Playing Rolemaster Online: What is it like?
Hi Everyone,
I am hoping that you good folks can tell me what it is like to play Rolemaster online?
I used to play it in the 90s and really enjoyed it. Recently I returned to TTRPG via D&D 5e. I found it too simplistic and didn't enjoy it - especially when we had to move our sessions online in March because of COVID-19 (to roll20.net). I missed skill development for role play. In combat, I missed the idea that a high armour class was about being difficult to damage rather than being difficult to hit. Of course, I also missed being able to get a good crit!!!
I would like to start a Rolemaster game online with a couple of friends but they would be completely new to both Rolemaster and online play. It seems to me that it would be a perfect game for online play with the automation of combat resolution. Unfortunately, I am having problems finding a good solution.
Roll20 has a free Rolemaster character sheet which is OK but, in my mind, it wouldn't really help much with gameplay because it doesn't seem to help much towards combat resolution - especially crit table lookups. For Fantasy Grounds it looks like I would need to spend a minimum of $10 for the game for a month and $20 for the RMC ruleset in order to just try it out. Alternatively, $155 for non-subscription play is a pretty significant investment without knowing if FGU is actually any good... I haven't been able to find any mention of how the old or new rulesets help with combat and if crits are rolled and managed automatically. Watching a youtube video of a live game wasn't very enlightening either. I assume that it was RMC ruleset v1.8 and it sounded like the GM was actually manually looking up the crits and applying them. If so then to me they would be just as well using paper to manage the combat, perhaps even the whole game and just using free Roll20 to display maps and characters. Needless to say, neither option appeals to me.
So, with all that in mind, what is it like to play Rolemaster online? If it is still overly complicated, is there an online version of a game system that would be reasonable for newbies, provide some level of skills for role play, and makes combat interesting? (HARP doesn't seem to be supported online yet)
Thank you very much!
Kell