Our online LotR RPG 5e has room for 1-2 additional players, if anyone wants to give it a go.  Our Scholar had to leave the game due to personal things like moving and such, so we have 4 players currently.

Quote from: Batjon on December 01, 2023, 01:30:21 PM
Our online LotR RPG 5e has room for 1-2 additional players, if anyone wants to give it a go.  Our Scholar had to leave the game due to personal things like moving and such, so we have 4 players currently.

How do you like the 5e version?

Quote from: Batjon on December 01, 2023, 01:24:52 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on December 01, 2023, 01:02:21 PM

Quote from: Batjon on December 01, 2023, 11:27:49 AM
The One Ring 2e is really good.

The Lord of the Rings RPG 5e is great as well.  I'm playing in an online campaign currently and it is wonderful.  A fantastic adaptation of The One Ring to D&D mechanics.  It is much more of a complete conversion of TOR than what the previous Adventures in Middle Earth was.

Can you sum up the differences between AiME and LoTR 5E? Why on earth did they change they change the name...

I'm hoping its "not enough changed, stick with AiME" because i have a massive pdf bundle. Hows the backwards compatability?

A quote I read online that is a decent summary: "They are very different. Essentially they start with the same starting point (5e) but are built separately from there. LotR5e is closer to TOR and AiME is closer to D&D5e, though both have had considerable changes for 5e to suit the source material."

https://www.reddit.com/r/AiME/comments/17va4nb/lotr_5e_vs_aime/

https://forum.frialigan.se/viewtopic.php?t=10127

https://forum.frialigan.se/viewtopic.php?t=11089

Thanks! I checked out some of the links. Someone has made a comprehensive document outlining the changes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V-Ldavvh0DrkkSOCfTszRr97bC2KCRzRFq7OaS2-Nwk/edit

edit: fixed link

I dropped some hints to my wife, and now I'm pretty sure she has ordered the One Ring 2nd ed starter set for Christmas. I'll write a review here, but sadly it's going to have to wait a few weeks 😄

Also take a look at the Age of Shadow from Crooked Staff Publishing on drivethru. It uses the openquest system (based on runequest).

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/3785/crooked-staff-publishing/category/8743/the-age-of-shadow-rpg

Quote from: Blake on December 02, 2023, 09:02:52 AM
Also take a look at the Age of Shadow from Crooked Staff Publishing on drivethru. It uses the openquest system (based on runequest).

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/3785/crooked-staff-publishing/category/8743/the-age-of-shadow-rpg

Is there a preview somewhere?

Quote from: Trond on December 02, 2023, 12:35:14 PM

Quote from: Blake on December 02, 2023, 09:02:52 AM
Also take a look at the Age of Shadow from Crooked Staff Publishing on drivethru. It uses the openquest system (based on runequest).

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/3785/crooked-staff-publishing/category/8743/the-age-of-shadow-rpg

Is there a preview somewhere?

It's free:


https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/93513/The-Age-of-Shadow-Roleplaying-Game

Quote from: A commenterAn absolutely excellent use of the OpenQuest system, it creates a very adaptable set of mechanics which will allow me to dig out all my old Iron Crown and MERP products and rekindle my early days of gaming, but without the complexity of Rolemaster. The layout is lovely, clean and simple, immediately approachable and useable. If I had one gripe it would be the lack of pictorial art, but the use of maps, sketches, border and banners still makes this a rich product. And of course the price is amazing!

Quote from: Aglondir on December 01, 2023, 01:02:21 PM

Quote from: Batjon on December 01, 2023, 11:27:49 AM
The One Ring 2e is really good.

The Lord of the Rings RPG 5e is great as well.  I'm playing in an online campaign currently and it is wonderful.  A fantastic adaptation of The One Ring to D&D mechanics.  It is much more of a complete conversion of TOR than what the previous Adventures in Middle Earth was.

Can you sum up the differences between AiME and LoTR 5E? Why on earth did they change they change the name...

I'm hoping its "not enough changed, stick with AiME" because i have a massive pdf bundle. Hows the backwards compatibility?

