D&D comes to Middle Earth (from Cubicle 7)

I have high hopes that the 5E OGL will really start to open up the game...and this would seem to qualify! Very excited for this.

 

[Curmudjinn]

Cubicle 7 products are like magic in a bottle. So much effort, love and refinement go into each release. Dominic McDowall is all class with a good head on his shoulders.

This great news!

 

[Desrimal]

Good news indeed. I like both d&d 5e and The One Ring. If anyone can pull off a succesfull Middle Earth/D&d game, I can't imagine anyone better suited for the task than Cubicle 7. I don't believe a low magic setting with relative few monsters is a problem for a fantasy rpg campaign, though I agree with Rhineglade that Middle Earth canon is certainly an issue.

 

[Zhern]

So excited for this! WotC opening up 5E via OGL was a fantastic move because it enables things like this. Can't wait to see what other awesome stuff hits the gaming world because of that.

 

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

Shoehorning the D&D magic system into Middle Earth would be quite a task, if that's what they intend to do.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Agreed. The Lord of the Rings is a tough act to follow. But really, these problems are present to a degree or another in any licensed property. But I’m pretty excited to see how this turns out. I feel like we’re coming full-circle to the days when D&D had Ents, Hobbits, and Balrogs.

I think the idea behind this is cool but something about Middle Earth just never translated well to RPG in my opinion. This was the problem with the MERP and Rolemaster versions.

 

[SteveC]

This is absolutely fascinating to me for two reasons:

First, The One Ring has an excellent Exploration system (which the one presented in the 5E playtest drew inspiration from) so that pillar of the game is likely to get some excellent attention. This makes me happy.

Second, there aren't any spellcasters in The One Ring, yet the game is a lot of fun and has characters who are still varied from one another. This gives me hope for an expansion of what non-magical characters can accomplish. This also makes me happy.

Third (a bonus!) if the designers carry over what they did with Elves to D&D this will make me exceptionally happy, since the game does a ... magical job of representing them.

Excited by the possibilities.

 

[BMaC]

I wonder what timeline they'll use.

 

[lyle.spade]

I wonder what timeline they'll use.

Great question. My guess? Multiple books.

 

[Reynard]

Shoehorning the D&D magic system into Middle Earth would be quite a task, if that's what they intend to do.

I'll be curious to see if they essentially rewrite the game to fit ME, using only the core of D&D 5E for mechanics, or if they try and accommodate the many D&Disms that don't really fit. I think the best we can hope for is the former but with strongly maintained compatibility so that people who want to add dragonborn warlocks to ME can do so seamlessly (though not likely without consequences!).

 

[Gadget]

I'm hopeful they can keep their current RPG system as the one that adheres closely to cannon, and have this new D&D version be more of a Lord of the Rings-ish take on D&D. As a huge fan of both properties, this is the only way I can see it working well; all while introducing some new concepts to traditional D&D play to enrich our gaming experience.