Since this is a little too lengthy for the typical meetup.com posting, I'm explaining the pros and cons of the different Tolkien-based RPG's (from my perspective of course).
The first official licensed Tolkien RPG. Was a stripped down, simplified version of ICE's Rolemaster. Many of us that played this system in the 80's and 90's still have a great fondness for this system despite some flaws as a Tolkien-focused RPG.
It uses primarily percentile dice - d100 (d10 x2).
The greatest issue is the magic system does not fit.
The second edition began making suggestions to somewhat improve, but it really needs a complete overhaul.
the only other real "issue" is very subjective based on individual player and GM tastes, rather than a Tolkien setting issue. That is the core system using a lot of (in my view easy percentile, but to others these days they consider daunting) math and charts. Folks either love it or hate it. Whatever you feel about it though, it is a slower system than simpler systems, so combat can take quite a bit longer, unless everyone in the group is highly skilled with the system.
MERP does not really encourage ROLE-play over ROLL-play, nor really nudge players into playing more Tolkien-like heroes (the way TOR RPG does), but it is flexible enough that any GM can do this through the narrative of the campaign rather than the system.
The second officially license Tolkien RPG.
Most of the content is fluff and movie-centric.
The system is incomplete, unbalanced, and requires a lot of tweaking from the community to make it workable.
The books lack any usable Table of Contents or Index (unless you get online resources from the community thankfully), so character generation is an unpleasant experience.
The system is much more simplistic, using the Decipher generic CODA system. It is light on details, math, and charts.
It uses six sided dice (usually 2d6).
This is a modern system, very light on math and charts.
It has very abstract rules systems.
These rules inherently encourage more Tolkienesque Role-play (a good thing).
The combat system is very abstract, so details are left up to the GM and players (not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the group).
One wonderful feature is the encouragement for players to have more say in the narrative describing what their characters actually do when they make an attempt at an action or combat. The gradient levels of success allow for creative and fun approaches to otherwise mundane task resolution.
This is not necessarily the system for everyone. If you like gritty, detailed, brutal, hack and slash, this is not the system for you.
If you like broader "role-play" then it is well worth considering.
The more I play this system, the more I enjoy it.
They only have a few supplements available currently, and with it being such a small company, there is concern about the long term support of the system. It is easy to use resources from MERP and elsewhere to expand the setting.
Since it is currently published you can easily buy the rules at local game stores like Merlyn's (please support your local businesses), or online. This makes it easy for people to pick up the rules and have their own copy, and be prepared for the games.
An adaptation of D&D 3.5 to fit Middle-earth.
It is basically the core rules, but with the Races/Cultures replaced, and an overhaul of the magic classes and magic rules (using existing 3.5 published options).
This is an unofficial system (created by me, with the help of dozens of play testers), that is always progressing. http://www.earpg.com
The advantage of this system is especially for newer players, or older players, that are only really familiar with d20 rules, and not really interested in learning a completely new system, but want to play in a Tolkien setting.
The core mechanics are all the same, so it is easy for any D&D player to jump in and get playing.
There are versions of this also adapted for 1st & 2nd editions of AD&D as well.
A system built from the ground up specifically for Tolkien role-playing gaming.
Also created by me, and offered in three levels of complexity.
Eä RPG Basic Rules
The bare essentials of a role-playing game, using only a single d6. It is a great introduction to RPG for anyone that has never role-played, or if you want to quickly throw a game together, it only takes less than 15 minutes to make a character. Of course it is not meant for long term use over a long campaign, but it is a great starting point for beginners.
Also a system created from scratch for role-playing in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and beyond.
Also created by me. This is a percentage-based system. It is meant to be a complete RPG system. It is intended to be a balance between more detail than the current popular trend of abstract systems, while still trying to keep the pace play going better than Rolemaster for example.
This is in an Alpha stage of development. I now need an adventurous group of players willing to help get this system into actual use, and help shape the final product (as players did with the d20 version over the years).
This is basically a bunch of options that can be added to the Standard Rules, or all used together for the complete advanced experience...
