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RM Moments Homepage | 1 | 2 | next >>
A few years back, I was trying to introduce a friend of mine to Rolemaster. All he had ever played was D&D, and I was really building up Rolemaster as a superior system with more flexibility, and not as much focus on hack-n-slash grab-the-loot gaming. I asked my gaming group if they would mind joining myself and my newbie friend for a game. I gave them some character construction basics, but nothing too detailed. After all, this would be a throw-away game just to introduce the newbie to the game.
Well, the newbie and I made a standard bard, wrote up a little background, and awaited the arrival of my friends. Unbeknownst to me, they had all gotten together and conspired to make Spacemaster characters instead. Their background was that they were a tourist ship that had crash landed on the fantasy world I had set the game in. When they arrived and told me, there was nothing I could do. We did not have time to remake their characters. So, off we went.
In addition to my nice, normal bard, I had an oriental human tourist, two transhuman big game hunters, their human servant, and a snee tour guide. For those who do not know what a snee is, think of the alien in the Aliens movies. Yep. Tour guide. He wore a purple sequined suit and had a hat that read "Your Tour Guide". The tourist had a camera which did stun criticals to the people in the picture, while the big game hunters decided that halflings (as well as various monsters) would make a nice addition to their collection. Everywhere they found halflings, they would try to capture and pickle them, while the snee kept trying to eat them.
They had a great deal of fun trouncing into my fantasy world and upsetting things, but I refused to be "beaten" by them, so I adapted the plot to fit what was going on, and we ended up showing the newbie just how flexible the Rolemaster system could be. The game ended up being one of the most memorable I have ever been involved in, and loads of fun. The newbie was hooked.
A few years back when all my friends were still living in the same town we got together every weekend and pulled all-night adventures in Rolemaster and Spacemaster.
One adventure stands out in memory, I played the halforc wannabe Chaos Warrior with some rather strange abilities from the Talents and Flaws book, the guy was able to climb walls like a spider and such. Anyhow, in our group we had a crazy little dwarf named Griff, a wannabe anti-paladin with extremely bad luck called Alton , a sinister fighter named Tengil and another fighter named Gruff.
The weekend before had secured our little dwarf with a ring with all the spells in the Wind Law list with 30pps a day. Greedy and power-hungry as we were we had by some research found out that there were other rings out there containing the other elements. One belonged to a dwarf lord, out on our way we set to go and kill this dwarf and claim his ring. By extreme luck meeting the dwarf lord on a steep mountain road our own dwarf, dumb and crazy as he was decided he could not betray his kin and tried to use the ring to fly, by jumping off the 250' drop.
During the confusion Alton started throwing snowballs at the dwarflord and soon a "fierce" snowball fight started, after witch the dwarflord offerd to give us the ring if we agreed to get an item for him. This item was a magic lamp in the possession of 2 cloud giants living in a castle high up in the sky. Tough as we thought we were (lev6) we took the offer.
On our way there Tengil and Alton started to argue about moral behavior, and just as they were about to start fighting I (Thorac) who was 100' ahead of them disappeared under 15' of loose snow. Rushing to my aid Tengil ran over and sank in another hole, seeing the opportunity for closure in the argument Alton sat on his shield and safely slid over to Altons hole and started shoveling snow on the poor fellow down there, after witch he slid down with his shield, landed on poor Altons head and started jumping on top of it.
Now we were all trapped and got picked up by the Cloud Giants to be their lunch, they put us in a cage hanging from the roof of their kitchen. They picked poor Alton out and started to peel off his AT20, as they came for me I decided I was not lunch. I launched myself out of the cage using my clawed bracers and gashed the throat of the male giant and slid down his clothing with the aid of my bracers.
Scatterd up the wall and stuck to the roof (the dice was with me this night), an intense battle followed where Tengil was trapped in a giant bucket, Gruff was moshed by their spice rack, and Alton was thown off the flying castle by the enraged female giant. Looking for me the male giant walked right by me and I jumped him again this time with my sword and tore open his neck artery. Believing I was some kind of crazed demon-like creature the female ran off and I alone stood with the spoils of this adventure, too bad I did not have enough time to loot the place as the castle was held up by the magic cast by the female giant. Poor and 4 allies less I went in search of new adventure.
One character kills another character. How often does that happen? Well, not too often in my group.
You see, we've been the same group of players for 14 years. We know each other for ~20 years. The group, as an adventuring party, is very united, even when it would seem slightly out of character for the situation to be so. But even when a character gets on another character's nerves (which does happen often), it never escalated to death; Fights – many times, but never deaths. Until this one time...
A few years ago, we started a campaign with the characters as ~10 years old children, all growing up in the same small hamlet. This situation actually mimicked life as the characters were as bound to each other as the players were. We were aiming for a long and fulfilling campaign. Long is the key word here.
