I.C.E. Deep Dive. Loremaster Series Review pt.3: The Cloudlords of Tanara.

 

Welcome to my third review of the Loremaster Series; today we are going to explore what is possibly the most well known or popular of ICE modules: The Cloudlords of Tanara. Over the years there have been other reviews (see some links at the end) and Cloudlords has been treated to the Terry Amthor rewrite, but I’m going to focus on the original version and review it in the context of the Loremaster series and how it might have impacted the later Shadow World series.

Like the Iron Wind, the Cloudlords is undeniably “base DNA” of Shadow World where Vog Mur and Shade of the Sinking Plain felt like stand-a-alones. So despite some timeline issues and slight ret-conning, it’s easy to use Cloudlords as a canon SW book. In reality, most of the timeline and history issues are going to be lost on the players anyway!

First, let’s start with the cover art done by Gail Mcintosh. The Cloudlords is iconic cover art from the early golden era of RPG’s and is part of what I consider the “trifecta” of Gail’s early cover art that creates movement (everyone is wielding/swinging weapons) and depth (a contrast of foreground featuring the backside of a protaganist and a foe facing forward in the background). The trifecta:

Some would argue that these covers were less refined than her subsequent work for MERP covers or Dragon magazin but I think they are fantastic and captured the unique nature of early Rolemaster compared to the other d20 settings.

Once you turn the cover page you are immediately drawn into a whole new RPG module environment: a color map of “The Forge of the  Lords of Essence”!!!  That map label alone raises all sorts of questions and promises that are delivered further into the book. This is definitely not the “Caves of Chaos“!

Since Terry Amthor was the author of this book, you’ll note that the Table of Contents follows a familiar structure that is adhered to in later SW books: World Info, Geography, Flora & Fauna Politics & Power, Key Places, Master Charts and then Adventures. For regular SW users, this is a well understood template that has mostly continued throughout the product line.

The Introduction covers the fundamentals of the Loremaster world, but it’s not currently named Kulthea yet. The Flows of Essence are discussed, but primarily as the source of “magic” and the basis for RM’s three realms. In 1.17 Peoples, the test describes the isolationism of various peoples and creatures due to mountain ranges and broad seas. In the next section, History, it describes: “…a strong north-south flow of that invisible yet dangerous force of Essence. These elements combine to make passage..virtually impossible”. The kernels of SW are there but haven’t been fully fleshed out with the Flows acting as physical barriers.

The History section is a simplified version of the SW timeline: the 1st Era, Kadena, The Second Age, Loremasters, the Wars of Dominion and finally the Third Age. What’s different? There is no mention of Andraax, the Althans haven’t been tied to an advanced technological culture and there is no mention of the Lords of Orhan. In fact, it was the Loremasters who broke their creed of non-involvement to tip the scales of the Wars of Dominion.

The next few pages are some map symbols and B&W geography maps–Fenlon of course. As a GM these Fenlon maps are priceless–in fact, it’s all I really need to run a game. The maps depict trails, roads, ruins, towns, waters, cave cities, burials etc.  Amazingly, Fenlon also incorporates elevations, foliage types, and settlement patterns of people and animals. It’s really an incredible resource in these books, and frustrating that this type of quality can’t be produced at a reasonable cost. ?

Section 2.1 The Environment.

A page and half, covers basic terrain types, weather patterns, the calendar, hints at some moons and a sampling of creatures. Interestingly and in line with SW, there are very few monsters: Steardan, Garks, Demons & Undead are referenced. Under Demons, there is a reversal from the Iron Wind, ad the Pales are described as having 6 levels with the weakest being the First Pale. Here again, we can see world design shifting into place for the 1st Edition Master Atlas that came out in ’88-’89.

Section 2.2 Peoples.

Terry creates 4 distinct peoples, but are there perhaps any more iconic peoples of Shadow World than the Duranaki? Spiked and colored hair, leather armor, odd black weapons, live underground–very punk rock. It’s in the Worship sections that Terry starts developing the eventual SW pantheon. The Sulini have “Numa” the Ocean God, the Myri have Ilila, Earth Goodess, Allanda (Storms), Keo (Moons), Davix (Festivals) and Phaon (Sun) and the Yinka have Yugal.

