Rolemaster (originally Role Master) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 1980. The game system has undergone several revisions and editions since then.
Description
Rolemaster is a fantasy role-playing game system that has been characterized as highly complex, with a large number of charts and tables to be consulted for every action.
Character creation and development Rolemaster characters have ten attributes such as physical strength, memory, self-discipline, and agility with scores between 1 and 100. These scores can be determined either through a point-buy system or randomly. Each attribute is then used to derive relevant skill bonuses.
Skills are purchased in Ranks; the more ranks a character has in a skill, the more able they are at actions covered by that skill.
Task resolution When a player wishes to attempt an action, the player rolls percentile dice, applies relevant modifiers, and looks the result up on the appropriate chart to determine the result.
Combat An attacking combatant rolls percentile dice, adds their Offensive Bonus to the total, adds modifiers, and subtracts the defender's Defensive Bonus. The total is then applied to a table for the attacker's weapon. The attack total is cross-indexed with the type of armor (if any) worn by the defender and the result will be a number of concussion hits dealt, which are then subtracted from the defender's running total. If sufficient hits are dealt, the defender may become unconscious.
In addition to concussion hits, some dice rolls will result in a critical hit, which can vary in type and severity. The system of tables details what part of the body has been damaged, describing, as one reviewer noted, "various horrific wounds in graphic detail."
Publication history Rolemaster has had several editions, with three lines currently maintained in parallel.
First edition (RM1): 1980–1982 The original Rolemaster grew out of house rules developed by Pete Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton, and Kurt Fischer during a Middle-earth-set Dungeons & Dragons campaign at the University of Virginia in the late 1970s. After graduating in 1980, the group founded Iron Crown Enterprises to publish the rules. The first edition consists of five books: Arms Law (1980), Spell Law (1981), Claw Law (1982), Character Law (1982), and Campaign Law (1984), initially marketed as modular add-ons for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons before being bundled as a standalone system.
Second edition (RM2): 1984–1994 In 1984, an initial boxed set was issued containing both expanded and revised rules. The box included Spell Law, a combined Arms Law & Claw Law, a combined Character Law and Campaign Law, and the Vog Mur campaign module for the Loremaster setting.
Shortly after the first box, a new boxed set was released, containing all of the previous contents as well as The Cloudlords of Tanara, a setting and adventure supplement. The supplement introduced ICE's original Loremaster setting, which later developed into Shadow World.
Several additional supplementary books were published individually for the second edition, including three Creatures & Treasures books, and a series of companion books that expanded the core rules.
Rolemaster Standard System: 1995 In 1995 the game was revised and re-released as Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS). The most significant changes were to character generation, particularly the number of skills available and the method for calculating skill bonuses. Many supplementary rulebooks and accessories were subsequently published.
Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing: 1999 In 1999 the game underwent a restructuring when Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing (RMFRP) was released; the revision was largely a rearrangement of material, with few changes to the underlying rules. The previously single-volume Spell Law was divided into three books — Of Essence, Of Channelling, and Of Mentalism — each of which expanded that realm of power with additional professions and spell lists.
Rolemaster Unified: 2022 Rolemaster Unified (RMU) was released in December 2022 following an extended public beta. The edition draws on elements of the previous RMC, RMSS, and RMFRP rulesets and was issued in a multi-volume format consisting of Core Law, Spell Law, Creature Law, and Treasure Law.
Variant systems Iron Crown Enterprises went out of business in 2000, and in 2001 the intellectual rights to Rolemaster were sold to the London-based company Aurigas Aldebaron, while the ICE brand name was licensed to a U.S.-based company named Mjolnir LLC. In 2016, the license was transferred to Guild Companion Publications, with whom Aurigas Aldebaron merged. From 2017, the merged company changed its name to Iron Crown Enterprises, returning to the original publisher name.
After the original books went out of print, the new owners issued several reprints, resulting in three variants of the original Rolemaster game system that remain in distribution.
In 1995, the boxed set Rolemaster: The Basics was issued as a simplified version of the Rolemaster Standard System. The box contains rulebooks with all rules necessary for playing this simplified variant of the game.
In 2007, the second edition (RM2) rules were revitalized and issued as Rolemaster Classic (RMC). The reissue was published by Guild Companion Publications and included new versions of the core rulebooks Arms Law, Spell Law, Character Law, and Creatures and Treasures, along with an updated Rolemaster Companion and a new Combat Companion in 2008.
Also in 2007, Rolemaster Express (RMX) was issued by Guild Companion Publications as a simplified single-volume version of the Rolemaster Classic rules.
