Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying
Arms Law
Author: ICE
Stock #: 5810
ISBN: 1-55806-598-9
Published 2003 by Iron Crown Enterpises
Cover Price: $16.00
Page Count: 80
Stock #: 5810P
ISBN: 1-55806-598-9
Published 2004 by Iron Crown Enterpises
Cover Price: $8.00
Page Count: 1.3MB 80-pg PDF download
Notes:
The critical charts on pages 64-69 and 70-75 have been updated from the printed
edition. These are also available as a free download from
the ICE Website.
Cover/Jacket Text:
Get Critical! Arms Law is about FRP combat - the kind that leaves you shaking
and bragging to your friends about your character's exploits. If you prefer
safe, ho hum, by the numbers RPG combat then Arms Law is not for you. If you
ar loking for FRP combat that leaves you breathless, your quest ends here.
Arms Law is a fantasy combat system designed to be used with ICE's Rolemaster rules or the RPG rules set of your choice. Arms Law slides right into any other game system quickly and easily.
What makes Arms Law special? Criticals and Fumbles. From the 'E' Puncture
Critical Table:
"Pierced through the heart he reels 10 ft. before dying...."
From the Two Handed Arms Fumble Table:
"Stumble over an imaginary unseen dead turtle. you lose two rounds off attack,
but can still parry."
Arms Law includes 29 individual weapon attack tables, 13 special attack tables, and dozens of critical strikes, and fumbles. Remember... it's not the bruises that kill! Critical damage is what wastes your enemies.
From Bruce Neidlinger (ICE CEO) when asked why Arms Law was being redone:
We were running out of the old Arms Law and we took the opportunity to
redo a product that sorely needed it. We did a complete graphics update
as the old one was fairly dated and, well, lame. We changed the tables
to be like The Armory as they are much easier to read especially with
the flexible crits change. We tossed the old rules sections and
conversion sections and redid them completely so they make a lot more
sense and restored the modularity of the product. It is now truly useful
as a product to get plugged into another system like D20 that needs a
lift in its combat system.
The critical hit tables were completely redone in terms of color text,
because [ the 1999] version had taken a lot of the fun text out for some
reason. Arms Law now has better and more colorful fumbles and criticals then
ever. This was done to make the product more fun.
One other big change is that it is now an 80 page saddle-stitched book
so it is easier to use. The 1999 version was a 120 page perfect bound
that was bigger due to the number of duplicated critical charts. Heike
never felt they were much use due to the small size. The 80 pages kept
the price down too. If we had kept the 120 page book it would have gone
to $20+ on reprint.
So, overall, its a much better product with a much higher functionality.
We maintained cross verion compatibility however, as the combat damage
differences should be immaterial and the critical chart effects are the
same- just the desciptive color text has been changed. We did it so we
could have a product we were proud of and to make it easier to go after
the non-Rolemaster market with upcoming marketing campaigns. The new ads
entitled "Magic & Mayhem: Life is good" are hitting magazines right now.
Old players do not have to buy the product unless they really want to or
need a new one. New players are much more likely to buy it now though,
and that is a very good thing.
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)
http://www.ironcrown.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3122