tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post7521020551232570558..comments2023-10-30T07:51:02.838-04:00Comments on Under Siege: Weekend R&R: Middle Earth Role PlayingMoriarty777http://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-28805192368205195892012-04-04T22:52:16.147-04:002012-04-04T22:52:16.147-04:00Thanks for the reply... It's always hard to lo...Thanks for the reply... It's always hard to look back since things never seem to be the way one remembers them. I was fortunate with RMX in that I was able to get it inexpensively when it came out. I was luckier still to track down (once again) a copy of MERP (1st print / 1st edition) about a year or so ago. While I maintain that RMX is the 'closest' to what MERP was, I don't think it could ever match up as far as presentation goes. When I was looking through RMX initially it had already been many years since I last went through MERP. RMX was nifty enough and did remind me enough of it to make it stand out as a possible alternative. I think some of the PDF add-ons (RMX Additions I believe they were called) which were subsequently released helped.<br /><br />Given a choice between Role Master Classic and RMX though, I'd probably still go with RMX as a 'lighter' version. For me, a perfect version would be something in RMX and the system as presented in MERP.<br /><br />That said, why is RMX a mess? Quite simply, RMX looks like someone distilled other versions of Role Master to create it. The person who had the license at the time was solely responsible for it though which is why it is also no longer available.<br /><br />Aside from the RMX PDFs, I only ever got the screen for it. The MERP stuff I scored was part of a lot I was VERY happy to find and have three source books along with the beat-up box set and contents of the 1st ed. game. You can probably find better deals on ebay than what's available at NKG but it could be that full RMC is the best option available aside from used MERP books.Moriarty777https://www.blogger.com/profile/04797377840611728458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5513491029167099688.post-13172976186754781332012-04-03T08:44:42.730-04:002012-04-03T08:44:42.730-04:00Pat,
Great post on MERP. D&D Basic and AD&a...Pat, <br /><br />Great post on MERP. D&D Basic and AD&D were the RPGs of my youth, along with Twilight: 2000. But MERP did make an appearence. I had a friend who owned it and we played it a few times, I eventually bought the game off him (along with the Greyhawk boxed set - both now lost to the sands of time). What really grabbed me about MERP, was of course the setting, as I had read the LOTR series, seen the Rankin-Bass Hobbit cartoon, along their Return of the King TV special and the movie version of the Fellowship (the half animation one). Your comment about the broken arm, was spot on as this is how I felt about the critical hits table. I had never seen anything like that. <br /><br />As far as the mechanics, I don't remember any of the specifics, just looking up the criticals and that you could play an Uruk-hai (which I did). Fast forward a few years, now we have Rolemaster Express (RMX). It was the first Fantasy RPG that my wife and I played together. I picked up several copies of the game, the GM Screen and even got a felt cover hardback that ICE was offering of the game for her as a gift. But dude, the presentation of material in that thing was...well...sub-par. I really, really wanted to like it as I'm all about trying out new systems, etc. And I thought this would bring back those MERP memories. The mechanics were nothing like I remember and the way they wrote RMX made it a chore to understand.<br /><br />As a lark, I started a while back a complete edit of the thing on the Dragons Landing Inn forums. I really think with some updates RMX can be awesome. A lot of it is simply naming conventions, consistancy, and placement. The thing is, if they'd simply used the Rolemaster Classic Template (which IDs each chart/table and paragraph) that would have made a huge difference. It just boggles my mind on how far apart in quality editing that RMX and RMC are. <br /><br />I do hope that Tolkien enterprises will allow at some point MERP To show up as a PDF, as I think there is a market for it. I mean look at Traveller. Far Future Enterprises holds the liscense, reprints a lot of the stuff in softcover, but also sells CD-ROMs of the complete GDW catalog for each game (Twilight:2000, Traveler 2300/2300AD, Dark Conspirarcy). At the same time, FFE is allowing Mongoose to produce their own updated version of Traveller along side the legacy products.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com