3.1 Politics and Power

In a previous blog post, I discussed the Xiosians and part of my solution was based on this book.  The Cloudlords of Tanara are Zori  who crossed the mountains and discovered an ancient abandoned city with artifacts (the Cloudlord Gear) and the Steardan. They, like many historical cultures, co-opted the ancients legacy and became the Cloudlords. This section also covers the political powers of the Myri, Duranaki and Yinka and finally includes the Cult of Ezran.

The Cult of Ezran. Basically an outcast group of the Cloudlords was corrupted by a wandering Elf, a servant of the Unlife. Cloudlords makes no mention of the Priests Arnak, but it’s natural to ret-con Teleus as a Priest. Now an Undead, Teleus rides a “Demon-Horse” and wields the Implementor–an idea that probably morphed into the Heralds of the Night. To combat the Implementor, there are 3 very cool “swords”, the Narselkin. Give it to Terry, he comes up with the coolest magic items and these are no exception. Each has particular powers and meant for an Essence user, Fighter and Channeler.

Cool Places. The layouts and fortresses found in the Cloudlords are a step forward in the development of the “Lords of Essence” aesthetic. These buildings are clearly a fusion of classic marble style with industrial high tech features, radiant heat, locking doors and laen and shaalk panels. There are lots of odd rooms that are interesting but feel more like a standard dungeon “puzzle room” than a logical room in a fortress or structure. Other layouts include a Lords of Essence forge, a Duranaki hold, vaults for the Narselkin and the temple of the Yinka.

Finally, the module has detailed master charts for NPCs, military, a huge herb chart, and a great section featuring unique and notable magic items!!

The last sections cover details on the Navigators–a more involved section than the paragraphs in the Iron Wind 3rd ed. Plus there is a glossary that makes for an interesting read and touches upon a lot of later SW content. Special metals and materials, languages etc.

Over all, the Cloudlords of Tanara is a fantastic supplement and takes the base DNA found in the Iron Wind and really morphs into the Shadow World style.  When compared to the canon established in the original Master Atlas, there just isn’t much change. Perhaps the most significant is the additional of the pantheons of the Lords of Orhan and the Dark Gods of Charon.

So why is it relevant? Clearly in design and layout it establishes all the later SW products and while it was re-written by Terry decades later the original Cloudlords of Tanara makes a great stand-alone setting or as part of your SW campaign.

Here  and HERE are some other reviews that I like coming from people more outside the Rolemaster bubble.

 

Stop Press! Publication Round Up!

Last week was an über week for us.

First up we have The Inn of Dusk. This is the latest 50 in 50 adventure  hook and the 17th so far.

The Inn of Dusk is an inn that has been haphazardly extended over the years. It is the focal point of the local community and sits near an old and now rarely used trade route. The Inn has a secret and is far more dangerous to visit than might be though; quite what the hazard is can be chosen by the GM from a list suggested for different power levels.

Next up we have had a bit of cross over with the Fanzine.

Issue 9 went out in both Print and Kindle editions. This was one of my favourite issues so far with three adventures, new monsters and the return of the Shadow World section.

Overlapping with the delayed print and kindle editions, the PDF version went out much earlier, we have Issue 10 of the fanzine (February 2018). This is a really important issue as it contains the first printing of BASiL (Essence pt 1), completely updated advice and notes from using BASiL.

Essence Part 1 added 35 new spell lists to Rolemaster. It is available on RPGnow/Drivethu as PDF and in print and Kindle on Amazon.

Oh and I am experimenting with new look covers. These latest editions are up to 70 to 80+ pages so we are putting out a decent magazine I feel.

 

Finally, Azukail Games published the Ominous Place Name Generator last week. It is a Pay What You Want product so if you want to treat yourself to something new then pick up a copy.

I.C.E. Deep Dive. Loremaster Series pt.1: The Iron Wind.

In a recent blog I reviewed some of the earliest ICE ads that were featured in the Dragon Magazine. Iron Crown’s two very first products were Arms Law, a drop in combat module for use in other game systems, and The Iron Wind, an expansive “generic” fantasy setting.

