The Mayfair Exponential Game System or MEGS is a rules system developed for role-playing games . The name comes from what fans called the game system for DC Heroes , which was also later used for Underground (1993). It is noteworthy for its use of an exponential system for measuring nearly everything in the game. This system makes it possible to have both cosmically-powered characters and ordinary human characters meaningfully interact within the same universe. For example, in DC Heroes , the first game to use MEGS, Superman 's strength is several orders of magnitude more than Batman 's. With the MEGS system, however, this large difference in strength is scaled down. So, while Superman would still have a clear advantage in a brawl, Batman is at least able to hold out for a while, mirroring how superhero combat often operates in comic books .
25-407: MEGS was originally developed for the company Mayfair Games for the modern superhero RPG DC Heroes . The system was heavily modified for Mayfair's cyberpunk war veteran RPG Underground . The original incarnation of Pulsar Games licensed MEGS from Mayfair Games and used it in their modern superhero RPG Blood of Heroes . Blood of Heroes is very similar to DC Heroes , mostly replacing
50-453: A "voluntary-type of receivership". With the rise of collectible card games , ICE released Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (1995) and Warlords CCG (1997). In 1997, ICE bailed out Mayfair Games , a publisher well known for the Settlers of Catan board game. Despite ICE's many successes and overcoming many setbacks over 17 years, in 1997 ICE suffered financial difficulties from
75-767: A car traveling at a speed of 5 APs (about 55 MPH) for 9 APs of time (about 34 minutes) will travel 5+9=14 APs of distance (about 31 miles). The results of other important game events can be determined in similar ways, such as calculating the distance an object can be thrown (the PC 's strength score minus the weight of the object). Mayfair Games Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board , card , and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to The Settlers of Catan series between 1996 and 2016. Mayfair Games
100-552: A few full-time staff, relying on volunteer work from the other founders. But as income increased, it brought more on as employees. ICE soon published its first three game products: Arms Law (1980), The Iron Wind (1980), and Manassas (1981). Arms Law was the first release including the house rules from the University of Virginia days, which began Rolemaster as an alternate system for combat in AD&;D rather than
125-616: A game set in Middle-earth, so ICE sought a license from Tolkien Enterprises to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , which was granted because no had ever asked them for such a license before. Tolkien Enterprises granted an exclusive, worldwide license to ICE in 1982, and ICE began the Middle-earth line by publishing the sourcebook A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth (1982) which could be used with any fantasy role-playing game. According to some interpretations, at
150-551: A gamebook license with the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Allen & Unwin for four new Middle-earth Quest books, beginning with A Spy in Isengard . However, the solo game book market was going soft by this time. ICE canceled all solo game book lines, with dozens of books still in development. Returns were high on the Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries line. All this brought ICE to near bankruptcy in
175-836: A newly created subsidiary of the Asmodee Group . Former CEO Pete Fenlon left Mayfair Games to become the CEO of the new company. Larry Roznai was the last CEO of Mayfair games. He joined the company in 1999 as a board member , president, and chief operating officer . On February 9, 2018, Mayfair announced it had sold all of its assets to the North American branch of Asmodée Éditions , and would be shutting down. Rights to some Mayfair titles are no longer retained by Asmodée. This list includes games published by Mayfair and games licensed by Mayfair from other publishers. Iron Crown Enterprises Iron Crown Enterprises ( ICE )
200-485: A rapid decline in its distribution net; nearly 70% of ICE's distributors either went bankrupt or became moribund. There has been some debate over whether Tolkien Enterprises forced ICE into bankruptcy in order to get the gaming license in anticipation of the upcoming new movie franchise. The company entered bankruptcy and filed for Chapter 7 in October, 2000. This bankruptcy cost ICE the Middle-earth license, ending both
225-681: A standalone role-playing game. The Iron Wind was a campaign for any fantasy role-playing game taking place on a fantastic island, and although it did not receive supplements for years it would come to be considered the first release from ICE in their Loremaster campaign setting. Manassas by Rick Britton was an wargame set during the American Civil War in the ICE home state of Virginia. ICE's series of rules supplements, beginning with Arms Law , were intended to serve as modular add-ons to other RPG systems offering greater detail. Arms Law
250-410: Is a meaningful, positive value. Indeed, even negative APs/Units still represent positive values, though exponentially smaller, down to -100 APs, which is defined as absolute zero for all units. In the superhero games, 1 AP corresponds to 8 seconds, 20 feet (6.1 m), 100 pounds (45 kg), 2 cubic feet (57 L), $ 50, or a typed page of information. A single increase of an AP roughly doubles
275-568: Is a publishing company that has produced role playing, board, miniature, and collectible card games since 1980. Many of ICE's better-known products were related to J. R. R. Tolkien 's world of Middle-earth , but the Rolemaster rules system, and its science-fiction equivalent, Space Master , have been the foundation of ICE's business. Pete Fenlon was running a six-year Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in Middle-earth while he
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#1732797835290300-527: Is about 500 pounds. Multiplication and division of raw values are simplified to addition and subtraction on a logarithmic scale, so the MEGS scale functions essentially the same way that slide rules do. For example, raw distance travelled is normally calculated by multiplying raw speed by raw time. In MEGS, speed and time in APs/Units are simply added together to yield the distance travelled in APs/Units. So
