"Lord of the rings roleplay?" Topic

What would be a good system to support LOTR role play?
let me know
Thank you guys
Austin

I think Savage Worlds would be a good system for LoTR. I guess though, that it depends on the granularity you are looking for.

I have never played savage worlds….
What am I missing out on?

Thanks
Austin

Check out The One Ring RPG.

link

Second Otto the Great. I have a friend who has played RPGs for 15 years and he swears by The One Ring.

I never got into the system but the sourcebooks for MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing version of Rolemaster) were pretty detailed and probably of good use regardless of system.
For a system I'd probably go with the new Runequest 6 (no Glorantha in this new version) or Age of Shadows, which is Openquest aimed at a fairly Tolkienesque setting (and it's 'Pay What You Want' on DTRPG).

Also recommend The One Ring. Very high quality product done by people very passionate about Middle Earth. There are references to things you would only recognize if you devoured all 12 volumes of the History of Middle Earth. Much of the art work is being done by LOTR veteran artist John Howe.

I use GURPs for everything from fantasy to French and Indian war to Star Wars.
You can check it out for free.
sjgames.com/gurps/lite

(A)D&D?

The old MERP stuff was great.

Definitely MERP

How well does merp play? It seemed complicated when a friend explained it to me.

Thanks
Austin

MERP or OD&D

Definitely another vote for The One Ring.

There's a revised printing coming out soon(which are aimed to address the concerns of a poorly organized rulebook), along with a new supplement called Rivendell.

I ran a 2 scenarios from Tales from the Wilderland. Fantastic material.

MERP. Ah those were the days.
MERP is my pick. :-)

Grimm

MERP is complicated but the adventure source material is some of the best ever produced.

I've not played, but I've heard very good things about The One Ring.

Xin

I'd vote against the various flavors of D&D because that game seems to generally be much higher-powered, more magic, than LOTR. After a few levels it quickly starts feeling like a superhero story… IMO.
Middle Earth is very pretty and magical… but the magic in the stories is nothing like that in D&D. It's usually much more subtle than that.
Actually, I'm not sure what system really captures that magical feel.

what about the 'lord of the rings rpg'?

When this question comes up on the forums at rpg.net, the consensus is that standard D&D (esp later editions) just do not work because the system is set up for higher level magic use and such which is inconsistent with the Tolkien vibe. Some disagree, and argue that you aren't required to employ all of those game features, but I personally agree that D&D is far more high fantasy than low fantasy.

MERP hands down for the resource books alone. I used a mash up of the MERP RPG system and Rolemaster for gaming which worked quite well. The MERP books are, I believe, still in the public domain despite harassment (by guess who) of sites that offer them.

merp.com

Rolemaster is not.

ironcrown.com/rolemaster

Current iteration of D&D is high powered, but classic D&D works fine and can be easily tweaked to fit Middle-Earth.

I own and have run Middle-earth RPG campaigns with MERP, The One Ring, and AD&D, and I have the Decipher Lord of the Rings RPG (although I never ran a game of it).

MERP, while having some lovely maps and interesting (if uneven) sourcebooks, is a ridiculous mess, rules-wise. It's not even close to having a Tolkien feel to it, with everyone having "plus twenty this or that" sorts of magic items, wizards galore, everyone in the party casting spells left and right (and big-time BLAST 'EM! type spells to boot), etc.

I'm not a fan of Decipher's system as a whole, but it's not a bad game. It just didn't click with me, and it didn't really feel uniquely suited to Middle-earth.

The One Ring, on the other hand, is designed from the ground up as a very Tolkienesque game. The character types, mechanical choices, Hope/Shadow rules, etc., provide a great framework for playing good guys (even flawed good guys) in Middle-earth.

Combat is neat, because it's more abstract than many games (not minis-driven, although we still used minis), but very much about meaningful choices. You take a "stance" with your character (Forward, Open, Defensive, Rearward) that determines both your base chance to hit your enemy AND their chance to hit you. a Forward character is (surprise) in the front rank, focused on striking the enemy. It's both easier to hit and be hit. Defensive characters, otoh, are harder to hit or be hit, etc.

