Which Middle Earth RPG?
aramis erak
Legend
Fromm where I sit...
TOR 1E is vastly superior to 2E, primarily because of the strength of Hope. In 1E, you sacrifice hope for known success (that is, the roll is made, and you usually know by how much you failed, and hope adds a fixed amount by your attribute and favored/unfavored skill), so you know if spending hop will allow you to succeed. Procedurally, that's brilliant.
TOR 2E puts hope BEFORE the roll, and it's just an extra die on the roll. The result is usually far less than in 1E, tho' the TN's are a wider range in practice,. But Hope is often wasted. My players absolutely hated it, having played 1e prior.
TOR 2E includes songs in core.... but nerfs them, badly.
TOR 1E songs are in the Rivendel sourcebook... but much more varied in effect.
TOR 2E narrows the scope of the social mechanics; in 1E, it's not limited to just council-style; I found that having a town have a limited number of fails works great to keep PC's from retrying. Restricting it to formal councils and meetings is taking away some of the impetus to actually engage the adventures.
As for either D&D flavor? No. They are not going to enforce the genre as well as either TOR edition. AIME was essentially a money grab; I've met few locally who liked it. I only bought the PM, couldn't follow the char gen, and noted that the travel system is better than 5E's, but not enough so as to be worth borrowing, let alone fighting the char gen.
LotR isn't as much a cash grab; I've not looked at it, what I've seen leaves me unable to judge it fairly, so I can't recommend it, and when the TOR rules do enforce the genre...
TOR 1E is vastly superior to 2E, primarily because of the strength of Hope. In 1E, you sacrifice hope for known success (that is, the roll is made, and you usually know by how much you failed, and hope adds a fixed amount by your attribute and favored/unfavored skill), so you know if spending hop will allow you to succeed. Procedurally, that's brilliant.
TOR 2E puts hope BEFORE the roll, and it's just an extra die on the roll. The result is usually far less than in 1E, tho' the TN's are a wider range in practice,. But Hope is often wasted. My players absolutely hated it, having played 1e prior.
TOR 2E includes songs in core.... but nerfs them, badly.
TOR 1E songs are in the Rivendel sourcebook... but much more varied in effect.
TOR 2E narrows the scope of the social mechanics; in 1E, it's not limited to just council-style; I found that having a town have a limited number of fails works great to keep PC's from retrying. Restricting it to formal councils and meetings is taking away some of the impetus to actually engage the adventures.
As for either D&D flavor? No. They are not going to enforce the genre as well as either TOR edition. AIME was essentially a money grab; I've met few locally who liked it. I only bought the PM, couldn't follow the char gen, and noted that the travel system is better than 5E's, but not enough so as to be worth borrowing, let alone fighting the char gen.
LotR isn't as much a cash grab; I've not looked at it, what I've seen leaves me unable to judge it fairly, so I can't recommend it, and when the TOR rules do enforce the genre...
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Cubicle 7 is selling a whole book based around the Adventures in Middle Earth journey rules, so that seems to suggest they're much more robust.
damiller
Adventurer
Oh yea, the hope and song stuff is altered, but I would disagree that it is a downgrade. You dont' use hope as a resources near as often, but it still remains a vital part of the game. Songs, we didn't do much, but there are MORE ways to use it in 1e, and I believe the rules are backwards compatible.
Journeys are quite changed. But again more streamlined and I like it way better. To me it seems like less to manage without much loss in terms of game play/flavor.
And I think that is the best argument for TOR2. Anything you want to use from 1e or revised, is, if I can be believed, backwards compatible. Because whilst the traits are the same, they are not used the same from 1e to 2e. (I hope that makes sense)
Journeys are quite changed. But again more streamlined and I like it way better. To me it seems like less to manage without much loss in terms of game play/flavor.
And I think that is the best argument for TOR2. Anything you want to use from 1e or revised, is, if I can be believed, backwards compatible. Because whilst the traits are the same, they are not used the same from 1e to 2e. (I hope that makes sense)
aramis erak
Legend
Yeah, 1E traits are once per session autosuccess. 2e, just extra dice.
Yet another "Blanding of TOR" element.
Everyone should read MERP for the critical hit/fumble tables, if nothing else. They were a thing of beauty.
Bill Zebub
“It’s probably Matt Mercer’s fault.”
damiller
Adventurer
I disagree. I regard TOR 2e as superior to the previous incarnations in every aspect. For me they cleaned up the game. They made it better.
