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Rating: 
Summary: Rolemaster beats D&D--Hands Down!
Review: Buy this book. Buy Arms Law, Spell Law and Creature and Monsters. These are the best Roleplaying books known to Human Kind. They are more detailed than D&D and cover all aspects of Roleplaying. If you want to try a skill, just roll and see; no longer can the DM say "Do you have a NWP in it? Well...too bad!" 'nough said!
Rating:
Summary: Superb System!
Review: Definately the most comprehensive and realistic fantasy RPG system around. The skillsystem is absolutely the best part of the system, you can specify exactly what your character is like. Lovely! The biggest drawback is a rather steep learning curve which can be intimidating for the new player, but if you're ready to invest some time in it, you'll learn one of the best systems around.
Rating: 
Summary: Great, but you'll need at least other two books.
Review: I think it is a great system, maybe not for everyone given its complexity, but surely you need two more books to start playing. Tables and descriptions for the combat sequence can be found in Arms Law, and if you want to use magic in your campaign you'll need Spell Law. The latter is now split up into three parts: Of Essence, Of Channeling, Of Mentalism. If you're creative and you're not scared to work on it, you could surely live without them... but it's quite a hard work !
Rating: 
Summary: The Truth about Rolemaster...
Review: Okay, people, if you are interested in purchasing the Rolemaster system, here is what you need to know. Firstly, the black and white illustrations are terrible, and one some pages the print is not centered perfectly. ICE publishes a hard back version of the standard book, something players who get into this game will want to buy. This soft backed version of the book should have been bound with lay flat binding to aid in photocopying (see below).
Now on to the meet of the game...
The rules for character generation are complex, and can be a 95% diceless generation if desired. This is a nice break from players who feel that d20 system rules are too random. This allow players to design exactly what they want to play. The book could have been laid out better, to aid in new players understanding the rules. If will take a few read throughs and flipping back and forth to determine all the "hobby ranks", development points, proffesion bonuses, racial bonuses, etc. etc. to calculate all the stats.
There are ten basic stats, too many in my opinion. I like GURPS' system with four basics stats allowing every stat to be very influential on the character.
This is not a "player handbook" as other RPG core books are. Players will have to purchase the Arms Law book to have complete explanations of weapons, three Spell Law books (Essance, Channeling, and Mentalism Laws), Character Law (for extended character generation rules), and Gamemaster Law (the equivent of D&D's DMG) to have what Rolemaster calls the "standard system". All are neccessary to fully enjoy the game's versitility.
Is it worth it to buy these books and spend the time learning all the rules and tables? Depends...
Rolemaster is for you if 1) you have "improved" other FRPG with homemade rules, skills and combat tables. Buy rolemaster instead 2) Combat is fairly rare in your games but in the combat that is there you want to be very descriptive and real 3) You are a seasoned gamer and are looking for something other than the generic d20 system games and other RPGs that are all getting to be the same. Rolemaster has a very "old school" feel to it. 4)You like "low fantasy" adventures. Rolemaster feels very grounded, but can be made high fantasty by GM. 5) You think having players who can shrug of five strikes from a halberd swung by an giant and three quarrels stiking in him from his goblin buddies is STUPID. Getting hit in the chest with a halberd swung by a normal man HURTS and rolemaster reflects that. 6) As a player character, you sigh as you attack the troll because there is no way you can heroicly slay it (like the hero you are supposed to be) because you know the troll has more hit points than your longsword is capable of doing in one hit. No matter how big and bad the troll is, jamming your sword through his jugular and into it brain will HURT it, no matter who you are. Rolemaster reflects that, and even low level characters can get in deadly strikes. 7)You don't think being assured of victory against the troll becasue you have four attacks a round, weapon specialization, weapon mastery, a plus 80 vorpal long sword of freezing and blah blah blah is very heroic either.
Rolemaster is not for you if... 1)You are not willing to invest some time in learning a "heavy system" 2) You hate tables. Everything is based on a percentile roll applied to a table. Everything. And everything has its own table. Everything 3) You are looking for a fast playing game. Rolemaster does not have to be slow, but it can be. There are other systems where combat is fast and furious and colored by the imagination. In RM, everything is detailed, explained, and goes to a table. 4) Combat is constantly going on in your game. Playing out a dozen fights before the main fight in a night's worth of gaming may not be possible for all but he most experienced players. 5) This is your first RPG, especially if you have to learn it by yourself. The rules might over shadow the fun of the RPG. Look into D&D,GURPS, or Lord of the Rings Role Playing Game.
