Ran MERP, Comedy ensued

[Gnashtooth]

So, last night while our D&D5 Dragonlance game was off for a week (missing a player), I ran a game of MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) module Bree and the Barrow Downs

The characters were an orc animist, troll warrior, dwarf ranger, and Rohirrim bard. They explored the barrow downs and fought a couple of wights, but gained beyond hilarious piles of loot in the process. I mean, magic weapons and armor were EVERYWHERE. Crits ensued, and the wights got stunned repeatedly in one part of the game. After one day, the characters were beyond-retirement filthy rich. They were 3rd level (of 10)

For those that have played this, what are your experiences with it? What kind of silliness have you encountered?

 

[Jhaelen]

Our first and only attempt to play MERP was also completely ridiculous. The rules just aren't suited very well to the kind of gameplay you'd expect for a game based on Tolkien's works. Also our GM was out of his depth.

My memory is vague, but I still remember something about a scene when my Hobbit scout(?) sneaked up on a dozing orc(goblin) guard and tried to slit his throat. The GM told me to roll on the crit table and I hit him in the foot... None of us managed to stay serious after that.

 

[CapnZapp]

The MERP adventures are hilariously and infamously un-Tolkienish.

The underlying RM system is fine for some old skool fantasy.

 

[aramis erak]

Really good "Rolemaster Light"...
Really good "Setting Fluff"...
Really bad combination, tho'.

If you ignore that it's Middle Earth, the game plays rather well.

 

[MARCVS AVRELIVS]

MERP Campaign #1: Premise was that we were playing an alternate Fellowship of the Ring. Campaign started in Rivendell with the Council of Elrond, and the Hobbits being NPCs. The wrinkle of the game was that the Ringwraiths hadn't been destroyed at the Ford, but instead were leading orcs from Angmar in a seige of Rivendell. There were five of us filling out the expected roles, but not playing the LotR characters. So a human sage, an elf, dwarf, human and Dunedain. First sessions started with us having to get out of Rivendell in a hurry, while Gandalf and Glorfindel were running a distraction.

Things go wrong right from the get-go. Our human warrior, clad in his Gondorian heavy armor, makes too much noise and brings down an orc patrol on our heads. The combat rolls go from bad to worse, and he's now heavily wounded and telling us all to go on with out him. Of course, we're RPG players, so instead we decide to try and fight off the orcs to save him. Of course, the sounds of battle bring more orcs down on us, and now its the elf who's in trouble too.

At this point, the sage decides to lead off the hobbits for safety and then, once he's out of sight of us, puts a firebolt into the back of Frodo's head and takes the Ring. He puts it on, the Ringwraiths immediately realize where we are and the GM folds up his screen and the game ends. Running time, about 60 minutes.

MERP Campaign #2: Post-LotR setting. Someone is digging up Palantir, and our group ends up being the ones trying to figure out who. Most of the big players have gone into the West, so there's not a lot of people around to help. As players, we ended up digging into the Lost Tales and Simarillion and other lore, paralleling the research being done by our characters, to figure out where the Palantirs would have been lost and how to find them. We ended up travelling over most of Eriador, delving into ruins and lost places, and facing a variety of challenges. The game ended up with us the tip of a lost tower far out in the western sea trying to stop a restored Saruman from using the Palantirs to bring about the Dagor Dagorath by pulling Morgoth through the Door of Night. Saruman's plan was defeated by heroic sacrifice ... and by the PCs knocking over his palantir stands and dropping the stones into the ocean.

 

[Zhaleskra]

I have never had the experience of playing MERP, though I have played a couple incarnations of Rolemaster, and I have run a HARP one-shot. With ICE focusing on Rolemaster United, it might be a better fit. The specificness of RM classes fit in with Middle Earth the way you see fit. I don't know too much about it, being a big fan of HARP, but it does seem like a more accessible RM from the friend I pointed to the playtest.

 

[Gillywonka]

Played it using the MERP modules and settings but with GURPS for the rule set. What a friggen blast. It was deadly and gritty... and not much treasure. But that's all on the DM on how to parse it out. It was really rich in culture, ethnicity and setting. We were going up river from Tharbad and into Dunland. Ended up helping some marsh halflings living on the banks of the Gwathlo. Then helped a Dunland village rid an evil from some barrows. Originally we were looking for some bandits on the great North-South road. That was until Dunlandings in chariots chased us... anyway, it was a friggen blast and we lost 1/3 of our party.