This is for those players that LOVE lots of detail, charts, calculations, etc. in their game play, and do not mind slowing down game play a little bit to crunch some extra calculations to get improved "realism".
Basically this is developing as a repository of the rules that were considered in the standard rules, but were decided were too technical or detailed, and slowed down game play enough, that they were removed from the standard rules, but saved in the advanced rules if they were still to be found of value.
The first official licensed Tolkien RPG. Was a stripped down, simplified version of ICE's Rolemaster. Many of us that played this system in the 80's and 90's still have a great fondness for this system despite some flaws as a Tolkien-focused RPG. The greatest issue is the magic system does not fit. The second edition began making suggestions to somewhat improve, but it really needs a complete overhaul. The Hands of the Healer supplement was and continues to be an excellent approach to healing and healing "magic", that was a great indicator of where the Third Edition MERP might have been, and would have been a much better fit ifr it had ben published.
the only other real "issue" is very subjective based on individual player and GM tastes, rather than a Tolkien setting issue. That is the core system using a lot of (in my view easy percentile, but to others these days they consider daunting) math and charts. Folks either love it or hate it. Whatever you feel about it though, it is a slower system than simpler systems, so combat can take quite a bit longer, unless everyone in the group is highly skilled with the system.
MERP does not really encourage ROLE-play over ROLL-play, nor really nudge players into playing more Tolkien-like heroes (the way TOR RPG does), but it is flexible enough that any GM can do this through the narrative of the campaign rather than the system. Leading to VERY different "feel" between different MERP groups. Since ICE was forced into bankruptcy, and forcefully lost their Tolkien license in 1999, it is difficult for people to get the rule books for this system anymore, and when you can find them, they are going for a pretty penny. This makes it difficult for new players to join the system, so it is steadily dying off.
Though i initially cut my teeth on the original D&D and AD&D, the system that I have the greatest fondness for is the ICE MERP (and later integration with Rolemaster) system. I had groups last as long as 5 years using MERP. We had wonderful adventures, and the gritty combat system was brutal so it encouraged the players to really think carefully about picking a fight, or at least coming up with very creative approaches to give them a greater margin of safety, while at the same time allowing for some epic David-versus-Goliath moments of epic adventure and combat.
The MERP background material was, and still is, second to none. No one else has been allowed to have the license for the nearly 20 years run that ICE had. Also ICE took liberties and had a lot more content in their material than was technically allowed by their license (which was used to hijack the license from them when the Peter Jackson movies were on the way), but made for better content than any other licensee will ever be allowed to create. Their first edition supplements were more D&D-esque and pretty fast and loose with the facts.
The second edition supplements really increased in level of research and quality. Under Chris Seeman, the third edition was going to be even more "accurate". The herbs details were a wonderful contribution the MERP/RM systems made. And the "Hands of the Healer" supplement is invaluable for any Tolkien-based RPG setting. Professor Chris Seeman explained at MerpCon / Tolkien Moot thta originally it was just going to be a book on herbs, but that would have been very limited, so he encouraged addressing a key area that was weak in MERP, magic and healing. By focusing on each culture and their approach to healing, a great new approach was taking dealing with "magic like" approaches to healing, but within the more subtle realm of "magic" more appropriate to a Tolkien-based setting. This is also an invaluable resource for any RPG set in Tolkien, and a good indicator of where the Third Edition MERP was heading.
As much as I loved MERP, and still have a fondness for it, still using it when I can find the few people that also know/enjoy it, MERP is not without some significant flaws from the perspective of trying to use the "ideal" RPG system in a Tolkien setting, mostly the magic system.
Magic. This is the most glaring part of MERP at odds with a Tolkienesque settings. As is the case with most of MERP, it is just a trimmed down and tweaked version of Rolemaster. The magic system is the same. There are some tweaks in the second edition that are very useful, and I've integrated into my own Tolkien gaming systems (magic broadcast, residue, detection, shadow, etc.). If the MERP folks had been allowed to finish their Third edition that was in the works, it seems a lot of the issues would have been resolved, but that never saw the light of day alas.
