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While it does require more bookkeeping than many, it's "fun" bookkeeping - tracking the creatures defeated in combat, for instance. Everything is skill-based, from your skill with 1H bashing weapons to your ability to dance, so you have a pile of skill points to allocate at each level. What some see as a burden, many see as opporunity to show improvement and development.
Combat in Rolemaster can be lengthy but is the most enjoyable semi-simulation game I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Weapons, armor and skill are all considered in resolution. To whit, the attacker makes a d% roll, adds their skill (and any applicable modifiers). The defender subtracts their skill (and any applicable modifiers). The GM takes the final number and determines the result based on the weapon and armor class. If the attack is particularly sucessful, a critical hit is scored and the attacker gets to roll to determine the nature of the critical.
RoleMaster has been dubbed "ChartMaster" by detractors, claiming that "you have to roll on a chart to see what chart you roll on" and that combat is bogged down by math and chart lookups. Advocates, however, point out that particular weapons serve very different purposes and different armor types impact the effectiveness of weapons...that rapier is *generally* less effective against plate armor, for instance, but can more easily pierce the defender through the gaps in chain mail, leading to bleeding damage. Rolemaster has 1-roll resolution - unlike, say, D&D - for all non-critical hits...the attack roll determines damage.
RoleMaster's spellcasting is a embarassment of riches - point based casting, spell lists that are logical and inclusive while speaking to the flavor of any magician from any flavor of fiction, and a wonderful array of "classes" capable of casting from the purest academic to the mystical kung-fu master.