Later, ICE would formalize their modules into the Loremaster Series which would then morph into Shadow World.  The Loremaster series consistested of 4 modules: The Iron Wind, The World of Vog Mur, The Cloudlords of Tanara and the Shade of the Sinking Plain. Two additional modules were advertised but never published: “Cynar: the Cursed Oasis” and “The Gates of Gehaenna”.

I thought I would do a “deep dive” analysis into the 4 Loremaster modules, starting with the Iron Wind. The Iron Wind was written/published in 1980, the start of the “Golden Age” of RPG’s and is a informative marker for the trajectory of Iron Crown Enterprises, it’s creative style and future product development. There are 3 basic versions: a b&w Parchment edition, a colored cover parchment version and then the final blue/green cover edition. As of yet, Terry hasn’t expressed an interest in a new updated edition, but this may be due to authorship issues as well. (If I recall, authorship was shared by, or predominantly done by Pete Fenlon).

There are a number of traditional online reviews of the Iron Wind, but I wanted to review the original 1st edition b&w parchment, offer my thoughts and identify any material changes that occur with each edition. But first off, let me say this: in my opinion, The “final, 3rd edition” Iron Wind is one of the best RPG adventure supplements ever produced. It was a self-contained sand box with a great mix of cultures, geography, structures, cities and plot narratives. While Judges Guild, Midkemia Press and others produced third party adventure content for D&D in the same period, these were drop-in products, lacking distinct and novel cultural frameworks beyond the “re-purposed renaissance style” or “Gygaxian racial tropes”. Too me, the lack of Orcs, Goblins and “True Elves” in the Iron Wind is pretty amazing given the Middle Earth roots of Iron Crown Enterprises and industry trends at the time.

With that said, the first and second parchment editions were a VERY stripped down version of the later 3rd version. While it did include the Priests Arnak and mention of the Unlife, there was no “Loremasters”, “Flows of Essence”, Navigators” or other elements that later defined the module series and ultimately Shadow World.

Front and Back Covers. The Iron Wind was published with 3 different covers: The B&W parchment, the “red” contrast parchment and the glossy paper green cover.

The parchment cover (top left pic above) depicts a mountainous terrain and a small citadel with a perspective of looking out of a small cave. It’s initialed “RB”, so I’m assuming that is Richard Britton, one of the ICE staff. The back cover is a large size Syrkakar Warrior also initialed “RB”.

The red parchment is a more fascinating scene. A (top right pic above), horned helm warrior twirls a morning star from a cliff edge while looking over a distance city–probably Syclak. Far in the distance a volcano is spewing an ash cloud and high above a red dragon is flying. There is so much dynamism in this art and once again captures the raw, gritty nature of The Iron Wind and early Rolemaster. It’s hard to say who the author is, but in the upper right border is a faint dotted PCF, so it appears that Pete Fenlon drew that cover!! This cover art was re-used in the third edition on page 23. The back cover is a colored Fenlon map of the area–interestingly it’s not an island, but a coastal region. This goes back to the Iron Wind being placed on the northern shores of Middle Earth.

The third edition had a full color picture done by Brian White in 1984. It shows 2 “barbarian” style characters fighting a demon that has seemingly burst from the ice of a frozen lake. A cool citadel is seen in the background. While I don’t like the Demon’s facial appearance, I think this is a great picture and I used it for inspiration in my game hook, Gauntlet on the Ice.

Maps. So let’s talk about maps. There is a definite progression of maps in these 3 products. Of course, Pete Fenlon’s map skills won ICE the Middle Earth license, and ME and Loremaster maps are some of the best ever published. The hand drawn “relief” style maps with key symbols are the GM’s best friend. Unfortunately, the 1st and 2nd  parchment edition of The Iron Wind lacked the more polished Fenlon elevation maps found in the later Loremaster modules. The two color regional map that was included was for a whole different coastal geography! In the first two parchment editions, the Mur Fostisyr wasn’t even an island. Instead, the area is a coastal region. (I believe it was meant to be a northern coastal area of Middle Earth).

