I remember seeing lots of Middle Earth RPG stuff back in my earlier gaming days, but never picked any of it up and never knew anybody who did.  For some reason, I'm curious now.  

How is the game system wise?  Do characters take 30 min, 1 hr, 2hr+ to make?  Is combat simple enough to handle large battle quickly, or more technical?  

How does it do at making Middle Earth into a fun place to run around having adventures?

What do you need to play?  If there's multiple starter books/sets, which is the best place to start?  What supplements are essential?  Nice to have?  A waste of paper and money?

I enjoy LOTR and really enjoy the Hobbit- but I'm not a Middle Earth Fanatic, so little differences from "canon" will not be cause for alarm for me.  

Just to be clear I'm talking about the older stuff from ICE, not the post movie version LOTR game.

I only ever saw the 1st edition of these rules; the 2nd is said to be better.  MERP uses a cut-down version of RoleMaster.  It's fairly simplified, but character generation takes a bit longer than, say, AD&D.

There were six classes (Fighter, Scout, Animist, Wizard, Ranger, Bard).  Spell lists were cut down to 10 levels.  Skill development at character generation was patterned by your cultural background, then your class would govern skill costs.  The basic book could bring you to level 10, after which you could port to full RM.  

Combat and magic use the critical tables we know and love, but rather than separate attack charts for every weapon vs. every armor type, they are broken down by category (1-H Edged, 1-H Blunt, 2-H, Pole Arm, "Bolt" spells, "Ball" spells, etc.) vs. armor category (None, Soft Leather, Rigid Leather, Chain, Plate).

Task resolution used the standard moving maneuver and static maneuver tables, whose results could be interpreted in a variety of ways.  We ended up using the MM table for everything, and it worked just fine.

I rather liked the game when I played it.   It did take a bit of getting used to during play, but once you got the hang of the system, it was fairly smooth.  But I like RM.

As for supplements, they're gorgeous, very detailed, and sometimes not very Tolkienish.  The maps are things of beauty.  Many folks will tell you the system isn't the best choice to recreate the novels, and they're right.  My group just played a high fantasy game set in a world that happened to look a like ME....

If you're familiar with Tolkien's world, you don't really need any of the supplements (there's decent cultural info on the races in the core book, and a small assortment of monsters), but they're worth it if you can find them cheap (good luck).

I think HenHR nails it. They are excellent books, but aren't very Tolkienish in tone. MERP got me interested, then i moved onto Rolemaster and used the MERP books in that - just as Ken said, we used Middle Earth as a place to adventure.

Ken does a good job of covering the essentials.  And I have to say that I loved MERP!  It was my main system during the mid-late 1980s.  

I now see that the system was not necessarily the best one for emulating Tolkien's Middle-earth, but it was a lot of fun as a 'lighter' version of Rolemaster 2e.  The 2nd edition included some rules for making the magic system a bit more 'Tolkienesque' -- viz., rules for 'corruption' if PCs used magic for personal gain too much (a la Saruman), and rules for 'detection' by the forces of Sauron if the PCs used powerful spells.  As a patch, it was okay.  Overall, I'd say that if you don't care about emulating magic as portrayed by Tolkien -- or are willing to hand-wave certain things -- then the system is serviceable for Middle-earth.

Quote from: KenHR...
As for supplements, they're gorgeous, very detailed, and sometimes not very Tolkienish.  The maps are things of beauty...

100 percent agreement here!  The Middle-earth campaign modules by ICE were probably the best campaign modules ever produced, in terms of content, adventure ideas, and aesthetics.  As Ken mentions, though, fidelity to Tolkien's vision varied widely from product to product.

In addition to the campaign modules (which described regions of Middle-earth, along with a number of adventure outlines), ICE also published some full-blown adventure campaigns.  Two ones that are excellent IMO are: Palantir Quest (set in the early Fourth Age), and The Kin-Strife (covering Gondor's civil war).

I still like the system, and would even run a Middl-earth campaign with it again (although I would probably rule-out magicians as PCs).

