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Rolemaster Moments for May 2002 - page 2
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We use RMSS when we play in Middle-Earth, just to clear that up.
Once while we were playing in Middle-earth, my players did the boldest thing. And silliest, no arguing that. They were in Laketown, and while there, they heard the rumor of great treasures in a mountain not too far away. This rumor included a dragon, but they had never seen a dragon, and didn't believe in such fairy tale creatures. So of they went to Erebor.
After numerous small adventures they found themselves at the entrance of Smaug's realm. They entered, and in the end found the chambers of his majesty.
When they started this adventure I thought to myself, what a waste. If they make it to the heart of Smaug's domain at all, they will be slaughtered for sure. But I applauded their good roleplaying, setting aside the fact that they, as players, were well aware of the dragon. And as they came closer to their target, I got an idea...
On entering the chambers of Smaug they were all struck by the dragon fear, and none of them even breathed. As players, they knew that this was the certain doom. But to everyone's surprise, Smaug didn't attack. Instead, he spoke to them: "I have seen, in one of my dreams, my future. If you wish to live beyond this day, you will go on a quest for me".
No one spoke. No one moved. It was dead silent in his Lordships realm. "There is a pitiful little creature in Laketown or the vicinity, that I wish dead. He goes by the name Bard. He is to be taken care of. I want his head delivered to me. If this is not done in a month, I will come after you."
No one spoke. No one moved. Cold sweat was running down their faces. "Bard the vermin is a human being, and quite skilled with his bow. One month. Now go." No one moved.
"GO!!!" roared Smaug, shaking the mountain. This was all the encouragement the adventurers needed. Running for their lives, they were out of the mountain faster that any human being have ever been. And they kept running until they fainted.
Returning to a living state at high noon the next day, the adventurers started arguing what to do. But it didn't take many reminders of the dragons words to decide. So off they went to Laketown, to do their dirty work.
Arriving in Laketown, they soon enough found the whereabouts of Bard. He was well known for his exceptional skills in archery. And after arguing even more, the adventurers decided to do his Lordship's bidding. So one day they followed Bard as he went hunting. There was quite a struggle, but in the end, my adventurers proved the stronger. An expert swing from one of the fighters proved fatal to Bard.
Not wanting to waste more time than they had to, the shameful lot started their guilt stricken journey back to Smaug's realm. This time the journey went smoothly, and yet again they entered his lordships realm. It was like setting one foot into the grave.
Yet again they entered Smaug's golden home. Smaug lifted his reptilian head, looking at them intently. "You are late!!!" he roared. Time stood still. Harts stood still. Fear crept into them stronger than ever before. "Open the sack" Smaug commanded. Not acting at once was a bad mistake. Flames exploded from the great dragons jaws. But it didn't target them, it only gave them a slight tan.
Struck with fear worse than ever before, the fighter carrying the sack dropped it to the floor. Bard's head rolled out, smiling from ear to ear...
Something resembling a smile appeared in the reptilian face. "You have done well" Smaug said. "And you are not late". An even broader grin appeared at his face, if it's even possible for a dragon to smile. "I could use servants like you". Uncertain of what to think or do, the adventurers just stood there, dead silent.
The reason that my players decided to do Smaug's dirty work, was the fact that they hoped this would still the dragon's anger. They hoped that this would save Laketown, and the surrounding areas. The sacrifice of one for the good of many. This turned out to be a long campaign.
I've been playing role-playing games for about 12 years, and using Rolemaster for about 10 of those, but the best moments I can remember are from the first game I played in Middle-earth.
We were using the full RM system but playing in Middle-earth, in a campaign set in the beginning of the Fourth Age. The first two characters in the campaign were a Dunadan Ranger and an Orc. Yes, an Orc. I argued with the player but he was adamant about playing an orc, even though I told him the other guy would probably shoot him on sight. Well, in the first session, the orc player played so badly that although the ranger had not yet killed him, he managed to get buried under a pile of rocks. The ranger looked at the poor orc who would die there, and simply turned his back and continued his trip to Minas Tirith. The orc died there and the player created another character.
Back then all characters had either names from LoTR, the Silmarillion, or Sindarin names I would concoct. Well, he chose to use a name which meant in English "South-way". The character was female, and in Sindarin South-way is "Hymen". Yes, she was a Dervish...
A little later in the same campaign the group went on boat on Anduin to Cair Andros for some reason. While on the river, a group of Water Trolls attacked them. One of the group, a Magician, was hit in the first round and was laying half-unconscious at the bottom of the boat. So I call for actions in the second round and this guy says he wants to cast a fireball. I warn him he's at some -100 modification due to his state, but he insists on doing it. You can guess the bad fumble he gets, and he internalizes the spell which makes his brain explode. After the fight his friends had the great prospect of spending a fortune trying to find and pay a Healer with Brain regeneration. It was a good thing they were rich...
While our current group has had more than their share of comedic mishaps and un-heroic situations, this is one that stood out in my mind and I thought I’d try to share it.
Our party had been asked to make an assault on the hideout of a street gang called the Black Dragons. The gang had taken a nobleman’s son hostage and, as we were trying to curry favor with said noble, he asked us to fetch his son before he would help us. So we devised a plan where my character, Celithid the magician, and a few members of a rival gang would cause a distraction outside the hideout while the other members of the party would sneak in around back through an upstairs window.
The plan worked, Celithid’s diversion had managed to suck seven or eight of the Black Dragons out and the party had succeeded in entering the building. Once inside the building they had secured the 2nd floor with a few quick fights and after searching it was obvious that the prisoner was hidden elsewhere…so much for getting lucky.
