As I've run the CTU game, I've discovered that while the Star Wars d6 system is really easy to use, it still leaves a lot to be desired. I've tried to make the game as realistic as possible, and I believe that I've succeeded - until we get into combat.
There simply isn't much difference between a 9mm pistol and a 5.56mm M4 rifle, even at close range. One player hit a bad guy with a .50 caliber rifle at close range, and the dice roll said he was stunned and took 0 damage. Really?
As a group, we've really enjoyed using the Rolemaster system. The skills system in Rolemaster is fabulous, and the criticals really make combat come to life. However, for combat with modern weapons, the Morrow Project system really is king. As a group, we discussed all of this and we've decided to work together on a combined system that uses the Rolemaster skills system with the Morrow Project combat system. This is where I will track our progress.
But what should I call it?
Update: after some searching, I found where Iron Crown published a modern-day combat guide called, "Weapon Law: Firearms." It was part of the Rolemaster Standard System, but should be easily used with the Rolemaster Second Edition (now called Rolemaster Classic) rules. I'm still looking into it, but as always, I'll put the information here.
Update #2: after looking at the RMSS Firearms rules, I've decided to use those instead of developing a hybrid system. I'll keep the Morrow Project rules in my back pocket, and am considering using the MP concepts of hit location and loss of functionality in a limb due to damage inflicted, but I'll get going with this for now.
To unify the two systems in the way I want, I will have to determine how to translate the Rolemaster Hit Point range of 1 - 150 (common human) to the Morrow Project Structure Point range of 100 - 500. Despite the Morrow Project rules stating that the mean for Structure Points is 250, the only way we could get it to work out was to use a mean of 300. Julie came up with the equation (she was always better than me, especially when doing the math in our heads), which is: HP x 3 1/3 + 100 = SP.
Now, the next problem: Armor Type. The character's armor type factors into their quickness bonus, which then helps determine their Defensive Bonus (DB).
MP characters are composed of seven attributes in the range 0-20 (4d6-4):
Of these, the most important for our purposes are Strength and Constitution, as these are used to calculate Structure Points (Sp) and Blood Points (Bp).
Sp = Bp = STR x CON + 100
This yields a range of 100 - 500, with 250 as the mean, and approximates the character's size or body mass. Structure Points represent the amount of physical damage a character can withstand, while Blood Points represent the amount of blood in the character's body. (Can't forget to bleed, now can we?)
The total Structure Points are divided over the entire body to represent loss of function in each part of the body as it takes damage. This is done by dividing Sp by the approximate mass percentage of that part of the body, rounding upward to the nearest whole number.
| Body Part | Percentage |
| Torso | 38% |
| Leg (each) | 19% |
| - Thigh | 8% |
| - Calf | 5% |
| - Foot | 4% |
| - Hip Joint | 1% |
| - Knee | 1% |
| - Ankle | 1% |
| Arm (each) | 9% |
| - Upper arm | 2% |
| - Lower arm | 2% |
| - Shoulder joint | 1% |
| - Hand | 1% |
| - Elbow | 1% |
| - Wrist | 1% |
| Head | 6% |
MP also requires each character to know their blood type.
| Die Roll | Blood Type |
| 1-8 | O |
| 9-16 | A |
| 17-19 | B |
| 20 | AB |
| Die Roll | Rh Factor |
| 1-17 | + (positive) |
| 18-20 | - (negative) |
From the Morrow Project rules:
"A projectile carries energy with it to the target and in this manner causes damage. This energy takes the form of the speed in which the projectile strikes the target. It was to account for this energy that the E-factor was developed."
"The term E-factor comes from the Efficiency of a projectile. It accounts for the amount of armor a projectile can penetrate as well as the damage it does. The E-factor is found by multiplying the projectile's diameter, in thousandths of an inch, times the muzzle velocity of the projectile, in feet per second, divided by 50."
