R OLEMASTER

Issue #7
Q UARTERLY
August 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

Introduction ..................................................... 1
Craft Guilds ..................................................... 2
Weapon Smiths’ Guild ............................... 2
Tanners’ Guild ........................................... 3
Jewelers’ Guild ........................................... 4
Tailors’ Guild .............................................. 5
Masons’ Guild ............................................ 6
Illuminators’ Guild .................................... 7
RM Tips & Tricks: Speeding Up Combat ....... 8
The Planes: The Void .................................... 11
Welcome to the seventh issue of the Rolemaster
Quarterly. The purpose here is to expand and enhance
your Rolemaster game, both by broadening the rules and
by deepening the setting details, giving you a richer and
more fulfilling game and game environment.
In the last Quarterly we spotlighted priests. In this
issue we tackle the crafters of Rolemaster regardless of
their profession. In addition, you’ll see information on
speeding up combat and roleplaying in the Void.
Enjoy.

WARNING! All Items in this PDF should be

considered optional and completely unofficial.

CREDITS
Author: Robert J. Defendi
Editing: Tim Dugger, Heike Kubasch
Pagemaking, & Layout: Tim Dugger
Artwork: Toren “MacBin” Atkinson, Peter Bergting, Joel
Biske, Jeff Laubenstein, Pat Ann Lewis, Colin Throm

ICE STAFF
CEO: Bruce Neidlinger
President: Heike Kubasch
Editor/Jack-of-All-Trades: Tim Dugger
Pagemaking: Sherry Robinson
Web Master: Tim Dugger
Office Cats: Rajah, Pheobe, & Matsi

Rolemaster Quarterly Copyright © 2007 by Aurigas Aldebaran LLC. All rights reserved. No reproductions without
permission. Produced and distributed by Mjolnir LLC, dba Iron Crown Enterprises 112 Goodman Street, Charlottesville,
Virginia 22902. Web: www.harphq.com and www.ironcrown.com.

