dm4hire
Explorer
Smaug? Really? He got one-shotted... by an NPC!!!
I've never seen it as one shotted as much as he got nailed by an arrow of slaying. That would make a big difference in getting hit once.
Smaug? Really? He got one-shotted... by an NPC!!!
The pig snouted orc came from TSR trying to get out from under? From claiming that it was an Irish term for pig? Not a word coined by Tolkien?
Is this true?
I've never read it that the Easterlings or the Southrons were all evil, rather they were allied with Sauron who was considered evil. Further, Denethor was on the "side of the angels," as was Saruman for some time.For me, Middle Earth is a boring setting, because it is cosmologically simplistic.
Theres Sauron and co.
And theres the Good Guys.
And thats it.
No mystery.
No gray areas
No moral triage.
To each their own, but I have had no problem grafting on whatever elements I felt were necessary when playing in ME care of the ICE modules back in the day. Granted, we played 100 years after Aragorn's death, so things were a bit different.And, because Tolkein was so erudite and thorough, any new idea feels like an abomination.
I got the ME map poster from ICE that showed the area involved in the LotR to be a very small section of the continent. We had a LOT of fun filling in the blanks!If I was playing a game set in, say, Newhon, id quite happily invent fantastical new cultures or races for adventure. It seems entirely plausible that theres vast realsm of weird stuff Fafhrd and Grey Mouser never found.
For Middle Earth, itd feel like cheating. Id feel a lot better porting over bits of Middle Earth into a "D&D-world" than vice versa.
As for LotR I think most of the problem with any IP is that they tend to focus on the events of the story instead of mining the world. There is so much that could be mined from the stories to flush out and create an effective RPG surrounding the world of Middle Earth. I think another flaw in the past has been the systems used. I think the best system would actually be a modified M&M in that the heroes in LotR really don't advance in power as much as they develop in personality and character.
The elephant in the room, is that while Lotr and the Hobbit are brilliant fantasy stories, Middle Earth is not a very suitable setting for any kind of roleplaying game.
Middle Earth suffers from the same problem of all literary fantasy settings (Wheel of Time and Dragonlance included)- there just isn't enough room for the PC's to do anything very interesting- they're completely overshadowed by the plot of the main stories.
For me, Middle Earth is a boring setting, because it is cosmologically simplistic.
You have characters whose greed or fear or short-sightedness or pride cause problems.
Interesting theory. What facts and/or figures is it based on?The great irony here is that D&D, as the pastiche of all the fantasy authors of the past, has now surpassed and become the primary influence on fantasy culture. Even Tolkien's influence has waned, despite the movies.