Topic: Rolemaster Houserule Style Approach?

[terefang]

Hello,

since i have been asked to take over a GM position in a heavy houseruled RM gameing group, i tought to ask the forum if anyone has had similar experiences and what have been the issues that have come up?

PS: what i am currently doing is: collecting all the "house rules" to get a more complete picture, to decide if i am really willing to take the GM seat.

[Hurin]

At the end of Rolemaster Companion IV (just before the index) is a checklist of all the optional rules in Rolemaster up to that point. That's one way of keeping all the official options straight.

[intothatdarkness]

If you're lucky, the old GM was like me. I actually took old copies of RM2 and the companions we used, split them up, and put what I used in a three ring binder. I also typed up all my house rules in a standard rules format and had a binder with those, too. Finally there was the binder of revised Professions (we redid skills and skill costs almost completely and also heavily modified a few professions).

If not, Hurin's checklist is a great starting point IF the official companion rules are being used. If not, you might have to index on your own. A good general start is to group the house rules based on main RM2 book (ChL, AL, and so on) and go from there.

[jdale]

I would advise looking over the list and deciding for yourself what makes sense. If you take over the game, as GM you need some room to adjust the rules for your style just as you need some room to adjust the setting for the kinds of stories you want to tell. The existing precedent tells you a lot about the players' expectations, which is valuable and worth keeping in mind, but don't treat it as a straitjacket.

I might also suggest a "no unwritten rules" rule. If they have neglected to tell you about some house rule, it does not exist for the current session, and you will consider it only between sessions. It's also good to hold yourself to. Having everything laid out clearly for everyone involved removes a lot of potential issues.

[terefang]

yes the option index list is known to me, but read further ....

two styles of houseruling i have encountered so far were:

#1: this started out as MERP and still uses ME as background world but adapted Spell Lists and Critical Tables from RM2 and some of the Static Maneuver Tables of RMCo2.

#2: this started as a RM2 with a "generic fantasy" background world, adapted some Professions and Spell Lists from RMCo1 and RMCo3 and simple Group Weapon Skills from MERP, but replaced the whole Round Initiative System with that of AD&D 2nd Edition.

for those two it was relatively easy to track the changes, but the gaming group thats on the table right now has right another quality to cope with.

the good thing as that half the players are well-known to me even if i havent seen some of them in recent years.

the thing to cope with is that, as far as i have found out yet, the house ruling style is "A LOT" on the experimental side, which means this initial RM2/SW group seams to amalgamated quite some different DNA from external rpg resources -- mostly also well known to me -- right up to the point where you cant call the system RM(-anything) anymore