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Not DnD | Against the Darkmaster
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 9300491" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p><a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/ttrpgs-that-are-not-dnd-well-be-highlighting-in-february.702388/post-9258436" target="_blank">My later summary</a>, again reposted:</p><p></p><p><em>Against the Darkmaster</em> is a valiant effort to resuscitate the D100/<em>RoleMaster</em> rpg engine.</p><p></p><p>Especially if you're an older roleplayer you will have heard of D100 and, relevant here, the <em>Middle-Earth Role-Playing</em> (MERP) game.</p><p></p><p>Just be aware that these older games offer only two kinds of ready-made adventures:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>RoleMaster</em> adventures. These I am sorry to say I found to be <em>godawful</em>. And I think I looked at <em>everything</em>. They are on par with early 1st edition D&D adventures, filled with randomness, inconsistencies, and truly stupendous amounts of unbalanced loot. There appears to be zero insight in the RM community that the only way D100 will ever reappear on the scene is with decent adventure material that can actually compete with modern 3rd and 5th edition D&D scenarios such as the ones at DM's Guild. Perhaps the Against the Darkmaster people will have understood this, while the RM people are locked into a completely unnecessary civil war between different tastes of RoleMaster rules... Sigh.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">MERP adventures. MERP has a reputation for great production values (for the time), but neither the game nor its adventures capture the Tolkien look and feel very well. They are detail-obsessed and lack grandeur and the overarching humanistic vision we all love Prof Tolkien for. (<em>The One Ring</em>'s adventure supplements stand heads* and shoulders above MERPs offerings thematically). While MERP can and will send you on a quest that even World of Warcrafters would mock you for (hint: Tolkien heroes don't want to be paid money to kill bears or hunt bandits), <em>The One Ring</em> really tries to evoke feelings of camaraderie and dread; continuing the near-hopeless fight against a formless overpowering shadow. MERP and RM, on the other hand, happily reveals Galadriel is a level 60 killer... Imagine an old-school D&D gamer's take on The Lord of the Rings and you get MERP.</li> </ul><p></p><p>All this to say: once you run out of Against the Darkmaster's adventure material, you're pretty much all on your own. I found none of the existing D100 material usable in any way shape or form. This meant that once we were done enjoying Shadow over Northern Woods, we had to move on to another system. I briefly considered using The One Ring material, but then I asked myself: "in that case, why not use TOR rules?" I really wanted to run more adventures using the D100 engine, but there just is nothing even remotely useable.</p><p></p><p></p><p>If you have the time and energy to write everything from scratch, your mileage might differ.</p><p></p><p><em>Against the Darkmaster</em> is a valiant effort worth a look, but don't go into it expecting D100 to be a game engine with loads of useful adventures just because it's one of the granddaddies of fantasy roleplaying, like I did.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 9300491, member: 12731"] [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/ttrpgs-that-are-not-dnd-well-be-highlighting-in-february.702388/post-9258436']My later summary[/URL], again reposted: [I]Against the Darkmaster[/I] is a valiant effort to resuscitate the D100/[I]RoleMaster[/I] rpg engine. Especially if you're an older roleplayer you will have heard of D100 and, relevant here, the [I]Middle-Earth Role-Playing[/I] (MERP) game. Just be aware that these older games offer only two kinds of ready-made adventures: [LIST] [*][I]RoleMaster[/I] adventures. These I am sorry to say I found to be [I]godawful[/I]. And I think I looked at [I]everything[/I]. They are on par with early 1st edition D&D adventures, filled with randomness, inconsistencies, and truly stupendous amounts of unbalanced loot. There appears to be zero insight in the RM community that the only way D100 will ever reappear on the scene is with decent adventure material that can actually compete with modern 3rd and 5th edition D&D scenarios such as the ones at DM's Guild. Perhaps the Against the Darkmaster people will have understood this, while the RM people are locked into a completely unnecessary civil war between different tastes of RoleMaster rules... Sigh. [*]MERP adventures. MERP has a reputation for great production values (for the time), but neither the game nor its adventures capture the Tolkien look and feel very well. They are detail-obsessed and lack grandeur and the overarching humanistic vision we all love Prof Tolkien for. ([I]The One Ring[/I]'s adventure supplements stand heads* and shoulders above MERPs offerings thematically). While MERP can and will send you on a quest that even World of Warcrafters would mock you for (hint: Tolkien heroes don't want to be paid money to kill bears or hunt bandits), [I]The One Ring[/I] really tries to evoke feelings of camaraderie and dread; continuing the near-hopeless fight against a formless overpowering shadow. MERP and RM, on the other hand, happily reveals Galadriel is a level 60 killer... Imagine an old-school D&D gamer's take on The Lord of the Rings and you get MERP. [/LIST] All this to say: once you run out of Against the Darkmaster's adventure material, you're pretty much all on your own. I found none of the existing D100 material usable in any way shape or form. This meant that once we were done enjoying Shadow over Northern Woods, we had to move on to another system. I briefly considered using The One Ring material, but then I asked myself: "in that case, why not use TOR rules?" I really wanted to run more adventures using the D100 engine, but there just is nothing even remotely useable. If you have the time and energy to write everything from scratch, your mileage might differ. [I]Against the Darkmaster[/I] is a valiant effort worth a look, but don't go into it expecting D100 to be a game engine with loads of useful adventures just because it's one of the granddaddies of fantasy roleplaying, like I did. [/QUOTE]
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