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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JeffB" data-source="post: 572560" data-attributes="member: 518">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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />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.</blockquote>

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