Mr Brightside | 09 Aug 2014 2:39 p.m. PST |
Anybody here play this game when it first came out? If so, how was it compared to D&D and GURPS? auction |
Chef Lackey Rich | 09 Aug 2014 2:52 p.m. PST |
Basically uses a modified version of ICE's Rolemaster engine in Tolkein's setting. Unless you were a RM fan to begin with, it was pretty clunky even back then, and not very true to canon. |
kreoseus2 | 09 Aug 2014 3:00 p.m. PST |
My first RPG, fun but clunky. The crits are fun. |
waaslandwarrior | 09 Aug 2014 3:01 p.m. PST |
There was also an expanded second edition published a few years later. And lots of scenario's and back ground books. Most of them are much sought after and not cheap… |
Happy Little Trees | 09 Aug 2014 3:01 p.m. PST |
You might want to look at HARP the current, non-Tolkien-ey version. link Unless the Tolkien is what you want. |
GonerGonerGoner | 09 Aug 2014 4:12 p.m. PST |
The MERP/Rolemaster system is horrible. Complex and perhaps realistic in that combat results in maimings left, right and centre. The Tolkien background is very good and ideal if you want to run a Middle Earth game. Just use a different system. |
Sue Kes | 09 Aug 2014 4:15 p.m. PST |
The books are excellent, heaps of indepth material, background and maps, but a lot of people prefer to use them with their favourite gaming system instead of the ICE one – which my group is doing at the moment. The publications certainly are sought after and not easy to get (I'm still after Kin-Strife) but there are a lot on Scribd which can be downloaded – their subscription is very cheap and it's worth it for what you can get. |
altfritz | 09 Aug 2014 4:41 p.m. PST |
It was known as the "Roll-master" system! There is a new RPG set in Middle Earth which seems much better. The One Ring, if I remember the name correctly. Much higher production values. A system of somesort for tracking the impending gloom of the Dark Lord. They have a name – shadow – or something like that. |
doc mcb | 09 Aug 2014 4:56 p.m. PST |
Hmmm. I own a lot of those. Much sought after, huh? I never played them, but collect them because, yes, they seem very well done, very detailed. |
PiersBrand | 09 Aug 2014 4:59 p.m. PST |
Still playing Merp now… have been for a long time. My favourite fantasy RPG. |
FABET01 | 09 Aug 2014 5:08 p.m. PST |
MERP first came out in 1984. The first book of the Role-master system it's based came out in 1980. Many of the covers to the MERP modules were done by the late,great Angus McBride. |
Mr Brightside | 09 Aug 2014 5:18 p.m. PST |
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MahanMan | 09 Aug 2014 5:58 p.m. PST |
I remember playing one session of MERP in high school, and my friend the Sindarin elf ended the whole thing by shooting a Nazgul-type thing for enough damage to utterly destroy its mortal form. Not bad for novice level 1 (heck, closer to level 1/2!) types… |
doc mcb | 09 Aug 2014 6:46 p.m. PST |
It happens. I had an ironclads game where a single shot rolled a 10 on a d10, the only thing would hit. He rolled to see where it hit, and got another 10, a special hit. He rolled a 3rd 10 and got a magazine hit causing a explosion that destroyed, I think, the New Ironsides or something. Literally 1 chance in a 1000, but it happened. |
Milites | 09 Aug 2014 7:27 p.m. PST |
As others have said, modules were well written, but the system were shoehorned in from Rolemaster and not true to the spirit of Tolkein. It did though generate countless quirky events, the fighter who tripped over a chair and knocked himself out and the low level mage who rolled an open ended lightning bolt that cut his far superior opponent in half, being two memorable ones. |
David Johansen | 09 Aug 2014 9:18 p.m. PST |
First off, it's not true to the spirit of the guy who dropped three elven swords of great renown in a troll hole full of treasure? It is more in the tone of The Hobbit than Lord of the Rings. Where Gandalf being a Wizard is common knowledge and evidently not uncommon and he uses spells to do things like killing goblins with a flash. Lord of the Rings is where Tolkien began to move away from that concept. Next off the system is brilliant but quite different from D&D. First edition MERP is fantastically tight and well laid out. The second edition less so. What messes people up is the declaration of intent phase. Many people ditched it from versions of D&D and as it did no harm there, thought it could be ditched in Rolemaster and MERP, but it speeds up the game play significantly because everyone can roll, add, and check their chart at the same time. Also, in Rolemaster, while rounds can take longer, combat tends to be decisive in fewer rounds. I was all about the rules lite games before I got hooked on Rolemaster. If you want to check it out ICE has free playtest files for their new edition on the forums on their website. |
tkdguy | 09 Aug 2014 11:48 p.m. PST |
I love the MERP system. I still have it along with the source books. My group even incorporated the MERP critical hits and fumbles into our AD&D game. I played a game recently, bringing a few characters out of retirement. My main character died, but at least that's one way to get some closure in the campaign. |
Griefbringer | 10 Aug 2014 12:00 a.m. PST |
I used to run a lot of MERP games back in the day, and found the level of detail manageable. It is certainly a lot simpler than the actual Rolemaster, which I picked up later on but never actually played. That said, thinking back now I think the magic system was a bit too straightforward and powerful, when compared to the books. Subtler system might have fit the setting better. |
Sue Kes | 10 Aug 2014 3:03 a.m. PST |
