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Well it came time for us to choose a winner and it was hard. There were simply too many good entries. So we compromised and picked 6 of our favorite:
Fluffy is That You? by Jodie DentonCritical
Moments--by Jonas Karlsbakk: for most deaths by a single character
Gremlins R Us--by
James Walker: for proving that yes, you can cut your own head
in half.
Et tu Brutae--by
Richard Logue: Ok we've all been on one end of this situation
or another.
Lessons Learned--Olav
Riediger: For players who learned from their experiences.
Along for the Ride by Greg
Kerner: I'm still trying to get that knight to sell me that
war horse
A Chemistry Lesson--Clayton
Havens: BOOM!
One Event Can turn a Battle--Tony
Cox: I love that little hobbit thief
Grand Finale--Rueben
Hustler: For setting the record for the lowest open-end roll ever,
and for transformingthe roll into a spectacular campaign ending.
<< RM Moments Homepage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | next >>
Well my favorite Rolemaster gaming experience was the first time I ran a Rolemaster campaign. The setting was Shadow World and I was using the RM game rules. We had a variety of player characters, a Rhiani Cleric of Cay, a Ky'taari Fighter, a Laan Rogue, and a Vorloi Thief. They all meet each other at the Grand Marketplace in the city of Sel-Kai.
The Rogue and Thief characters wanted to explore the city for jewelry shops by day and rob them by night. The found a few shops and decided which one to come back to at night. The two players scaled the wall of the shop to the second story balcony. The thief was able to unlock the door and enter the office of the proprietor. Then they decided to go downstairs to get the jewels.
The thief rolls his stalking skill passes with ease. The rogue rolls his stalking skill and fails by 15. So the proprietor calls out to see if his cat is making the noise.
"Fluffy is that you?" yells the shop owner.
The rogue character tries to mimic the sound of the cat and rolls for mimicry. He rolls a 03, then a 96 and a 85. Giving him a large negative total on mimicry. So the player role played this failure with much finesse.
"Meow?" states the player like he is reading the words from of book. "Meow its me."
All of us roll to the floor laughing. After that day I knew Rolemaster was the system for me.
My very first game of Rolemaster scarred my character for life. Literally.
Our party was adventuring through the countryside and stopped in a very small hamlet. The only business in town was a one-room tavern. As we sat down to enjoy some ale, a local girl of about 12 years came running into the tavern yelling that she found her father lying out in the field badly burned. The tavern owner told us that he needed to go help and he had to close the tavern. We were a curious bunch with nothing else to do, so we decided to tag along. When we arrived at the scene, local folk had gathered around and were bandaging and listening to the barely conscious sheep farmer telling what had happened.
The farmer said he had come out to look for a couple sheep that had gone missing. He found pieces of burned wool and followed a charred path to a small mound just over the hill. As he investigated the mound, he saw what appeared to be an entrance into the mound and went inside. When he was inside he saw flames in a humanoid shape advancing towards him. He tried running but as he turned his knee gave way and he hit the ground. The flames were upon him. He managed to struggle to his feet and made it to this spot where he collapsed.
The local folks all had the look of fear upon their faces. The tavern owner then turned to us and asked if we could help. He said they couldn’t afford to pay us with coin, but that we could have free ale and a warm, clean bed for the night. We told the local folk that we would try our best rid them of this abomination.
We followed the farmer’s directions and found our way to the mound. We looked all around and listened carefully, but couldn’t hear or see any sign of the flaming creature. We found the entrance to the mound and proceeded inside. As we were looking around inside, the creature appeared out of nowhere and placed a flaming hand upon my head. I tried to move away from the creature, but it kept a firm grip upon my now burning head. I lost consciousness. It never occurred to us that it would be a good idea to have some water handy to try and put the creature out. When I awoke, the creature was gone and the other members of the group told me what had happened.