We played a couple of sessions with the characters as zero-level children and then skipped a few years for them to apprentice. They reunited at their hamlet as fully grown 1st level adventurers and set out to rid the surrounding countryside of a lycanthropy plague. They were very motivated. They were extremely bonded. They were hopeless. On the first day out of their hamlet, one of them was infected with lycanthropy, suffering a bite critical from an infected road robber. On the second day, while looking for the source of the plague, they reached a secluded farm house and split up to search it. While the infected character was in the kitchen, he encountered the house occupant – a scared young girl who turned werewolf on him. After receiving a single blow, the character angered and uncontrollably transformed into a werewolf as well. In the mean while, the Magent (+Assassin TP) character was searching outside, passing by the window of the kitchen. He saw a werewolf. Now, you can blame it on his good roleplaying ability. Or, like me, you can blame it on his total lack of concentration at that moment, but since he was in the room while I presented the lycanthropy stricken player with the situation, the Magent's player should have known that the werewolf in the window was his childhood buddy. That didn't matter though. He took out his crossbow, aimed really really well, applied his ambush skill ranks, and managed to shoot the werewolf through the neck. Death was instantaneous.
Four hours of squabbling later and the campaign was over! We didn't want to play with each other anymore after that incident. Surprisingly, we did start another campaign since then (many more actually). It seemed that when they changed characters, the old grudges disappeared. The only grudge that remains is against me (the GM) for placing them in that situation. They all objected that the glass window should have weakened most of the attack. BUT I DID PENALIZE HIS ROLL. NO! NO! I'm not starting that discussion again. Leave me alone! Go find another GM! YOU'RE ALL DEAD!
GM's occupational hazards?
After the dissolution of our last group of adventurers (See January 2003 moment, "A Hero's Death"), we decided to roll up a new party and explore a slightly less lethal dungeon. Among the party members were a Halfling Rogue named Trell(with 100 quickness!) and a Human Fighter named Bayatuk.
The group had found a secret hallway that ended with a ladder going up in a chimney-like chute. (It was an escape route for the original denizen of the dungeon). The ladder was trapped, so that anyone placing weight on the ladder would unlock the spiked pit 10' down the hall. The party's Healer and Ranger fell into the pit as Trell and Bayatuk started climbing. To make matters worse, a Spiderbat had made it's home in the chimney. Bayatuk and Trell had to fight it alone as the hallway was too narrow for missile support from their friends, and the pit was too wide to jump across. A low damage Shockbolt from the company's Sorcerer was about the only help they received.
At last, the creature was defeated, and the duo managed to continue their climb up the ladder while the remaining party members dealt with the Ranger and Healer in the pit. The chimney chute was quite high and required Climbing checks every 25 feet or so because the rungs were damp and slippery. Once, Trell missed her Climb check, but made the next check to quickly regain her grip. Finally, the Fighter and Rogue made it it the top to the ladder. They had come out amid the ruins of the keep that the dungeon belonged to. After a futile search, they decided to return to their friends. Trell went down first without a hitch, but (you guessed it), Bayatuk missed his Climbing check AND his follow-up re-check. I rolled for his 79 foot plummet down the chimney to the solid rock below, maxing out the table. I informed the players of the result and a hush fell over the table...I didn't read the critical to them though. I was smiling and they worry when I smile.
Frantically, the other party members (including the now rescued Ranger and Healer) tried to find a way across the pit to save their doomed friend. Finally the Rogue figured out how to re-lock the pit and the Healer rushed over, heedless of Trell's success or failure. He quickly examined Bayatuk and performed a minor Healing spell on him. Bayatuk's eyes fluttered open and he simply grunted, "Ow."
Despite the "E" critical he received upon hitting bottom (and bouncing), there was only enough total damage to knock Bayatuk unconscious! No broken bones, no bleeding, NOTHING. He was dealt 56 total points of damage (he had 52 hp) and was stunned & unable to parry next round. Not a problem, since he was KO'd.
Man, I love this game!
After many long travels our stalwart band stumbled into a moderately sized city. We were an odd lot really; a Thief, a Ranger, a Dervish, a Magus, all the way down to the me, the resident Necromancer. I really had more of a fascination with death and undeath than any real evil intent. Being decent chaps the group bought my story and we generally got along in our travels. Ironically I, the Necromancer, invariably ended up doing surgery to patch some ailment or another received whilst defending the honor of some maiden fair. In such circumstances I tried not to take it personally when I received death threats should I "accidentally" fumble my scalpel and acquire another undead minion. Geesh! Tough crowd!
Anyway, as was our normal nature, trouble found us in the town almost instantly. Rumor circulated about curious happenings in a house in the upper middle class portion of the city. Of course we took the bait and immediately launched an investigation into the matter. Seems a lot of odd nightly traffic came and went from the house, and a number of people had mysteriously disappeared recently. The house was a two story stone affair on the outskirts of the city. We spent many a night surveying the place. Sure enough people would come and go quite frequently during the night. Sometimes carrying large bags or wooden crates. All seemed quiet during the day. My mental undead detector is going off loud and clear at this point. Finally! I had obtained a chance to utilize my particular skills in a way such that the party wouldn't mind! Hiking my ego up to epic proportions about how I was the mighty undead master I was chomping at the bit to master some undead freakies.