doc mcb, I've just checked out sold MERP items on eBay.co.uk, and a lot of them seem to have sold for between £20.00 GBP and £60.00 GBP – it might be worth your while looking into this! (Do you have Kin-Strife by the way?) |
Patrick R | 10 Aug 2014 4:07 a.m. PST |
MERP is very much a product of its time. The rules are quite top-heavy, while still playable if you have a GM who is well-versed in the system, it doesn't do a very good job of representing Tolkien's work. At best you could describe it as an old school fantasy game system that happens to use Tolkien as a framework. Now the sourcebooks are pretty good, but they do show their age at times with an emphasis on dungeons and combat and somewhat less on interesting NPC's. Also much of their work is speculative and incorporates many of the features of the Rolemaster rules into the world, which means that a lot of people are machine-gun style spellcasters hurling High-Fantasy blatantly spectacular magic spells faster than Legolas can shoot arrows. With a little editing the books remain very useful for any Tolkien-based game. I play The One Ring, which is the first RPG that feels like the writers actually read and researched Tolkien and built the rules around it from the ground up rather than forcefully ram Tolkien's work sideways into the pre-existing game system and then assume that everything will be run much like the average D&D game. |
doc mcb | 10 Aug 2014 4:08 a.m. PST |
I do not think I have Kin Strife. But most of them, yes, and will check into it. |
dsfrank | 10 Aug 2014 7:29 a.m. PST |
I had some good times playing MERP – I didn't know much about Tolkien's Middle Earth at the time but we didn't feel like we were in Middle Earth. It was a clunky system and the rules seemed to intrude on game play. I second the recommendation for The One Ring a great game that I enjoy quite a bit. |
Noldor42 | 10 Aug 2014 4:12 p.m. PST |
We always had a great time with Rolemaster… still my favorite system |
Landorl | 10 Aug 2014 5:10 p.m. PST |
I started with D&D and then found MERP. I loved it! I loved the fact that with a good roll, a low powered character or monster could defeat a much more powerful one. I loved the game and have many fond memories of it. I tried Rolemaster, but it was a little more rules heavy, and I liked the way MERP played. |
Griefbringer | 11 Aug 2014 11:45 a.m. PST |
Now the sourcebooks are pretty good, but they do show their age at times with an emphasis on dungeons and combat and somewhat less on interesting NPC's. I will have to admit that some of the sourcebooks feature a bit too much dungeons, though it is worth remembering that the original works of Tolkien also featured a good amount of wandering around in caves under the mountains (Goblin Town, Erebor, Moria, Paths of the Dead, Shelob's lair). Also, some of the modules tend to feature more diverse adventure themes. Especially some of the later works, like Kin-Strife (and no, I am not parting with my copy). In any case, Angus McBride cover art was very impressive. Also much of their work is speculative and incorporates many of the features of the Rolemaster rules into the world, which means that a lot of people are machine-gun style spellcasters hurling High-Fantasy blatantly spectacular magic spells faster than Legolas can shoot arrows. Thinking again, I think the main problem is the magician profession, which had access to some quite powerful spell lists. Some of the others, like those available to rangers or bards, were more subtle, though overall spellcasting may have been a bit too easy and predictable, though there was some chance of failure. As for the detail level of Rolemaster (and some other 80's RPG rules), perhaps they were a bit of a counter-reaction to the simplicity and rigidity of D&D and other similar rules systems. And then the 90's had another counter-reaction of more streamlined rules. As for some high fantasy wackyness, don't forget the Shadow World setting that ICE released for Rolemaster. There was even a miniature game set these (Bladestorm), though that had a bit toned-down setting compared to some of the Shadow World modules. |
tkdguy | 13 Aug 2014 1:54 p.m. PST |
I have been toying with the idea of using the MERP rules in a different setting. I know ICE produced a few sourcebooks (Robin Hood, Vikings, etc.) not set in Middle-earth. |
Milites | 14 Aug 2014 4:50 a.m. PST |
I found AD&D v.1 was quite good at reproducing the heroic nature of Tolkien's ME, without making characters ridiculously high levels, as MERP was forced to do. Pendragon's combat was also good at capturing the heroism and the changing character traits system could easily be used to show the corruptive influence of Sauron. C&S, once you'd worked out the damn combat system was also quite good, and RQ's spiritual magic was more representative of ME. MERP was a product of its age, where 'realism' could only be the product of numerous modifiers and complex charts. I liked playing it, but never though it captured the flavour of the setting, unlike FASA's Star Trek. Nowadays, with family and work commitments, I'd use a far more simplified system that resolved combat quickly and focused on the non-combat encounters, essential if you want to represent Tolkien's world. |
logocide | 19 Aug 2014 6:50 a.m. PST |
I first started with MERP, not D&D, like so many of my friends. I have fond memories of it. |
Milites | 19 Aug 2014 7:48 p.m. PST |
Reading LOTR again the one aspect that MERP missed was the importance of hope and the effects of despair, I hope the One Ring RPG covers this most important aspect of Tolkien's world and makes it an integral part of the game play. As for MERP versus AD&D, we liked MERP but had more fun playing AD&D (combat resolution was a damn site faster for one thing), so it became part of the story not a good part of it. |