Decipher's LotR RPG Supported Again!!

[Scribe Ineti]

Personally, I don't like being told what kind of game I should run for Middle-Earth. A product can suggest and recommend me to run one type of game (epic storytelling), but to say that in print (paraphrasing "if you just like hack-n-slash, don't buy this product") would be unappealing.

Of course the product wouldn't come out and say "Run it this way" but it would have suggestions and recommendations on getting the Middle-earth Tolkienesque feel. Decipher's LOTR RPG actually had a couple suggestions along those lines, i.e., "You could run it like this but to get a feel closer to Tolkien's books, we recommend doing this."

So, sounds like many of the pieces I'm looking for are out there, but it would be a matter of separating all that wheat from the chaff and compiling it into one book, rather than having to take a forklifted crate full of books to the game session.

 

[VorpalBunny]

But why OGL? Is it better to make it a standalone rulebook and market the LOTR brand? How many LOTR fans are role-playing gamers?

OGL is a personal preference, mainly. As as gamer I find it easier and more convienent to carry around one book than game X plus the D&D Player's Handbook. Also, there would be a tie associating the game with D&D , which wouldn't endear me to it.

I'd be willing to bet a large percentage of LotR fans are gamers, but an even more significant chunk of gamers are LotR fans. Since that's the major demographic you're marketing the game to, the LotR brand in that case becomes VERY important.

 

[Ranger REG]

OGL is a personal preference, mainly. As as gamer I find it easier and more convienent to carry around one book than game X plus the D&D Player's Handbook. Also, there would be a tie associating the game with D&D , which wouldn't endear me to it.

But it would endear to the other D&D Player's Handbook owners.

I'd be willing to bet a large percentage of LotR fans are gamers, but an even more significant chunk of gamers are LotR fans. Since that's the major demographic you're marketing the game to, the LotR brand in that case becomes VERY important.

I doubt there is a large percentage of LOTR fans that are RPG players. But the portion that are, it is safe to bet that majority of that pool are D&D gamers.

It all bogs down to marketing the product to achieve the best possible return.

 

[Banshee16]

I agree with you. It should be subtle, but let's try and stay away from multi-round casting time, like in MERP, at least for the simple low-level/minor spells.


What health system do you prefer? VP/WP? Injury/Damage Saving Throw? T20 Stamina/Lifeblood?


Do you wisht to modify existing classes or offer new ones?



Meh. There are some d20-labeled fantasy games that offers variations of races for character creations. Of course, the Middle-Earth elves stat and traits will have to differ from the standard D&D elves.



We can either ignore Alignment or offer a different design in its place. Me? I prefer Allegiance from d20 Modern.

All of those mods you can pretty much do and still have the d20 logo (plus the PHB requirement). It's a business question of how you wish to appeal to your target customers.

I find D20 just too high-powered to be useful for Middle-Earth. The classes, the combat system...everything's geared to lots of combat, PCs that almost always win, and super-powerful, super-human type high level characters. Middle-Earth isn't like that. The hp in D&D are a big part of the problem...but so are the power increases across the board in 3.5.

I'd bet some enterprising company such as Green Ronin could do a decent adaptation, but I'd bet that they'd have to make it OGL instead of D20....and WotC definitely wouln't be capable of doing so...

Banshee

 

[Akrasia]

...
I'd bet some enterprising company such as Green Ronin could do a decent adaptation, but I'd bet that they'd have to make it OGL instead of D20....and WotC definitely wouln't be capable of doing so...

Banshee

GR's upcoming 'Blue Rose' game looks like it might work well for a Middle-earth campaign. (It includes rules for corruption, a strong 'light vs. darkness' theme instead of alignment, etc.)

Also, you could probably use ICE's HARP with the old MERP stuff (as the systems are quite similar). The HARP magic system could be tweaked to make it appropriate for Middle-earth (in contrast to the original MERP system, which was completely inappropriate).

 

[Ranger REG]

I find D20 just too high-powered to be useful for Middle-Earth. The classes, the combat system...everything's geared to lots of combat, PCs that almost always win, and super-powerful, super-human type high level characters. Middle-Earth isn't like that. The hp in D&D are a big part of the problem...but so are the power increases across the board in 3.5.

And yet they fit the description of the Fellowship of the Ring. Unless you believe these characters to be unattainable.