Quote from: estar;931891MERP is not the same feel as The One Ring/Adventures in Middle Earth. But.... because AiME is using D&D 5e, you can tack on what you need from the core rules to give the same feel as how Middle Earth is depicted in MERP.

Also the vast majority of MERP material set in 1650 in the Third Age where AiME and TOR are set in the 2940's just after the Battle of the Five Armies.

You know what you could use pretty easily? The Decipher products that were released. From what I remember they are both set in the same time frame and they are much more similar mechanically than the one ring rpg. Also, the Decipher Moria supplement is amazing.

I ran the demo adventure last weekend (Nov 26th). I am writing a fuller report for my blog a couple of quick observations.

The players liked the rules, but the books as written is way too verbose and wordy. What saved the day were the character generation reference cards I made. They felt it was padded to get to the $40 list price.

The lack of a traditional D&D Wizard is very different. No Fireball, Sleep, to nail a bunch of goblin in a mass.

Archers ruled the day. The demo adventure goblins were similar to the 5e goblins except for having a reaction called parry that granted them +2 to AC against a single melee attack.

One player was very frustrated at being a scholar, didn't feel he had much to contribute to combat. The other scholar did better as he bought a short bow as equipment. Short bows are considered simple ranged weapons.

The Slayer has Battle Fury which confers resistance to Piercing, Slashing, and Bludgeoning. Nominally you get to use it for 10 rounds, 2 times at first level but due to way the demo adventure is structured (and basically the other adventures I have read from Cubicle) it pretty occurs every combat encounter.

To make the most of this, you really need to develop the roleplaying side of the campaign. The Scholar really depends on this, and the other classes have abilities only work well with a developed backdrop.

Definitely feels more Middle Earth than the default 5e classes.

Every party needs a Wanderer character, roleplaying long journeys a important aspect of AiME and a wanderer is the person you want in the guide role. To bad group's wanderer got insta-killed when a goblin rolled a crit. (13 damage vs. 10 max hit point).

I'm curious to know, among those who have, and especially ran this, how did the non-wizard 'wise dude' class hold up?  Do you think it's interesting enough and useful enough to actually play?

Quote from: RPGPundit;934115I'm curious to know, among those who have, and especially ran this, how did the non-wizard 'wise dude' class hold up?  Do you think it's interesting enough and useful enough to actually play?

First off when I say roleplaying, it is a shorthand for the things you do to play as a particular character with specific abilities, skills and personality.

The referee will have to put work into the roleplaying and World in Motion side of the campaign to make the class shine. For example one of their starting abilities is.

QuoteNews from Afar
You know many things that are hidden from most and tidings of distant events tend to reach you with astonishing speed. The source of your knowledge is obscure and you do not explain how you know the things you do to others
– it is enough that what you know is true.

At the start of each adventuring phase or after spending time in a Sanctuary, the Loremaster should inform you of one or two events of importance occurring somewhere in Wilderland.

Scholars always know a little bit about everything and the Loremaster should regularly give you rumours or information based on your appropriate Passive ability checks. For more clarity you can always make an active ability check to learn more about a person, place, or event. Once per Adventuring Phase you can add +5 to one of these active ability checks.

For a referee not doing World in Motion as part of his campaign this is something he will need to take into consideration.

Another is

QuoteTongues of Many Peoples
You know a little of many languages. You can hold a simple conversation in any of the tongues of Men or Elves, and know a few common phrases in the tongues of the other peoples – enough

Again if the referee doesn't use multiple languages in his campaign then this is going fall by the wayside. THE mechanic first level scholar get is healing hands. They get 1d8 healing die per level. Not only they can heal with this in combat, they can spend ten minutes and have the result multiplied by their prof bonus, they can use to cure disease, neutralize poison, and remove certain conditions. As they advance what they can do with healing dice expands.

Abilities with heavy roleplaying components are sprinkled throughout the other classes as well as abilities that relate to specific AiME/TOR concepts like audiences and journeys. The Wanderer class has several abilities that greatly help complete a journey successfully but otherwise don't do anything for combat or social interactions.

As whole it like Pendragon which only work if you are willing to roleplay as a Arthurian character. And many of it mechanics work  on the roleplaying level.

Quote from: RPGPundit;934115I'm curious to know, among those who have, and especially ran this, how did the non-wizard 'wise dude' class hold up?  Do you think it's interesting enough and useful enough to actually play?

The Scholar and, to a lesser extent, the Warden have received from criticism from people who want to use those classes in a D&D5e game or a ME game that holds D&D5e's assumption, especially as they are weaker than any D&D5e class in respect to combat.

However, the classes are built around the wider ruleset of AME which includes a greater focus on journeys, lore, and social interaction, in addition to combat. From this perspective, there is a lot of the Scholar and Warden to do, and in fact they will even excel or dominate these areas in the same was a warrior will do in combat.

The cover of the LMG is now up by Ralph Horsley:

Quote from: Skywalker;934178The cover of the LMG is now up by Ralph Horsley:

Much better than the player's guide.

Quote from: Ulairi;934179Much better than the player's guide.

I liked the Players Guide cover, but I agree this is better and a great piece of art.

The Scholar's fucked.

Quote from: One Horse Town;934193The Scholar's fucked.

Well they do say that knowing lore is sexy in Tolkienland.

Quote from: One Horse Town;934193The Scholar's fucked.

Does it or does it not reflect how scholars are in Tolkien's writings?

Quote from: estar;934241Does it or does it not reflect how scholars are in Tolkien's writings?

Maybe it does, but the Scholar on the cover is fucked.

All of the PCs on the cover are fucked.

Isn't that supposed to be Thorin & Company in Mirkwood?

Quote from: CRKrueger;934314Isn't that supposed to be Thorin & Company in Mirkwood?

I count 11 Dwarves and 1 Hobbit. Seems likely.