Rolemaster Quarterly 1 Issue #7

 Craft Guilds
When people think of adventurers, they don’t often
think of craftsmen. Still, there’s a long-standing fantasy
tradition of simple craftsmen turned hero. Think of The
Wheel of Time or The Belgariad or even Dragonlance. Yes,
those are all blacksmiths, but there is plenty of room for
a simple, hardworking man to take up the adventuring
mantle in a game.
There are many groups and jobs in any game world,
and some of them have their own special methods,
represented by skills and talents and flaws. The guilds
below show how different craftsmen characters, can be
individualized in the RM game. Each guild comes with a
background and an outlook. The information in the main
text is presented in a generic fashion, as we mean you to
place these guilds in any game setting you play. At the
end, however, you will find notes on how to place them in
Iron Crown Enterprises’ Cyradon and Shadow World, as
well as Final Redoubt Press’s The Echoes of Heaven.
These notes are typically quite straightforward, as the
guilds in this edition are more general by nature. They
could find a home in almost any city in any game world.
In the last issue, we talked about training schools for
clerics. For the cleric, they were about training and
seminaries and philosophy. For the craftsmen, it’s about
skill and tradition and workmanship.
Rolemaster Quarterly
Note: There are many generalities in the text
below that could be construed as absolutes. No two
Weapon Smiths are the same in the same way no
two countrymen are the same. Matters such as
philosophies of the guild are trends and teachings,
not some ultimate guide to personality. These
students are taught, not programmed.
WEAPON SMITHS’ GUILD
Overview: There are blacksmiths in every city in the
world. Lords hire them out as well. Sometimes, even a small
village will have a real blacksmith. They are large, burley men,
corded in muscle from their work in the forge, sweaty from
the heat. They make their living beating metal into useful
shapes using only the heads, their hammers, and fire.
The Weapon Smith is something more. He doesn’t
concern himself with shoeing horses or making nails. The
Weapon Smith makes the most sophisticated of all tools . . .
the swords, and ax blades, and lance tips that arm the lords
men throughout the land. The Weapon Smith is more than
a simple craftsman, he is an artist in and of himself, walking
the fine line between a blade soft enough to bend and hard
enough to hold an edge. It takes skill, judgment, and a long
ancestry of masters to make a Weapon Smith.
Philosophies: Weapon Smiths create new ways of
killing people every day they walk into the shop. This gives
them a unique outlook on the world. No matter how gentle
or peaceful a Weapon Smith is, in the end, he makes swords
and almost all his swords will take at least one life. This makes
for practical, straight-thinking men. Still, making blades is an
art and no man can become an accomplished Weapon Smith
without an artist lurking somewhere in his soul.
History: The history of the Weapon Smith’s guild is
a history of cities themselves. In some worlds, cities will
earn their charters from the maws of feudal tyrants. In
others they will evolve first, a collection of famers and
herdsmen gathering to trade and exchange ideas.
No matter how the cities developed, once they began
to take a permanent form, craftsmen set up permanent
shop. Before long, they need a way to work together
so that they don’t take their competition to the streets
with knives. Thus the guild is born. The Weapon
Smith’s guild comes along as soon as the city is big
enough to need dedicated Weapon Smiths.
From there it often grows in power. It controls the
ability for the nobles to outfit their troops, and so while
the Armor Smiths and Tailors might have a more direct
relationship with the nobility, the Weapon Smiths hold
power that no one can ever quite take away.
Characters: Weapon Smiths make for fine player
characters because most of them must have at least a
rudimentary understanding of weapon use. One can’t make
a weapon if one doesn’t know something about swing, heft,
and balance. Add to this the practice of farming out
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guildsmen as the city watch which is common in many cities,
and you have characters beginning with skill, weapon
familiarity, and likely practical combat experience.
The main question one must tackle with the Weapon
Smiths is why would one leave? They have a good job in a
prestigious craft. If they make master, they’ll have their own
business and they’ll likely cater to the nobility and the wealthy.
It’s a position most men of common birth would kill for.
So something must happen to shake a Weapon Smith
out of his comfortable little rut. This could be something
earthshaking, like the sacking of his city. It could be
something personal, like the murder of his parents. It
could even be something mundane, like failing to make
master. This last is a real possibility as only a certain
number of masters can practice in a city at a time, and if
the guild board doesn’t like you, and there’s only one slot
to fill, you might get passed over time and again. Life as a
master is appealing. Life as a journeyman . . . not so much.
Training Package: The Weapon Smith uses the
Crafter training package. You’ll find this in Character Law.
Layman Skills: If the character is a Layman, he
receives Metal Crafts, Evaluate Weapon, and Metal Lore
as occupational skills.
Note: This is a new entry with this Quarterly.
Layman skills show what occupational skills the
character of this guild must take if they play the
Layman profession.
Skills: The Weapon Smith receives Trading and
Diplomacy as everyman skills. They must take three
subterfuge skills as restricted. If the character is not of the
Layman profession, a character may exchange one or
both of his everyman skills for one of the skills listed as
Occupational for the Layman profession. These skills are
still only everyman, however.
Talents/Flaws: The Weapon Smith receives the Judge
of Weaponry talent automatically. They must choose one
flaw of a Minor severity or greater, to balance this out.
Cyradon: There are likely only a few Weapon Smiths
among the refugees from Anias, the majority of them being
with the rest of the army. The Mablung Dwarves and the
Desnian Arali are the cultures most likely to support a large
number of Weapon Smiths. All of the other races also likely
have Weapon Smiths, though not in large numbers.
Shadow World: In most of the civilized western lands,
Weapon Smiths are held in special respect among
craftsmen. In more cosmopolitan cities like Sel-kai, the best
Weapon Smiths are Loari Elves or Laan. Namar-Tol, with
its supported upper class has many gifted Weapon Smiths
and artificers. Weapon Smiths are in high demand
throughout Jaiman because of the ongoing conflicts there.
The Echoes of Heaven: Every Human city in The
Echoes of Heaven has some form of Weapon Smiths’ Guild.
Other races will have something equivalent (such as the clan
system for the Dwarves) which serve the same purpose.
Rolemaster Quarterly
TANNERS’ GUILD
Overview: Out of all the guildsmen in a city, the
tanners bear the dubious distinction of smelling the worst.
Pushed out to the periphery of civilization, shoved outside
city limits, or even stuffed into the worst parts of slums,
the tanneries work with the foulest and the more offensive
materials in a city. Ox urine is often only the beginning.
And yet, the tanners fulfill an important role in any
fantasy civilization. They clean, strip, and prepare the
hides, turning dead, potentially rotting flesh into
preserved leather. Tanners like to remind others that if it
wasn’t for them, everyone else would smell as well.
Tanners live almost as outcasts in many civilizations.
People step away from them when speaking. Patrons
sometimes leave enclosed spaces when a tanner enters.
Still, they find friends and companions and confidants.
Not everyone cares, and tanners cherish those who can
get past the unpleasantness of their profession.
Philosophies: Tanners tend to have a gruff and
jaded view of the world. They are used to being
outsiders, despised by those who see them as shallow and
flighty. They believe in things they can touch and shape.
They don’t like abstract comments. They believe in ideals,
but only simple ones such as kindness and hard work.
They are used to dirty, smelly jobs. They tend to
scoff at “higher ideals” such as chivalry. If they don’t see
the point in fighting honorably. They can’t see how
holding to an ideal at the risk of life and limb does