It slowly dawned on them that the situation was now a little more complicated. Four or five gang members were downstairs hidden behind tables with crossbows at the ready. This effectively trapped them upstairs as our party has learned a healthy respect for missile weapons and no one was overly eager to charge down the stairs.
While they milled about trying to think of a plan they discovered that three of the Black Dragons had climbed up on the roof and were making their way across the steep roof towards a 2nd floor window. Our rune mage, Azamar, attempted a sleep spell and managed to put two of them into a magical slumber. Our bold rouge, Dusk, and our mute thief, Nara, decided to jump out on the roof the dispatch them, thinking that killing two sleeping thugs and one lowly gang member should be easy.
Fate and the dice made sure it wouldn’t be quite so simple. Dusk managed to make his way across the roof and kill the thug, while at the same time Nara made her way to the other defenseless man. Unfortunately, the usually nimble and dexterous Nara badly fumbled the movement maneuver required to keep her balance. Losing her footing she skidded off the roof and, crashing into the ground she received a broken nose (to go along with a loss of hearing she had received in an earlier adventure) and promptly went unconscious.
Dusk, having watched his companion fall off the roof rushed to dispatch the sleeping thug and succeeded. Turning his attention to the last opponent, who had hesitated too long, Dusk surged forward to attack. I don’t recall the details, but after just one futile attack both Dusk and the thug fell from the roof. Nara’s limp body managed to be avoided as the two landed with a thud around her. Dusk was badly bruised, but not too much the worse for wear. The thug fared far worse, his rapid descent and desperate flailing brought him down awkwardly on a rock causing his ribs to break and impale his heart…mercifully he did die almost immediately…the rock got a +20 to its next attack.
The whole scene had lasted only a few seconds of game time and what had begun with a confident flourish had ended up in a heap two stories down. The rest of this adventure was about as haphazard and after a summoned demon, broken weapons and a lot of bleeding the whole lot of them ended up in a wine cellar unconscious (except Azamar who promptly began drinking). They did actually find the nobleman’s son and everyone survived, and all ended as well as could be expected, but the falling off the roof bit had us all laughing for quite a while...
I disctinctly recall the first time I ever played Rolemaster. Up to that point in my gaming career my main RPG had been AD&D, and I'd only been playing RPGs for about a year. One night, we had a guest GM who had brought along his Rolemaster books. We spent a few hours creating characters. I remember pouring through the Character Law book referencing everything, trying to get a feel for the game. For nearly three hours I toiled at making what I thought would be a good magic user.
Finally we were ready to begin, the GM dropped us in In Media Res, with a Griffon descending down upon the party. (Exactly why, I don't recall.) Being a generous guy, the GM randomly determined which of us would be assaulted. The dice chose me and the moment of truth was upon me. Of course, our party had lost initiative, so the griffon took a swipe at me. Several open-ended rolls later, I recall the hit was in the +290 range, a little higher after the attack bonus was included. And a roll on the critical hit table left my three hour creation dead within the first three minutes of the game.
I was hooked. The realism, the intensity, I've been an avid Rolemaster fan ever since. I've even converted the gaming group that was avid D&D fans onto RM, just by telling them this story.
So our party ( with PC's consisting of an elven mage, a halfling magent, a human rogue, a human sorceress, and a human fighter) is acting as caravan guards traveling south to make a delivery and hopefully turn a profit.
As we travel through one of the smaller towns, we find it beset upon by undead minions that keep dragging away the townspeople. Those who are left are fleeing to the south, so we invite them to travel with us. Naturally, once night fell we are attacked by those undead.
We managed to fight them off, but not until one of the children was grabbed. So, we left the NPC party members behind and gave chase. The undead got to a river, and tossed the girl across to another pair who took her about 100 feet away to an altar where the required necromantic sacrifice was being performed.
The rogue and I (the sorceress) closed distance first, as the elf stopped to set a dropped undead on fire. Casting leaping, I cleared the pair of undead on our side of the river and ran towards the altar. The rogue charged forward and as a last minute decision decided to bumrush one of the undead and try to knock it into the water. Since he completely lacked unarmed combat skills, he rolled an untrained brawling manuever. He stands as he prepares his roll and tosses out a 96. Open-ended up. Second roll, 97. Third roll, 98. His forth roll ended up a 68 ending the streak but not after he totaled his unbelievable attack roll. 96 + 97 + 98 + 68 - 30 = 329.
Our GM, once she recovered from her laughing fit, rules that the rogue performs a running knee to the groin, effectively launching the undead into the water. Meanwhile, I run to the maximum distance from the altar and cast leaping again, clearing a line of undead, and landing on top of it, straddling the unconscious girl, and staring down the necromancer.
My plan had been to cast Leaving on her and pop her back across the river, however I discovered upon landing that she was shackled to the altar. So I give my best acting roll and say: Surrender or Die. Didn't do too spectacular on that roll, and so the necromancer decided to come up with some witty remark before making his move. The NPC healer that our GM was running meanwhile has mounted the rogue's horse and caught up with us, jumps the water, and tries to reign in before she hits the undead line.
Our GM always did her NPC rolls out on the table. She rolls her ride skill to stop the horse. 01. Critical failure leads to her losing control of the horse. Horse continues on the path it was on, at full speed. Horse is headed for the altar. I managed to make an alertness roll to see the confidence in the necromancers face turn to surprise and to hear the incoming horse. I drop to cover the girl, horse clears the altar.
Our GM rolls the attack roll for the horse, 100. Roll the crit, 99. Necromancer is knocked back, impaled on a torch, and our healer is taken for a wild ride as the horse continued on its path into the night. We have since learned to never EVER mess with the charging Rogue, or his charging horse.
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