasai Republic for Shadow World. These are fully worked out examples and for devotees both settings, these are useful explanations and examinations of the whys and wherefores of their respective cultures. Rounding out the supplement is an appendix of charts on which the Game Master can roll to create her own Folkways for the cultures she wants to design.

Physically, Folkways is decently written softback. Its subject matter means that it feels a little dry and academic in places, but the numerous examples and explorations of the Twenty Questions serve to offset this. It is also nicely illustrated, and whilst none of the artwork is necessarily bad, some of it is good enough to put the merely adequate to shame.

Of course Folkways is a book for HARP Fantasy, but there is a sense that you wish it were otherwise, instead being wholly systemless, a discussion and examination of other cultures, races, and nations presented in other roleplaying game settings. That though is for another supplement, its discussion of the Folkways and application of the Twenty Questions instead spurring the reader to examine and think about the cultures he has encountered in the books he has read and the games he has played. For both Game Master and player there is also an array of new character options to bring to the gaming table, though the Game Master is advised to mix and match rather than import them wholesale into her campaign as not all of them will have their place in such a world. Above all though, Folkways makes the Game Master think what makes the peoples and cultures of her campaign so in light of their influences and so helps make those people and culture richer, more believable, and more interesting when her players encounter them.

Fantasy LAW Starter

A Wedding in Axebridge is a scenario for use with High Adventure Role Playing or HARP, Ice Crown Enterprises’ percentile fantasy roleplaying system descended from Rolemaster. It is designed for use with between four and six characters of between First and Fourth Level and should provide two or three sessions’ worth of play. It offers a mix of roleplaying and intrigue encounters as well as combat and exploration in a forest and a dungeon. It takes place in and around the village of Axebridge which sits on the River Clearwater across from the extensive forests of the Alfwood. The village is not far from the Free City of Lochdomhan in the Aeden Isles which lie off the coast of the Tyrisian lands, the most remote of the Shatterings on the world of Mithras. The Aeden Isles are mostly settled by Humans, their having driven the Sidhe—or Elves—out long ago, such that both the Sidhe and the Fae are no longer trusted. More recently, the peoples of Aeden Isles have converted to the church of Caerwyn, Lord of All, and as benevolent as the new faith is, it does not sit well with many who remember the old gods of the Gael. As the adventurers come to Axebridge, it seems that a celebration is in full swing. 

A Wedding in Axebridge opens with the adventurers arriving in the village and being invited to attend the forthcoming wedding that everyone is celebrating. They have an opportunity to mingle and perhaps participate in a competition or two—there are some decent prizes on offer—and perhaps gain an inkling of their immediate future. Unfortunately, the bride falls ill on the morning of her wedding day with no obvious cause, and with her condition worsening daily, the adventurers are asked to investigate. Then, just as the adventurers discover the cause, they are accused of being involved in the disappearance of another villager, the daughter of a local hunter. Are the two connected? Is the village under a curse? Or is something else at work in bringing woe to Axebridge?

The plot does indeed involve a curse, but it also involves a clash between religions old and new, ancient and new, ghosts, and a dungeon. Consisting of three quite small levels, this is where the climax of the adventure will take place in a series of quite challenging fights. It is also here that they will discover—amidst the ruins of an ancient site of druidic worship—what lies behind the events that have befallen the village of Axebridge in the last few days. The climax of the scenario involves a fair bit of combat, but before that it presents some good opportunities for the players to roleplay and for their characters to take the high ground. If they do, then they will have the opportunity to earn more Experience Points than if they rush straight into combat. The epilogue to the scenario is also very nicely played out.

The plot itself is relatively straightforward, and if truth be told, more experienced players may figure some of what is going on relatively quickly. If they do, then they probably need to roleplay around that until the scenario presents them with the clues to put the plot together. To an extent, the Game Master will also need to work this out himself as the exact details of the plot are not given in one place, but scattered throughout the book. As with experienced players, an experienced Game Master will be able to connect the dots anyway. What this means though, is that a less experienced Game Master might not find the adventure quite as easy to run, especially given that the scenario is overwritten in places.

Beyond the adventure itself, there are some suggestions as to what the adventurers might do next. This would require some development upon the part of the Game Master, but the area around the village of Axebridge certainly has potential.

One problem with the scenario is that the dungeon maps, although done in full colour, are not all that easy to read because they are a bit too fussy. Black and white, line drawn maps might have been a better, clearer option than ones here which were drawn on a computer. That said, the area maps are much clearer and easier to read. Otherwise, A Wedding in Axebridge is a well-presented book illustrated with some decent pieces of black and white artwork.