anything but allow evil to flourish.
History: Many would consider tanning one of the
major stepping stones in civilization. The move from
wearing rotting animal skin to tanned hides is certainly a
great step forward in culture. It certainly isn’t the oldest
profession, but it came early and was crucial.
As society became more civilized, they grew to look
down on the tanner, even as he metaphorically lifted
them up. Slowly, the gifts of the tanner were forgotten.
Now, he is all but a second class citizen. Still, no culture
can live without him.
Characters: Tanners make good player characters,
if only because after kneading leather in dog dung for
three hours at a time, and adventurer’s life might seem
pretty appealing. Tanning doesn’t require a broad
spectrum of skills, and so tanner characters don’t need to
focus into the layman profession. They can easily be
fighters or rogues or most any profession.
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 Tanners tend to hard work and a practical outlook.
They aren’t above doing what needs to be done, no
matter how unpleasant of difficult the job. Most
everything is downhill after tanning.
Training Package: The Tanner uses the Crafter
training package. You’ll find this in Character Law. Take
care on the finished goods, however. Valuable supplies
of finished leathers can take up a lot of space. Characters
can’t likely cart them around.
Layman Skills: If the Tanner is a Layman, he receives
Leather Crafts and Skinning as occupational skills.
Skills: The Tanner gains Trading as an Everyman
skill. He gains Diplomacy as a restricted skill.
Talents/Flaws: Due to their constant immersion in
mild acids, Tanners have the minor version of the Pain
Resistance talent. They also have the minor version of
the Repulsive Habit flaw, either to represent the smell of
their tanning supplies or habits they picked up because
people shunned them.
Cyradon: The refugees from Anias are learning new
methods of tanning leather because of the many new and
unusual creatures found within the Devastation.
Creatures whose hides will command high prices from
the Janieal and Desnian Arali. While the other cultures
also likely contain Tanners, it is not a popular profession.
Shadow World: Tanners are more often found in the
northern and far southern climes; in Jaiman they are
common in northern Saralis, Wuliris, and the Mur
Fostisyr. Some cultures have developed techniques of
tanning that require somewhat less noxious than methods
mentioned above but it remains a messy business.
The Echoes of Heaven: Every Human city in The
Echoes of Heaven needs tanner leathers. The lack of any
type of magic in crafting means that they are the worst-
case scenario for the odiousness of the craft.
JEWELERS’ GUILD
Overview: Jewelers are one of the highest levels of
the middle class, many of them crossing over into
nobility through contacts and shear wealth. It isn’t
surprising. The highest levels of the jeweler craft are fine
artisans. They deal with the most expensive materials
and they have the wealthiest customers. This means that
they regularly rub shoulders with lords and even kings.
Rolemaster Quarterly
The only thing that stops them from being the most
powerful guild, politically, is that they don’t spend a
tremendous amount of time with their clients. Instead,
they have brief meetings, browsing, and maybe some
time to show designs for commissions. Other than this,
they are in their shops and at their work benches.
Still, the profit margin on the most talented jewelers
in huge. They’re materials are expensive, but the final
result can be literally priceless (though they always do find
a price). When a single man makes that much money per
commission, there is little that he can’t buy, including a
place at the best feasts and in the highest councils.
Philosophies: Jewelers tend to feel they are above
the common concerns of the world. They are used to
brushing elbows with the richest people of their class.
Even the jewelers that build for the lower classes rise to
the top of their peers. This gives them a sense of
entitlement and privilege.
However, this is rarely the God-given sense that nobles
possess. Instead, the Jewelers have earned their position.
Certainly, their fathers had to buy them their apprenticeship.
However, once there, they had to learn and refine their skills
to become what they are today. They are artists, creating
beauty from raw and often ugly raw materials. They might
be entitled, but they earned that entitlement by working
sunrise to sunset for years perfecting their craft.
This gives them an interesting blend between elitism
and work ethic. They might believe they are better than
other people, but they believe that this is something that
needs to be earned through constant, detailed work.
They look down on the lazy, but they can see the point of
the idle rich. Still, they are self-made men and this carries
with them into their lives.
History: Jewelry is an ancient art, but its current
state requires a high-level of art and sophistication. They
need nobility and wealth to make truly fine crafts.
Without, they must hold themselves to the tin and copper
adornments of the lowest classes.
Characters: A Jeweler needs a good background
story to explain their adventuring. A truly skilled Jeweler
can find work anywhere, and a moderately skilled Jeweler
should be able to get by. Therefore the character needs a
reason to have given up the craft. An infirmity would
work, although this would waste the skill points the
character devoted to jewelling. A status change, such
becoming a wanted fugitive, will do nicely. Of course you
can always fall back on the old standby of leveling his
home town and setting him on the path of revenge.
Training Package: The Jeweler uses the Crafter
training package. You’ll find this in Character Law.
Layman Skills: Gem Cutting, Metal Crafts, Appraisal.
Skills: The Jeweler receives Trading and Diplomacy as
everyman skills. They must take three subterfuge skills as
restricted. If the character is not of the Layman profession, a
character may exchange one or both of his everyman skills
for one of the skills listed as Occupational for the Layman
profession. These skills are still only everyman, however.
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 Talents/Flaws: The Jeweler’s wealth level (Character
Law, page 80), increases by one level for free. In other
words, a character begins by default as poor instead of
very poor. If the character would have begun at normal
wealth, he actually begins as rich, etc. The player must
take one flaw of his choosing to balance this ability. The
flaw must be at least of minor severity.
Cyradon: The Janieal Arali and the Nagazi are the
races/cultures most likely to have highly skilled Jewelers,
even more so than any of the other races on Cyradon or
among the refugees with the possible exception of the
Mablung Dwarves. Jewelers among the other races may
be very skilled, but not to the same levels of artisanship
found among the three races already mentioned.
Shadow World: Loar and Linær Elves are the
supreme artists in this field; they will rarely take apprentices
of any other race. All other peoples have Jewelers of course,
but Elven craftsmanship is impossible to match.
The Echoes of Heaven: Jewelers are numerous in
every city in the Mortal Realm. Even the worst slums
have Jewelers even if the quality of the goods is
correspondingly poor.
This leads to an interesting outlook for the tailor.
The tailor’s job, in his own mind, is not to provide the
client with what the client says he wants. The tailor’s just
is to provide the client with what they actually want.
What they actually want are the finest clothes they can
afford, in the most stylish fashions possible. It’s up to the
tailor to correct any discrepancies between what is the
finest and most stylish and what the client believes if the
finest and most stylish.
The tailor becomes an artist at guiding a client’s
choices while making it look like the client’s idea, “Yes,
ma’am, this is the finest cloth in this selection, I almost
missed it myself, and at this price . . . a steal!” As the tailor
hones these skills over time, he finds them useful for all
sorts of manipulations. This means a tailor can secretly
advise heads of state, without ever letting them know that
their policies aren’t their own ideas. The tailor has to
compete with everyone else’s advice as well, but often they
are every bit as skilled as a country’s finest wranglers.
History: Like most of the crafts here, clothes-
making is an ancient art. The Tailor was there to step in
when the first guilds formed in the first cities.