Content. Both parchment editions have the same material, which again, is quite sparse compared to the final 3rd version. Basically these two versions detail 6 locations, a section on the Iron Wind and 4 cultures. There are a few maps in the middle of the book and some scattered supplementary info:  a weather chart on page 37, 2 small tables of herbs and poisons on page 43, food and lodging prices on page 47, and a  “master military chart” on page 55 called “Basic Warriors of the Mur Fostisyr”. So right there you can see the primal DNA of future ICE modules, both ME and SW.

Narrative. Almost all of the books narrative is given via a storytelling device by Elor Once Dark. While those parts were included in the 3rd edition, in the 1st & 2nd it’s the entire “voice” of the product. This gives the product a more distinct and raw feeling. It reminds me of the voice over narration found in Conan the Barbarian–but that movie came out in 1982 and this product is dated to 1980.

Languages. One thought on “naming conventions”. The Iron Wind  established a naming convention using word construction and consonant use that  lends itself to setting depth. Check out these place names found in the Iron Wind : A-Arnaar, Uda Tyygk, Aalk Gaath, Taurkytadl.  A mouthful certainly, but conveys a a sense of history and realism. We are used to this type of naming conventions from Terry’s subsequent work in Shadow World, but in 1980 it was unusual to see place names that were different from D&D standards: i.e. Greyhawk, Black Keep, Cross Fell, Hommlet etc.

In the first two parchment editions there is a small section on the Ky’taari. The third edition adds language notes on Syrkakar and expands the Ky’taari dictionary.  Later Loremaster and SW modules continued building upon this foundation with language notes on Iruaraic, Kugor and others.

Citadels and Cities. Let’s get to the “meat” of the module–cool floor plans of amazing citadels. This is an area where Terry really shines and the Iron Wind is no exception.  A couple of thoughts. First, all of the floor plans are “grid-less” (no grid paper background)–a significant different from D&D modules. This might be a subtle change, but lends a certain authenticity to the floor plans. Second, the Iron Wind established a more minimalist approach to room description. There are no “narrative boxes” and many of the room descriptions can be quite terse. For example: 16, 18. Offices. Of the chief librarian. Chairs? Desks? Luxurious? Who is to say! So while you have cool structures and floor plans, they leave a lot of unknowns for the GM to work out. Last thought–each citadel has a exterior drawing which is a great GM tool and helps with understanding the spatial aspects of a building or city.  It’s nice to see a exterior view actually match the floor plan!

The parchment editions had 6 citadels/cities, plus a map of Syclax. The 3rd edition had the 6 citadels, a newly designed Fenlon map of Syclax plus Tharg Jironak (Tower of the Astrologer).

A-Arnaar. The High Temple of the Ky’taari. Parchment editions only had the lower hall layout. 3rd edition added the “upper hall”. There is a short narrative in the parchments that is expanded upon in the 3rd edition. Interestingly, both refer to the “master orb of the seeing stones of the Ryaani). Not sure if I missed who/what the Ryaani are, but this sounds like the basis for the Ilsari Seeing Stones established in later SW canon. Both had an exterior of the building, but I can’t tell who did the drawing.

Kaldaraak-Vaar (Dawnwaters Edge). Interestingly, both parchments and 3rd edition refer to the “master orb of the seeing stones of the Ryaani. Not sure if I missed who/what the Ryaani are, but this sounds like the basis for the Ilsari Seeing Stones established in later SW canon.

Uda Tyygk. One of my favorite RPG fortresses of all time! Not only is it a very “Bond Villian” style mountain lairs, it’s the home of the Udahir who fly giant birds. The floorplans were cleaned up from the parchment versions to the 3rd edition but none of them came with any floor plan key; instead the major areas were labeled on the map. The parchment versions did include one extra drawing of the “water entrance to the Uda Tyygk” that was left out of the final version.

Taurkytaal. This is the fortress of the Demon-Lord Astaur. This is a great stand-alone fortress with clever features: teleport thrones, retractable bridges and a “elven seeing stone” and cool magic items. There was some small changes to the layout from the parchment to the 3rd edition; basically rooms #28 & #28 vaults were relocated. There is mentions of Ryykaar the Mage and Darath but no stats in the parchment editions but they are stat’ed in the 3rd edition NPC section.

