4E a good system base for a Tolkein RPG?

[Glyfair]

I was recently reading ohn D. Rateliff's "Brief History of Tolkien's RPGs" (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Within I saw this tidbit about MERP (and later, about a potential WotC Tolkien RPG):

The decision to use a preexisting system rather than create a new Tolkien-centric game led to some disconnects—the most serious of which was the presence of Animist (Clerics) as one of the core player-character classes, when Tolkien's works are so resolutely devoid of clergy, spell-casting or otherwise (a problem that has bedeviled most Tolkien rpgs to date).

Reading this, it occurred to me that 4E manages to handle healing without having clerics reasonably well. Given D&D's long ties to Tolkien*, I believe that 4E would be a strong base to build a D&D/Tolkien.

Yes, I do think 4E would need a major rework to fit. I would definitely simply it to be able to attract a raw beginner audience, and I would adjust other things for flavor. Still, you don't have to worry too much about cleric/animists in the RPG.

 

[Fifth Element]

Holy crow, Lorraine Williams turned down the Tolkien license? I've never heard that before. Her legacy grows?

 

[pawsplay]

Hm, could probably work. You'd need to redo the races, and you would want to rename Cleric to being Lorekeeper or something and remove inappropriate powers. Paragoth Paths could relate to following a Valar lord, joining the Rangers of the North, becoming the bearer of an artifact, etc.

 

[vagabundo]

Hm, could probably work. You'd need to redo the races, and you would want to rename Cleric to being Lorekeeper or something and remove inappropriate powers. Paragoth Paths could relate to following a Valar lord, joining the Rangers of the North, becoming the bearer of an artifact, etc.

There is a lot of scope for some tweaks to the healing and powers systems that could make for a very faithful LotR RPG...

 

[Baumi]

The Martial Powersource should be no problem, especially if you consider the highly cinematic LOTR Movies and you can easily just ignore the divine classes (we have alternative an defender and leader). The real problem is the arcane source since Magic exist in LOTR but in a much more subtle way.

The easiest "Conversion" would be to only use Martial Characters and give only NPC's Access to arcane classes (there are after all only very few Wizards in LOTR).

You could still use Rituals and maybe let them get some arcane powers through CAREFULL multiclassing.

But all in all, I would consider using other systems first since D&D is very specific in his own setting-style.

 

[Elphilm]

You could probably use the tier system so that the First Age would be Epic, the Second Age Paragon and the Third Age Heroic only. Something like this would help bring that Tolkien feel to the game, as his legendarium follows Hesiod's classic myth of each era being lesser than the one that preceded it. In the 4E scheme of things pretty much the only beings above the Heroic tier in the Third Age would be Sauron, the remaining Noldor of Middle-earth, the Balrog of Moria, and Gandalf uncloaked when he faces the Balrog.

 

[Plane Sailing]

My personal preference for a kick-ass Lord or the Rings game would be Runequest 2 (queen of role playing systems )

I think that a martial-only game of 4e might do the job OK, although some of the powers might still end up feeling a little OTT for the setting.

Cheers

 

[vagabundo]

My personal preference for a kick-ass Lord or the Rings game would be Runequest 2 (queen of role playing systems )

I think that a martial-only game of 4e might do the job OK, although some of the powers might still end up feeling a little OTT for the setting.

Cheers

Compared with Legolas in the films? Really?

 

[Elphilm]

Compared with Legolas in the films? Really?

Well, were one to adapt 4E for roleplaying in Middle-earth, I imagine one would first have to decide whether to aim for the feel of the books or the feel of the movies (which do not feel at all like Tolkien to me).

 

[Grimstaff]

Aragorn - Paragon Half-elf Fighter MCw/warlord

Legolas - Paragon Elf Ranger

Gandalf - Epic(Genasi? what would elemental spirits be?)Warlord MCw/wizard

Gimli - Paragon Dwarven Fighter

Galadriel - Epic Eladrin Fey Warlock

Merry & Pippen - Heroic Halfling Rangers

not precise of course, just examples of how Tolkein archetypes can be "recreated" under 4E rules...