TAILORS’ GUILD
Overview: Everybody needs clothes; however making
clothes is not as skilled a job as some. Because of this, the tailors
don’t permeate every level of society the way that more skilled
craftsmen, such as cobblers, do. A person can make their own
clothes. If they have absolutely no skill in sewing, they can find a
widow who’s willing to do the work for far less than a
guildsman (though this might be illegal as it violates the
guild system). If all else fails, there are always old clothes
shops, and these are everywhere in the lower parts of a city.
Tailors serve all walks of life from the middle
class up. They tend to handle a sophisticated (or at
least wealthy) clientele, but they have an advantage
that most craftsmen don’t have. They spend hours
at a time with their clients, performing fittings, taking
measurements, trying on samples, picking swatches.
The Jewelers may have access to the pocket books of the
most influential people in society, but the tailors have their
ear for hours at a time. The tailor to a king might well
spend more time with him than his own wife. Add to this
the intimate relationship that can build between client and
tailor and you have a powerful recipe for influence.
Philosophies: Tailors are a customer-centered
business. This might seem redundant, but other craftsmen
can create what they like and allow the customers to come to
them. If a sword maker likes etching rose patterns into his
swords, he can make as many of those as he wants and see if
they sell. A tailor doesn’t have this luxury. They may make
samples and rack items, but for the most part, they are at
the whim of their client. The client tells them exactly what
they want and the tailor has to make it. That’s their job.
But tailors are just as artistically driven as the
next craftsman.