One last item of note. At the end of the section there is a small  passage, “The Texts of Arduvaal of Vraniis”. It describes: “…and of four Pales were demons made, the first being the most strong and fierce, and the fourth the least in might”. For those familiar with RM, this was flipped with the 1st Pale being the weakest. This was changed for the 3rd edition.

Aalk Gaath. Home of the “Dragon Lord”. Here, we have a major deviation between the parchments and 3rd edition. In the parchments this citadel is the Fortress of Dread and home to Muul Chort, the White Dragon. Obviously the Dragon Lord was changed to Oran Jatar in the later edition (and Shadow World. Confusingly, room #6 was left as “the forges of Muul Chort” in the 3rd edition. An oversight I presume. This is also the home to the Priest Arnak of Gaath and Athimurl so a pretty dangerous place!!!

Var Ukaak. Let’s see, a Dragon Lords citadel, a Demon-Lords citadel and now a tower of the Susymog an Ordainer!!! This Mur Fostisyr sure is a dangerous place! There was additional rooms added in 3rd ed. and the treasury gold was reduced from 50,000 gp to 5,000!!! Oh, and that skull at the top of the tower?…glows with a red light that can be seen for miles.

Tharg Jironak. This citadel was NOT included in the parchment editions and is the home of a ex-navigator. This is a very interesting place, with many “Lords of Essence” features like laen doors/panels, exotic marbles, mirror mazes, glass tubes that hold people in suspended animation. The tower is “ancient” and made using powdered stone and “huge molds and forms” and glazed giving it a obsidian appearance. The whole thing is odd, whimsical and very cool.

Art Work. The 3rd ed. is a much more complete and polished version of the original parchments and for the most part, contains everything in the earlier editions and expands upon it. There are however, a few pieces of art that never made it to the final version:

 

So there you have it! Certainly the 3rd final version of the Iron Wind is superior in every way. It’s more professional, expanded with full stats, it has Fenlon’s colored elevation maps and a cool section of magic items in the back. However, the parchment editions have their own charm. The fortresses and layouts are among the best of their time, the cultures are unique and interesting and the bones of Shadow World are clear to see.

There is a ton of usable material in any edition. pdf’s are available to purchase at rpgnow.com HERE. A great value for $5.

Next deep dive…the “unusual” World of Vog Mur…

 

 

 

 

A Game to ruin your Valentine’s Day

I do not often review a completely unrelated to RM game but I thought I would break with tradition.

You and your partner have been fighting for hours. You are at the point where the intensity has started to drop and you’re not sure why the fight started in the first place. Most of the fight was just rehashing old arguments that you still can’t resolve. You are exhausted and you are at the point of not remembering why you want to be in a relationship with your partner. Inevitably your argument turns into an “I remember when” conversation.

I Remember When is a two page ‘story teller’ RPG that is as far away from Rolemaster as you could possibly get.

In my opinion this is not a fun game. In fact I think I am a pretty good player and can get into character quickly and I enjoy creating personalities where even I do not know how they are going to develop. Having said that, I would have difficulty playing this game but I am not sure why.

If you have a role playing partner then give this game a go, at your peril. It is just 2 pages and doesn’t require any dice.

I.C.E. and early Dragon Magazine Ads

Like many of you, my first exposure to Iron Crown Enterprises was through advertising in Dragon Magazine. Looking back at the ads, they seem simplistic and perhaps crude in their execution, but then they were strangely compelling. A combination of ad copy and art effectively conveyed the “gritty” and “realistic” feel of Rolemaster.

I thought it would be interesting to go through some of the very first ads in Dragon and explore how they changed and progressed over time. One thing to note–ICE had page #3 for all of their ads so it was one of the first things readers saw. That probably helped alot.

August 1980. #40

Iron Crown Enterprises very first ad was in Dragon Magazine #40 from mid 1980. I don’t recall this one as my very first Dragon was #46. Obviously hand drawn and colored using the runic script that ICE had in their early product versions (arms law, spell law, iron wind). Interestingly,  this ad featured both Arm’s Law and the Iron Wind. Two things of note: this is only 1 of 2 ads that incorporated color and this first ad did not have their Iron Crown graphic.