The combat system is more an issue of personal taste. Some folks like detailed, gritty, and dangerous systems. Others like abstract and very open to interpretation systems. This isn't exactly a Tolkien gaming system issue as much as just different tastes for different folks. That being said, as much as we all LOVED the critical charts, they are too arbitrary for location, and a tweaked version that actually takes into account the location target, hit, and "critted" would make it the best system for detail but slower than a simpler system.
The MERP system is still very usable,. especially if you overhaul the magic classes and system, integrate the Hands of the Healer supplement, and have players that enjoy number crunching, chart cross referencing, and detailed combat.
Over the past 10 years I have found it increasingly difficult to find anyone that ones to ujse MERP/RM anymore unfortunately. And most new players are daunted by the math and charts, preferring either the comfort of d20-based, or one of the plethora of newer generation more abstract, math and chart light, systems so popular these days.
The second officially license Tolkien RPG.
Though the people working on it were committed, Decipher only half-heartedly supported this system, for a mere 5 years (compared to MERP's 18+ years). Most of the content is fluff and movie-centric. The system is incomplete, unbalanced, and requires a lot of tweaking from the community to make it workable. The books lack any usable Table of Contents or Index (unless you get online resources from the community thankfully), so character generation is an unpleasant experience. The system was much more simplistic, using the Decipher generic CODA system. It is light on details, math, and charts.
Decipher chose not to renew the license in 2007l. While no longer published, there isn't much demand for the product, so it is still easy to get the books at gaming stores and online at cheap prices (unlike the hundreds of dollars for many MERP products). So this does make it possible to have new players learn the system. With the help of online community resources, and GM integration of many of those optional rules and hacks, it can be made into a workable system that some folks still very much enjoy.
This system was a half-hearted attempt to hang onto the Tolkien gaming license by Decipher. While those who actually worked on the system were personally very invested in trying to make it a better Tolkien-based RPG, they were severely hamstrung in what they were allowed to do. Partly because the new Tolkien RPG license from Tolkien Enterprises aka Middle-earth Enterprises, was so much more restrictive, but also because Decipher was much more interested in the much more financially lucrative (in general) collectible trading card games based on the license, rather than the tighter margins of role-playing games.
As ICE's MERP was a hacked version of Rolemaster, Decipher's LotR RPG was a hacked use of their CODA system, rather than a system created from scratch specifically for Tolkien settings.
Though I have all the books and supplements, and have made a few characters. I was never able to find ANYONE, even at conventions, that would use this system, so I have limited perspective on this unfortunately.
My biggest complaint was how poorly organized it was. A nearly-non-existent Table of Contents, no Index at all, and an organization structure that was not very intuitive, made just making characters a very onerous task.
based on the reviews of others, it appears the system had signiticant balance issues that require a lot of "house rules" to try to reign in and make usable fore more than just a few sessions.
The fact that it was based so heavily on thje Peter Jackson movies in both artwork and feel, also distorted it for the feel of a Tolkien setting.
Once you wade through trying to make a character ,the actual game play was a much simpler system than MERP/RM. Being part of the current trend towards simpler (some would say "dumbed down"), math and chart light, more abstract system, though not as much so as TOR RPG.
Though I welcome someone GMing me using this system, so I can get some more hands on experience, I would hesitate to GM this system myself, and cannot personally recommend it as a Tolkien RPG system to choose.
You can read more details about my reviews of this system here:
The reviews are now a bit out of date. The more I have used the system, the more I have grown to enjoy and appreciate the choices the creators of that system made. Though still not my personal "ideal" of a Tolkien RPG system, it is by far (except for arguably my own system of course :-) )
The third, and current, officially licensed Tolkien RPG. This is a modern system, very light on math and charts. It has very abstract rules systems. These rules inherently encourage more Tolkienesque Role-play (a good thing). The combat system is very abstract, so details are left up to the GM and players (not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the group). One wonderful feature is the encouragement for players to have more say in the narrative describing what their characters actually do when they make an attempt at an action or combat. The gradient levels of success allow for creative and fun approaches to otherwise mundane task resolution. TOR is not by itself original in any of its approaches, but it mixes together the ideas from various other systems in a blend that is definitely pro-Tolkien "feel".