Rolemaster Quarterly 5 Issue #7

 Characters: Tailor characters have many of the
same problems as Jeweler characters. The main
difference is it’s easier to become disillusioned with being
a tailor. There are far more failing tailors in the world
than failing Jewelers, if only because the materials of the
trade alone don’t have as much intrinsic value. A bad
tailor can destroy entire bolts of cloth. The craft doesn’t
have as much natural beauty either, and the tailor’s own
artistic bent and designs have a lot to do with the finished
product. Also, a tailor has to spend a lot more time with
his customers. This can dishearten the most stoic man.
So while a Jeweler typically needs a good reason to
leave his craft, a Tailor is more likely to simply hate his
own. A Tailor turned adventurer is not hard to imagine,
though he might be hurting for a useful skill set.
Training Package: The Tailor uses the Crafter
training package. You’ll find this in Character Law.
Layman Skills: Sewing/Weaving, Appraisal, Duping.
Skills: The Tailor receives Trading and Diplomacy as
everyman skills. They must take three outdoor skills as
restricted. If the character is not of the Layman profession, a
character may exchange one or both of his everyman skills
for one of the skills listed as Occupational for the Layman
profession. These skills are still only everyman, however.
Talents/Flaws: A Tailor who takes one of the Patron
talents (including Important and Significant Patrons) gets
a free increase of one level to the patron’s power (minor
to major, etc). If the character takes advantage of this free
increase, he must take a corresponding duty to the
patron. The GM has final say on the severity of the duty.
Cyradon: Every race on Cyradon has tailors, with
exceptional craftsmen being more in demand among the
Nagazi and the Janieal Arali than most of the other races.
Rolemaster Quarterly
Shadow World: Larger cities find talented tailors in
high demand. Cities like Sel-kai and Haalkitaine have
courts and social circles with changing fashion that
require wealthy residents to maintain their wardrobes.
The Echoes of Heaven: Every Human city in The
Echoes of Heaven has some form of Tailors’ Guild. Other
races will have something equivalent (such as the clan
system for the Dwarves) which serve the same purpose.
MASONS’ GUILD
Overview: Masons have existed for as long as man has
worked with stone. These men require the unique
combination of a strong mind and a strong body. The body
is necessary to perform the basic, early duties of the craft. The
Mind is necessary to progress beyond those duties and excel in
the profession. Accomplished Masons are more than skilled
carver’s of stone, they are also brilliant architects, sculptors,
and mathematicians in their own right, not to mention
inventors and problem solvers and troubleshooters. There
are few things in the world that creating something as grand
as a cathedral or a grand temple. A Mason must be perfectly
rounded in almost every area of life.
The profession has drawbacks as well as tough
qualifications. It’s one of the most dangerous crafts in
the world and masons die or lose limbs on almost every
major project. Those that don’t spend their lives inhaling
powdered stone, grains that lodge in the lung and collect
over the years, slowly tearing the delicate tissues to shreds
as they accumulate. One rarely sees an old mason.
Philosophies: Masons tend to be a blend of physical
and intellectual personalities. Successful Masons (at least) are
equally comfortable with thinking through problems as they
are bashing through them. This means they tend to balanced,
capable personalities and can make for deadly foes.
Add to this a sense of ego. Every craftsman feels that
his trade is the greatest, but it’s hard to argue with a Mason.
They build fantastic cathedrals, deadly castles, and
magnificent palaces. They chip stone into useful shapes.
When they are at the top of their game, they do it all without
mortar, allowing physics, geometry, and gravity to hold their
creations together. It’s no wonder they feel a certain pride in
their work. It’s well-deserved.
History: Men have been working with stone, in one
form or another, since the stone age. As tools and
mathematics improved, the stonemason evolved with
them. As stone fortresses replaced wooden forts, the
Mason rose to power among craftsmen with the weapon
smith and the armor smith. Now, they build townhouses
and city walls and fountains and sometimes cellars. All the
while they look for the project that will make their career.
Characters: Stonemasonry is a difficult job and
many Masons find themselves unable to rise. There’s
usually good work for a Mason that’s talented with a
hammer and chisel, but it’s a leap from there to architect.
Characters that fail to make this leap are ripe for
recruitment into the adventuring life.
6 Issue #7
 Masons could also take up the life of adventure for
revenge as well. A mason who watched one of his buildings
or his fortifications fall might feel the need to seek out the
perpetrators. It’s likely his enemies will discover that there
can be more than one purpose for swinging a hammer.
Training Package: The Mason uses the Crafter
training package. You’ll find this in Character Law. Many of
them also take the Architect package from Castles and Ruins.
Layman Skills: Stone Crafts, Stone Lore, Architecture.
Skills: The Mason receives Engineering and Metal Lore
as everyman skills. They must take three influence skills as
restricted. If the character is not of the Layman profession, a
character may exchange one or both of his everyman skills for
one of the skills listed as Occupational for the Layman
profession. These skills are still only everyman, however.
Talents/Flaws: The Mason receives the Judge of
Angles Talent for free. They must take one lesser flaw to
balance it out.
Cyradon: The Mablung Dwarves have a number of
excellent masons among them, and masons are a respected
profession in all of the civilized cultures on Cyradon.
Shadow World: The role of the Mason varies depending
on the location in Shadow World. In larger cities they are
employed by professional architects, while in smaller towns
they can take on more of a design role themselves.
The Echoes of Heaven: Every Human city in The
Echoes of Heaven has some form of Mason’s Guild. Other
races will have something equivalent (such as the clan
system for the Dwarves) which serve the same purpose.
ILLUMINATORS’ GUILD
Overview: There are many scribes in the world.
Men work for lords, keeping their books. Monks
transcribe manuscripts. Even students find it cheaper to
copy their school books by hand rather than buy a
finished book from someone else. None of these people
hold a candle to a master Illuminator.
The Illuminator is more than a scribe. He is a talented
artist who works in multicolored inks. He not only copies
the book, he also creates masterful illustrations,
calligraphy, and drop characters. A scribe’s copy of a book
is just a book. An Illuminator’s is a work of art.
Philosophies: The Illuminator is a man of patience
and careful, exacting detail. He’s used to taking his time,
to examining a problem carefully before crafting a
solution. He works in a medium unforgiving of errors
and so he prefers not to start a task until he’s visualized
the entire process many times in his mind. He believes
that errors come from hasty action.
History: For years books have taken time and
patience to create, and for almost as long certain
craftsmen have turned them into works of art. This
practice continues in most game worlds until the
invention of the printing press.
Rolemaster Quarterly
Characters: Illuminators rarely leave their writing
desks long enough to adventure. When they do, it’s
almost always to right some personal wrong. Sometimes,
however, an Illuminator wishes to seek out adventures
and experiences of his own, or simply to witness great
events that he can chronicle for his own books.
Training Package: The Illuminator should take the
Scribe training package. You can find this in School of
Hard Knocks.
Layman Skills: Scribing, Calligraphy, Painting.
Skills: The Mason receives Language skills as
everyman skills. They must take two influence skills as
restricted. If the character is not of the Layman
profession, a character may exchange his everyman skills
for one of the skills listed as Occupational for the Layman
profession. These skills are still only everyman, however.
Talents/Flaws: The Illuminator gets the Skilled (Minor)
talent, applied to one of his Layman Skills. He may select any
one flaw to balance this, of Minor severity or higher.
Cyradon: Of all the peoples on Cyradon,
Illuminators are in demand mostly in Janieal and Nagazi
lands. There aren’t likely to be many among the refugees,
most having fled the war long before it reached Tarahir.
Shadow World: Illumination is an art in limited
demand in the Shadow World, where books are for the
most part considered for their utilitarian value. Some
special tomes are illuminated, and often magical texts are
quite beautiful, but these are created by Mages. Text
copying is most often done in larger libraries, a few