September 1980. #41

This ad is just awesome! The large warrior, the hawk in the background, a spear and wooden shield. It’s very similar to the Syrkakar warrior in the Iron Wind and I’m guessing it’s the same artist. This ad adopts the bleak black/white aesthetic that ICE maintains for almost all their Dragon advertising. Just cut out the order form, include a check and mail it off! Those were the good old days. Still no Crown Logo though…

October 1980. #42

And there it is…the Iron Crown logo!!! This is mostly the same ad copy as the previous month. I find the ad a bit bland but you start to see the logo and company name style being established. Notice the talons on the hands holding the logo.

November 1980. #43

This is a slight variation on the previous month but it starts to highlight some RM rule differentiation. But first, it’s the first use of the Arms Law tag line (below the crown, may be hard to read):

“Because a mace is not an arrow or a scimitar, there is …”

December 1980. #44

So this is only the second ad that uses color in Dragon Magazine. This is notable because it features Pete Fenlons cartography style and evokes the topographical Tolkien style map. A huge leap from the cartoonish hex maps being used in D&D. Notice that they dropped the Iron Crown graphic.

January 1981. #45

Similar to the previous month, but shows the growing professionalism in ICE’s ad design. The monolith border frames the ad and eliminates the blank margins and the copy is mostly done in typeset fonts rather than script style. This ad does not include the Iron Crown graphic.

March 1981. #47

This feels like a step back. Although the stone borders evoke the early Arms Law cover it’s all copy and no real graphic. It seems like ICE wanted more space dedicated to explaining and describing their rules and setting. A lot to read!  2 Iron Crowns though!

April 1981. #48

Ughh…what happened here? This seems like someone just wrote some stuff with a typewriter and mailed to Dragon. No graphics, art, logos… Terry, if you read this do you remember how ad design decisions were made? Why not just repeat a previous ad?

September 1981. #53

After several months of repeating past ads, ICE used this ad for the introduction of Spell Law.  OVER 2000 spells!!!!!! I know that caught my eye back then. This was the first of a series of ads that used white lettering and dense combat vignettes on a deep black background for contrast. Love this art–anybody know who did them?

December 1981. #56

The next month a similar ad with slightly different art. I like this because it shows the character on the right casting a spell onto the other figures sword! Simple but implies so much about the RM spell system.

March 1982. #59

Updated. 1/12/2020.

Not sure how I missed this, but what a curious, non I.C.E. advertisement. Looking at subsequent Dragon editions, this appears to be a filler ad for space above the 2/3 page for Hobby Game Distributors. My guess is that Claw Law was being introduced but they didn’t have a full page ad ready yet. The staff at Dragon put this together using the line drawing “cartoon aesthetic” common at the time.

May 1982. #61

For me, this was one of I.C.E.’s most iconic ads. Again the sharp white on black background contrast. A single warrior against a pretty formidable looking foe. The large moon in the background. Of note is that like many of ICE’s artwork the warriors presented seem rather under-equipped. No platemail armor, huge swords, glowing magic items. Mostly spears and wooden shields. I thought that also implied a lot about the game mechanics and really intrigued me before I started playing RM.

August 1982. #64

The last piece of the Rolemaster system: Character Law! Plus this ad is the permanent return of the Iron Crown logo. This artwork feels very “D&D”: a more traditional armored warrior with a shield and a funny looking monster. hmm.

So that’s a quick look at some early ICE advertising in Dragon Magazine over a 2 year period. Later ads introduced MERP modules, and the Loremaster series. The Loremaster ads was interesting because it announced Cloudlords of Tanara as the first module in the “new line” with upcoming modules being the Iron Wind, Vog Mur and Shade despite the Iron Wind having been one of ICE’s first products.

What’s your favorite I.C.E. ad?

Tomes of Cthulhu by another route

Egdcltd (Azukail Games) has kindly sent me a copy of Tomes of Cthulhu. This supplement details 40 books, journals or tomes to add colour and detail to a Cthulhu based game.

Like nearly all of Azukail Games supplements this is system neutral so if you were running a Rolemaster based Cthulhu game you could use this just as easily as alongside one of the official Cthulhu games.

