Author Topic: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd  (Read 3753 times)

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Offline gandalf970

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Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« on: March 14, 2014, 10:22:12 PM »
I purchased the Pathfinder campaign Rise of the RuneLords and converted it to Rolemaster.  I must say this has been some of the greatest fun my group has had.  We are an older group that has been together for some 25+ years.  This time we brought in three newbies to Rolemaster, but very experienced in other games. 

We have a group of six people, Greater Orc Barbarian, Wolfen Paladin, Half Elf Warrior Monk, Half Elf Rogue, Gnome Magician and Goblin Nightblade.  Right away the newbies try to bum rush some goblins, thinking "Hey they are goblins".  We warned them over and over to avoid combat and take it slow and easy.

They didn't die, but had broken ribs, torn ligaments and blood, oh the blood.  After the first combat they just looked at the rest of us and "Why the f*** didn't you ever make us play this game before.

We laughed and played into the night.  The first session went from 430 PM until 2 AM..  Now we are some old timers and need our sleep, but we powered through.  The new guys haven't missed a session and religiously have come back for six straight weeks.  We are all having a blast. 

I must say that the one thing that made this possible is Combat minion.  No way would we have been able to get through all that we have without it.  It has made the play seamless and the action intense.  I have time to play out the movement maneuvers and relate stories, tell tales and mess with the group.

No more herding them back to the plot because combat takes so long.  Combat minion and the campaign along with Rolemaster, what a great relief from the winter blues.  Minnesota was cold this winter, but warmed by the Fireballs and Krushing criticals.

Offline RandalThor

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2014, 11:19:46 AM »
Awesome. Sounds like good fun.
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Offline Merkir

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2014, 10:09:51 PM »
I must say that the one thing that made this possible is Combat minion.  No way would we have been able to get through all that we have without it.  It has made the play seamless and the action intense.  I have time to play out the movement maneuvers and relate stories, tell tales and mess with the group.

No more herding them back to the plot because combat takes so long.  Combat minion and the campaign along with Rolemaster, what a great relief from the winter blues.  Minnesota was cold this winter, but warmed by the Fireballs and Krushing criticals.

Thank you for this feedback. You've made my day. Somehow I missed this post first time around. :)

Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2014, 11:57:42 PM »
No more herding them back to the plot because combat takes so long.
With out bloodthirsty group it'll probably just allow us to get in more fights. :)

One of our GM's we, only partially jokingly, refer to his games as a series of combats loosely tied together with a plot.  It's kinda like the porn version of table top war-gaming.  Not complaining mind you, most of us love it.
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Offline Erik Sharma

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2014, 03:29:20 AM »
I did that too as an experiment way back. Unfortunately the campaign came to a sudden halt with a TPK at the end of the first adventure. Now I have learned my lesson and have way more experience converting d20 stuff to Rolemaster and with the availability of the new Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition I plan on giving it another go. Have also invested in the new Combat Minion RMFRP license so I am armed to the teeth as GM.  ;D

Offline gandalf970

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2014, 08:02:59 PM »
This campaign is really easy to convert IMHO.  It readily states what level the party should be at during each Chapter.  This along with bringing the same monsters in at the level they suggest is great.  I added the new update to Minion and they just love it. 

We have even been able to do side adventures and gather in a town.  My group which is very experienced (average 25+ years) have found a new lease on gaming life.  My brother who is always a barbarian and wants to hack n slash is actually expounding on his barbarian skills and gathering a horde.

In the past we were never able to get deep into the adventure as we only play once a week for about 4 hours.  Now more time roleplaying and less time rollplaying.  Rolemaster has always been our game of choice based on the realistic combat and rules.

One other fantastic side effect of Combat Minion has been the NPC's.  I was always hesitant to put them in because they bogged down combat.  I would just say they did this and that as fluff for the campaign.  Now I put them in Minion, have them attack a monster and no slow down.

My players were even concerned about said NPC and her wounds, so much fun.  Thanks for everything and keep the updates coming.  I will buy them all!  Of course all other game company's suffer as in our groups thought's no reason to try a faster system.

(Warning spoiler for Rune Lords).  They are even excited about the murder mystery chapter that is coming up and added skills to investigation!!

LOVE IT!

Offline madmiket

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2014, 10:28:03 AM »
I am looking to start playing rolemaster and have played pathfinder in the past  and I am looking at info about converting pathfinder adventures to rolemaster  if you could help find some I would greatly appreciate  it

Offline markc

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2014, 02:42:35 PM »
madmiket,
 Welcome to the ICE Forums.


