The 9 Rings conversion

[Corinth]

Agreed. The books seemed to suggest that in their transformation from man to wraith, their physical forms faded away into the spirit realm. I think they were more incorporeal (though they did not have the ability to pass through solid objects) than invisible.

A sort of dual-natured existence then, like many Eldar?

 

[GruTheWanderer]

Something interesting from Unfinished Tales

There's a section in Unfinished Tales about the Nazgul seeking out the ring, which talks about Sauron's control over them. It mentions that at that time he held the rings. Presumably once the transformation to Nazgul was complete, they became somewhat like a lich's phylactery.

Do the ICE products detail the background of any of the Nine? I saw once that they detailed Murazor who became the chief. Unfinished Tales describes the second in command as Khamul, a former Easterling lord. I'm somewhat interested in using him as a character in my campaign (one of the uber-villians).

Derek

 

[ColonelHardisson]

The ICE books created extensive, detailed backgrounds for all the Nazgul. They're interesting to read, at the very least.

 

[GruTheWanderer]

Feed me, Seymour!

The ICE books created extensive, detailed backgrounds for all the Nazgul. They're interesting to read, at the very least.

If anyone has the time to summarize these, I'd be interested in hearing them. I really got to get me some of these old MERP books.

Derek

 

[Corinth]

The five to get are: Treasures of Middle-Earth (has all of the Rings of Power, lots of other stuff like Sting and Anduril), Creatures of Middle-Earth (duh), and the three-part NPC books that cover all of the notables up to the War of the Ring. Book One deals with the Valar, Maiar and Eldar. Book Two is all about Men. Book Three is all about the rest.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I have all those books, and have had them for well over a decade in some cases. They're very interesting, and often have some really nice illustrations, especially Angus McBride's covers. They're very exhaustive, but there are a couple of things to remember about them:

* Much of what they detail is purely speculation or outright creation on the part of ICE. While this was necessary in regards to providing info for MERP, it can be tough to determine what was taken directly from Tolkien, and what ICE created.

* In addition, some of ICE's interpretations of people and things are often ridiculously overpowered. I mean, I have my power-gaming moments, but still... Plus, everything is given a bonus of some kind, often with little rhyme or reason. The Ring of Barahir, for example, is given powers against dragons. This makes some sense, but there is nothing to indicate this is so in the books that I've seen. It could well be that it was simply a non-magical heirloom, just as the Elessar may have been.

I guess the only reason I have any qualms about any of this is that some of ICE's stuff may be taken as canon, or coming from canon, when it isn't or hasn't. It can mess up people trying to do conversions of the books for other games. That's why I have stayed away from using these books while doing my own conversions; I only use Tolkien's books and Foster's "Guide." But that's just my own personal taste. All in all, though, they're great to have, and you can see the writers did some deep research for them, and really loved the subject matter.

 

[GruTheWanderer]

ICE materials

Hi Colonel,

Thanks for the comments. The reason I'm interested in the materials is as a source of campaign plots and threads. That will probably continue to be the majority of my contributions to the website: adventures and journals.

Corinth,

Thanks also for the specific recommendations.

It could well be that it was simply a non-magical heirloom, just as the Elessar may have been.

But Elessar and its powers (for healing) did get some mention from Tolkien in Unfinished Tales (section on Galadriel and Celeborn).

Derek