The Great Man in the group had been drinking fairly heavily as usual and so his bladder was a little full. Since there wasn’t any water around, the only thing he could think to do was to relieve himself on the fire creature and perhaps it would release its hold on me. It worked and they were able to kill the creature. Now my character had a handprint scar on his head. What made it even worse, was the fact that he was a from the Bear tribes and had fire-red hair. Needless to say, our tavern stories were always sure to bring laughter when this tale was retold.
It seems like many years ago that I played my first Rolemaster character. I remember it well because I was always having such a tough time with everything. As much as I tried, it seemed as though every roll went bad and my character made a fool of himself. That is, of course, until I'd given up and consigned myself to death. I remember a necromancer who'd managed to raise a host of undead and lay siege to a farmhouse. The rest of the party was inside fighting off the zombies and I decided to try and make a break for the barn where I could find a horse and ride for help. I slipped out the back door and was promptly spotted by a group of rot-faced bad-guys. So I did what any sensible, low-level hero would do. I ran! After a short chase, I found myself dangling from a tree-branch watching a group of zombies try to light a fire. During the chase, I'd seen the necromancer himself following up his minions but I could not see him through the fog.
As positive that I was done-for as I was, I thought it couldn't hurt to make one last bid for life. I grabbed my crossbow and, dangling by one arm, fired in blindly in the direction I'd last seen the necromancer.
A huge open-ended roll later, the necromancer lay dead with a crossbow bolt piercing his eye and imbedded in his brain.
That character went on to achieve level 8 before retiring wealthy and very much alive.
My favorite Rolemaster moment comes from the basics of actually creating a character. Having played several different gaming systems before being introduced to Rolemaster, I had a pretty good concept of roleplaying in general and some ideas to play around with in creating a character. A good friend stated he was going to run a Rolemaster campaign and a group of us gathered and started preparing our characters.
I decided I wanted to model a character based on a class presented in another gaming system. The concept was a martial artist whose skills revolve around the use of a specific weapon, in this case a katana. The game master and I poured through the various skill descriptions and oriental campaign rules, reviewing how the martial arts rules applied to weapon use and the various other complimentary skills that could be used, including the Ki skills. After some time, and a good deal of player-GM haggling, we had the character rounded out. A Dark Man, High Warrior Monk with specialized martial arts strike skills and adrenal defense as well as a host of other skills to build off of. The abilities of the katana were carefully calculated and we had the other rules from the original gaming system modified to fit with the rules of Rolemaster.
After all the hard work that had gone into the character, which including speaking with some Chinese friends of mine for cultural information, I couldn't have been prouder or happier, with the results. I named the character Bo Li Cha. The flexibility of the gaming system had truly allowed me to create the character I desired and I was looking forward to playing the character out and watch it develop in the game. The party was assembled, the characters introduced to each other during a pre-adventure, and we were off and running. The first combat of the game came, and it was time for my martial artist to shine in his realm, the art of war. Lo and behold, I open ended on the die roll and the result was impressive. The critical hit table results were great, and my character proudly stood above the fallen foe. The other fighter in the group clapped my character on the shoulder and said “Nice job Ginsu”.
My head dropped to the table as my hard work was rewarded with that baptismal name.
One of my most memorable campaigns was a RM2 campaign set in the Shadow World. The heroes were a Bard, an Astrologer, a Magician and a Warrior Monk. Amidst the chaos of past visions and the vicious Warrior Monk who slew countless bad guys yet who always lost at least one limb due to my deadly black d10; I remember one scene in particular. The heroes on a storm tossed ship crossing the sea west of Emer found their ship attacked by a Sea Dragon. The crew desperately attacked the beast with arrows and spells without any serious harm befalling it. Then the bard decides to give it a go with his mediocre Short bow OB. One insanely lucky roll later and an even better critical and he impales the dragon’s brain through its eye killing it instantly.
The heroes then proceed to tow the dragon’s corpse back to port and are instant legends...
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