House Rules for Converting RM races to RMSS

by Renaud Gary

Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 11:08:46 -0400 From: "Renaud.Gary" Reply-To: rolemaster@tower.clark.net To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Converting RM races to RMSS

"If you have any guidelines on converting RM races to the RMSS format, specificaly Shadow World, I would like to hear them."

Well, I can't help with SW, but I can give you the general idea.

1. Multiply all stat bonuses by 0.4. (+5 -> +2, -10 -> -4, etc.)

2. Leave RR modes as they are.

3. Start with the Human (or Elf or whatever's closest) values for Body Development. If the race gets the same size hit dice as the archetype race, you're done. Otherwise, you will need to tweak them slightly. As a first cut, add 1 if they use 1 d12, subtract 1 for a d8, and 2 for a d6, assuming it's a Human (which normally uses a d10). This should mainly affect the first two rank bonuses. The last two should be affected more by the Maximum Hit Points value. If the race has BD of A-B-C-D, then you should have 10A+10B+10C be just about the Maximum Value. Set D to 1 less than C.

4. Ditto for the PP development. If the race is especially good (or poor) at a particular realm, then adjust the bonuses slightly. Don't go beyond 7-6-5-4 or 2-1-1-1. If the race is good at ALL realms, then consider adding PP development to the Hobby skill list, or a few PPs to start off with. Remember that a stat bonus will give a few extra PPs to start, so that might be enough.

5. E/O/R skills. There should be few O and R skills, only those at which the race is NOTABLY good or bad. E skills are safer and can be allocated to skills at which the race is generally good. While RMSR only has a few basic races, they can give you a start, as I *think* that SW really only has varients of them, with nothing really different.

6. Adolescent skills. Once again, start with RMSR. Note that Categories are given pretty liberally, but individual skills are not very common (except Climb, Swim, Read Runes, and a few others). To add a skill, ask yourself "Will every single member of the race have this skill?" Is this answer is "Not really," then save it for #7.

7. Hobby skills. This is pretty free. You go down the list of skills, thinking to yourself "Is this something likely to be learned by a significant fraction of the race?" Hobby RANKS should be something appropriate, around 8-10 for most races, unless you really ran amok with #6.

8. Backgrounds. Just add 1 to the RM2 value for an estimate.

This is basically what I did when I converted by 40 racesmany of which are not in any ICE publication, from RM2 to RMSS. I did take the opportunity to clean some things up, too. If there is something you didn't like about the race before, now's the time to change it.

                 A                Renaud.Gary@Corona.Navy.Mil
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