professional bookbinders, and in a few highly advanced
locations, by printers.
The Echoes of Heaven: Illumination is a long and
honored profession in The Echoes of Heaven. There is
some form of this guild in most major cities.
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 ROLEMASTER TIPS & TRICKS: SPEEDING UP COMBAT
One of the first stumbling blocks for new Rolemaster
players is the time it takes to run a combat. At first,
combat in Rolemaster may seem daunting, overly
complex. A new GM might spend endless time looking
up rules and adding up modifiers. Many times a simple
combat can take up a whole night. This article is meant
to help a new GM (or even an experienced one looking
for new tricks) to streamline Rolemaster combat.
SIMPLIFY
Often the biggest problem GMs have is that they try to
follow the rules too closely. In this, we’re lucky that Rolemaster
is deceptively rules-light, but there are still plenty of modifiers
and these can foul combat up. First thing you can do to
simplify is look up some likely modifiers in advance. Do you
have an archer? Well, there’s a decent chance they will want to
fire the bow every round. Are people likely to attack from
behind or the flanks? (The answer is yes.) Maybe crib down
the facing modifiers. If possible, memorize these in advance.
If not, make some notes.
Then, cut the options. If you have all new players or
even several, maybe special attack options are
unnecessary. Do you really need the difference between
Press and Attack and Full Attack? These are fun when
everyone at the table is comfortable with combat, but
otherwise they just slow stuff down. Let their attack/
parry split carry the combat decisions.
Rolemaster combat is vivid and exciting to a new
player. The criticals have spectacular effects and they
often win people over. Your goal, in the early days, is to
go through as many criticals as possible. Don’t fudge the
dice rolls for this, but don’t slow things down
unnecessarily. If you have to stop the game every round
to do a two minute reminder on the difference between a
snap, a normal, and a deliberate action, they aren’t
adding to the fun of the game.
Rolemaster Quarterly
After things are moving and your game is up to a
good speed, start adding stuff in. Maybe explain how
snap actions can allow slow fighters to sacrifice OB for
speed. Maybe let people know that if they attack with
absolutely everything, there’s a special maneuver for that
and it has its own rules.
Try to add one option in at a time. Concentrate on
just that option until everyone at the table is comfortable.
It will probably slow the game down a little . . . and that’s
fine. Soon everyone will be running smoothly again.
Then it’s time to look for another option and another.
Each time, give the players time to acclimate. Once
everyone’s happy with the way the fights are going, you
can add on another. If you add them in slowly, the game
won’t seem too imposing.
PRE-ROLLING
Your only real bottleneck in RM is having the GM look
up stuff on the charts. The goal here is to keep that the only
bottleneck. One of the easiest ways to do that is by pre-
rolling. This rule is simple. Each player is responsible for
having his attack calculated before his turn. This might be
hard during the first few games, when people don’t know
how to attack. After that, have them add their relevant
OBs to their rolls and any modifiers and have the number
ready on their turn. If they shout out “124!” as soon as
you call their name, things should move quickly. Don’t try
to have them prepare the critical in advance. Everyone
loves watching the critical roll and it can be a dramatic
moment at the table. Since there is no math involved, it
doesn’t slow down play.
When it’s the GMs turn, the players need to have
their current DB ready, including parry. Maybe a bit of
scratch paper can give them a place to jot down the
effects of their split.
A final note. It’s likely (from my experience at least) that
you’ll have at least one player in your career that will just never
get it. That’s okay. Some people just don’t remember
game mechanics well. They aren’t at your table for that
anyway, so don’t let them feel bad. Try to get a helpful
player who understands the rules to sit next to them. If
they have someone to ask “How do I parry again?” when
they forget, then you can still have things move along.
EVERYONE GET CALCULATORS
This one really is a sticking point for some people
but you should consider it. Get calculators. Even if a
player is good at math, a calculator with big friendly
buttons can move their minds to other things, like
enjoying combat. People will be embarrassed. If they
are, tell them that some of the best math whizzes that
play the game like to have a calculator handy. It’s
true. I’ve watched them play.
8 Issue #7
 DISTRIBUTING COMBAT EASY VS. DRAMATIC CONFLICTS
This one isn’t for some groups. If it won’t hurt your This one is easy for even veteran GMs to mess up.
game, though, get people their own Arms Laws and allow Roleplaying is about storytelling and storytelling is about
them to look up their own attacks. To do this, you need pacing. You likely have two general types of fights: the
to tell them the DBs of the bad guys, and they probably easy and the dramatic. They both serve their purposes,
need to know the bonus to hit a stunned monster and the so don’t shirk one or the other, but know the difference.
like. But if you’re players will enjoy that, it’s even funner You deal with an easy fight differently than a dramatic
for them to should out “23 and an E!” than “150!” one.
Many people find that having the players look up attacks In both fights speed is key (it’s always key), but
but not criticals is the most fun. It gives that moment of dramatic fights can build tension from a slightly slower
tension while the whole group leans forward to hear the GM pace, that’s not true for an easy fight (or at least it isn’t
read the result. This is what I recommend personally, but try the right kind of tension). In an easy fight characters kick
it however you think your group will respond best. butt and players feel mighty. Stopping the game because
Another distributing trick is to have other players you can’t remember who’s stunned is showstopper.
play monsters or help with combat. The first can be Instead, you want to barrel through the easy fights,
problematic, but it can be really fun if a character is out especially if there are a lot of bad guys. Allow stuns and
of combat. The second can be quite useful, but pick your high maneuver penalties to put the foes down (let’s face it,
battles. There’s one player in my HARP game who I often they likely want to take a dive and hope for mercy). Don’t
have track kills or numbers or rolls or running totals. worry about exact numbers. Embellish on critical results
He’s good at it and it keeps my mind free for questions and make the combat feel cool. Keep things moving!
like whether or not characters are about to start dying. In dramatic fights every penalty and hit probably
I could have tacked this one on to the last, but it counts. Pay attention. Relish the critical results. Build
deserves its own paragraph. Initiative can really slow tension. Remember that pauses and delays that build
down a game. If one player writes down everyone’s tension instead of boredom make games more enjoyable.
initiative rolls and they run the order of combat for you, As long as we’re not waiting half the time for Bill to add
things will speed up a great deal. up all his numbers, a more leisurely, vivid combat will be
very fun. Take advantage of the tension. People love
IGNORING HITS most the battles they barely survive.
This one is slightly more advanced. After you’ve run
several RM combats, you’ll learn that in many of them,
Hits just don’t matter at all. There was an old ICE ad
that said, “Rolemaster, because hits don’t kill monsters.
Criticals kill monsters!” That holds true to this day.
In any combat where Hits are unlikely to matter,
ignore them. You can keep the roughest estimate in your
head in case you turn out to be wrong, but in these
combats, it’s probably the criticals that count. In fact, if
you’re dealing with large and Super Large creatures, you
probably don’t even need to look up the attacks. After the
first few rounds you’ll know when a player rolled high
enough for a critical and since the severity doesn’t matter,
you can just park on that one chart.
If you realize that the bad guy is just not dying and its
running out of hits, go back to your estimate. Here’s a
secret: your players probably don’t know how many hits
they’ve done either. They don’t know how many hits they
have to do. If you get in trouble, just make a rough
estimation of the creature’s remaining Hits, give the players a
description to set the approximate idea in their imaginations
(such as, “he’s getting very ragged now from all the
damage”) and move on. Your players would rather the
game be fun and fast than slow, they won’t mind if everyone
once in a while you make a mistake a monster dies early.
Heck, you’re probably making those mistakes when
you are trying to keep track. We all fail our basic math
maneuvers sometimes.

