[UA] Rulemonster, Soundtracks, Attachments (OT and I appologize)

[Cassady Toles]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2001 16:59:58 +0200, ua at lists.uchicago.edu wrote:

  Well, it would have to be a -mathematical- beauty, wouldn't it?
  -Simplistic- beauty is a little out of reach! :)

In the most recent Spiderman by J.M. Strczinsky (sp?-the Bab-5 guy) he puts
forth the arguement that all beauty is mathematical.  The result of slow
mathematical progression of asthetic.
  
  I think it was on the Deadlands list that I first heard RM referred to as
  'RuleMonster', and when DL players diss something's rules, you just
-know-.
  That's why I like the UA rules so much. You can love or hate the 'pick
your own
  skills' thing as you prefer, but irrespective of that, once into the
actual cogs
  and gears the game is rock-solid.

The systems of RM are rock-solid as well if run well.  I've played RM and RM
clones (like MERP) and I knew the rules well enough in one session that I
could tell you if I succeeded, crit-ed, failed, or fumbled out of combat. 
Things only slowed down in combat if the GM wasn't prepared (didn't have all
the charts he needed in front of him immediately or didn't know the books
well enough to find the charts at a touch).  Yes, I knew a GM who could flip
to Blunt weapon crit chart B at a touch.  It was amazing.

A GM who didn't know the books, but attached to each character all the crit
charts, etc. that they'd need before the game could also run a smooth game. 
Lazy, unprepared GM's were screwed.

Also, it's easy to give RM flack for not being UA, but considering that UA
is something akin to two years old, and gaming has changed a lot in the last
thirty-five years, meanwhile RM is something akin to twenty or twenty-five
years old.

RM was one of the first universal mechanic games (where all skills, attacks,
etc. used the same die type, same mechanic).
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I am the messiah in the bottom of a bottle of Jack Daniel's.  Drink of me
and
no peace." -- Cobra Baghdad www.peoplehateme.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





_______________________________________________________
Send a cool gift with your E-Card
http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/



_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua