Interest Check: Thieves' World with RoleMaster

Hi, Folks!

Back at TavernKeeper, I found a couple of people interested in playing solo campaigns based in the old Thieves' World anthology books,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves%27_World

containing some of my most favourite fantasy stories, so naturally I figured I'd ask here.

Out of the systems I know, I think the one that works best in this setting is RoleMaster (I'd be using the RM Classic system, from the mid- to late 80s and early 90s):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolemaster

The way the setting pack was set up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves%27_World_(role-playing_game)

characters were statted for the more popular RPGS on the market at the time, so I wouldn't be averse to a demand for one of these other systems (RuneQuest and The Fantasy Trip work OK) if I have it available.

Depending on how many people would want to play together in the same campaign (and stories can accommodate any number of PCs, from one up to six or eight, depending on the nature of the group), group size isn't much of a problem for me nor are multiple solo games. Campaigns could take place in the time of any book of either of the two series (or even in between them ie during the reign of the Dyareelans). I'm also open to any style of campaign, from straight hack'n'slash to intimate slices of life, high and low, in the lowest, skungiest fantasy city in literature. Characters would have to be "new": nobody gets to play Tempus or Rogi.

At the moment, I'm putting together a list of playable extra rules and variants from the core books as well as the Companions to be posted in the game if I get any nibbles.

Thots?

I liked those books, they had a real Sword and Sorcery vibe. Great swordsmen, dashing rogues, vile mages, potent priests, the works. I can't play at this time as my plate is already full (overfull). Wish you all the best getting this going and hope to see the setting again at a later date. Good luck.

Thanks, Magus. I think any campaigns for this will be public, so you can follow along if you want.

I have the box set, but never found the time to dig into it. As you might surmise, I'm a big Runequest fan, but I wouldn't be against trying Rolemaster, a system which always intrigued me, even if I never played it.

No need to say that I am more than interested!

Funny, I just signed up and am playing in the Tiny Waterdeep setting by htech and I commented on the similarities to Thieves World and Sanctuary that I played back in the early '80. And low and behold here's an interest check! Read the series when it first came out and really enjoyed them. Good luck OldGameMasterFox, I'll be reading along. Just can't invest in learning a new game system right now.

I haven't played Rolemaster since the early 90's. I read the first few Thieve's World books back then, too. If this gets enough interest I can dust off my books and give it a go. I don't remember which RM books I still have access to.

Love Thieves' World! Rolemaster...not so much

OK, well, obviously some interest! Great!
The next question is are those of you who are interested and available interested in solo campaigns ie just me and one player or want to get together (all three of you or just two of you)? And just FYI, I'm cool with one campaign using one system and another campaign using a different system; RoleMaster is just the system I think captures the feel of TW best.

(And thanks, Turanel; I hope you enjoy the show[s].)

Group play is fine with me, and actually preferred.

The source material (if I recall) had a lot of team ups, but each character was also capable of solo stuff. I generally prefer a group game, but I'm not opposed to sections being solo either.

OK. So far there might be at least a duo.

RageRed, is there a particular system you would prefer (or at least prefer over RM)?

Oh! And it should be possible to get hold of most, if not all, of the RM Classic stuff in pdf online. Scribd's a great resource (and might not be unjustifiably expensive, depending on how often you use it).

This sounds pretty cool, I'd be interested in playing. You might also like the "Thieves Guild" role-playing supplements that got released by Gamelords back in the 80's.

I have Thieves' Guild, but the system isn't one of my favourites: it's too much like OD&D trying hard not to be OD&D and getting clunky as a result. That said, the various ideas and scenarios published for it are usually interesting and entertaining (especially The Duke's Dress Ball, with the material on tomb-robbing coming a close second).

So would you prefer to play with others, Diogenes, or solo? And are you OK with RoleMaster?

Worlds Without Number, Pathfinder 1, D&D 5...

Sorry, don't have any of those, and their systems come _way_ after the material presented in the Thieves' World RPG material: I'd have to stat everything again (and life's too short for me).

I’m happy to play with others, and Rolemaster is fine, or OD&D.

OK, a trio sounds fine. I can work with that. If anyone else expresses interest in the meantime, we can go from there
I'm going to be relatively busy today, so I'll leave off until tomorrow setting up the site, but we can talk here a little about the "shape" of the campaign here for at least today.
First, where in the chronology do people want to play? I tend to think of it in three phases: the original series, the new series, and in-between them both. For play in either series, whenabouts in those stories are you interested most in playing (eg when the Prince and the other Rankans first come to town in the early stories of the first series) and when would you rather not play?
Second, is the group going to consist of native Sanctuarites or newcomers to the city?
Third, how "heroic" do you want the campaign to be? Many of the stories are about "the little people" of Sanctuary eg Lalo the Limner and his family, Cauvin and his adopted family, etc.; do you want to "adventure" at that level (in a sense, almost like a soap opera or some Brechtian story-line), or would you prefer something less "mundane" than that eg the Hawkmasks or Stepsons?