Rolemaster Quarterly 9 Issue #7

 THE ATTACK CHARTS AS CALCULATOR The primary use of this comes toward the end of a
messy, complex battle, when mop up could take an
This last one works great with all the weapon charts
annoying hour or more of combat. In these conditions it’s
in every Arms Law version but the 2004 RMFRP edition.
usually better to just say, “Yeah, okay, you clean up the rest,”
It also doesn’t work as well with the Armory and natural
and get back to advancing the plot. Sure, in RM a lucky hit
and martial arts attacks. The reason is it works best on
can kill a character, but especially at high levels, they’re just
charts that increment as one entry per percent, instead of
going to have the wounds magically healed anyway.
combing three percent into a single line on the table. Still,
And the pace of the game is really the most
with a little skill it will work on any table at all.
important thing. If things are dragging and the battle is
The problem was that I had a player that hated
unimportant or foregone, speed things up. Even in
doing math. No biggy, I just told her to shout out her
important battles if the players are getting bored you can
numbers as she was adding them up. I’d say “got it” if I
start narrating easily determined results instead of
had the answer first. She didn’t feel like she was stupid, I
looking them up. For instance, in a routine battle with a
just did it faster. Since I was the GM, she expected me to
super-large creature, there are likely results you know are
do it faster, so no egos were ruffled. For the first several
nothing more than a chunk of hits on the Super Large
sessions I did it the hard way. Then I learned a trick.
chart. You can start producing colorful descriptions for
Say she had an 83 OB. I would have Arms Law open
these attacks without looking them up. If players seem
to her attack table. She would shout out, “55 to hit!” I
concerned that you aren’t adding in their hits, say, “Don’t
would file that number in memory because the tables
worry, I’ve got that one memorized.” You probably do.
usually broke down into multiple entries that low. Then
The goal of any game is fun. Never punish your players
she’d say, “83 OB,” and I’d put my finger on 83 on the
by paying more attention to the rules than to pacing. The
attack table. Then I’d just slide it up 55 points. Visually, I
rules are there to make the game produce the desired results
could see about where I’d end up even before the math had
in a manner that’s faster not slower. When you know the
finished in my head. Then she’d say, “But that was snap,”
rules, this is faster because remembering something is
and I’d drop 20, then she’d say, “am I still on his flank?”
quicker than making a judgment call, but when they start to
and I’d raise 20. Then I’d slide down the table the number
get in the way, kick them clear. We’re here to tell a story, not
corresponding to his DB (which is frequently divisible by
to argue about whether the flee infestation Bill caught from
ten). I’d have the number without any math. If I’d missed
his mule gives him a -3 to all attacks or a -6.
on one of the moves, I was likely still close enough to the
answer that the damage
and crit were the same.
After about five
sessions like that, I’d be
saying “got it” without any
math at all and combats
moved quicker than ever.

NARRATION
As a final note, there
are times when rolls and
blood and cracking skulls
are what your table needs.
There are others when
narration does the job.
Never string out a battle
when it doesn’t add to the
fun of the game.
Sometimes you need to let
your own mental batteries
and the enjoyment levels of
your players be your guide.