A Wedding in Axebridge is not a great scenario, but it is a reasonable scenario. 
Although let down by two issues—fussy cartography and a slightly too familiar plot—it is well written, it presents a decent challenge, and it works as first scenario for use with HARP. Although not quite suited to the beginning Game Master, A Wedding in Axebridge is a good adventure with which a Game Master can introduce HARP to her players.

Fantasy LAW

First published in 1980, Rolemaster was designed to plug into and replace other aspects of fantasy roleplaying games, beginning with the supplements, Arms Law, Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Campaign Law. Over the course of its four editions, it acquired the reputation of a being a relatively complex system, lots of numbers involved, with lots and lots of professions, and lots of charts and tables. In particular, critical hit tables for every type of weapon, spell damage, and almost every other type of damage! Subsequent editions of the game have streamlined and codified the mechanics, but there is an even simpler and more streamlined version of the rules and mechanics, a spiritual successor, if you will. This is High Adventure Role Playing or HARP, first published in 2003 by Iron Crown Enterprises. There are certain parallels here between the streamlining in terms of mechanics between Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition. So if Rolemaster was written in the mould of the former, then HARP was written in the mould of the latter. All four are designed as a high fantasy set of rules built around a Class and Level system, but where Dungeons & Dragons only got a skills system and unified mechanic with the release of Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, there has always been a skills system and a unified mechanic in Rolemaster and so there is with HARP. The current version of HARP, first published in 2011, is called HARP Fantasy.

As much as parallels can be drawn between HARP Fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, there are notable differences. The first major difference is that characters in HARP Fantasy are primarily designed, players having the freedom to design their characters how they want. Two other major differences are that all characters can use spells—HARP Fantasy includes a ‘Universal’ sphere of spells that anyone can learn and cast—and all characters can use all of the skills, the system including some sixty skills in total. So there is quite a bit of flexibility built into the mechanics. What makes it likely for one character to have one skill over another is cost. So the Mystical Arts category of skills are cheaper to purchase for a Mage than they are for a Fighter. The other difference of course, being that HARP Fantasy is a percentile system. In most roleplaying games, the results of an action—whether that be singing a song, climbing a wall in a hurry, swinging a sword to hit a goblin, or casting a spell—would be rolled on the percentile dice, the aim being to roll under the percentile chance. Not so in HARP Fantasy where the aim is to roll high rather than roll low. A player rolls his percentile dice and adds his character’s skill in singing, climbing, attacking with a sword, or casting a spell to the value rolled, plus or minus any modifiers derived the character’s statistics, the situation, or the difficulty of the task. The aim is to roll over one hundred. If the result is one-hundred-and-one or more, the character succeeds.

Naturally low rolls result in a fumble, whilst an option allows for natural rolls of sixty-six to lead to unusual results, good or bad depending whether or not the action succeeded. A Manoeuvre Table provides various results, including a progress percentage for lengthy tasks, a bonus to be applied to the next manoeuvre in a chain of tasks, and a resistance value. Most importantly though, rolls are open-ended—in modern gaming parlance, they explode. If a player rolls between ninety-six and one hundred on the dice, he not only gets to add his character’s skill and modifiers, he gets to roll again. This enables a character to undertake and succeed at heroic, even desperate actions.

A character in HARP Fantasy is defined by his Statistics, a Profession, Race, Culture, Skills, and Talents. A character has eight statistics—Strength, Constitution, Agility, Quickness, Self-Discipline, Reasoning, Insight, and Presence, which each has a value between one and one-hundred-and-five. There are nine possible professions—Cleric, Fighter, Harper, Mage, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Thief, and Warrior Mage. Eight of these Profession are obvious in what they are, the ninth, the Harper, actually being a Bard-like Profession. It is possible to have multiple Professions. A Profession consists of Favoured Categories—the categories into which skills are grouped, such as Combat or Influence; Key Stats—those statistics favoured by the Profession; and one or more Professional Abilities unique to the Profession. For example, the Cleric Profession gains access to spells, some of which must come from the Cleric Sphere and can select two Favoured Categories, so one cleric might select Combat and Athletic to build a paladin-type character or Outdoor and Physical to create a druid-like character.

To its traditional fantasy Races of Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, and Human, HARP Fantasy adds the Gryx. The Gryx are Orc-like in appearance, but where Orcs are barbarous and warlike, the Gryx are peaceful and dedicate themselves to arts and crafts. This is despite their having racial abilities that will be useful in a fight—Lightning Reflexes, Dense Musculature, and Night Vision. They are designed as a semi-bestial race to replace Half-Orcs, but they do seem an odd addition given how generic a fantasy the rules of HARP Fantasy present. It is also odd given that the Orc is given in the bestiary and available as an optional player character Race should the Game Master allow it. It is obvious why the Gryx have been added though—to avoid the unpalatable origins of the Half-Orc as a racial option.

