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Post by geoffrey on Sept 28, 2013 9:59:38 GMT -6
Didn't Tolkien think that Tom Bombadil was also a Maiar, or at least some sort of incarnate spirit?
I think that human "wizards" post-date the arrival of the Istari in Middle-earth. A letter Tolkien wrote on Oct. 14, 1958 states: "I suspect they [the two Istari other than Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast] were founders or beginners of secret cults and 'magic' traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron."
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Post by Porphyre on Oct 1, 2013 10:00:44 GMT -6
Conversely, Tolkien gives us no examples of men or elves who are referred to wizards (or Wizards). Except for one late note where he mused, “Was in fact Glorfindel one of them?” But he immediately concludes against it, writing: “We must assume that they were all Maiar.” Them/they being the Five Wizards. Nevertheless, he does at one point refer to the Five “the chiefs” of their order — allowing the possibility for other emissaries. I see Glorfindel as a paladin in D&D terms: lawful, good fighter, with some healing powers but limited (he does aknowledge that he is sub-par to Elrond), and able to turn undead (he was able to make the Nazgûl flee)
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Post by Porphyre on Oct 1, 2013 14:34:26 GMT -6
About The One Ring per se: - I love the dices. Non standard D12 with runes, what's not to love? (I actually suspect I purchased it only because of the dices...) But... About mechanics: -The backgrounds seem a little too much heavily shoe-horned; and too specific. Granted they encourage the GM to create other backgrounds, but don't provide a toolbox handy enough for it. -It is too much skill based for my tastes -I never played it but the D12(actually d10 with two "criticals") + nD6 sees a little too much swingy. With an "easy" level set to 10 as a target, it seems difficult to do anything without havig the relevant skill. About the background: I understand the choice to concentrate on the areas between the misty mountains and the Lonely Mountain, but just wood elf/ Erebor dwarf/ beorning / men of Dale / hobbit is a lackluster choice for me. MERP was far from perfect and made a very poor job in picturing JRRT's works, but at least you had the choice to play a Dunadan, or a High elf! And why limit one self to Erebor when you have all those wonderful places in ME ? About design: The book is too art heavy , not that easy to the eye (Cf 9and30kingdoms.blogspot.fr/2013/09/bad-design.html ), and , to me, not that well organized in it's presentation.
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