Rolemaster Quarterly 10 Issue #7

 THE PLANES: THE VOID
There are many planes in the multiverse. Some are
more terrifying than the Void. Some are more alien.
None are more evocative in the mind of the man. Even
the lowliest peasant has heard talk of the Void, the great
darkness that surrounds the other planes. The Void is
where many of the most vicious demons originate. It’s
the graveyard of the foulest elves and the most twisted
human sorcerers. It is where broken gods go to die.
The Void is the end of creation, the broken shell
around the planes of life. It is dark and twisted and evil
by its very nature. To spend time there is to know
suffering. To spend a lifetime there is to know madness.
NATURE OF THE VOID
Academics cannot even agree on what the Void is.
Some people thing that it is nothing more than an outer
darkness, a vast expanse of nothingness outside of all the
planes of creation. Others think that it is formed of the
dark dreams of a thousand dead gods. Others feel it is a
nightmare realm formed from the collective evil of all the
living creatures in every plane of existence. Some think
that it’s the connective stuff of the multiverse, the
framework of nothingness in which the other planes rest.
Still others believe that it is the 7th pale, a plane of vast
emptiness to counterpoint the inner six.
No one can agree for certain. In fact modeling where
one plane rests in relation to another is a highly suspect
practice. Most people agree, however, that at the very
least most of the Void lies beyond the pales, and that’s it’s
the largest and most diffuse of the Infernal Planes.
Rolemaster Quarterly
Note: Almost everything in that last sentence is
misleading. Concepts of planes lying next to one
another, the size of planes, ideas of “inside” and
“outside” are all analogies placed by the minds of
mortals for concepts that lie outside of our ability to
comprehend. Each plane is infinite. Each plane is,
effectively, its own universe. Models that show the
pales and the Void as layers of spherical shells, for
instance, are merely mortal attempts to draw in
two dimensions something that might actually
span hundreds. They are a shorthand at best.
People entering the Void might not do so in their
actual bodies, though this is difficult to prove (the bodies
seem identical, but most sages believe there should be more
lasting physical effects to the trials one goes through in the
Void). It’s most likely that they form some sort of physical
analog on the other side of the gate, a form that feels the
same to them but is suited for the magical nothingness of
the void. While there, a person can still seem to breathe.
They can fight and speak and perform normal biological
acts (though they rarely want to). They can certainly die.
Whatever the nature of a person’s physical form in the
Void, being there is torture. The skin burns and aches, every
breath is like inhaling super-heated smoke. Particularly
sensitive tissue, such as the eyes and ears, flare with pain.
Tears ducts and mucus membranes work full-time to flush
the affected regions. All maneuvers in the Void incur a -10
penalty (from blurred and damaged senses) if the character
can find a way to make himself impervious to the pain.
Otherwise, the pain adds an additional -10.
11 Issue #7
 One can see and hear normally in the Void, barring the
penalty above. There is no light source, but other objects are
clearly visible. Sound travels a long way. The temperature is
within a safe range, although the pain caused to everyone
inside manifests to different travelers as everything from
freezing cold to sizzling hot. There are no reported deaths
due to temperature, however, so this may just be different
people experiencing the pain of the Void in different ways.
It seems the Void is meant to give people pain. The
level seems to be as high as an individual can stand for a
prolonged period. The fact that everyone seems to be
affected equally leads scholars to note that the pain must
be a subjective experience. If the level of pain was
constant, it would seem a hardened warrior would deal
with it better than a pampered noble, but this isn’t the
case. Everyone suffers equally in the Void.
GEOGRAPHY
The Void has little in the way of
actual geography. Clusters of
magical constructs, almost
invariably inhabited by
demons, dot the
empty three-dimensional space.
These are far between and scholars
argue over whether they are common or
uncommon, depending on their views. This argument boils
down to preconceived notions. One side argues that it can
take five or six days to travel from one of these clusters to
another, and that means they are rare and far apart. The
other side argues that the Void is an infinite space, and that
five or six days is very quick, meaning that it’s actually densely
populated. A third side argues that we don’t know how fast
this travel actually is, with no real points of reference, so it’s all
a moot point anyway. (A fourth side wants them all tried as
heretics for discussing an infernal plane as if it were a trip
around the bay . . . but there are zealots everywhere.)
These clusters tend to look like roughly-spherical trash
or rubble heaps with buildings and structures rising out of
them in all directions. Gravity inside is always relative to the
floor. Most of the clusters are hives inside, teeming with
demons and other creatures of the Void.
Rolemaster Quarterly
A small subset of clusters (maybe one in twenty) are
bastions where non-demons gather for protection. These
tend to look like fortresses or barricades, all defenses and
guards, as demon incursions can come at any moment.
Strangers are mistrusted inside these holds, but those
who can fight are welcome once the prove themselves.
Most of these holds consist of planar travelers who have
lost their way. A person who knows the location of a
working gate to almost any other plane would be another
welcome arrival. Still, people claim this from time to time
to lure holds into demon traps, and so such stories meet
with distrust and even paranoia.
SURVIVAL
Survival in the Void is very easy. In fact, it seems as if the
Void itself is meant to cause pain, but not death.
One doesn’t need to breath there (except to
talk). Food and drink are unnecessary.
However one still feels like they are
starving, suffocating, and dying of
thirst. People still need to sleep, if
that’s something their race
normally requires.
One doesn’t need shelter in the Void (unless it’s
fortification against other inhabitants). There is no weather,
no sun, no night and day. The place is completely without
climate or ecology as we know it.
INHABITANTS
Most of the inhabitants of the Void are demons. See
Creatures and Treasures or Creatures and Monsters for
more information. Other inhabitants tend to be travelers
who have lost their ways, maroons who’ve been dropped
here by rare magical events (an out of control magical
spell or storm, for instance), and plane-traveling
creatures that thrive on pain.
12 Issue #7
 For the most part, Demons of the Void and or One final note. All this assumes a character is trying
Enteritis from Other Planes (from the aforementioned to find something near a gate. For the most part,
monster books) make up most of the inhabitants. The rest travelers go through one gate and learn all the locations
are stranded people mad or near-mad from suffering. within a few days travel. The Void is a much bigger place
than that. If a character tries to find a location that is
TRAVEL close to a different gate than the one they used, it’s an
Travel in the Void is magical in nature. All people Absurd difficulty and the it takes much longer. A GM
travel at the same rate, although travelling requires some might require a Maneuver every ten days or one hundred,
focus. A character can “walk” at a base rate that’s equal or might require that he reach 1000% (or more) instead,
for all creatures. One does this by focusing one’s depending on the difficulty, the danger, and the distance
attention in a given direction and concentrating. One can the GM wishes to impose.
also Jog, Sprint, etc, as with the normal movement rules.
All travel costs exhaustion at the same rate as in the real GATES
world. This means that in prolonged chases, the person Gates to the Void tend to occur in places of great
with the most endurance still wins. See below on magical disaster or great evil (preferably both). They are
Exhaustion, however. often found in the ruins of evil temples where dark gods
A person can leap off a cluster if that’s his intent. were put down through catastrophic magic. Some are
Otherwise, gravity holds him normally to the cluster’s permanent, some temporary (depending on the amount
relative floor. Once off a cluster, there is no gravity at all. of magic involved). Gates are often guarded, either by
To a person leaving, the cluster will seem to recede at minions of demons who want to use them or minions of
something faster than the speed of a good horse. It may good who want to stop their use. Entire religious orders
be an optical illusion, but the rate at which it recedes have arisen around blocking use of a single gate.
appears to increase with distance. This is the reason no We noted above that scholars think that the body a
one can decide how fast a character is really traveling in person has on the other side of the gate isn’t the same
the Void. It could be related to their proximity to a large body they had on this one. This is because of the
settlement, although no sage has a good explanation for circumstantial evidence, as noted above, but also because
why this would be. the Void is thought to be a place of spirit, not form.
A person can travel to any location they know in the Whatever the reason, a person traveling through a gate
Void. They can also try to travel to any location disappears, their form absorbed by the gate itself. They
described to them. To do the former take a random time do not leave a body behind.
equal to 1d5 +1 days. To do the latter requires a Hard to
Absurd Moving Maneuver, depending on the level of SPECIAL RULES
detail in the description. The Maneuver is modified only Aside from the notes above, characters in the Void
by the character (or the lead character’s) Intuition x3. calculate their Exhaustion Points based on SD instead of
They may make one check per day. When their Co. Racial bonuses still apply.
cumulative result equals 100, then they arrive. If they
receive a disastrous result (such as one that causes
damage or a penalty) they either lose time or run into
something dangerous. No one knows why deadly
demons seem to lurk on the path to unknown locations,
but the leading theory is that characters traveling to
known locations follow “beaten paths” in the Void . . .
psychic trails left by past travelers. On a person’s first trip
to a location, they wander about more aimlessly, and it’s
in these desolate parts where demons travel to be alone.
For the purposes of travel, a known and unknown
location are ones that a person has visited or had
described respectively. Someone can’t just try to find “a
gate.” Or rather they can, but doing so has no rules and
involves a lot of wandering about through potential
dangers of the Void.
Note: The path to a known location is fairly
random. If you’d like a method more linked to a
character’s Intuition, use the same method as
finding an unknown location, but set the
difficulty at Medium.

Rolemaster Quarterly 13 Issue #7