Now what each Race provides are modifiers to a character’s Statistics, bonuses to his Endurance, Power Points, Resistances, Stamina, Will, and Magic, plus special abilities unique to each Race. Beyond this it is possible to build racial hybrids, enabling a player to modify his character by purchasing Blood Talents. These come in Greater and Lesser Talents, allowing a character to be a true Half-Gnome or Half-Elf, or be of mixed parentage. HARP Fantasy includes several Cultures—Deep Warrens, Shallow Warrens, Sylvan, Underhill, Nomadic, Rural, and Rural—each of which provides a basic language plus Skill Ranks gained as an adolescent. Skills come in nine categories—Artistic, Athletic, Combat, Concentration, General, Influence, Mystic Arts, Outdoor, and Physical—and are purchased in Ranks. Lastly, a character can have Talents, such Agile Defence, Giantism, Master Burglar, or Sense Magic.

To create a character, a player generates the Statistics, either by rolling dice or purchasing them with points, and then selecting a Race and Culture. Each character receives a pool of Development Points, modified by their Statistics, with which to purchase Skills and Talents. A limited number of Development Points can be spent to improve a character’s Statistics. There are oddities in the system which require the player to spend Development Points if he is to improve certain aspects of his character. One is that despite HARP Fantasy being a Class and Level system, a player does not simply roll his character’s Hit Points, but purchases the Endurance skill and its final value is how damage a character can have. A player will also need to put Development Points into Power Point Development if he wants his character to be able to cast spells, but even odder is the fact that the character’s Resistance Rolls—Stamina, Will, and Magic—are also skills and again can be improved by a player spending Development Points on them. Both Endurance and the Resistances have base values derived from a character’s Race, so there is a minimum value built into the mechanics. What this points to though, is how little a character’s Level has on the character—primarily it places a cap on how many Ranks a character has in any one skill and when and how many Development Points a character gains—and the degree of freedom a player has to build and modify his character. 

Each time a character gains a Level—through earning Experience Points—the player acquires further Development Points with which to improve his character. He also gets the bonus Development Points as the character had at First Level and because these are derived from a character’s Statistics, it does mean that characters with better Statistics will develop faster and better in the long term.

Our sample character is Hurik, the son of a jeweller, who has little interest in following in his mother’s footsteps. He prefers to fritter away his allowance on dancing, drinking, and wooing. Unfortunately, he is not particularly good at any of those, but he more than makes up for it with good schooling, if not good learning. He has spent some time in the militia and was bored, very, very quickly. He found though that he could use a sword and a shield, and a sword and a blade—and he is fast. His mother’s money is not going to pay for his lifestyle soon, so perhaps another source of income could be found. To help him along the way, Hurik has learned the spell, Guess, for those moments when he cannot make up his mind.

Hurik
Race: Human
Gender: Male Age: 18
Height: 6’ 6” Weight: 160 lbs.
Culture: Urban

Level 1 Fighter

Strength 71 (+5)
Constitution 66 (+4)
Agility 85 (+7)
Quickness 98 (+10)
Self-Discipline 50 (+0)
Reasoning 79 (+5)
Insight 84 (+7)
Presence 47 (+0)

Resistances
Stamina 0 (+18), Will 0 (+10), and Magic 0 (+24), 

Endurance 54
Defence Bonus +69

Skills
Artistic: Dancing 1 (+12)
Athletic: Acrobatics 6 (+37), Climbing 6 (+42)
Concentration:
Combat: 1-Handed Edged (Short Blades) 6 (+42), 1-Handed Edged (Thrusting Blades) 6 (+52), Brawling 6 (+42), Combat Styles (Two Weapon Combo) 6 (+42), Polearms 2 (+22), Thrown Weapons (Polearms Thrown) 1 (+17)
General: Appraisal 2 (+22), Crafts (Jeweller) 3 (+27), Healing 1 (+12), Lore (Local Region) 2 (+20), Magic 0 (+24), Perception 3 (+22), Stamina 0 (+18), Will 0 (+10)
Influence: Charm 6 (+37), Trade 2 (+17)
Mystic Arts: Runes 2 (+22), Power Point Development 2 (+47), Spell (Guess) 6 (+35)
Outdoor: Navigation 1 (+12), Stalking & Hiding 1 (+12)
Physical: Armour 6 (+42), Endurance 1 (+54), Jumping 5 (+37), Streetwise 6 (+37), Swimming 2 (+22)

