Rolemaster
Claw Law
Author: ICE
Stock #: 1500
ISBN: Unknown
Published 1982 by Iron Crown Ent.
Cover Price: $6.00
Page Count: ˜24
Cover/Jacket Text:
Notes:
Claw Law was released in 1982. It adds additional tables and rules for
the Rolemaster combat system. There are three versions of this, the first
with
loose charts and a similar one that is saddle-stitched with perforated
pages. These originally came in a bag (with a color slip cover) and later
in a box. Both of these are printed on heavy card stock, with the cover
and critical
tables in the yellow/gold color pictured here, and the attack tables
in a lighter tan color pictured below. There are also three blue pages
with rules
and additional tables.
The third version is a saddle-stitched book that has a blue cover with yellow/gold attack tables and blue rules and critical tables.
Claw Law provides five
new critical tables, Grapple, Martial Arts Strikes, Martial Arts Sweeps
and Throws, Tiny Animal, and Unbalancing. It also includes
twelve new attack tables for claws, bite, stingers, trampling, martial
arts etc.
One point of interest is the difference in the layout of the Attack tables
in Claw Law compared to Arms Law. In Arms Law, the lowest attack number
is at the
bottom of the page and the highest attack number is at the top. In Claw Law,
the Attack Tables are printed in landscape orientation, and the low number
is at the top of the page with the high number at the bottom. Claw Law
tables also
include maximum results for different size attacks. A house cat is limited
to the Maximum for Small Attacks on the Bite table, where a Dragon could
go all
the way up to the Maximum for a Huge Attack.
There are charts with summaries of Historical and Fantasy Weapons, Animal
and Monster Combat Capabilities, a section with Guidelines for using Martial
Arts and a table with a summary of Martial Arts Combat Capabilities, broken
down by Form (Karate, Kung Fu, etc) and belt/degree.
A boxed set was also released that contained Arms Law and Claw Law. For a detailed
look at the various versions of Arms Law and Claw Law from 1980 to 2003, checkout
my Evolution of Arms Law article (pdf)