Each stance also has a maneuver one can attempt, usually in place of attacking. A character in Open stance can attempt to Rally (via Inspire or Song skills) to help friends recover Endurance. A Defensive character picks one of his companions to cover, allowing you to take an attack intended for them, etc.

All very neat, tactical, and yet thematic.

It is NOT suited for "Dude! Let's plunder Rivendell, lulz!" sort of play. The Shadow rules will come down swiftly on behaviors of that sort, albeit in a way that makes thematic sense.

Example: Players pick an overall theme or goal for their character, each of which has an associated flaw. Thus, someone seeking treasure might lapse into mindless greed, while a more militant character's desire to protect might turn into bloody vengeance.

Characters also have a Hope score. Hope is spent like Fate points in other games, where you can expend them in order to pass a failed test. Thematically, Sam would fail to smite Shelob, but he summoned all his strength and hope to go beyond himself. But at a price, as eventually one is worn down (lost all Hope, as it were).

As characters acquire Shadow points from "evil" choices, encounters with servants of the Dark Lord, or passing through blighted areas such as Dol Guldor, etc., they become more likely to suffer from a bout of madness. Once your Shadow exceeds your Hope, a critical failure on an attempt triggers the bout of Madness. Basically, you do something you wouldn't do if you were in command of yourself, usually related to your inherent flaw or something else appropriate.

So, Thorin in his fury trying to throw Bilbo from the mountain and Boromir trying to take the Ring can happen in a way that is mechanically driven.

The down sides to TOR are the formatting of the books (rules are split between Loremaster and Player books in a way that seems arbitrary), and the limited scope of the game. It's very much a game about Middle-earth in the late Third Age. The base game is all about Wilderland, fifty years before the Lord of the Rings. Expansions are slooooowly trickling out, so don't count on anything other than what exists at present.

There are also some rules (Treasure and [Social] Standing, in particular) that I don't think were really playtested. I handwaved most of that in my campaign. It's definitely NOT about acquiring treasure, not in the "count every copper" way that D&D is. It's a much more abstract game than that, more about the hearts and minds of the characters and their choices, much less about coins and gear. I think that works GREAT for Middle-earth, but is something to be aware of.

Man, cannot wait for the new version then

I second everything Darthfozzywig said.

TOR reads and feels very much like Middle Earth

MERP is a product of its time, it's a standard fantasy RPG with a themed setting, but nothing much to link both. I'd say the sourcebooks and material is very useful

TOR absolutely drips with rules meshed into the background of the game. Many of the ideas are incredibly elegant and you can link it back to the books many times as you read it.

The down side is that the rules are a bit on the top heavy side at times.

has anyone ever explained why Merp combat results in left leg wounds bizarrely often or why theres a picture of a parachuting hippo in the rulebook?

MERP 2nd edition was a better game and had different rules that fit better into Middle Earth. Still a bit of a gem of a game.

I liked the Decipher Game, but there was a few flaws in the stock game which you have to tweak, and there are plenty of tweaks in the webzine Hall of Fire.

I have The One Ring, but haven't used it. It is geared towards a party of players, but I have 2 guys that I play with, so it seems to fall a little short for that small of a group.

If you like a tactical game, HarnMaster is easy to convert into Middle Earth, and has a nice gritty feel to it.

Man, TOR rules sound extremely cool. I'll have to check them out!

MERP did have some excellent material though, I always liked their TA 1650 stuff in particular.

-Will

MERP did have some excellent material though, I always liked their TA 1650 stuff in particular.

Me, too. It was a neat idea to be able to explore famous locations when they were at their peak. I really like the Rangers of the North/Arthedain sourcebook.

TOR sounds interesting, if a bit abstract, maybe more abstract than I'd want… though the 'Shadow' mechanism seems useful.

Lots of suggestions here!

TOR looks awesome.
At the same time, I actually kind of like the decipher game.

I'll ask my group which they would prefer.

Thanks
Austin