325-596: The MERP and MECCG lines. Many of the authors and illustrators were not paid for substantial amounts of work. In December, 2001, ICE's assets were purchased by Aurigas Aldebaron LLLC, an intellectual property ownership company backed by several wealthy individuals. The new owners licensed the Iron Crown Enterprise name and other assets to Mjolnir LLC until 2011. Starting in January, 2011, licensing
350-533: The Mayfair Games trademark. Pete Fenlon became the CEO of Mayfair Games in 2007 to oversee a major reorganization with a refocusing on core brands, most importantly the Catan family of games. In 2013, Mayfair reported selling more than 750,000 Catan-related products. In January 2016, Mayfair transferred all publishing, commercial, and brand rights for all English-language Catan products to Catan Studio,
375-481: The books to be games and under their license, but the format came too close to being literary books. ICE was forced to recall and destroy the whole line of books, at devastating cost. Meanwhile, ICE sued the Narnia licensor as they turned out to not have the necessary rights to license Narnia to ICE. That company went bankrupt from the legal settlement and was unable to pay ICE their damages. ICE reached terms in 1988 for
400-572: The creative reins of Hero's products. Iron Crown branched out into the solo gaming books under the Tolkien Quest (later called Middle-earth Quest , 1985), Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries (1987) and Narnia Solo Games (1988) book lines. Unknown to ICE at the time, the Middle-earth Quest books violated ICE and Tolkien Enterprises' contract with Tolkien's book publishing licensee, George Allen & Unwin . ICE and TE considered
425-541: The line violated the trademark, but the line as a whole did not violate the agreement, and Mayfair continued publishing the line until the rights were bought by TSR. In 1996, Mayfair Games became the publisher of The Settlers of Catan in the US. The company shut down for financial reasons in 1997 but was subsequently bailed out by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), who purchased most of their assets and restarted operations as Ironwind, Inc. This new company operates publicly under
450-552: The superheroes created by DC Comics with new ones for the Blood of Heroes universe. All measurements in MEGS are done using a logarithmic scale . The units on this scale are called "Attribute Points" or "APs" in the superhero games and simply "Units" in Underground, with each unit on the scale represents exponentially increasing values for length, weight, time, etc. Because of the nature of logarithms and exponents, 0 APs/Units
475-416: The time of its publication ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing was the second best selling fantasy RPG after TSR 's Dungeons & Dragons . ICE then added the science fiction RPGs Spacemaster (1985) and Cyberspace (1989) to its line. ICE also published a moderately successful space miniatures battle game called Silent Death (1990), based on Spacemaster but with simpler mechanics. Silent Death
500-421: The value, so 2 APs of weight is about 200 pounds, while 6 APs of weight is about 3200 pounds, or about 1.5 tons . In Underground, 1 Unit corresponds to 5 seconds, 12 feet (3.7 m), 125 pounds (57 kg), 64 cubic feet (1,800 L), or a bit more than a paragraph of text. An increase of 3 Units represents a doubling of the related value, so 4 Units of weight is about 250 pounds, while 7 Units of weight
525-643: Was attending college in the late 1970s, when he started developing unique house rules with S. Coleman Charlton and Kurt Fischer . When most of them graduated from the University of Virginia in 1980, they wanted to make a business out of their special game rules, so they founded Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), named after a regalia from Middle-earth. Aside from Fenlon and Charlton, ICE originally included Richard H. Britton , Terry K. Amthor , Bruce Shelley , Bruce Neidlinger , Kurt Fischer, Heike Kubasch , Olivia Johnston, among others. The company originally only had
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#1732797835290550-460: Was followed by Spell Law (1982), Character Law (1982), and Campaign Law (1984). In time, these supplements were tied together to form an RPG system of their own, Rolemaster . Concurrent with the rules supplements, ICE began releasing world campaign content materials in what was originally called the Loremaster series, beginning with The Iron Wind . Rolemaster had originated from
575-633: Was founded in 1981 by Darwin Bromley in Chicago , Illinois , United States . The company was created to publish Empire Builder , a railroad game designed by Bromley and Bill Fawcett . In 1982, Mayfair Games expanded its focus to include Role Aids , a line of role-playing game supplements. In 1993, Mayfair was sued by TSR, Inc. , who argued that Role Aids violated their 1984 trademark agreement, being advertised as compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons . The court found that some of
600-529: Was released in two major editions, with supplemental books and a fair number of paintable lead miniatures. ICE also expanded its original Loremaster supplements into a full-blown fantasy world to support Rolemaster , called the Shadow World , supported by dozens of adventures and sourcebooks. In 1986, ICE signed a publication contract to take over Hero Games ' production and distribution. Later, with Hero Games staff leaving for other jobs, ICE took over
625-645: Was transferred to Guild Companion Publications Ltd. In 2016, Aurigas Alderbaron merged with Guild Companion Publications Ltd to create a single company: Guild Companion Publications. This company both holds the Iron Crown Enterprises intellectual property and produces and sells Iron Crown products. On January 9, 2017, Guild Companion Publications Limited officially changed its name to Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd. Iron Crown Enterprises continues to produce products for its Rolemaster and High Adventure Role Playing (HARP) line, including products set in
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