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<blockquote data-quote="ColonelHardisson" data-source="post: 6031901" data-attributes="member: 363">It seems like the game industry operates in a vacuum, and reacts rather than acts when it comes to opportunities like the Jackson movies. MERP (Middle-earth Roleplaying) lost the license before the movies were released, then Decipher didn't get its game out until 2002. So no game was in print for Middle-earth when the first movie was released. Decipher's game never seemed to build any momentum, despite being much better than it was given credit for. Decipher didn't even release a sourcebook for Return of the King, which was a glaring absence after the release of sourcebooks for the first two movies. Those books were pretty good, too. The entire Decipher Middle-earth RPG line was solid. The game itself, the CODA system, is very similar to d20; I always said it was d20 using 2d6. It handled things like classes and advancement a bit differently, and in a way that I liked. Still, the following it gathered never seemed to get as big as you'd expect for a licensed property of Middle-earth's magnitude.I haven't seen the current Cubicle 7 game. It's gotten some good notices and awards. I'm not hearing too much about it, otherwise. 3e was released the year before the Fellowship movie. 3e was huge, but I don't know if the movies gave it any kind of appreciable bump. During its rather long run, MERP did pretty well for much of that time, apparently, judging by the number of books they published over the years. It's impossible to say what would have happened had it continued to exist when the movies were released, and was properly promoted in conjuntion with them. My own feeling is that not as many people want to game in Middle-earth as you would think. I don't know why that is.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ColonelHardisson, post: 6031901, member: 363"] It seems like the game industry operates in a vacuum, and reacts rather than acts when it comes to opportunities like the Jackson movies. MERP (Middle-earth Roleplaying) lost the license before the movies were released, then Decipher didn't get its game out until 2002. So no game was in print for Middle-earth when the first movie was released. Decipher's game never seemed to build any momentum, despite being much better than it was given credit for. Decipher didn't even release a sourcebook for Return of the King, which was a glaring absence after the release of sourcebooks for the first two movies. Those books were pretty good, too. The entire Decipher Middle-earth RPG line was solid. The game itself, the CODA system, is very similar to d20; I always said it was d20 using 2d6. It handled things like classes and advancement a bit differently, and in a way that I liked. Still, the following it gathered never seemed to get as big as you'd expect for a licensed property of Middle-earth's magnitude. I haven't seen the current Cubicle 7 game. It's gotten some good notices and awards. I'm not hearing too much about it, otherwise. 3e was released the year before the Fellowship movie. 3e was huge, but I don't know if the movies gave it any kind of appreciable bump. During its rather long run, MERP did pretty well for much of that time, apparently, judging by the number of books they published over the years. It's impossible to say what would have happened had it continued to exist when the movies were released, and was properly promoted in conjuntion with them. My own feeling is that not as many people want to game in Middle-earth as you would think. I don't know why that is. [/QUOTE]

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