Well, it's not a "they changed the name" situation. What happened is that Cubicle-7 (the AiMe company) lost the license and Free League (the LotRR company) bought it. Technically they are two totally different games, although I believe that a lot of the design team (who also did TOR and TOR2) were the same. Because a lot of the designers are the same, my understanding is that they chose to start the new game with content regarding parts of Middle-earth that hadn't been covered in the older one instead of just doing the same stuff all over again. I appreciate that.

The biggest difference is that of scale. AiME runs characters to level 20, LotRR caps at level 10. I haven't figured out how to convert back and forth yet (I assume it's not as simple as "multiply by 2" or "divide by 2") but I do know that LotRR rebuilt a lot of the classes to be more Tolkien-like. A friend of mine told me that AiME is 5E as seen through a Tolkien lens but LotRR is more like Tolkien as seen through a 5E lens. I think he means that AiME runs a lot like a traditional 5E campaign but LotRR runs more like a Middle-earth game that happens to have 5E-similar rules. I'm hoping to run a LotRR campaign soon and can give a better reply after that, I hope.

Quote from: Blake on December 02, 2023, 09:02:52 AM
Also take a look at the Age of Shadow from Crooked Staff Publishing on drivethru. It uses the openquest system (based on runequest).

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/3785/crooked-staff-publishing/category/8743/the-age-of-shadow-rpg

Agreed, I should have remembered that one.

Although I think the goal there was more a Second Age game that a late Third Age one.

Quote from: finarvyn on December 02, 2023, 04:12:46 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on December 01, 2023, 01:02:21 PM

Quote from: Batjon on December 01, 2023, 11:27:49 AM
The One Ring 2e is really good.

The Lord of the Rings RPG 5e is great as well.  I'm playing in an online campaign currently and it is wonderful.  A fantastic adaptation of The One Ring to D&D mechanics.  It is much more of a complete conversion of TOR than what the previous Adventures in Middle Earth was.

Can you sum up the differences between AiME and LoTR 5E? Why on earth did they change they change the name...

I'm hoping its "not enough changed, stick with AiME" because i have a massive pdf bundle. Hows the backwards compatibility?

Well, it's not a "they changed the name" situation. What happened is that Cubicle-7 (the AiMe company) lost the license and Free League (the LotRR company) bought it. Technically they are two totally different games, although I believe that a lot of the design team (who also did TOR and TOR2) were the same. Because a lot of the designers are the same, my understanding is that they chose to start the new game with content regarding parts of Middle-earth that hadn't been covered in the older one instead of just doing the same stuff all over again. I appreciate that.

The biggest difference is that of scale. AiME runs characters to level 20, LotRR caps at level 10. I haven't figured out how to convert back and forth yet (I assume it's not as simple as "multiply by 2" or "divide by 2") but I do know that LotRR rebuilt a lot of the classes to be more Tolkien-like. A friend of mine told me that AiME is 5E as seen through a Tolkien lens but LotRR is more like Tolkien as seen through a 5E lens. I think he means that AiME runs a lot like a traditional 5E campaign but LotRR runs more like a Middle-earth game that happens to have 5E-similar rules. I'm hoping to run a LotRR campaign soon and can give a better reply after that, I hope.

Finarvyn,

Your assessment tracks with what I've read online. Namely, the Google Doc that summarizes the changes. I think the 10-level structure makes more sense than a 20-level structure. And I like that they set it in Eriador. I've seen your friend's comments echoed in various places-- that AiME plays more like 5E and LoTR plays more like TOR. Let us know how the game goes.

Quote from: Aglondir on December 03, 2023, 01:03:07 AM

Quote from: finarvyn on December 02, 2023, 04:12:46 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on December 01, 2023, 01:02:21 PM

Quote from: Batjon on December 01, 2023, 11:27:49 AM
The One Ring 2e is really good.

The Lord of the Rings RPG 5e is great as well.  I'm playing in an online campaign currently and it is wonderful.  A fantastic adaptation of The One Ring to D&D mechanics.  It is much more of a complete conversion of TOR than what the previous Adventures in Middle Earth was.

Can you sum up the differences between AiME and LoTR 5E? Why on earth did they change they change the name...

I'm hoping its "not enough changed, stick with AiME" because i have a massive pdf bundle. Hows the backwards compatibility?

