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.

 

[trancejeremy]

Eh. As a long time player of Lord of the Rings Online, I live with Loremasters who are pretty close to D&D MUs (they can cause earthquakes and throw fire) and then Rune-Keepers, who are basically Sith, shooting lightning around.

Then you have Champions which are close to being Clerics (or maybe like Warlords, they heal by shouting) and Minstrels who do all sorts of magic stuff with magic music.

 

[Jhaelen]

I just cringed and shuddered. I absolutely love The One Ring RPG and huge fan of 5E but this makes me so nervous. I will trust C7 on this and see how this turns out.

My reaction is similar. I love the TOR RPG because the rules support a Tolkienesque theme and stories so well. 5e? Not so much. It should be good for Cubicle7, though, since I expect this to be quite popular among D&D players. If it helps to fund the further development of TOR, it might actually be a great thing.

 

[Consona]

Feels weird and more like an economic strategy than anything else (I can understand that, they are a company after all), but yeah, TOR feels so Tolkienesque, 5e does not.

 

[fritsk]

I am curious to see how this will pan out.
I have a lot of 'The One Ring' so they would to make a good effort at selling this to me.
Does it cover the same ground as the One Ring?
Does it cover new ground/fluff? If so, how rules light will the books be so I'd be tempted to buy them for the fluff alone?
Systemless books for use with both D&D and The One Ring?

 

[fritsk]

I am curious to see how this will pan out.
I have a lot of 'The One Ring' so they would to make a good effort at selling this to me.
Does it cover the same ground as the One Ring?
Does it cover new ground/fluff? If so, how rules light will the books be so I'd be tempted to buy them for the fluff alone?
Systemless books for use with both D&D and The One Ring?

 

[CapnZapp]

I didn't noticed that.

I did.

 

[TerraDave]

What I think is interesting is that this doesn't appear to be an OGL game, but rather done with a direct license from WotC. Which I think is still good sign that WotC is willing to be more open in general.

That would be a very smart move by WotC...

...even now, I am still trying to get use to the company that makes D&D actually making one good decision after another. Its somewhat unprecedented.

 

[Wulfang]

My problem with D&D in Middle Earth is that D&D's high magic system and Hit Point inflation doesn't translate well to Middle Earth. It will feel completely out of place.

The whole ideology behind 'Hit Points' needs to be re-worked. Afterall, a high level D&D character can survive 20 sword cuts and a 100 foot fall. That doesn't sound like LOTR to me. Magic as well is problematic, you don't see Gandalf going around launching fireballs.

I should be excited, but over the years, I've come to leave D&D in Forgotten Realms camp, because that setting embraces D&D's mechanics rather then trying to shoe-horn them in.

In short, I can see this working only if they re-work the mechanics from the ground up, rather then just change a few things here an there from the OGL.

That being said, I can't say that I am fond of The One Ring roleplaying game either. You should have the option of playing whatever culture you desire without having to wait 5 years for the supplement to come out. You should be able to play one of the five wizards should you so choose. Most of all though, its The One Ring's combat system that is the least attractive to me. I like theater of mind, and I also like miniatures - and The One Ring is neither.

 

[Guest 6801328]

You, the person who has read all the books four times, watched the movies 19 times,

Anybody who has watched the movies more times than they've read the books is not actually a Tolkien fan. That's a Peter Jackson fan you're describing.

 

[Guest 6801328]

That being said, I can't say that I am fond of The One Ring roleplaying game either. You should have the option of playing whatever culture you desire without having to wait 5 years for the supplement to come out. You should be able to play one of the five wizards should you so choose. Most of all though, its The One Ring's combat system that is the least attractive to me. I like theater of mind, and I also like miniatures - and The One Ring is neither.

You can BitTorrent all the MERP stuff if that's what you want.