Surviving Rolemaster

[Silus]

So my group sort of fractured due to one of the players having to pop off on military work and another just being flaky, so the remaining guys and I have merged into the old group me and another guy used to be in. Reason I'm posting this though is 'cause there's a Rolemaster game in the pipeline and if the last time I played is anything to go by then chances are we're gonna be dying so. Very. Much.

So basically I'm asking what are some good tips to keep in mind when playing Rolemaster to make it out alive and to generally have a good time.

[Democratus]

Play it like you would a game of Traveller or GURPS.

Be sneaky, clever, and paranoid. Combat is a last resort. If you are in a fight then something has gone wickedly wrong.

[veti]

Yep, Rolemaster can be heroic, but it probably shouldn't be combat-heavy.

Enemies are there to be avoided, negotiated with, snuck past, tricked, run away from, or if all else fails, surrendered to. Combat should be something that happens approximately once per adventure, as a climactic showdown, not a constant motif. If you try fighting every random encounter, you will die.

Think 'Lord of the Rings', where the Fellowship spends most of its time running away from impossible odds.

[Silus]

Play it like you would a game of Traveller or GURPS.

Be sneaky, clever, and paranoid. Combat is a last resort. If you are in a fight then something has gone wickedly wrong.

I think the biggest problem with this is the other players if my previous experience is to be trusted.

Mission: Kill ~6 big'ol rats in an abandoned mill. The rats are in the basement which is only reachable by ladder. After some discussion, most of the other players opt to try and fight these ROUS's and with me being the "tank", I get the dubious honor of going down first. I offer a counter argument of "Well if this place is abandoned and clearly in a state of disrepair, why don't we just torch it and save us a fight?", an argument which got shot down almost immediately.

We end up getting our teeth pretty thoroughly kicked in, and then are chided by the GM for not waiting until morning and buying some rat poison.

Doesn't help that a decent number of us come from a 3.5 background.

[Knaight]

The biggest key to Rolemaster is having some source of caffeine on hand, and being either a patient person or good at faking the appearance of patience. Pulling out a phone or book or something is generally considered a breach of etiquette, even if the system does encourage it.

[Silus]

The biggest key to Rolemaster is having some source of caffeine on hand, and being either a patient person or good at faking the appearance of patience. Pulling out a phone or book or something is generally considered a breach of etiquette, even if the system does encourage it.

That's honestly already a problem for me as it is, and as there's probably gonna be ~6-7 players, it's gonna be even worse ;_;

Suppose I can always just bring my sketchbook, figure that's a bit more socially acceptable than whippin' out a novel or putzing around on my phone or laptop.

[hifidelity2]

Remember
- running away is not for sissy's - its a valid tactic
- Missile weapons / spells are vital
- Numbers count: 2:1 against you - even minor monsters will seriously damage you and visa versa

[Florian]

*Laughs*

Surviving Rolemaster is not all too hard. Consider playing like the character is actually you. Do you want to "tank" and have the snot beaten out of you? No? I would´t, either.
This system needs a realistic approach to combat, a bit of group cohesion and sticking to the plan, then it works quite fine.

[Silus]

*Laughs*

Surviving Rolemaster is not all too hard. Consider playing like the character is actually you. Do you want to "tank" and have the snot beaten out of you? No? I would´t, either.
This system needs a realistic approach to combat, a bit of group cohesion and sticking to the plan, then it works quite fine.

See with stupidly realistic systems like RM my first instinct is "Look if combat and adventuring is so dangerous then why not have a profession that isn't dangerous?" but apparently playing traders and merchants and such isn't fun for anyone else.