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.

 

[JoeCrow]

Now this has serious potential for my crew. We ran through The Marsh Bell a couple of years ago, and what made most of my players bounce off the One Ring system was the combat system. Too far from their gaming preferences, really; so if I can run TOR with a combat system they're more comfortable with, I'll be all kinds of down with this.

 

[Guest 6801328]

See, Tolkien's a bad fit for D&D in general, and 5e pretty specifically,

I agree that Middle Earth is a bad fit for D&D in general for all the obvious reasons. But I'm curious why you say "5e pretty specifically". How is 5e a worse fit than, say, 4e?

 

[Rune]

I think it'll (potentially) be great (love TOR), but it'll definitely need distinct classes, possibly a lower level-cap, subtle magic (and healing) and NO Raise Dead or Ressurection. Death is a big deal in Middle Earth.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I think it'll (potentially) be great (love TOR), but it'll definitely need distinct classes, possibly a lower level-cap, subtle magic (and healing) and NO Raise Dead or Ressurection. Death is a big deal in Middle Earth.

Unless you're Gandalf, obviously

 

[Water Bob]

Excellent news

 

[Ancalagon]

I must admit when I saw this I wasn't aware of the "one ring" system and instead I thought it was the one published by Decipher (using the CODA system, *not* the card game). The fluff, art etc in the book was excellent, as was the production value.

However, when I started playing with the system in my mind, it fell appart. I never ended up using the book at all

So I'm rather intrigued by this!

 

[Guest 6801328]

I must admit when I saw this I wasn't aware of the "one ring" system and instead I thought it was the one published by Decipher (using the CODA system, *not* the card game). The fluff, art etc in the book was excellent, as was the production value.

However, when I started playing with the system in my mind, it fell appart. I never ended up using the book at all

So I'm rather intrigued by this!

The One Ring has been my favorite RPG for the last few years. It's a thing of beauty...not just the mechanics but the writing and the art and the overall presentation. More than any game system I've seen...even Pendragon...the mechanics truly reflect the uniqueness of the source text.

Which makes me really curious how they're going to do it with 5e rules. But I have a lot of faith in Andrew and Jon and Francesco.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

To all those poo-poo'ing and claiming "D&D isn't a good fit for Middle Earth"...I believe you are all failing to see something that I find obvious: You, the person who has read all the books four times, watched the movies 19 times, and written your own notes and study pages about all the ages, the characters, who did what to whom and when, what effect that had on the trade routes between those living around Bree, and all that other stuff?...you are not the target audience.

The VAST majority of people who will be interested in picking up a "D&D Middle Earth" book are going to be those moms and dads who watched the movies with their kids...and had their kids pretending to be hobbits for the entire summer (even going so far as to refuse wearing shoes). The people who may have read one of the books, or all of them, back when they 'were in high school'. The people who watched part of the Return of the King because it happened to be on TV that one night they were over at a friends place and they thought "it looked like a neat movie". Those are the people it's going to target.

Oh, and the Roleplayer who has seen the movies, but not read the books (...raises hand...reading the books is one of those things I always planned on 'getting around to doing', but still haven't). Those are who it's going to be focusing on.

Me? I know what was in the movies, as well as a few other tid bits of info I have picked up here and there from reading various LotR RPG supplements, games (MERP, LotR RPG, etc), and just hearing others talk about it. I had, for example, know idea there were "colors of wizard-magic" in LotR. I also didn't know there may only be five "wizards" in/around where the books take place. No clue at all. Hobbits? Er...yeah, I know they like the Shire and hanging out there, smoking pipeweed, drinking and tending their gardens. I didn't know there even were hobbits elsewhere in ME...are there?

Anyway...I'm looking forward to it! The key thing I think they need to keep "toned down" however, is HP inflation. When major heroes can get felled, or seriously wounded from a light scratch or two, then a sword to the gut...well, having 65hps and being told you take 2, 3, and 11 points is....well, not "grievous" in any way. They need to keep the "danger" factor HIGH, at ALL TIMES. A complete re-work of HP's wouldn't be out of the question.

In Short: Uber-Fans...prepare to be disappointed. Fans...prepare to be delighted.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[mach1.9pants]

I reckon, too, it will be lighter on ME purity (we've got TOR which is utter JRR Tolkien book awesomeness) and higher on the D&D-ism. I'm fine with that, if I want to play ME with all the ME knowledge I have (all the books) I can get the magnificent, best ever RPG to fit it's licence TOR. But if I want to do a bit more crazy, lighter on the lore (maybe more like the movies - which I also love*) D&D in ME, hopefully this will scratch the itch with my current fave fantasy RPG ruleset.

It's a win win IMO.

*LotR movies, not Hobbit abominations - blech

 

[SirGalrim]

This was the most surprising gaming news I have seen a long long time. I had to double check that it as still March. And at first I just thought that some mistake had made this years April's Fools news be posted way early. But then it turned out to be true...

This may be a great success for Cubicle 7 and I am happy for this little company that produces excellent quality games. But I am quite sceptical on behalf on the two games. While I enjoy both TOR and D&D 5e, they have quite different feel, themes and play flow to them. I play both regularly but it's quite different games. While I think TOR is a shining example of what an RPG can be. D&D 5e is a more general system and has more flexibility for play style. It is perhaps the best iteration of D&D. But still has many limitations when trying to fit it with non general fantasy settings. As was proven in the d20 era adapting D&D to other settings has its limitations. There can be good adoptions when the setting isn't to far way from FR/Greyhawk etc. But they only managed to budge the system so far. Most of the time the system didn't support the story/setting. I think the same is very much true for 5e. I agree as many have said other places that if there are someone who can get it right it is C7. But I am still sceptical to that even they can get it right _enough_. I speculate that D&D ME will be "setting-light system" compared to TOR. A game for all those people who like ME but who don't know so much more about it than that they've watched the movies and/or read The Hobbit and LotR once or twice years ago. For them it can be a good taste of gaming in ME, and if they want a more "authentic" experience they can come over to TOR. ;-)