 There is not set conversion system because of the differences in the systems but below are some observations that I have seen over time.
1) RM tends to be a to deadlier than D&D, so at times you want to reduce the # of monsters and the abilities of the opponents.
2) In RM you have wound penalties that can rapidly reduce a PC's effectiveness.
3) Healing wounds and wound penalties if huge in RM, even more so than in D&D. So provide the players with good sources of healing, NPC's, herbs (semi magical natural healing, ie think of how magical willow bark tea (aspirin) appeared way back when). So I would increase the potion/herb availability to the players and reduce some of their costs (ie they are so common in the area the are cheep)
4) TPK's can happen a lot quicker and more often in RM than in D&D do to how the systems are designed and RM "instant kill" or die in X rounds crits. A common saying in RM is that it is the crits that kill (Maybe you want to look up the old rock song "The looks that Kill" by Motley Crue.  Almost every time I say that saying the music springs into my head. ;D
[size=78%]5) Do not be afraid as a GM to adjust the encounters as you go downward as again PC's can tend to say beat up and require days to heal an can not be fully healed every day. IE in the last Pathfinder game I played in it was a rare [/size]occurrence[size=78%] in which the players were not fully healed [/size]every[size=78%] night after 8th level ... but at times some conditions stayed longer. [/size]
[size=78%]  In RM it is a very common occurance in which PC's are not at full hits ([/size]bruising[size=78%], tiredness general wear and tear) and crits (muscle damage (pulls, sprains, tear's), nerve damage, organ damage, etc) have long recovery times. [/size]
[size=78%]  In some RM games I have each player make 2 PC's and let them decide on which one to play. The other PC is generally around in the area doing something else or even at the parties main camp/staging area. That way if a PC gets a wound that takes 3 months to heal (after [/size]magic[size=78%] and herbs) the player can still participate. [/size]
[size=78%]6) In RM your PC is often hurt or at wound penalties get your players used to such conditions. Now if you have played Pathfinder and have had some sort of [/size]consistent[size=78%] condition such as [/size]feeble-mind[size=78%], sickened, frightened, etc but lasts for 10 days and not 10 rounds then you get the RM picture.[/size]
[size=78%]7) Run some sample RM combats, one on one, two on one (for and [/size]against[size=78%]), Magic support (healing, elemental attack spells, attack buffs and defense buffs, etc) and many on one. Most players quickly [/size]realize[size=78%] that RM is not like Pathfinder or D&D. [/size]
[size=78%]8) Now Pathfinder and D&D over the years have creep'd more into the RM game area like RM1 and RM2 sprang from D&D and the creators wanted a more rules system. So IMHO it is not as much of a shock as it use to be but still it can very hard on players and PC's to get used to the fact that PC's die, getting hit hurts and crits can kill.[/size]
[size=78%]9) Again I am sorry but I do not know of any hard and fast formulas for conversion or simple rules ... except do not be afraid to tone down encounters (For an RM party most "CR rated" creatures are above there level (especially if there are a group of creatures).[/size]
[size=78%]10) As a GM learn the Moving Maneuver chart and pass one out to every players explaining on how it works. Let the players try the same task but [/size]increase[size=78%] the difficulty of the event they are trying to achieve. You might have the players all try and climb a mountain in which they jump over [/size]ravines[size=78%], have to swim and yes have to actually climb rack faces of different difficulty levels. (You could even make it into a race with shorter paths having higher MM difficulty areas or you could also plan out a number of different paths with various difficulty MM required to over come them.) This idea is the [/size]classic[size=78%] youth race idea in which a [/size]tribes[size=78%] youth have to retrieve an item from a location the [/size]fastest[size=78%] way possible. [/size]

[size=78%]Is that what you were looking for?[/size]
[size=78%]MDC [/size]
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Offline geewaagh

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2014, 09:33:54 AM »
Missed this conversation last month but wanted to comment since I tried this very campaign idea last year.

Encounters for pathfinder will be much different in rolemaster. Throwing five goblins and a shaman at the pcs is pretty scarey in RM but not so much in pathfinder. One the otherside, you build up to these solo boss fights though the campiagn arc which turns out very one sided and anti climatic in RM. Solo boss, regardless of level is going to survive 4 to 5 players.

Number of opponents tilt the scale in RM. HP and AC matter more in pathfinder.  Boss fights was the death blow for the campiagn for me. They just don't work out.

