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There have been four versions of the game produced, which fall into two major groups. First Edition and Second Edition Rolemaster belong to the first group, usually just referred to as RM2. There was then a fairly major revision to the game when the third version, Rolemaster Standard System was released (RMSS). This was then reorganized somewhat, with very few actual rule changes for the fourth version, Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying (RMFRP). Lists with cover images of the all the products for the various Rolemaster versions can be found at:
http://www.icewebring.com/ice-products/
The term Rolemaster First Edition (RM1) is generally used to refer to the products released between 1980 and 1982, the first versions of Arms Law, Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law and Campaign Law. These were available as individual items and in various boxed sets. The original idea of these products was to replace portions of existing Roleplaying games (particularly Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) rather than being a stand-alone game on it’s own. However, once the full set of material was available, it was quite capable of being an independent game.
In 1984 the information in the books was expanded and revised, some of the books were combined and the material in them was rearranged. An initial boxed set was brought out in 1984 which resembled the previous Spell Law and Arms Law/Claw Law boxed set but contained a new Spell Law book and a combined Arms Law/Claw Law book but the older Character Law and the Vog Mur module.
A new boxed set was released shortly after containing three rule books and an Adventure module. The rule books were the combined Arms Law/Claw Law book and the Spell Law book from the previous boxed set and a combined Character Law/Campaign Law book. Several additional books were published from 1985 to 1988, including Rolemaster Companions 1, 2, and 3 and the first Creatures and Treasures book.
Technically, the products released between 1984 and 1988 are also First Edition Rolemaster products. The official start of the Second Edition Rolemaster series came with the Boxed Set containing the Arms Law & Claw Law book, the Spell Law book, and the Character Law and Campaign Law book, all with red-bordered covers.
However, other than a slight modification to the Combat Sequence and some rearranging of material, there are very few differences between the 1984 Rule Books and the 1989 Rule Books. This means that in most cases the term Rolemaster Second Edition (RM2) is used to refer to everything published from 1984 to 1994. In particular, Rolemaster Companion II included the Complete Skill Descriptions section and Master Development Point Cost Tables as well as several Professions that are often considered the distinguishing features of Rolemaster Second Edition.
With all the material that was published for Rolemaster Second Edition, it really became more of a method of developing a Roleplaying Game than an actual game itself. You could play in several different campaigns, all of them using Rolemaster, and they could all be quite different. It’s a matter of quite abit of debate whether that was the strongest point of RM2 or its weakest point. It made for a very flexible system with a lot of options, but could easily suffer from play balance problems if particular sets of rules were used together.
In 1995 the game was revamped and released as Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS). The biggest changes were to Character Generation, particularly in the number of skills available and the way bonuses for the skills were calculated. Skills were now grouped into Categories of similar skills and you could buy ranks (bonuses) separately in the Category and the actual Skill. Also the way combat rounds were laid out changed as well. The way Spell Lists were learned was changed and most of the Spell lists were adjusted and rebalanced. The actual method of doing attacks and figuring out damage did not change much, and there weren’t much more than cosmetic changes to the stats for Creatures and Monsters.
Like most changes, opinions on whether the changes were for the better or not vary widely, some people really like the changes, others are not so exited by the changes. To quote Smug (Adam) from the ICE Forums: 'RM2 was the highpoint of the game of Rolemaster. RMSS and RMFRP are widely considered to be harbingers of the end of the world from a calamitous impact with a huge asteroid from outer space'
For the most part the objections to RMSS from RM2 players was more to do with not feeling that Rolemaster needed an overhaul and sadness that RM2 was no longer going to be supported rather than any major complaints about the system itself.
In 1999 the game underwent a slight restructuring when Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying was released, but this was mostly a rearranging of material with very few changes to the rules themselves. A detailed comparison of the RMSS and RMFRP systems can be found at: http://www.icewebring.com/rmss-vs-rmfrp/
Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying is the version of Rolemaster that is currently being sold and supported and thus is the version that is the easiest to get hold of and the one a new player is most likely to pick up. One of the changes made for this version was to come out with one book, stock number 5800 simply called “Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying” that can be purchased and has all the information needed to play the game.
You can choose from one of six Races and nine Professions. You can also choose one or more of the fifteen Training Packages to flesh out your character. There are equipment lists, a list of creatures, and ninety six spell lists, each containing descriptions of the spells up to tenth level. You get six weapon attack tables, one for each category of weapon. You also get the Tooth & Claw, Bash & Grapple, Bolt Spell Attack and Ball Spell Attack Tables. There are nine critical hit tables to go along with the attack tables and a Weapon Fumble and a Spell Failure Table. And, of course there are all the rules you need to use the tables as well as some sections on the basics of Game mastering and building a setting for your players to adventure in. A full review of the Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying book can be found at: http://www.icewebring.com/Reviews/RMFRPreview.php
There are several other core books that are recommended if you wish to expand upon the information in the main RMFRP book.
Arms Law adds additional Attack and Critical tables, replacing the condensed and generalized tables from the main book with tables that are more detailed and individualized for specific weapons. There are actually two versions of Arms Law that have been put out for Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying. A detailed discussion of the different versions of Arms Law for all the editions of Rolemaster can be found at: http://www.icewebring.com/docs/Arms_Law.pdf
Character Law adds additional races, professions, skills and the full talent and flaw system. A detailed review of Character Law can be found at: http://www.icewebring.com/Reviews/c..._law_review.php
There are three Spell Law books (Of Essence, Of Channelling, Of Mentalism),each of which adds additional professions and spell lists for one area of magic expanding the lists to 50th level spells.
If you are planning on being the GM for a Rolemaster Campaign, then you will want to make sure to get a copy of the Creatures & Monsters book as well.
If you have all the books listed above, then you have all the core material needed to play a full Rolemaster game. There are other excellent supplements as well, but most of them build upon the material presented in the books I’ve listed. All of the RMFRP books mentioned above are also available as PDF files from the ICE Website for about half the cost of the print books.