This is not necessarily the system for everyone. If you like gritty, detailed, brutal, hack and slash, this is not the system for you. If you like broader "role-play" then it is well worth considering. The books are not the best organized, a trend of modern RPG systems of late unfortunately, but they have made enhanced Indexes available that are invaluable in using the rules (thank goodness!). You need at least one person experienced with the system to teach everyone else, it is by itself overwhelming and too disorganized for most beginner gamers to be able to grasp, they will otherwise generally give up in frustration if you do not have someone guiding them through step by step.
The more I play this system, the more I enjoy it. Though lacking the detail I prefer (I can of course fill in those details myself as I do normally anyway), it is a fun system. The down side is that long term adventuring campaigns can be problematic. Your characters get worn out, and exposed to so much over time, they start to have increasing long term side effects that eventually encourage you to quite playing that character, and move on to a new generation.
One prospective player pointed out how this could be problematic for long-lived races like the Elves. I have only had a few short campaigns of 3-6 sessions using this system so far. I am hoping to have a go with a longer campaign shortly, to see how it holds up over time.
They only have a few supplements available currently, and with it being such a small company, there is concern about the long term support of the system. But if they can keep putting out content each year, then hopefully it will grown and get more support for more content, and not be another short-lived system like Decipher's LotR. At least it is starting out with a far better system.
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http://www.thehobbitblog.com/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-video-9/
This is an article translated from a French Magazine
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For over a year requests have gone out for someone to help manage this vast site.
See a more complete list of sites impacted here: http://66.165.236.130/why.html
merpcon.com, Tolkien gaming convention 2005 through 2009) middle-earthradio.com, middleearthradio.com (24x7x365 streaming of Tolkien music)
othermindsmagazine.com, omzine.org, other-minds.com, otherminds.net (Magazine for Tolkien enthusiasts, and Tolkien role-playing gamers)
middle-earthtalk.com, middleearthtalk.com (periodic podcasts)
If people actually want merp.com, and/or the other Tolkien community sites, and the thousands of content items to survive, now is the time to step up.
Or maybe the time has just come for it, and all the other related sites to simply go away?
So, who is willing to step up and manage merp.com and/or the other site(s)?
Or shall it just die?
Shall it truly be "good riddance" as one twitter user recently said?
Is this the future for Middle-earth Radio, Merp.com, and the other sites?
Or is there someone in the vast community that benefited from using it over the years, that can step up to keep it alive in this dire time of need?
You decide.
Please email tolkienscholars@gmail.com if you want to save merp.com (or any of the many other sites sadly also being shut down otherwise).
]]>Merp.com reviews:
Review #1: http://www.merp.com/news/tor-rpg-slipcover-books-maps-photos
Core Set Mod: http://www.merp.com/news/the-one-ring-rpg-tor-rpg-modification-to-keep-dice-tray-from-slipping-out-and-losing-dice
Review #2: http://www.merp.com/news/tor-rpg-review-part-2-character-creation-part-1
Review #3 (unfinished): Part 3 in the Review Series of The One Ring RPG by Cubicle 7 - Character Creation Process Part 2" http://www.merp.com/news/tor-rpg-review-3
Review #4 Video Review, Middle-earth Talk Show Video Review of both the Core Set and the Supplement: http://www.merp.com/news/video-review-the-one-ring-rpg-adventures-in-wilderland-supplement
Homemade LM screen (2011) while waiting for Cubicle 7 to offer one: http://www.merp.com/news/tor-rpg-the-one-ring-tolkien-role-playing-loremaster-lm-screen-draft
]]>Here is the video that mentioned RPG Research (near the end of the video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9QhyDdWbBY
Here is the video that PBS Idea Channel posted last week on the benefits of playing Dungeons & Dragons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFtlDhksGHA
Very much ties in the research underway at http://rpgresearch.com/
Enjoy!
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