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Post by tkdco2 on Mar 29, 2021 22:23:00 GMT -6
I just uploaded my conversion on Google Docs. Hopefully it works. Please let me know if it doesn't. MERP to BFRPG Conversion
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 30, 2021 5:49:36 GMT -6
Google link seems to work fine for me. Also, I'm uploading the file that tkdco2 sent me. I converted it into a PDF, which is a pretty universal format.
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Post by tkdco2 on Mar 30, 2021 11:33:11 GMT -6
Thank you. Having it in pdf format is really useful to have. I really should download that app.
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Post by Falconer on Mar 30, 2021 12:09:09 GMT -6
Thanks, tkdco2, I am slowly but surely digging through this. Half-elves living 250-500 years seems way off to me, but I know this is in MERP, so if your intent is not to tinker with it, that’s fine with me. But FWIW, Galador, who was the Half-elf founder of Dol Amroth, lived only 125 years. And in fact his Dúnadan father Imrazôr lived 126 years!
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Post by tkdco2 on Mar 30, 2021 17:26:40 GMT -6
Half-elves are a tricky bunch. I think the 250-500 year lifespan was based on the lifespan of Elros. IIRC the only Half-elves who had the choice of whether to be immortal or not was given only to Earendil and his family. Elrond's children seem to have delayed their choices indefinitely.
Galador probably took after his Numenorean ancestry. His mother was a Wood-elf and not one of the Eldar, so that may have been a factor. Of course, little is written about him, so he may have died through misadventure instead of living out his full lifespan.
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Post by tkdco2 on Apr 1, 2021 3:17:59 GMT -6
Here are some house rules I may implement:
House Rules for BFRPG Middle-earth
1. Even when playing Basic/Expert D&D, I already adopted the "roll 4d6, drop lowest die, and assign values as desired" method. I also allowed maximum hit points at level 1. I will continue using these methods.
2. While I keep the "death at zero hit points" rule, I often use a "three strikes, you're out" rule. That is, characters who reach zero hit points are incapacitated the first two times , but they cannot cheat death a third time.
I've used this for my MERP game. The three strikes rule was used cumulatively then, but using it each adventure may help low-level characters survive longer.
3. A character who fails a saving throw vs. poison from a spider bite may not die but instead fall into a death-like coma for a day. This seems to have happened to Thorin & Company as well as Frodo.
4. Rather than drain levels, undead may drain constitution instead. Wights and wraiths drain 1-6 points, while spectres and vampires drain 2-8 points. Constitution points are restored at a rate of 1 point per day. This rule was created by a poster known as Melan.
Note that hit points gained through CON bonuses are also lost, but they are regained as the CON bonuses are restored.
5. I may change the names of the character classes to better fit a Middle-earth setting. This change is purely cosmetic; all game mechanics remain the same. I'm following the list of MERP classes, but I'm assuming BFRPG/OSR systems will be used.
Fighters are renamed Warriors. This just seems to fit better in Middle-earth.
Clerics are renamed Healers. This will avoid the "no clerics in Middle-earth" argument. I will also allow healers to heal 1-3 hit points per adventure.
Thieves are renamed Burglars. This just seems right for the campaign.
Magic-users are renamed Enchanters. There are only five Wizards, and they're all NPCs. Sorcerers are also possible, but the term has a negative connotation in Tolkien's works.
Bards are renamed Minstrels. Again, this just seems more in tune with Middle-earth.
Rangers are renamed Hunters. While "Ranger" fits well in Middle-earth, the term may be reserved for the Dunedain in Arthedain and Ithilien.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2021 12:04:10 GMT -6
Will your Healers substitute, say, Kingsfoil for Holy Symbols? While Middle-Earth has gods in its mythology there never seems to be any organized religion in any of the books outside the profane altars to Morgoth the Numenoreans constructed.
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Post by tkdco2 on Apr 1, 2021 12:19:17 GMT -6
Good question. I'd say yes, they'd use kingsfoil or other herbs for their spells. Still trying to figure out how they can repel the undead. The Book of Tobit has one example, although that was a demon.
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Post by Falconer on Apr 1, 2021 12:49:10 GMT -6
The name of Elbereth worked pretty well on Weathertop. The name of Tom Bombadil also worked great at the Barrow-downs, though good luck using it outside his radius.
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Post by tkdco2 on Apr 1, 2021 14:11:29 GMT -6
It seems that anyone can invoke the Valar. Maybe healers will be get a bonus, or other classes will get a reduced chance of successfully driving off the undead. The Nazgul may be unique such that anyone can turn them.
Other ways to turn undead may exist. Frodo summoning Tom Bombadil to rescue him and the others from the Barrow Wight can be a method for turning undead, although it's more likely a summoning spell Tom allowed Frodo to use.
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Post by tkdco2 on Apr 1, 2021 15:01:40 GMT -6
More house rules:
I am considering using critical hits and fumbles. BFRPG has rules for that on its Downloads section, but I'm thinking of using a modified version of the Dragon article "Good Hits, Bad Misses."
I may allow fighters to specialize and dual wield weapons.
While I have a lot of MERP material and plan to make good use of them (my whole point of doing the conversion in the first place), I know these books are long out of print and usually expensive when you find them on sale. I have been thinking of running a game using only Robert Foster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth and Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth. These books are still in print and reasonably priced. They're also useful to pass around to players who successfully research any information relevant to their adventure.
Edit: I almost forgot. While the players will use individual initiative, I will use group initiative for the monsters.
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Post by Falconer on Apr 1, 2021 15:09:24 GMT -6
You could use have the players use Foster’s Guide to Middle-earth, which came out before The Silmarillion and therefore is more compact than the Complete Guide and, you know, doesn’t have a lot of stuff from other Ages that you might not need (and which the PCs presumably wouldn’t know everything about. For example (maybe not a great example), if you are running the Eregion adventures, it would be nice if the players couldn’t look up the name Annatar.
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Post by tkdco2 on Apr 6, 2021 18:07:36 GMT -6
I've always intended to use the Balrog and Uruk-hai stats from White Dwarf's Khazad-dum article. But I couldn't use them in my conversion because they're someone else's IP. That said, the 2E Balor is another good choice for the Balrog.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jun 6, 2021 17:20:39 GMT -6
A lot of the MERP modules include Rolemaster professions as well as the MERP professions, for example: Bard/Seer or Animist/Astrologer. If you know what the base spell lists for those professions concentrate on, you can choose the spells that most closely match the spell lists. So a seer may have ESP, and an astrologer may have Know Alignment. Rangers are spellcasters in MERP/Rolemaster, so you may use the cleric with a hunter quasi-class instead of a BFRPG fighter or ranger.
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Post by tkdco2 on Aug 6, 2021 0:49:50 GMT -6
I created a trio of characters and ran a simple adventure to playtest my conversions. I plan to use the Arnor sourcebooks for my solo campaign.
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