I moved that campaign back to pathfinder rules and the players and I hated it because RM combat is so much more enjoyable.

That the story arc and redesign EVERYTHING else.

Offline RandalThor

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2014, 03:45:55 AM »
Instead of moving back to Pathfinder, you just needed to add a few more opponents in the "boss fight". They did not need to be uber tough additions, just enough to allow you to utilize a couple of the boss-man's (or lady's) primary abilities (you know the ones that make cool/scary) on the PCs.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Scratch that. Power attracts the corruptible.

Rules should not replace the brain and thinking.

Offline Turbs

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #10 on: August 07, 2014, 10:10:43 PM »
the best way (but probably most mathmatically annoying) is to work out some test-pc's in the pathfinder ruleset. complete with attack bonus, AC hits etc.

The next thing you have to do is work out the % probablity the npc baddies have of hitting a PC and bieng hit by a PC.  Depending on the CR of a pathfinder encounter,  for an equal level encounter this value is usually around the 45%-60% mark.  (also dependant on if the challange is a mob of weaker creatures or a tough single larger creature)

For example;
a goblin (+2 to hit and an AC-13) against a lvl 1 human fighter (+3 to hit,  AC-15) needs a 13 out of 20 to hit (45%). The human needs a 10 out of 20 to hit (50%)

now convert this to your rolemaster versions.
If the same level 1 PC has a base DB of 30 and an OB of 50, then the goblin should have roughly a DB of 20ish and an OB of 40ish (this allows for parrying defences)

-- my maths here isnt spot on because im guessing at the attack table that I do not have in front of my at the time of writing but it's close enough--
so say the goblin parries with 10, his attack on the PC is at +30 hes going to need a roll of about 60 / d100 (40%) to start damaging the PC (60+30 - DB 30= 60.. just hit!)
more if the PC actually is sane and parries.

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Offline Warl

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Re: Rise of the Rune Lords Rolemaster'd
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2014, 08:02:11 PM »
Boss Fights really depend on how accessible you make them.

If your not Fully informed (as the GM) about the Bosses abilities, and Let an Intelligence Boss stand and slug it out when he is outnumbered, then you may be doing it wrong.

Note I am not saying your doing it wrong, I am just saying that I encounter a lot of Gms, New and Old, in rolemaster, that don't Fully utilize the abilities of their Npcs, monsters, and Bosses.

For instance, I Always Make sure My Melee Npcs and Bosses have Disarm Foe. And I have them USE it.

If the Boss is going to be outnumbered, I have him Maneuver to a More defensible Position, where The PCs can only get to him 1 or 2 at a time.
( I apply penalties for firing missiles or spells into or through a Melee)

Spells can Be the Biggest Thing overlooked. What Magic does the Boss have access to, did He have time to prepare? Does have have Magic items for defense or offense, Defenses should always get activated first. Does he have the ability to Store spells for instance activation?

This is the biggest a about magic that I see overlooked when converting a Module to another system, especially Rolemaster.

D&D/Pathfinder Spell system is completely different than Rolemaster.
When I convert (I am currently working my group through a Modified Desert of Desolation from OAD&D conversion) I make sure to account for the differences in the system and "Upgrade" My bosses abilities to be Rolemaster appropriate.
I especially Pay attention to defensive abilities, since these are More important in Rolemaster than any other system I have gamed or GM'd in.

I also look at whether or not it makes sense that a Boss would be Fought alone.

This can Make sense in Slug-fest style game systems like D&D, where it is mainly a matter of Depleting Hit points with no other real ability to defeat the foe.

For instance, I have an Illusionist opponent in my current Game. He already has a constant defense in that he has a Visual/feel/Sound Phantasm always up duplicating his own image, with an invisibility spell cast on himself. Anytime he interacts, even with his own henchmen, it is through the Illusion of himself.

If he feels the situation is going bad, he will set the phantasm up t meet and react with the Enemy for a Few rounds while he is invisibly leaving through the escape route.

If it is on the NPCs home ground? and they feel they out numbered? They are not going to just Stand and fight/slug it out with the PCs. They are going to run to other areas to gather forces and/or better terrain to for them to fight in, use choke points to limit Pc access. 

One thing I always Hate/Hated about many Modules, old and new, and the way the GMs ran them, was that they read and are run by many like Video games with Basic Fight to the death AI's

Take your game to the next level and run it Real.  ;)
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