I made a character for, and played a few session of TOR. I found it fairly interesting, and I definitely felt it was very evocative of the setting. Systems designed around a particular setting are always going to feel more thematic than a setting book from another system.

I don't remember the particulars, but I recall reading about changes made from TOR 1e to 2e, and not liking them.

Quote from: Grognard GM on December 11, 2023, 03:16:48 PMI don't remember the particulars, but I recall reading about changes made from TOR 1e to 2e, and not liking them.

I can't recall specifics either, but one thing that impressed me with Free League is that they wrote the 2E TOR books such that (1) they didn't duplicate sourcebooks released for 1E, and (2) they would be somewhat compatible.

So, the designers feel like the changes weren't that significant. I have the same sense as you, however, that I liked TOR 2E better. I just can't recall why.

I have been playing a solo game of TOR2e and I think it's great. It better conveys the feeling of LOTR than MERP (which I have played as well).

The Hope and Shadow rules are in a sense "meta-game / story-game" rules, but after watching this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXHQNCqEQyc) that explains the rules with examples from the film / book it made me realise that it actually brings to life the meta-narrative of Middle-Earth in a way that doesn't exist in most other campaign settings. So it feels like an essential part of the world rather than a tacked on way to alter the world or setting.

I have a bunch of MERP modules which I intend to use as a resource as well at some point. Of course I will need to turn the magic and DnD'isms all the way down but I don't see why they can't be used as a source of NPCS, adventure hooks and locations.

Have any of you played MERP but with magic users banned?

Apart from excessive math, and tables for everything, the magic users in a universe where there shouldn't really be any 'in the wild' was my biggest turn-off.

The art, setting material, and general vibe felt very Tolkienesque.

So I'm gonna be one of those weird, odd man out type. Don't buy a licensed LotR game....cause they all go defunct eventually. Just pick your favorite OSR game, house rule what you need. Use the novels as lore and have at it.

Quote from: Grognard GM on December 11, 2023, 08:28:56 PM
Have any of you played MERP but with magic users banned?

Apart from excessive math, and tables for everything, the magic users in a universe where there shouldn't really be any 'in the wild' was my biggest turn-off.

The art, setting material, and general vibe felt very Tolkienesque.

When I ran it we didn't have any magic users. I just steered the players away from that option, and kept magic used by others Tolkien-esque. We had great fun with it. I still don't think MERP is necessarily the best system for Tolkien, but there's certainly a lot of good material for it out there.

Quote from: Thorn Drumheller on December 11, 2023, 09:36:39 PM
So I'm gonna be one of those weird, odd man out type. Don't buy a licensed LotR game....cause they all go defunct eventually. Just pick your favorite OSR game, house rule what you need. Use the novels as lore and have at it.

I did it that way for years and enjoyed running OD&D Middle-earth style. I like LotR games because the designers did a lot of the house ruling for me. Except that I still house rule pretty much anything I run, so maybe I'm back to where you suggested.

I think one thing that turned a number of people off from MERP back in the day was the example of play at the start of the book. My god, was it a bad match for Tolkien-purists. There was a character called "Chinta Kari" and someone levitating around a tower, just to check it out (plus numerous other spells left and right).

I don't remember that example of play, but it does sound very non-Tolkien in flavor. My take on MERP is that it had solid mechanics, but the magic system just didn't feel like Middle-earth at all. I think most of MERP was solid -- the combat felt pretty gritty and perilous. The Adventure Game they did based on MERP was a lot of fun as well.