Over a few rounds of the most wicked ale we had ever sampled, we decided that breaking and entering was the only way we'd be able to solve the problem. Naturally the back door was the only plausible course of action, and it had to be done during the day...just in case. Morning dawns and we put our plan into action. We enter the back door of the house unimpeded. Egads! These are dumb undead! They didn't even lock the door! We scope the first and second floor of the house and find nothing out of the ordinary...except the house is vacant. We of course deduce there has to be a secret door somewhere in this place leading us to the undead's lair.
The talents of our ever nimble fingered thief quickly located the proverbial trap door leading to the cellar. Striking torches, and uncorking enough holy water to form our own sea we carefully clinked our way into the basement. Sure enough it's devoid of all but some wine casks. The thief goes to work and in moments has a secret passage located, traps disarmed, and a welcome mat out cordially inviting us in for tea. We sneak carefully down the passage, ranger up Front, necromancer at the rear, and move carefully so we don't spill our holy water. Suddenly from the back I hear quite the commotion at the front of the line. Something is happening! Luckily, being half-elven, I tower above most of the group and get a good glimpse into a small room ahead. There appears to be a coffin laying in the room...an open coffin...and a very menacing pale woman swinging at our ranger. It doesn't take too many ranks of undead lore to spot a vampire! I, the mighty necromancer, panic and start yelling something about "Vampire! Vampire! Evacuate the premises!!!" From the clatter behind me - I can't see I'm already running the other way!! - I can only guess I'm being followed by the rest of the group as we flee to the safety of daylight above. Bursting from the front door of the house we run for our lives. Stopping several blocks away to catch our breath we do roll call....where's the ranger???
That terrible sinking feeling sets in and we know we have to go back for our lost comrade. This time we try to be smart about it and scope the house at night to see what goes on. We know we don't have much time if we are to save our ranger! After spending some time scoping out the house we determine the vampire uses a bedroom on the second floor during the night hours as a sort of office. Taking up a nice roof watch spot across the alley behind the house we catch sight of our ranger spread out on a bed in the room. His eyes are open and he doesn't appear to be moving much. Not a good sign, but we don't leave our own behind! Having located our comrade we spring our ill devised plan into action. I turn invisible and go to the front door where I cast a longdoor to get into the foyer. From the foyer I sneak upstairs and wait outside the bedroom door. At a prescribed time the group will swing in the window and engage the vampire, while I sneak in behind the ruckus and make off with our ranger. I decide to watch through the keyhole of the door so I can time things perfectly. Moments before the prescribed attack time the ranger suddenly seems to snap out of a trance. The vampiress, looking the other way fails to notice this and the ranger seizes the opportunity to make a dash for the open window where he plans to plummet two stories to the courtyard in the rear of the house and make a break for it...assuming he doesn't break his neck. The ranger springs into action and almost immediately the vampiress turns and casts a spell. As the ranger leaps for the window a set of iron shutters slams over the opening. Unable to stop the ranger smashes into the iron shutter, neatly flattening his nose and stunning him for some time. The vampiress quickly resumes control of the ranger a spell later and proceeds to walk toward the door. As the vampiress approaches the door and I'm backing away I hear heavy foot steps behind me and turn to see what can only be described as Lurch shambling down the hall. Lurch doesn't seem to see me, I'm invisible after all, and I figure the ruckus in the room attracted him. I'm trapped between a Lurch and a vampiress! I press against the wall and pray I've gone unnoticed. Tree falling in the forest...tree falling in the forest....
The door opens and the vampiress says to Lurch, "I have everything under control here. I think it's time you took care of our other problem." Her head turns and she looks directly at me, the necromancer, who is invisible and soiling himself at this point. Lurch makes his move toward me and I unload with the first of many useless master undead spells. Bend to my will...bend to my will...bend to my will...
Lurch locks me in shackles and hangs me on the wall in another secret room in the basement. He then proceeds to work his frustrations out on me with a few choice punches until I go unconscious. Some indeterminate time later I come to. My neck hurts and I spot our ranger hanging unconscious from shackles nearby. My feeble attempts to physically break the shackles don't work as do my attempts to verbally rouse the ranger. In desperation I cast a portal on the wall behind me and fall free from the wall. A second portal frees the ranger. He's alive, but barely! An immediate neck inspection reveals two neat puncture marks, and a quick tactile inspection of my neck reveals the same for me. Oh well, we'll worry about that later! Desperate to get out as quickly as possible I expend the last of my power points, laying two portals at a diagonal, building a tunnel to freedom and daylight outside the house. Hoisting the unconscious ranger before me I struggle free of the tunnel. Unbelievably we hadn't been looted and my herb satchel was still full of healing herbs. I apply some herbs to the ranger and bring him back to consciousness. We stumble to the inn where the group was still staying trying to figure out how to spring us. Geez, daylight had never been so bright and painful on the eyes...
It only took the ranger and I another couple of months to convince the group we weren't vampires...
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