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Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013
Pros and Cons of various Tolkien-based RPG systems.
Since this is a little too lengthy for the typical meetup.com posting, I'm explaining the pros and cons of the different Tolkien-based RPG's (from my perspective of course).
The Short Version
ICE MERP
The first official licensed Tolkien RPG. Was a stripped down, simplified version of ICE's Rolemaster. Many of us that played this system in the 80's and 90's still have a great fondness for this system despite some flaws as a Tolkien-focused RPG.
It uses primarily percentile dice - d100 (d10 x2).
The greatest issue is the magic system does not fit.
The second edition began making suggestions to somewhat improve, but it really needs a complete overhaul.
the only other real "issue" is very subjective based on individual player and GM tastes, rather than a Tolkien setting issue. That is the core system using a lot of (in my view easy percentile, but to others these days they consider daunting) math and charts. Folks either love it or hate it. Whatever you feel about it though, it is a slower system than simpler systems, so combat can take quite a bit longer, unless everyone in the group is highly skilled with the system.
MERP does not really encourage ROLE-play over ROLL-play, nor really nudge players into playing more Tolkien-like heroes (the way TOR RPG does), but it is flexible enough that any GM can do this through the narrative of the campaign rather than the system.
Decipher Lord of the Rings RPG
The second officially license Tolkien RPG.
Most of the content is fluff and movie-centric.
The system is incomplete, unbalanced, and requires a lot of tweaking from the community to make it workable.
The books lack any usable Table of Contents or Index (unless you get online resources from the community thankfully), so character generation is an unpleasant experience.
The system is much more simplistic, using the Decipher generic CODA system. It is light on details, math, and charts.
It uses six sided dice (usually 2d6).
TOR RPG
This is a modern system, very light on math and charts.
It has very abstract rules systems.
These rules inherently encourage more Tolkienesque Role-play (a good thing).
The combat system is very abstract, so details are left up to the GM and players (not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the group).
One wonderful feature is the encouragement for players to have more say in the narrative describing what their characters actually do when they make an attempt at an action or combat. The gradient levels of success allow for creative and fun approaches to otherwise mundane task resolution.
This is not necessarily the system for everyone. If you like gritty, detailed, brutal, hack and slash, this is not the system for you.
If you like broader "role-play" then it is well worth considering.
The more I play this system, the more I enjoy it.
They only have a few supplements available currently, and with it being such a small company, there is concern about the long term support of the system. It is easy to use resources from MERP and elsewhere to expand the setting.
Since it is currently published you can easily buy the rules at local game stores like Merlyn's (please support your local businesses), or online. This makes it easy for people to pick up the rules and have their own copy, and be prepared for the games.
Eä d20
An adaptation of D&D 3.5 to fit Middle-earth.
It is basically the core rules, but with the Races/Cultures replaced, and an overhaul of the magic classes and magic rules (using existing 3.5 published options).
This is an unofficial system (created by me, with the help of dozens of play testers), that is always progressing. http://www.earpg.com
The advantage of this system is especially for newer players, or older players, that are only really familiar with d20 rules, and not really interested in learning a completely new system, but want to play in a Tolkien setting.
The core mechanics are all the same, so it is easy for any D&D player to jump in and get playing.
There are versions of this also adapted for 1st & 2nd editions of AD&D as well.
Eä RPG
A system built from the ground up specifically for Tolkien role-playing gaming.
Also created by me, and offered in three levels of complexity.
Eä RPG Basic Rules
The bare essentials of a role-playing game, using only a single d6. It is a great introduction to RPG for anyone that has never role-played, or if you want to quickly throw a game together, it only takes less than 15 minutes to make a character. Of course it is not meant for long term use over a long campaign, but it is a great starting point for beginners.
Eä RPG Standard Rules
Also a system created from scratch for role-playing in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and beyond.
Also created by me. This is a percentage-based system. It is meant to be a complete RPG system. It is intended to be a balance between more detail than the current popular trend of abstract systems, while still trying to keep the pace play going better than Rolemaster for example.
This is in an Alpha stage of development. I now need an adventurous group of players willing to help get this system into actual use, and help shape the final product (as players did with the d20 version over the years).
Eä RPG Advanced Rules
This is basically a bunch of options that can be added to the Standard Rules, or all used together for the complete advanced experience...
This is for those players that LOVE lots of detail, charts, calculations, etc. in their game play, and do not mind slowing down game play a little bit to crunch some extra calculations to get improved "realism".
Basically this is developing as a repository of the rules that were considered in the standard rules, but were decided were too technical or detailed, and slowed down game play enough, that they were removed from the standard rules, but saved in the advanced rules if they were still to be found of value.
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