Well, it's not a "they changed the name" situation. What happened is that Cubicle-7 (the AiMe company) lost the license and Free League (the LotRR company) bought it. Technically they are two totally different games, although I believe that a lot of the design team (who also did TOR and TOR2) were the same. Because a lot of the designers are the same, my understanding is that they chose to start the new game with content regarding parts of Middle-earth that hadn't been covered in the older one instead of just doing the same stuff all over again. I appreciate that.

The biggest difference is that of scale. AiME runs characters to level 20, LotRR caps at level 10. I haven't figured out how to convert back and forth yet (I assume it's not as simple as "multiply by 2" or "divide by 2") but I do know that LotRR rebuilt a lot of the classes to be more Tolkien-like. A friend of mine told me that AiME is 5E as seen through a Tolkien lens but LotRR is more like Tolkien as seen through a 5E lens. I think he means that AiME runs a lot like a traditional 5E campaign but LotRR runs more like a Middle-earth game that happens to have 5E-similar rules. I'm hoping to run a LotRR campaign soon and can give a better reply after that, I hope.

Finarvyn,

Your assessment tracks with what I've read online. Namely, the Google Doc that summarizes the changes. I think the 10-level structure makes more sense than a 20-level structure. And I like that they set it in Eriador. I've seen your friend's comments echoed in various places-- that AiME plays more like 5E and LoTR plays more like TOR. Let us know how the game goes.

Thanks, and will do. My biggest obstacle at the moment is that my wife (who loves the LotR movies) only wants to play elven wizards and so her enthusiasm about playing in Middle-earth (without PC wizards) is lukewarm at best. As she represents 25% of my players, that makes LotRR a bit of a tough-sell. I have some ideas on how to approach this, but that's holding up the campaign launch at the moment.

Quote from: finarvyn on December 03, 2023, 06:52:27 AMMy biggest obstacle at the moment is that my wife (who loves the LotR movies) only wants to play elven wizards and so her enthusiasm about playing in Middle-earth (without PC wizards) is lukewarm at best. As she represents 25% of my players, that makes LotRR a bit of a tough-sell. I have some ideas on how to approach this, but that's holding up the campaign launch at the moment.

My wife is in my rpg group as well, but she sure represents more than 20% (I have 5 players) of my group.   

I prefer the new Lord of the Rings RPG.  Well, I prefer TOR 2e, but of the 5e versions I like LoTRR over AiME.  And one of the biggest things I like is that they don't include spell casters and try to take a subtle approach to magic.  I also like the toned down 10-level system.  Anyway, I would probably have a little pushback in my group because a couple of people do like casting spells.  But much like your situation, finarvyn, I would point out (and you probably already have, to your wife) that "normal" folks didn't really cast spells in the LotR movies.

If I were going to implement any type of spellcasting system into LotRR (or AiME), then it would definitely be something subtle.  Maybe the type of spells you seen in Harnmaster, with the casting limits of World Without Number.  I don't know...that's just me spitballing.  It definitely would NOT be fireballs, wishes, cure wounds, and flying spells.  Very, very subtle stuff. But that's my opinion.

I seriously think more people who are into Tolkien should give TOR a try. It's in many ways like a love letter to the guy. The dice have letters from his invented scripts included, and these are actually used in the game, not just window dressing. If you like a bit improvisation you can use these symbols to additional effect, not always outlined in the rules. For instance, I once interpreted a roll of extraordinary success but with an Sauron's Eye symbol as "you did very well indeed, but you get the feeling that someone not so friendly may have noticed".

Quote from: Blake on December 02, 2023, 09:02:52 AM
Also take a look at the Age of Shadow from Crooked Staff Publishing on drivethru. It uses the openquest system (based on runequest).

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/3785/crooked-staff-publishing/category/8743/the-age-of-shadow-rpg

Another recommendation for Age of Shadow here. I like it very much, but just so you know, without a license it can't come right out and say things like "Mordor" or "Sauron."

The Age of Shadow is a great little game, especially since the PoD books are concise and lightweight. It's nice to be able to carry everything to a friend's house and not have to strain your back. For anyone looking to use it for a LotR game, you should know that the author put up rules for making halfling characters on his website; the rule book covers humans, elves, and dwarves already.

http://ageofshadow.freehostia.com/halflings.html