If you're interested in an 'in-print' ruleset that is very, very similar to old MERP (stripped of the Middle-earth specific references, of course), I recommend ICE's Rolemaster Express.

Quote from: KenHRMany folks will tell you the system isn't the best choice to recreate the novels, and they're right.

The game wasn't meant to recreate the novels. It was set over 1500 years earlier in the timeline when magic was more common.

Basically it's Rolemaster Lite, with wonderful maps for different era than people think of when Middle Earth comes up.

You'll like the game if you like Rolemaster (the modules cover either the full RM system or the Lite one in the ME RPG). And you'll like their setting work if you don't brain-lock on the War of the Ring era.

D'oh, I'd forgotten about the timeline deal; it's been a long time since I played MERP.  Not that we paid any attention to canon, anyway; I was the group's only ME geek (I've read all the History of ME books, Unfinished Tales, etc.).

I only played MERP a few times as a teenager, but my experience leads me to agreeme with everyone else- great for tolkienesque fantasy, not so good for Tolkien.

I don't agree, it's just that MERP does the Hobbit better than Lord of the Rings.

And, you have to make seventh level to cast a fire bolt.  That's a lot of experience, most of the spells are very minor non-combat effects.  RM magic in general is much weaker than D&D magic.  

And those huge treasure hordes are right out of the hobbit.

Really I could make an arguement for LotR too, a +20 weapon in MERP isn't really a big deal like a +1 sword in D&D.  It's more like a sword that's been blessed by a wizard or a village priest.

As for the magic item purchasing table, well okay that's not very Tolkienesque.

KenHR has given the essentials of MERP well.

An important selling point for me was the artwork for the game and the modules. Most was done by Hildebrandt and it really captures the feeling of the Tolkien "landscape" and makes you want to be a part of it.

I loved how you were able to play lesser known Tolkien races - like Lossoths and Variags and half-dwarves (Umli?).

People say it wasn't very Tolkien-esque but I don't see that. The art and writing was, I thought, very evocative of LOTR. Admittedly magic was more common in MERP than it was in the books, but it was nowhere near as powerful or prevalent as in, say, D&D.

That said, if I was running a campaign today, I agree that I wouldn't allow magician-type player characters.

Quote from: jeff37923...
An important selling point for me was the artwork for the game and the modules. Most was done by Hildebrandt and it really captures the feeling of the Tolkien "landscape" and makes you want to be a part of it.

Hildebrandt?  :confused:

Do you mean Angus McBride (who did most of the covers) or Pete Fenlon (who did all of the regional maps)?

The Hildebrandt bros. did a lot of Middle-earth art, but none of it for ICE (afaik).

Quote from: noismsI loved how you were able to play lesser known Tolkien races - like Lossoths and Variags and half-dwarves (Umli?).

People say it wasn't very Tolkien-esque but I don't see that...

Well, for one thing, the Umli were an invention of ICE -- they don't appear anywhere in Tolkien's writings on Middle-earth.


I love the modules.  But ICE definitely got a little carried away in some places (e.g. the entire 'Ardor' module).

Quote from: AkrasiaWell, for one thing, the Umli were an invention of ICE -- they don't appear anywhere in Tolkien's writings on Middle-earth.

I believe they're mentioned somewhere in the Return of the King. If I recall correctly, they declare for Sauron and lay siege to the Dale. Although it's ages since I last read it. (They might not have had the name Umli in the book, but I believe that's where ICE got the idea from.)

Quote from: noismsI believe they're mentioned somewhere in the Return of the King. If I recall correctly, they declare for Sauron and lay siege to the Dale. Although it's ages since I last read it. (They might not have had the name Umli in the book, but I believe that's where ICE got the idea from.)

I'm very, very confident that you are incorrect about this!

(However, feel free to provide some textual references to refute me! )

Quote from: AkrasiaHildebrandt?  :confused:

Do you mean Angus McBride (who did most of the covers) or Pete Fenlon (who did all of the regional maps)?

The Hildebrandt bros. did a lot of Middle-earth art, but none of it for ICE (afaik).

Gah! You're right!

Five months of working seven day weeks has killed my brain. Fatigue sucks ass!