Been pondering some new gaming options around our RPG efforts and considering a switch back from the electronic virtual tabletops and laptops. Foundry VTT is excellent, and has served very well for many years now, and the laptop setup is solid and reliable. Each week, we have several games with Pathfinder and Warhammer FRP that work well and are quick to edit and post (shameless plug here if you have any interest, Halfling13_Roleplay – YouTube).
Foundry’s support is really focused on the bigger games – D&D, Pathfinder, and to a lesser extent Warhammer. It doesn’t do so well naturally for many newer and more niche games. Not that it isn’t usable – we have used it for several other games and home-grown combinations utilizing just the mapping and personal-vision options. In that case, it can work well as a virtual tabletop and has a lot of benefits.
However, we never end up playing remotely, so the need for a virtual table is really a matter of preference. I have noticed however in many ways the game is more focused on the computers and the screens, and less on the players and the storyline. Yes, everyone still plays and interacts, but the eye contact is missing and as a result the engagement is lacking.
In addition, I have had a yearning to go back to the days of Rolemaster gaming, one of my favorite systems. Back in the old days, we would play many adventures and stories in this system, fighting beasts and finishing quests, while of course struggling to survive. These days, Rolemaster is out of fashion – the detail and grittiness has been replaced with simple mechanics and more video-game levels of difficulty. But some of our fondest stories and battles were with Rolemaster with our group, in typically a completely home-grown adventure.
Our personal system is of course with plenty of house rules – we have experimented over the years with multiple changes. Most notably was a second-by-second initiative system, where the speed of your weapon directly affected how quickly you could act or parry (it worked well, until the mathematical flaws and loopholes crept in). We also adjusted the statistic bonus scale to be more linear and extend further (which was a successful adjustment). And I have attempted several modifications to “Pathfinder-ize” it, simplifying the ancestry options, class options, and codifying the various actions within a round to the more common Standard Action + Move Action mechanics. I had also adjusted or corrected many of the Talents and Flaws to adjust for this system.
With all that said, I am envisioning a return to Rolemaster (roughly the RMSS version). This would be a home-grown world, with original adventures and plot lines, and a return to the battle map and miniatures style of gaming. Game mechanics would be core Rolemaster, but the successful house rules would likely remain – Standard + Move, Stat adjustments, etc. It won’t be Pathfinder as such though – that implies a more high-level, nearly superheroic gaming, and it won’t be grim and gritty like Warhammer.
To me, the feel I am going for is even more old school – that of the original Middle Earth Roleplay (MERP). Way back, when I was about 12 years old, my brother introduced me to the game with his friends. And I can still remember the concern, stress, and adventure of my new dwarf attempting to sneak into an old moathouse ruin, occupied by goblins. That style of old-school gaming is what I want to re-capture.
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