Overall, I do not think it is a bad investment. I will with hold the "best RPG" title. I would have a hard time dealing this out to any RPG. It all depends on what the gaming group is looking for in its RPG. There are a few things I would recommend doing though in a RM game: 1)Photocopy all the tables for a GM's notebook and order them in an alphabetized list with dividers clearing marking the tables. There are so many tables the game will get slowed down with flipping pages, especially if there is only one copy of the basic rules in the gaming group 2) download MERP Lite copyright 2000 by Craig Pay (run a search on Google, and apply the rules to Rolemaster (MERP and RM are compatible systems). This will speed game play up dramatically. Save the ultra technically rules for the "big showdowns" with the big bad guys worthy of the time. 3) Don't let "rule lawyering" slow the game down. Keep the game flowing.
Anyway, hopefully with this information you can make a better informed decision on what the Rolemaster system really is. As always, happy gaming!!
Rating:
Summary: Is it worth the money?
Review: Rolemaster is a system in the same mold as GURPS... both are good flexable systems that alow you to create diverse universes... but in order to do so... you have to either invent your own rules from scratch... or buy dozens of books... Rolemaster's character creation system is on par with Hero System (AKA Champions) for complexity... but it doesn't allow you the flexability of character creation that Champions does. Rolemaster is alternative for D&D, and good for low powered games... but It's far from the best system out there.
Rating:
Summary: The Best System
Review: Rolemaster is indeed the best system out there. It has the most realistic features for fighting and magic. In this system when you gain levels you really notice it. And even the smalles caracter may perform heroic feats, may the dice be on your side. The biggest monsters are also mortal, so you're off for a great roleplaying session. Be Advised: Rolemaster does require reading and studying the rules, as well as good memory and the system is quite complex.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best rpg avaliable
Review: Rolemaster is one of the best classic fantasy role playing game system and also the most complete.This book have all information you need about the rules for play ,but be carefull rolemaster is not an easy rpg if you are looking for something"fast" you can get bored .
Rating:
Summary: It's the best RPG ever...
Review: Rolemaster is the best RPG system you may dream of. Now it has being simplified, but still you can say it's the best. Buy it, but remember you should buy two other core books (now 4 because spell law is divided in 3 books), but there will be no sorry - Rolemaster makes possible to creat a hero just like you want and the combat system is the most realistic known, there are lots of magic (over 2000) and a great skill system, the best one. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Complex Realism
Review: The best thing I can say about Rolemaster is that is injects a much-needed dose of realism into RPG's. When I finally got sick of playing DnD, it was because I had seen a character standing and laughing in front of a guard who was shooting him repeatedly with a crossbow. The crossbow was completely ineffective on the high level PC and this was, obviously, ridiculous. Being shot with a crossbow in real life will put a damper on your day and DnD just didn't reflect that. Even experienced adventurers should be wary of being shot in the head. The same situation in Rolemaster plays out somewhat differently. First off, the PC would never intentionally be in such a situation but if he was, then there would be a good chance that the crossbow bolt "enters through the eye, penetrates the brain, and kills the target instantly." whether that PC was level 1 or 100. This means that as the PC's gain levels, it is not that they become unreal and unheroic juggernaughts of strength and immunity, but rather that they know what to do, which skills to use, and when to cut and run. In short, it means that the system encourages roleplaying and solving of problems in an intelligent way rather than just trusting your godlike abilities yet again. This also works in reverse of course. Even the lowliest of characters can get in that lucky hit with his sword and fell the evil demon. It's unlikely, but it's possible, and that's what really makes the system come alive. With literally hundreds of styles of magic, from traditional fireballs and healing magics right through to invading dreams and aging targets years in a second, the mage players find more than enough to occupy their time and flesh their characters out. Are there any downsides to Rolemaster? Yes there are. It is a complicated system and requires a lot of book referencing and page flipping. I would recomend that the GM print himself a fast-reference booklet of the more commonly used Critical Tables before starting play in order to keep game flow uninterupted.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!!!
Review: This system is unbelievable! I've played D&D 2nd and 3rd ed., GURPS, and many others, and none of them can even be compared to the greatness of this system. This is, no doubt about it, the BEST RPG system there is! The combat, the spells, the character creation, all worked to perfection. It's possible to leave your character EXACTLY like you want. The ONLY possible disadvantage to this system is that its extremely complex(which can be a good thing for those who are experienced players)and so it takes quite a while to create a character, for begginers i suggest sticking to simpler systems and then buy this RoleMaster. I think, no, I'm SHURE that this is the best system I've ever seen in my entire life, I'ts worth the cost!!!
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