Reception Ronald Pehr reviewed Rolemaster for Fantasy Gamer magazine and stated that "As an experienced gamer, I admire Rolemaster, appreciate the work that went into it, and could learn to enjoy playing it more often. If you've got a campaign world and want a fascinating set of rules to bring that world to life, Rolemaster is going to appeal to you. If you're not currently involved in fantasy role-playing — and don't have a lot of money to spend on it — Rolemaster is not for you."
In the August 1984 edition of Dragon (Issue #88), Arlen Walker queried whether the hefty $48 price tag for the second edition boxed set was worth the money, and provided a long and in-depth examination of the box's contents. Walker had quibbles over the combat system, which seemed to generalize rather than individualize weapons; and he felt the book on animal encounters had very little information about the actual animals. Walker concluded, "Is the Rolemaster system worth the $48, then? The answer is a resounding 'maybe.' If you want a freer, more open game than you are currently playing, I'd say it is probably worth it. Even with the inconsistencies noted it still allows more freedom of choice than almost any other game. Although the physical size of the game is rather imposing, the actual mechanics run rather smoothly and simply."
Walker also reviewed the separately published books Character Law, Campaign Law, Spell Law, Claw Law and Arms Law. Character Law Although Walker liked the ability to move randomly generated ability scores around to produce the most beneficial results for the character class sought, he disagreed with the system of rolling dice ten times in order to generate character abilities, and then raising two of those abilities up to 90, if they were not already 90 or better. Walker felt this created a monochrome cast of characters and non-player characters. Walker liked the different ways that characters could gain experience points, such as travel, having religious experiences such as visions, and for coming up with a brilliant idea — although he thought this one would probably lead to arguments over which player had originally voiced the germ of the idea. But he didn't like the idea that characters get experience points for dying. Spell Law Walker was impressed with the variety of spells detailed in Spell Law, numbering over two thousand. He found that the "spell-casting system is somewhat more complicated than in other games, but not unplayably so." Arms Law He had quibbles about Arms Law — combat was very fast and lethal due to the high amount of damage inflicted by a single blow, and he believed that new players used to other role-playing systems should be made aware of this. Walker also questioned why a character could not parry with a two-handed weapon, although he realized it was probably "a concession to speed of play." Claw Law Walker criticized the lack of descriptions of the animals covered in Claw Law, saying, "The animal descriptions have little if anything to do with animals. Calling them descriptions, in fact, is probably overstating the case dramatically... We are told nothing else about the animal, including what it looks like, where it can be found, and how it will behave if found." Walker went on to question why "Historical Weapons" were found in this book, which was supposed to be about damage from animals and monsters, rather than in Arms Law. He also criticized the lack of variety these weapons represented, since to calculate damage and other combat-related numbers for these exotic weapons, referees were simply referred to equivalent weapons in Arms Law. "For example, if you wish to have your character use a Katana, you use the same chart as if he were using a broadsword. The cover blurbs (for Arms Law) say, 'Because a mace is not an arrow or a scimitar...' yet this section says a broadsword is both a long sword and a sabre (as well as a Katana) and a dart is a dagger, because they use the same tables." Campaign Law Unlike the first four books, Walker had high praise for Campaign Law, saying, "Whether you're looking for a new system to run or not, Campaign Law is definitely worth the $10 price of admission. The information and guidelines this book will give you on fleshing out and filling in a consistent campaign world are almost invaluable. All I can say is that if this book had been available when I first began running campaigns, it would have saved me at least a year of development time."
In Issue 29 of Abyss, Eric Olson recommended the Rolemaster line of products, but cautioned that they might be hard to adapt to an existing campaign since their approach was so different to most game systems. Olson concluded, "It might not be the ideal system for you, but it is an interesting change. ICE is on the rise, and has built a solid base, and I am more and more impressed with them with each new product."
Troy Christensen reviewed Rolemaster for Different Worlds magazine and stated that "I found ICE's game lacking the special magic which distinguishes a good game from the bad. I found it just to be another high-priced game with tiring, overused rules. I cannot recommend this game to any serious role-player, I can suggest that it might be worth your while to purchase 'Spell Law' if you are interested in gaining new spells for your present role-playing game."
Rick Swan reviewed various editions of the game system: In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games, Swan thought that the second edition game system "reads more like a collection of supplements than an integrated system ... it's still extraordinarily complicated and by no means for beginners." Swan concluded by giving the game a rating of 2.5 out of 4, saying, "Rolemaster lacks the flavor of classic fantasy RPGs such as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and RuneQuest, coming off as a dull collection of numbers and tables."