Each book is steeped in details about how it was written, the author, where and how it was lost or found and they are all suggestive of adventure hooks. Not all Cthulhu is based in the 1920s so the book descriptions consider the influence of time between writing and the game setting. It looks like a lot of thought and work has gone into this supplement.

This got me thinking about Rolemaster and Cthulhu. My Cthulhu experience was all with the Chaosium game which was very much based on the RuneQuest game mechanics with a bit of insanity thrown in.

So we already have insanity, if sorts, with the Fear rules. Parapsychology was an essential skill in those games and there is no difficulty in adding a skill to rolemaster for that purpose.

Making magic unavailable to the players is not something that requires a rules change, it is simply a GM/world building choice. It was my experience that magic was slowly revealed to the characters as the story developed.

The magic itself as far as I can remember was more of the summoning and control style so putting together customised spell lists would be easy enough. Anyone who was a keeper of the secrets  (GM) would have a better understanding of the spells needed.

There is nothing here that RM cannot cope with except one thing.

The go to weapons of the 1920s and 30s were firearms. I have always felt that guns in RM and Spacemaster for that matter were disappointing. I had always used Spacemaster until I discovered 10 Million Ways to Die. Even with the add on book guns are not really any better, 20 or 30 hits plus a critical just do not make guns scary. Spacemaster 1st edition was by far the worst with a 11mm Automatic doing a maximum damage of about 15 to 20 hits against unarmed targets.

I know this is intothatdarkness’s speciality but it had never occurred to me that this is the only thing stopping people from running a perfectly capable Cthulhu game using Rolemaster rules.

I know this is a little premature but this is something that RMU (for muskets and the like) and SMU (should it ever happen) needs to address.

So I have wandered off topic a little but if you were looking to run something a little different then consider this take a copy of Don’t Let Them Take You Alive (PWYW) for the setting, Tomes of Cthulhu ($2.99) for a bit of flavour and your favourite RM/SM version with guns and have a fun night of horror and insanity.

Tie a yellow ribbon around the Angry Druid!

This post was meant to be published yesterday but I was up before dawn on my way to my first ever elite fencing competition. The difference between sport and combat is that I would have died about 17 seconds in if this was a combat but as it was I vanquished two foes but was defeated five times myself. Not the best hit rate by anyone’s reckoning. If there is every a quest to save the world, I am probably not the hero you are looking for.

The weird title to this post is a bastardisation of the latest two 50 in 50 adventures. I wrote ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon‘ and Brian produced ‘The Angry Druid‘.

I always try and have fun with my adventure titles and in this case Tie A Yellow Ribbon is obviously a reference to a dreadful 1970s song but is a deadly serious adventure which could cost either the players or hundreds of innocents their lives.

On the other hand The Angry Druid sounds like a dangerous foe, which he is, but is actually a bit of a tongue in cheek adventure.

We have passed a bit of a milestone and you can now by a bundle of the first 10 adventures, at a discount if you have bought any of the individual issues. The 1-10 bundle is obviously going to be the first of at least 5 bundles.

Going forward there is going to be a post each Saturday with a round up of what we have published this week. I think I will recap any new uploads in the same post.

I feel that this is going to grow in importance in 2018. Looking at the Directors Briefing for January, if you are not using Shadow World then excepting RMU there are no planned releases for RMC/RMSS or Spacemaster for 2018 at all.

While we await the Singularity we will try and keep RM alive and kicking!

80’s redux. An embarrassment of fantasy riches.

This week I’ll be turning 48! If you are following this POST on the RM forum, my age seems fairly typical of other Rolemaster players. We grew up in the 80’s, played RPG’s, and waited hopelessly for movies (and TV) to embrace our passion for fantasy roleplaying. Yes, there was Excalibur, Ladyhawke, Conan, Willow, and the Beastmaster; but most weren’t great and were considered “B” movies. There was a long gestating D&D movie that never happened (until the Jeremy Irons fiasco in the 2000’s), but otherwise fantasy fans were really left wanting. A lot has changed since then.

Let’s give credit where it’s due. The Lord of the Rings trilogy not only mainstreamed fantasy for the masses, it paved the way for HBO’s Game of Thrones and opened the door for a host of new fantasy and scifi movies and shows. This on top of a dozens of comic book shows and movies and a steady diet of great SciFi movies. We are living in the golden age of fantasy and science fiction!!!

