Post by Finarvyn on Sept 9, 2023 10:14:05 GMT -6
My group wants to play 5E, so some of the older Middle-earth RPGs (MERP, Decipher, TOR etc.) are currently off the table. I have a decent collection of Cubicle-7's Adventures in Middle-earth stuff as well as the products from Free League for the Lord of the Rings RPG (Shire book, plus Moria on Kickstart preorder). I've been thinking about running a Middle-earth game and wanted to share my thoughts and maybe get some input from the Tolkien enthusiasts on these boards. My end-game, I think, would be to test-drive a Middle-earth campaign for my home group and if successful perhaps infiltrate my local game store by running a campaign there as well. So, I'm trying to get a handle on what works for my family, but also what might interest others at the store.
Era of Play:
TOR set gameplay in the time of The Hobbit, and I assume both AiMe and LotRR do the same. Seems to be a good era, as the ring isn't really in play and so nobody will feel like they have to do the quest from the books.
Thoughts on Mechanics:
I haven't tried to compare the mechanics of AiMe and LotRR to one another. Both are based on 5E so they ought to be similar, but I don't have experience with them yet. I assume that much of character creation and mechanics of play would be interchangeable between the rules sets. AiMe may go to level 20 and LotRR goes to level 10, so that may be something to consider.
AiMe has monsters scattered around several sourcebooks, so I suppose one of my first projects would be to try to put together something to combine them. LotRR has some other monsters and I'm not sure yet if one can hop back and forth between the monsters in both rules sets or not. (For example when I run OD&D I can use monsters from the MM, or C&C's M&T book, or other OSR sources with essentially zero conversion. Not sure if AiMe and LotRR allow this.) So, could I take a Nazgul from AiMe and throw it at LotRR characters as-is, or do I need to convert from one 5E system to another? Logic tells me they would be used unaltered, but I haven't compared.
TOR has extensive rules for in-between sessions, as a "travel phase" and I think AiMe did the same. I need to look into LotRR to see what they do and if this is a worthwhile thing to do in a Middle-earth campaign. If any folks have run TOR or AiMe I would love to hear about this and their experiences.
Thoughts on a campaign arc:
My TOR2 starter set has a Shire campaign and I think the LotRR Shire sourcebook has something similar, so I might start with a band of hobbits parading around the Shire as an introduction to the setting and to a campaign. Once they tire of exploring the Shire, perhaps we would expand character options to non-hobbits and go out into the world. The AiMe Mirkwood sourcebook provided a lot of linked adventures and other books had some shorter plotlines or one-shots. When the Moria supplement to LotRR comes out in May, a Moria camapign may be an awesome option. And, of course, there is the Lonely Mountain and confronting Smaug.
Thoughts on Spellcasting:
This is a potential campaign-killer, as my wife only wants to play elven Wizards. AiMe doesn't encourage regular PC spellcasters but does give some vague ideas of how one could use regular 5E spellcasting in Middle-earth. LotRR doesn't have any rules for PC Wizards that I've seen. Clearly, other than Gandalf and his group, 5E spellcasters aren't very Middle-earth in feel. What do we think about 5E style spellcasting in Middle-earth?
More if I think of it.
Era of Play:
TOR set gameplay in the time of The Hobbit, and I assume both AiMe and LotRR do the same. Seems to be a good era, as the ring isn't really in play and so nobody will feel like they have to do the quest from the books.
Thoughts on Mechanics:
I haven't tried to compare the mechanics of AiMe and LotRR to one another. Both are based on 5E so they ought to be similar, but I don't have experience with them yet. I assume that much of character creation and mechanics of play would be interchangeable between the rules sets. AiMe may go to level 20 and LotRR goes to level 10, so that may be something to consider.
AiMe has monsters scattered around several sourcebooks, so I suppose one of my first projects would be to try to put together something to combine them. LotRR has some other monsters and I'm not sure yet if one can hop back and forth between the monsters in both rules sets or not. (For example when I run OD&D I can use monsters from the MM, or C&C's M&T book, or other OSR sources with essentially zero conversion. Not sure if AiMe and LotRR allow this.) So, could I take a Nazgul from AiMe and throw it at LotRR characters as-is, or do I need to convert from one 5E system to another? Logic tells me they would be used unaltered, but I haven't compared.
TOR has extensive rules for in-between sessions, as a "travel phase" and I think AiMe did the same. I need to look into LotRR to see what they do and if this is a worthwhile thing to do in a Middle-earth campaign. If any folks have run TOR or AiMe I would love to hear about this and their experiences.
Thoughts on a campaign arc:
My TOR2 starter set has a Shire campaign and I think the LotRR Shire sourcebook has something similar, so I might start with a band of hobbits parading around the Shire as an introduction to the setting and to a campaign. Once they tire of exploring the Shire, perhaps we would expand character options to non-hobbits and go out into the world. The AiMe Mirkwood sourcebook provided a lot of linked adventures and other books had some shorter plotlines or one-shots. When the Moria supplement to LotRR comes out in May, a Moria camapign may be an awesome option. And, of course, there is the Lonely Mountain and confronting Smaug.
Thoughts on Spellcasting:
This is a potential campaign-killer, as my wife only wants to play elven Wizards. AiMe doesn't encourage regular PC spellcasters but does give some vague ideas of how one could use regular 5E spellcasting in Middle-earth. LotRR doesn't have any rules for PC Wizards that I've seen. Clearly, other than Gandalf and his group, 5E spellcasters aren't very Middle-earth in feel. What do we think about 5E style spellcasting in Middle-earth?
More if I think of it.
