Thanks for the overview! This looks like a "must have" game. I am still quite fond of the old Iron Crown Enterprises game and this has the appearance of being a possible successor to those products.
I have been playing in an online epic campaign that has been going for almost a year now and it is amazing. It is a much improved successor to the Iron Crown MERP and Rolemaster games.
Actually sold my 2nd edtion MERP stuff a few years ago. Had TOR at that point and figured it fit Middle Earth better regarding theme. However, I always appreciated Rolemaster and HARP so planned on eventually getting those (again). After seeing how cleaned up VsDarkmaster is compared to the old MERP rules, it's much better layout, and the tools it provides to make your own customized setting with similar themes, I ended up ordering this last week. Good timing on your flip-through as I've not seen the physical book, it's yet to arrive. After my brief perusal of the PDF, I'd like to see some more monsters added in the future but I rarely get my fill of such options in any RPG. It has enough to last awhile and modify before feeling the need to homebrew some.
You are determined to drag me back to my RPG roots with all these videos first your Hârn videos then paladin warriors of charlemagne and now this one not forgetting the Traveller stuff as well You should do a comparative video on character creation within each system and what works best and why
Stats names may be because they wanted strong, thematic words rather than the generic, cliche words used by the majority of games. I'd say stats that evoke theme and flavor is drastically more important than being chosen for the letter they start with
Looks great, beautiful book, love the illustrations. Seems to solve some of the problems I had with running MERP. All I need now is some kind soul to script a Roll20 character sheet in English and good to go!
Hi Ardwulf! I watch with interest your wargaming content, but I love your RPG videos. I wasn’t aware of the existence of Rolemaster or Against the Darkmaster befor this.
Nice video. That's one good looking book. The art is very nice and it seems well thought out. Anything that builds upon/takes off from MERP is worthy of attention, in my book. MERP is fantastic, and its supplements the best in the genre, so those are big boots to size up to. I'd be interested in hearing your OSR opinions, the good and the bad of it all. Cheers.
This definitely looks fascinating.. Thanks for the review .. Would love to see more breakdowns ..hopefully since this was over a year ago you've already made them!
Exceptionally good overview. I wasn't sure this was the right addition to my shelf, but having seen enough of the content and consistency of quality throughout, I'm VERY interested. Publisher should put you on commission :-D
After having played TOR a few times, I really felt it was way too stiff and structured. Then I see there is a new Merpish game. Easy, drop that harmless TOR stuff and go back to those glorious criticals!!!
Sorry, but that "tiny print error" you mentioned in the Kickstarter backers section is actually Morse Code -.. .- .-. -.- -... .- -.-. .... . .-.. --- .-. DARKBACHELOR
I didn't see any character creation or combat videos for VsD since this one. Did I miss something or was there not enough interest to warrant making them?
In my oppinon its not a fast system, I played years ago Rolemaster i was de GM, and a 5 party of PJ vs for example 4 orcs its so slow and tedious. Because you have to account the dice rolls, criticals, DB.. etc In the old days of rolemaster was 4 pages of skills to make the character. They copied the old MERP system of lord of the rings, reducing stats to +5,+10,+15.. etc and the experiencce points. But the worst of the system the combat its like was in the past. The should have reduced the rolls and the scale of attacks maybe to 2d10 added and not 1d100 open plus skill. Its like returning to the old MERP, i´m not sure if that system fits in actual RPG culture. Any way if their intention its make the old Rolemaster they have done it, congrats!! But its not for me because i played it a lot 20 years ago and its so slow and tedious to play. Thanks for video and sorry about my writting.
See, my experience differs radically from that. Character creation absolutely does take ages, and character management (like when you gain levels) is also a lot of work. But if you pre-calculate everything that saves tons of time in actual play, and we found that generally speak combats went very quickly. Now, partly this is because there's a relatively high chance of a killing or incapacitating result. So swing for swing this absolutely takes longer than say D&D (any version, pretty much), but you have fewer swings before the end of the fight. Some configurations of encounters can take ages, but good encounter design by the GM will alleviate that. Stay tuned, though - I will have a video talking about this at some point.
I have played for a while now and yes swing for swing it is slower than D&D but overall it is faster as combat is less tedious. Character generation is a bit of a long process but I know players that spend/waste hours figuring out feats for 5th edition D&D. Many people see D&D as normal as relatively understandable because it is all they know. Dollar for dollar this game is easier.
