Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG - A Review

[kengar]

SHARK and mmadsen both point out what could be potentially exploitable or unbalancing about the game. In my review above, these things are recognized by the game designers, who try to ameliorate them with the extensive essays about the world, the nature of good and evil, and how the "feel" of Tolkien is of overriding importance. In that respect, the system and setting are tied closely - that is, while some of the Traits and Order abilities are potentially unbalancing, they are also true to the setting Tolkien created, and, if the "feel" of the setting is maintained the way it should be, these potential problems will never manifest in negative ways.

This was certainly the impression I came away with in my reading of the rulebook. Everything is slanted towards creating and maintaining that Middle-Earth tone. I haven't read the Star Trek book, but I wouldn't be surprised if the list of skills & traits were actually quite different from LOTR's.

 

[johnsemlak]

Very enjoyable review. I'm sure it took a lot of work.

Question, I thought I saw somewhere info about another Tolkien rpg that was d20 compatible. Is there/will there be such a game?

 

[mmadsen]

Question, I thought I saw somewhere info about another Tolkien rpg that was d20 compatible. Is there/will there be such a game?

ColonelHardisson et al. have put together a web site full of conversion info: http://www.d20reviews.com/me/ That's probably what you saw a reference to.

 

[garyh]

I thought I'd give folks another chance to read the good Colonel's great review.

Also, I do have an ulterior motive. If you've got the game, or even if you're just curious about it, head over here.

 

[V_Shane]

Man, that was quite the extensive review. And well done to boot! Do you have a regular collumn anywhere?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Man, that was quite the extensive review. And well done to boot! Do you have a regular collumn anywhere?

Thanks for the kind words. No, no regular column, but maybe I'll try to get somethin' goin' eventually.

 

[ced1106]

Post it on RPGnet ( www.rpg.net ). Don't want to lose a review in the forums.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[garyh]

It's a shame that there's no non-d20 review area on ENWorld, but that's a beast no one wants to set loose. d20 is plenty on it's own.

Oh, and click here - you know you want to!!

 

[JeffB]

Excellent review. By far, I think this game "does Middle Earth" better than the previous licensed game system (though I liked it too), and the several conversions I've seen for Gurps, and some other obscure systems. It's detailed enough, but not overly detailed as I think d20 falls prey to on occasion.

Something that surprised me was the amount of info given for running a Fourth Age game. Something I've always been a bit adverse too. While there is not a large amount of info, what is there in pieces throughout the book is quite good and has inspired me to consider running a game in that time period.

One unfortunate thing is the limit of Decipher's license. I would love to see source material on the earlier ages of ME (i.e the First and Second Ages). I would love to run a game of First Age Elves against The Black Enemy (Morgoth) and his minions.

I also enjoyed a push for more roleplaying aspects whether by the orders, skills, flaws or other areas. I agree with Jeff's assessment of trying to force people to roleplay, but I do like reinforcement within the actual rulebook, it helps when players are too one-sided in their play style.

The Narrator chapters are excellent, and not only help one run a game that is "true" to ME, but also offer some of the best advice I've seen regardless of Genre. The magic chapter excelled in application to ME as well. As the Col. said, the author's know Tolkien.

The book does get a bit confusing in places. I think the some of the information could have been organized better (like placement of the CODA system chapter), and a character creation summary would have been most helpful (though Decipher has since posted one on it's webite). In my opinion a slight reorganization is the only major thing that could be done to improve the rulebook. For my own nitpicks, I would have liked to seen an introductory scenario included. And I would have preferred a bit more artwork as well; what little is there is actually quite good, though the sandals did raise an eyebrow for me too

I'd have to echo the 9 out of 10 rating. It's not perfect, but damn, it sure is close. If Decipher could just start getting the other support materials out for the game. So far we have the Maps, but I'm really looking forward to the supplemental books.

 

[mmu1]

Here's one thing I've been wondering about since reading the book: is there any advice available, either in the rules or elsewhere on the web on the power-level of the Elves?

I like that the books stayed true to Tolkien, and didn't even try to balance the different races... But what do you do when someone asks to play an elf, and the other players start turning colors when they see him taking an hour and a half to go through and write down the three or four pages of bonuses?