Special Abilities
Bonus Skill Ranks, Skill Specialisation (+10) (1-Handed Edged (Thrusting Blades)), Skill Flexibility (Charm), Swashbuckler (+24 DB)

Professional Abilities
Lightning Reflexes (+5% Initiative), Shield Training, Favoured Combat Skill (Thrusting Blades)

Equipment (9 Gold, 3 Silver)
Dagger (Small Slash), Main Gauche (Small Slash), Rapier (Medium Puncture), Soft Leather Armour (Soft Leather +20 DB), Buckler (Shield +0/+15 DB)

The character creation process is not easy, nor is it fast. In comparison to contemporary roleplaying games, it is actually cumbersome, especially once you figure adding spells, which everyone has access to. Now the process will produce the desired result as that is one of the benefits of HARP Fantasy—plenty of options and no little flexibility in what sort of character a player could create. This is further enhanced with the use of Training Packages, limited groups of skills that represent a profession, guild apprenticeship, and so on. So, it might be Town Militiaman, Ranger of the East, or Blue Tower Mage, for example. Such packages are available at a discount, can be taken only the once per level, and a player is free to design his own, with of course, the Game Master’s consent. Now the Game Master could also design his own and use those to help provide a place and occupation in his world for player characters and NPCs alike.

Combat in HARP Fantasy does not quite continue the degree of complexity found in character generation. It begins with Initiative, rolled on a single ten-sided die plus modifiers from Statistics, encumbrance, and the situation. Plus this is rolled at the beginning of each two-second turn during which a character will perform one action, whether that be draw a weapon, attack, stand up, or move, or a combat action.

For example, Hurik is on his first job—a caravan guard. The caravan has camped for the night and he is on duty. It is midnight. Although he does not have his weapon drawn, he is holding his buckler when a goblin comes running out the darkness and attacks him. Hurik’s player rolls a ten-sided die, then adds the modifiers +10 (Quickness), +7 (Insight), +5 (Lightning Reflexes), -5 (shield), and -10 (Weapon Not Ready). The final result is 15. The Goblin is fast though and rolls a total of 21.

To attack, a player makes a standard percentile roll and adds his character Offensive Bonus to the result. The Offensive Bonus is usually derived from a weapon skill, but it can modified by other skills like combat styles, statistics, and bonuses from special weapons or circumstances. The opponent’s Defensive Bonus, derived from his armour, Quickness statistic, shield, maneuvre, and position, are deducted from this roll. If the result is one or more, the character has hit and the weapon’s size modifier is added to this result and the total looked up on the appropriate Critical Table for that weapon type to determine the damage done.

So back to Hurik versus the Goblin. On Round One, the Goblin has the initiative and the Game Master decides that it is going to charge at Hurik as its action. Hurik has spotted the Goblin, so player decides that the only thing that Hurik can do this time is draw his rapier. Both are attacking each other. The Goblin rushes in, slashing at Hurik with his shortsword. The Game Master rolls 50, adds the Goblin’s Offensive Bonus of 55, 1 for the Goblin charging, and deducts Hurik’s Defensive Bonus of 69. This gives a result of 37, which adjusted by the small size of the Goblin’s shortsword, provides a final result of 27. Looking this up on the Slash Critical table, the effect is that Hurik suffers nine Hits to his Endurance with a “Solid blow to his back, but work on that follow through.” The Goblin has clearly run past Hurik, managing to slash at him as he does.

On Round Two, Hurik’s player rolls a ten-sided die, then adds the modifiers +10 (Quickness), +7 (Insight), +5 (Lightning Reflexes), and -5 (shield) only, as he has his weapon drawn. Hurik’s player rolls 27 versus the Goblin’s 22! Both will attack, but Hurik gets to go first. Hurik’s player rolls 100—a critical hit.! Plus he can roll again, which he does to add another 03 to the total roll. He add’s Rurik’s Offensive Bonus of 52 and deducts the Goblin’s Defensive Bonus of 49 to get 106. This is not modified by the size of Hurik’s rapier as it is a medium weapon. Looking this result up on the Puncture Critical table, the outcome is that Hurik has impaled the Goblin in the lung, which means that he will die in twelve gurgling rounds, plus he takes 29 Hits, is stunned for 12 rounds, bleeds 3 Hits per round, and he has a -20 penalty to his Offensive Bonus.

