What does it take for an RPG to die?

[soviet]

If I became a billionaire I would get the rights to RM2 and reprint it, and try to do the same with MERP.

 

[aramis erak]

I GMed some WFRP 1e two years ago and still plan to run a continuation in the near future. I GMed some MERP/RM2 a couple of years before that and still plan to return to it some day. I also ran AD&D second edition a few years before that.

It has its fans - but most of the people I've seen online hate it for Middle Earth as a game system because there's WAY TO «BLEEP»ING MUCH magic available for Middle Earth.

I found that I like it as a game, provided I don't tell the players it's intended for Middle Earth.

Of the hundreds of gamers I knew in Anchorage, none liked MERP for plaing Middle Earth. Many of the fans of Middle Earth on other sites express similar. That you didn't, well lucky for you...

Note the number of people using it as a D&D replacement? They're not running Middle Earth with it. And D&D is even worse for doing Middle Earth.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Nope, Knights And Berserkers And Legerdemain. A game with absolutely nothing to recommend it that's been out of print for 40 years. I am not sure if that or the two Islandia scenarios by The Companions are the rarest things I own.

Amazing. I wonder if in some way the numerology in the book is related to the Kaballah?

 

[SableWyvern]

It has its fans - but most of the people I've seen online hate it for Middle Earth as a game system because there's WAY TO «BLEEP»ING MUCH magic available for Middle Earth.

I found that I like it as a game, provided I don't tell the players it's intended for Middle Earth.

Of the hundreds of gamers I knew in Anchorage, none liked MERP for plaing Middle Earth. Many of the fans of Middle Earth on other sites express similar. That you didn't, well lucky for you...

Note the number of people using it as a D&D replacement? They're not running Middle Earth with it. And D&D is even worse for doing Middle Earth.

I've used it for fairly conventional D&D-esque adventuring through Mirkwood, Moria and places in between. For low-powered urban hijinks in Tharbad. For extremely high level play as Noldor, Vanyar and others conducting special forces actions into Melkor's domain.

As others have said, it's not necessarily suitable for emulating the Lord of the Rings but, as far as I'm aware, it was never really intended to do this. ICE intentionally set it in a different period, and provided information about regions outside the main novels, so that there are options for various different types of adventuring, from political intrigue to dungeon delving. I don't think it's an accident that the game is called Middle Earth Roleplaying and not Lord of the Rings Roleplaying.

In general, I think it's very difficult to make sweeping statements about who use what for what. We're all limited to knowledge of the people we have interacted with online or in person, but there are vast swathes of the hobby that aren't interconnected with everybody and it's possible for two people with decades of experience to have had vastly different experiences.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Nope, Knights And Berserkers And Legerdemain. A game with absolutely nothing to recommend it that's been out of print for 40 years. I am not sure if that or the two Islandia scenarios by The Companions are the rarest things I own.

KABAL is not dead.

And have no further comment.