LOTR RPG Update

[Ranger REG]

But I can't compare because the ICE products are out of print.

So I'll have to start anew, beginning with Decipher's products and hope for more products to come out. Although I am skeptical. Their license is limited to the four books, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, granted to them courtesy of Tolkien Enterprises. Tolkien Estate hold ownership right to the other Tolkien Middle-Earth related works.

[ Note I said "book" not "movie." ]

 

[Apok]

Although I am skeptical. Their license is limited to the four books, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, granted to them courtesy of Tolkien Enterprises. Tolkien Estate hold ownership right to the other Tolkien Middle-Earth related works.

Aye, and that worries me. One of the reasons Middle-Earth is such a well developed and crafted world is because of the supplimental material beyond LotR. Of course, I am referring to the Silmarilion, the appendices (which may or may not be "officially" part of the trilogy) and other sources, including Tolkien's letters. If all that information is left out or ignored, we will be dealing with an incomplete picture of Tolkien's world. After viewing Decipher's product schedule for the RPG, alot of it seems to be highly focused on the quest of the ringbearer and the fellowship. While this is all well and good, it doesn't really help those of us who want to run a game in ME without having to deal with being in the shadow of the Fellowship and the events of the books.

Personally, I would be more inclined to run a game where the timeline was well into the Fourth Age or perhaps even before the rise of Sauron. More importantly, just how much information will future suppliments divulge about the major areas of Middle-Earth? The Lord of the Rings trilogy evoked wonderful descriptions of cities and peoples, but what about detailed histories and numbers? The minutae that DM's love so much which help bring a town to life. Will their limited licence prevent them from expounding on what's presented in the story? Particularly those areas that get little or no treatment in the books. There is a great deal of unexplored land on Tolkien's maps. Far Harad, the southern lands of Rhun and beyond, not to mention anything east of Mordor, gets virtually no mention.

While Decipher may make an excellent base-system for roleplaying in Middle-Earth, I don't know how well they can follow through operating on a partial licence. Or am I just scaring myself needlessly?

 

[Rune]

Well, I must say that the game is looking great! Can't wait to pick this one up.

One thing bothers me, though.

The preview says that initiative is rolled at the start of each round. The only real reason to not have cyclical initiative is if you throw in a bunch of situational modifiers (such as weapon speed, or casting time, like in older editions of AD&D).

According to the preview, the initiative roll gets the nimbleness modifier added to it. Why not cyclical initiative? Were the designers worried that it might be too similar to d20? The rest of everything seems more streamlined; why go for the added complexity of rerolling initiative every round?

Oh well. It should be an easy fix, if it needs fixing.

I guess I'll wait and see.

 

[Sulimo]

But I can't compare because the ICE products are out of print.

Whilst I normally wouldnt do this, I'd definitely suggest you investigate the usual sources of illegal PDF's.

So I'll have to start anew, beginning with Decipher's products and hope for more products to come out. Although I am skeptical. Their license is limited to the four books, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, granted to them courtesy of Tolkien Enterprises.

Which is interestingly enough the same license ICE had. Although it would seem all parties concerned are keeping a much tighter reign on what can and cant be used under the terms of the license.

Its going to be rather tricky for Decipher to do a lot of detail work, especially dealing with background behind various facets of the setting.

 

[Wolfspider]

According to the preview, the initiative roll gets the nimbleness modifier added to it. Why not cyclical initiative? Were the designers worried that it might be too similar to d20?

Well, with all of the other similarities to D20 in the rules, I doubt this was a concern. Maybe they just wanted the tide of battle to be able to turn unpredictably. I, however, will probably house rule this.

 

[JeffB]

While I like the D20 initiative system, I think you have to remember that the majority of other RPG's use a re-roll initiative each round, or a simple "highest Dex goes first" type thing.

Rolling initiative each round is nothing to new to RPGS, and easily house-ruled if you don't like it. I also don't expect you are going to see tons of other modifiers applied to the roll like Weapon speed, etc. Don't know for sure, but I highly doubt it..Steve Long made it quite clear that the game was not going to be complicated, but more "fast and loose" (my quote)

 

[Terradyne]

I got the book yesterday at GENCON and the game default is to reroll the inititive every round, but it offers the option for cyclic inititive.

Here is the excerpt, "Thus, the person who goes first in one round may find himself going last the next. Such are the vagaries of battle. For, faster easier play, the Narrator may perfer for characters to make one inititive test at the beginning of combat, then use the result for every round in the combat.: -LotR RPG page 227-228.

So at least they offer both as a option right in the rules.

 

[Horacio]

I think I will use cyclic initiative. When D&D 3e was released, I hated "that cyclic initiative thing", but now I'm a convert.

 

[Ranger REG]

Which is interestingly enough the same license ICE had. Although it would seem all parties concerned are keeping a much tighter reign on what can and cant be used under the terms of the license.

I sincerely doubt it is the same license. Again you have to understand, there are two Tolkien trustees(?). One holds the ownership right and the power to grant license for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbits (that would be Tolkien Enterprises), and the other that holds the ownership right to Tolkien's other literary works like the Silmarillion (that would be the Tolkien Estate).

From what I know, Tolkien Estate is a lot more overprotective of Tolkien's other works.

Of course, ICE managed to get around that, is probably done in the past, most likely will not re-occur, unless Decipher is willing to negotiate with Tolkien Estate for those license.

Here is something I am curious and I hope someone can clear the cobwebs. I have heard of horror stories about the Tolkien Estate freezing ICE's business accounts while they were undergoing the bankruptcy hearing, is this true? And what reason did Tolkien Enterprises (and/or Tolkien Estate) decided not to continue to renew the license with ICE?

 

[Apok]

Here is something I am curious and I hope someone can clear the cobwebs. I have heard of horror stories about the Tolkien Estate freezing ICE's business accounts while they were undergoing the bankruptcy hearing, is this true? And what reason did Tolkien Enterprises (and/or Tolkien Estate) decided not to continue to renew the license with ICE?

I don't know about Tokien Estate freezing ICE's business, but I do know they lost the licence because they took certain liberties that Tolkien Enterprises (from whom they got the licence in the first place) disagreed with.

As far as the Tolkien Estate is concerned, Christopher Tolkien wants absolutley nothing to do with RPG's whatsoever. He is completely against the idea of using his (father's? grandfather's? can't remember the exact relation) literary work as a basis for any kind of RPG. In that sense, they are certainly "overprotective." So, basically, there is no chance in hell of ever seeing any of Tolkien's work outside of the Hobbit & LotR being translated into an official RPG setting. Now, if a fan wanted to convert said material over for personal use, there is no problem with that but I'm not sure about posting that kind of information on a fansite for all to enjoy. I don't think the Tolkien Estate is as paranoid as, say, Keven S. and Palladium but with the sheer number of Tolkien fan sites out there that directly reference the Silmarilion, Appendices and other works I don't think it's an issue.