Many writers, actors and directors in tv and movies are or were roleplayers. There childhood and background not only influences their style, but directs the types of projects greenlit for production. Right now, nerds rule the world–and we are better for it!

So not only do I have a birthday, but a few days later, I’m going to see a movie that I’ve waited 35 years for: Bladerunner 2049. This December we have a new Star Wars movies coming out!! On TV we have The Expanse, The Handmaidens Tale, The Man in the High Castle and Game of Thrones. What other shows or movies do we have to look forward to in the near future? Here are just a few:

  1. A new season of Stranger Things in October. I blogged about the first season last year and anticipating this new season of a show that celebrates 80’s pop culture.
  2. The Name of the Wind. Movie, TV show…sign me up!
  3. Ringworld. I never received my high school diploma because of overdue library books (yes, I still graduated, just never got the piece of paper). The two I didn’t return: The Dirty Dozen and Ringworld.
  4. Snowcrash. One of the seminal cyberpunk books
  5. Ready Player One. Much like Stranger Things, the book was an ode to all things 80’s.

It might have taken 35 years, but what a time it is. How about a Shadow World movie! What fantasy or Sci-fi are you looking forward to in the coming years?

Rolemaster Fanzine Issue #3 is here!

I am really pleased to announce that the third edition of the Fanzine is now on sale on RPGnow.

You will notice that I have skipped a month in the dates. We have an April, May and July. It just takes too long to get a print publication approved.

I cannot select the articles to include, write the additional fanzine content, page layout and submit the newsletter fast enough when RPGNow take up to 18 days to approve, print and mail out the first proof.

By jumping a month I have bought myself another 30 days, taken off some of the pressure and everything feels much more relaxed.

I think the highlight is the adventure outline Alchemical Zombies but you will have to get a copy if you want to check it out. 🙂

From Little Acorns

I want to tell you a little story.

Once upon a time Kwickham emailed me and said that he wanted to publish his Aiorskoru game world and that I had blogged about it. He suggested that I could repurpose those blog posts, edit them into standalone documents and put them on RPGnow and maybe make a few Dollars.

So I did.

That got me thinking so I packaged up my professionless and level less RMC rules and put them on RPGNow, there is a link to them on the left here, and I get downloads of those every single week.

In another email exchange Kwickham was telling me about a game he has written and is still developing called ABS12. ABS12 is as simple a system as it is possible to get. There is just a single stat and the entire system runs on 1d12 rolls. This gives 12 possibles all of equal probability, there is no bell curve  created by using added dice rolls. My part in the exchange was to describe a game I had often thought about writing but had never committed to paper. In a single email I laid out al the core rules with examples. That game became 3Deep, again see the links on the left.

I make a few Dollars a month from selling these documents on RPGnow and the other OBS sites.

I recently had an idea. I thought I could repurpose some of the blog posts here and create a Rolemaster Fanzine. It would take almost no time to copy ‘n’ paste a selection of blog posts into a word document and a quick editorial pass to resolve links into the actual addresses for people to use. So I did it. I created a RolemasterBlog Monthly as a PDF on RPGnow.

Then I thought PDFs are all very well but if you are reading it on screen you may as well read the same articles on the blog and that way you get all the comments and links too. The blog is a much richer experience in my opinion. Unless you love physical books that is.

So I make a print on demand version. This was the first document I had ever done the complete layout for print on including the cover design.

I have on my desk right now the first proof copy of the first edition of the RolemasterBlog Monthly, the Rolemaster fanzine. 
This was a mile stone for me. To have a real physical book. I have noticed a couple of layout problems with the proof but I fixed them last night and I have uploaded the corrected print files.

Despite that, it is lovely and glossy and feels nice. At 36 pages (A5) it is no mammoth tome but then it is only intended to be a fanzine. Everything I learn in producing this I will apply to all future issues and so on.

I honestly hope to have the final print copy on sale (you cannot do free books on RPGnow) within 10 days.

With the actual launch I will announce it first here. If you love the touchy, feely experience from dead trees then I hope you like the RMB Monthly!