(D x V) ÷ 50 = E
| Armor Class | cm of Steel | cm of Wood | cm of Concrete | cm of Stone | Material |
| A | Skin | ||||
| B | Cloth (heavy) | ||||
| C | Leather | ||||
| 1 | 2.54 | 0.03 | 13mm light plastic | ||
| 2 | 5.08 | 0.5 | 13mm heavy platic | ||
| 3 | 0.25 | 7.62 | 0.76 | Chain mail | |
| 4 | 0.34 | 10.16 | 1.02 | 7.62 | 3mm armor plate |
| 5 | 0.42 | 12.7 | 1.27 | 8.89 | |
| 6 | 0.5 | 15.24 | 1.52 | Nylon body armor | |
| 7 | 0.57 | 17.78 | 1.79 | Resistweve cloth | |
| 8 | 0.64 | 20.32 | 6mm fiberglass plate | ||
| 9 | 0.7 | 22.86 | 6mm aluminum plate | ||
| 10 | 0.76 | 25.4 | 3.18 | 16.51 | |
| 14 | Kevlar vest | ||||
| 15 | 1.02 | 34.29 | 7.62 | 22.86 | |
| 16 | 19mm Lexan | ||||
| 18 | Fiberglass / titanium plate | ||||
| 19 | 13mm aluminum | ||||
| 20 | 1.27 | 45.72 | 10.16 | 30.48 | |
| 21 | 3mm boron carbide ceramic | ||||
| 25 | 1.52 | 55.88 | 15.24 | 36.83 | |
| 30 | 1.79 | 66.04 | 19.05 | 43.18 | |
| 35 | 2.03 | 78.74 | 22.86 | 49.53 | 3mm boron / carbon filament plate |
| 40 | 88.9 | 29.21 | 55.88 | ||
| 42 | 2.29 | ||||
| 45 | 99.06 | 34.29 | 60.96 | ||
| 48 | 2.54 | ||||
| 50 | 109.22 | 39.37 | 66.04 | ||
| 55 | 121.92 | 45.72 | 71.12 | ||
| 60 | 129.54 | 50.8 | 76.2 | ||
| 65 | 3.18 | ||||
| 82 | 3.81 | ||||
| 90 | 4.06 | 190.5 | 91.44 | 106.68 | |
| 100 | 4.45 | ||||
| 120 | 5.08 | ||||
| 160 | 6.35 | ||||
| 200 | 7.62 | ||||
| 250 | 8.89 | ||||
| 300 | 10.16 | ||||
| 350 | 11.43 | ||||
| 400 | 12.7 |
As the group and I are much more familiar with Rolemaster, I don't feel the need to make these notes as detailed. The purpose of this page is to outline how the Rolemaster system fits into the Morrow Project system.
In Rolemaster, the character's physical fortitude is represented several ways, including the Constitution attribute, but the character's ability to absorb damage is tracked primarily through the character's hit points (HP). As the character rises in level, the player is able to increase the character's hit points by adding levels to the Body Development skill. This represents the basic idea that a person could have vastly different body builds depending on whether an effort had been made to build strength and fitness. Therefore, the number of ranks in Body Development should directly affect the number of Structure Points and Blood Points the character has under the Morrow Project rules.
According to the Rolemaster Character Law, Base Hit Points begin at Constitution ÷ 10 (rounding up). A normal human character is allowed to increase Base Hit Points by 1d8 for each level of Body Development. This can continue until the character reaches the maximum hit points allowed, which is 120 for a normal human, plus the Constitution stat bonus as a percentage. Then the Total Hit Points are calculated from the Base Hit Points as: BH + (BH × Con bonus %) (rounding up). For example, a character with a Constitution of 90 receives a Constitution bonus of +10, which is expressed as +10%. Starting with 14 Base Hits, 14 × 10% = 1.4, which is rounded to 1, so Total Hits equals 15 (14 + 1). Then, if the character adds two levels to Body Development, the players rolls 2d8 resulting in values of 2 and 8, which raises the Base Hits to 24 and the Total Hits to 24 + (24 × 10%) = 26.
While it is possible to have a Constitution attribute value over 100, it is extremely rare in a modern-genre game. Therefore, the absolute maximum Hit Point value for a human character becomes 150. (Constitution of 100, yielding a +25 bonus, racial maximum hit points of 120, producing 120 + (120 × 25%).) The minimum Constitution attribute value is 1, therefore the absolute minimum Hit Point value for a human character becomes 1. (Constitution of 1, yielding a -25 bonus, no Body Development, producing 1 ÷ 10 = 0.1, rounded up to 1.)