Combat in HARP Fantasy is dangerous and bloody—and tactical. A player needs to be careful in the fights he picks and the maneuvres he takes. Of course, he can get lucky—as Hurik did in the example—but the system also allows a player some options in terms of being defensive. The Defensive Bonus already figures in attempts to parry, but a player can actually choose to have the character full parry, shifting points from the character’s Offensive Bonus to his Defensive Bonus. The likelihood is that players will want to put Development Points into their characters’ Armour and Endurance skills as well as a weapon skill to improve their survival chances. Another likelihood is that the flavour of the Critical tables will pale in the long term (this in addition to the fact that they are hit tables since they combine damage from standard attacks with damage from critical attacks in the one table).

The complexity of HARP Fantasy continues with its treatment of spells and magic. There are over a hundred spells, divided in six categories, five of which are the domain of five of the roleplaying game’s Professions—Clerical, Harper, Mage, Ranger, and Warrior Mage. Of these, the Cleric has the freedom to select half of his spells from the other categories to reflect the nature of his deity. Perhaps then a Cleric might worship some eldritch lord and so knows the Past Visions spell from the Harper category and the Darkness spell from the Mage category, whilst a blacksmithing deity might grant Fire Wall from the Mage category and the Elemental Weapon from the Warrior Mage category. The sixth category is the Universal category, from which anyone who can select and learn spells. Spells are also categorised as Utility spells (Healing or Tree Skin), Attack spells (Arcane Bolt or Fear), and Elemental Attack Spells (Elemental Ball or Elemental Bolt). In addition, if a character knows the Counterspell spell, he can stop others from casting spells. It sets up a Resistance that the opposing spellcaster must overcome to successfully cast their spell.

In order to learn and cast a spell, a character needs to both have sufficient Power Points—improved by the Power Point Development skill—and have purchased the minimum number of Ranks in the skill, equal to the needed Power Points. Each spell is its own separate skill. Instead of buying ‘higher level’ spells, a character can instead buy other spells or he can instead improve the spells he already has, which requires more Power Points and Skill Ranks. In return, a spellcaster gets to scale the spell to varying effect. So for example, the Arcane Bolt spell can be scaled to increase its damage, range, and number of targets as well as add a stun effect. Spells require the expenditure of Power Points to cast as well as a skill roll, so as long as a character has Power Points, he can cast spells. All of the spells in HARP Fantasy work like this, meaning the magic system is again flexible if complex. 

For the Game Master, HARP Fantasy includes chapters on herbs and poisons, encounters and monsters, treasure, and advice. The chapter on herbs and poisons opts for breadth rather than detail, but provides enough information until the Game Master needs another supplement. Similarly, the chapters on encounters and monsters and on treasure are broader in the treatment of their subject matters. The contents of the encounters and monsters chapter is everything that you would imagine, from Ant, Giant, Ape, Giant, and Battle Demon to Wolf, Wyvern, and Zombie are all included. Classics like the Goblin, Kobold, and Orc are also included. These monsters are what you would expect for a generic collection of foes with which to populate a world and possible encounters. Racial statistics and modifiers are given if a player wants to create and roleplay options outside of the six given in the core rules.  The chapter on Game Master advice includes useful tips; advice on customising the game, cultures, clerics, magic and the magic user, and the setting; as well as awarding Experience Points and setting goals. Much of it will be familiar to experienced Game Masters, but worth reading still.

Physically, HARP Fantasy is a plain, simple, black and white hardback. The writing is clear and easy to read—for the most part. The game’s many examples of the rules are presented using a cursive script and grey rather than black. This makes the examples difficult to read. In addition, the book’s numerous tables are often also too small to read. Another issue is the organisation of those tables. They are not repeated for easy access at the back of the book, so actually running the game will involve flipping back and forth between those tables. Certainly, the Game Master will need to bookmark the tables that get referenced a great deal during play, if not purchase or create his own reference screen. The book could have been slightly better organised in that the need to purchase Endurance, Power Point Development, and the Resistances as skills could been made more obvious, if not explicit. They are essentially buried in the skills section when they needed to be highlighted as part of the character creation process.

At its core, HARP Fantasy does the pseudo-Western European fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien et al, plus a little orientalism with the inclusion of medieval oriental weapons and Professions like the Warrior Monk. This is no surprise, since its forebear, Rolemaster, was designed to replace and plug into parts of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but it does mean that HARP Fantasy is by its very nature, generic, even bland. So where the flavour in HARP Fantasy really lies is in the mechanics, the detailed nature of the system, and in the flexibility that a player has to build a character within the parameters of a selected Profession. The spellcasting Professions have even more flexibility in how they cast their spells. Although it does feel underwritten in places and may well be too complex for modern sensibilities, the core mechanics in HARP Fantasy are a solid and long-tested design that provide both detail and options where it counts—characters, combat, and spells.