I was able to pick up a copy of the Rolemaster 4th edition rules, as well as the Character Law supplement, and would love to take them for a spin if anyone's available to run a game.

Oh, this would be lovely. I've had a copy of these for a long time, but finding someone to run these is usually a challenge.

Consider now two individuals interested in this possibility.

Oh! I know of Rolemaster. I have played an edition of Spacemaster. I'd be a mostly newbie, but willing to add myself to the list and see this happen.

Haha.

If you'd have me. Rolemaster is one of the few fantasy systems i have not played at this point and I think it'd be fun.

Last I remember, Rolemaster is brutal. The crit tables are lethal, and before you know it, combat is over.

Yup, I remember having an archer with a magical bow throwing Type E electrical Crits from it. Never have I seen such carnage in an RPG. That was a long time ago, though, in the 80s. That was Classic Rolemaster back then.

Making an effectivs character in Rolemaster is difficult.  I remember being useless because he didn't specialise eniugh.  I'd also play.  I coulx not run it.

Colour me interested.

Okay, I'm considering taking up the mantle of GM here. But I'd have to set some conditions.

First, I'd be using the Shadow World setting. I have plenty of resources for it, across all four editions. I'd want everyone to adhere to the setting-specific races and languages and such; the specifics would be made available to you. I would probably start in the continent of Emer, because it has the most detail written up.

Second, I'd like to know what you want to do -- if you want to stay in one general area, or world-hop, or something in between. It's a big world, even though you only get one hemisphere. In fact, if you want to go world-hopping you might want to consider a PC spellcaster also being a member of one of the Navigator guilds. They have some unique spell lists involving travel. (The spell lists are from 2E but the nice thing about RM is that 99% of its mechanics migrate just fine.)

So you'd want to figure out what kind of group you want. Ruin explorers? Scoundrels? Horizon seekers? Budding Loremasters?

No matter what, I would need a very proactive group. While I might occasionally come up with plotlines to get you involved in, I would be more comfortable doing this if you are willing to start things on your own and let me be responsive. Pick a point on the map and say "let's go here", ask questions about the local inhabitants and what they're doing, stuff like that.

I will draw heavily on the abundant random tables for events -- encounters and things happening around you. This means you may run into things that are way over your head. I've always felt that RM is designed with this possibility in mind.

Well,

Thank you, Lone Paladin.

I think, at least for me, that you may be overbuilding at the moment. I am slightly familiar with the rules (at best), and so I'd want to start small. Nothing extraordinary or world-shaping. I'd be happy doing simple games (A-B-C, or Fetch quests, kill the goblin in the forest and return the stolen chicken) that would get my feet wet with things. Only after I feel completely comfortable (and high level enough) would I venture very far and deal with lots of large things.

Even though my familiarity with the 'crunch' of Rolemaster is passing at best, I DO remember its lethality, so I'd be especially careful to keep things easy for me.

Then again, are you wanting to run because you see a group who wants to play and you feel you ought to "help" them, or are you wanting to run because 'you want to run a Rolemaster' game?

The latter will give you a more solid motivation and will also be more enjoyable to you.

So, what I am saying is that I don't think we'll need too much proactivity if the initial set of experiences are merely 'learning scenarios'. But that's just me. =)

On that note, I've never played any sort of mage in this game, so I'd be interested in that.

Some kind of mage... *chuckle*

I am not as familiar with Shadow World as I would like to be perhaps if we are all from the same village and scale up the campaign as we go.  I'd like eventual.y explore a dungeon and eventually visit a city.  I'm not savvy enough to look at the atlas and say 'Hey - they have beer there that makes you sweat gold, we have to go there.'

It's a bit of both, to be honest. I haven't run RM in a long time and kinda miss it, and the same goes for the setting. I have a lot of Shadow World books, and haven't put nearly half of them through their paces. It's a very unique setting, with elements that really only work with RM's rules. And seeing a trio of players who want to dig in gives me a reason to brush the dust off.

Starting small and cautious is a very good idea. Adventurous doesn't have to mean foolhardy, and you can start out dealing with troubles local to a small area and gradually range outward. This could still work with the idea I'd brought up, of having a Navigator in the group -- they have another profession, and would have to start small before they're doing anything major like continent-hopping.

But if you do decide to travel, anything long-range would entail having a Navigator along -- there are a lot of hazards to any long-distance travel (especially overseas) and they're essential. You could hire an NPC, if you can afford them.

On a small scale, the setting is fairly standard fantasy, just with an explanation for its magic systems that pairs up with the game mechanics. Lots of races to pick from, different from what's in Character Law. I'll be happy to provide the details.

I'm not familiar with the Shadow World setting apart from knowing it exists, but if that's were you'd like to set the game, I'm happy to adventure there!

I do agree it's probably best to start small & grow from there.

Perhaps we should open a group qhere we can discuss characters and options.

I'm putting that together right now. Copy-pasting world info to try to cover the broad details.

link to another game