Just curious if anyone has the One Ring game and if it's worth buying.

Quote from: danbuter;503136Just curious if anyone has the One Ring game and if it's worth buying.

The one by Cubicle Seven, not the Decipher game, right?

The core mechanic is a bit odd from what I read, but there's a lot of interesting gimmicks there - such as Travelling mechanic.

Could be good if only for salvaging the ideas.

If you stomach some story gaming logic in your RPG, it is super worth it. Hell, I'm not a fan of those, and I recommend it. Dude. Think about that for a minute.

Quote from: Benoist;503143If you stomach some story gaming logic in your RPG, it is super worth it. Hell, I'm not a fan of those, and I recommend it. Dude. Think about that for a minute.

Is it that story though? I read that to hit stuff you still need to be a good archer, not just have hots for Legolas.

Then again, I love ToC, so whom am I to toss the stones here.

You could say some elements are similar to Mouse Guard, but then you could also say parts of both Mouse Guard and TOR steal from Pendragon.

I own it.  And it's definitely pretty.  I've not played it, but the two complaints I see cropping up time and again are that the books suck for table reference, and it's deceptively complex in places.  Not because it's super crunchy, but because some of the choices you have to make regarding your character might be counter-intuitive and how certain pieces interact aren't immediately obvious.  You definitely want to be really familiar with the rules before play for both those reasons.

Quote from: Peregrin;503159You could say some elements are similar to Mouse Guard, but then you could also say parts of both Mouse Guard and TOR steal from Pendragon.

I own it.  And it's definitely pretty.  I've not played it, but the two complaints I see cropping up time and again are that the books suck for table reference, and it's deceptively complex in places.  Not because it's super crunchy, but because some of the choices you have to make regarding your character might be counter-intuitive and how certain pieces interact aren't immediately obvious.  You definitely want to familiarize yourself with the rules because of both of those issues.

Yes, I read that is indeed a problem - you may think that just putting stuff in Archery'll make you a great archer, but as it turns out, it ain't  that easy.
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Still, actual mechanic for travel? I'm a bit psyked enough to buy it just for that. That, and it's Lord of the frigging Ring.

I have it and thought it was my best buy for 2011. It's an interesting mix between old school RPGs like Pendragon, Prince Valiant and Basic D&D and some new school ideas that aren't too intrusive as seen in MouseGuard and FATE.

The most common criticism is the organisation of the books is bad and made worse by being split between two books. But the system is simple enough in play, it's easy to overcome.

From what I have seen, it's one of the most well received RPGs of recent years. The only real outcry I saw was from hardcore MERP fans and from StoryGames, most notably a couple of indie designers who found the new school mechanics were too much of a light touch. There a couple of mechanical oddities but these are fine provided you don't fixate on them.

It also seems widely accepted as a very good Tolkien RPG, something we haven't had before, and rare for such licences. The focus on journeys, building a fellowship and building a legacy (as much as on combat) really help provide it with a different vibe than most fantasy RPGs. Magic is flavourful and you have skills like Riddle and Song which are actually important (Song and Crafting are major ways to deal with Corruption).

Quote from: danbuter;503136Just curious if anyone has the One Ring game and if it's worth buying.

I have the PDF, but haven't had a chance to really dig in yet.

I have to admit, this sounds interesting.

I have it and am about 3/4 of the way through reading it.

Pros:
-It captures Middle Earth really well.
-Mechanically I find it rather interesting, while still being traditional. I don't think it has any more story-game elements than Ars Magica does (or did - I'm only familiar with 2nd ed.). I'll probably steal some of the mechanical ideas for other games.
-The books are beautifully illustrated and laid out.
-Being both evocative and mechanically interesting, I find I really want to play.

Cons:
-The organization is a nuisance. Many concepts are only partly explained in the players book and expanded upon in the Loremaster's book. For instance, how your determine who goes first in combat in your party is in the players book, but how you determine whether your party or your foe's goes first is in the loremaster's book. Weaknesses for each culture are in the former, but how they apply to the game is covered in the latter.
-The book is written with beginners in mind and spends time explaining very basic concepts of roleplaying, but some of the advice (for instance how to be a GM) is written in a way that seems like it would confuse a newbie.
-The players book in particular is probably a little heavy for the binding. The cover of mine is already separating from the binding glue, and I'm not sure it will stand up to regular use.
-I find the scope of the setting (the wilderlands only) to be rather limiting. They rather coyly refer to new settings being released separately later, but don't say what these will be.

Overall I think the pros outweigh the cons by a good margin and I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Quote from: danbuter;503180I have to admit, this sounds interesting.

Vivisavage did an long review on RPGnet of The One Ring.

Quote from: Thalaba;503183-I find the scope of the setting (the wilderlands only) to be rather limiting. They rather coyly refer to new settings being released separately later, but don't say what these will be.

Overall I think the pros outweigh the cons by a good margin and I'm pretty satisfied with it.

As i understand it there are to be 3 sets including this, each expanding the setting and released annually. I think the next is Eriador/Bree etc and the final one is Gondor.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;503283As i understand it there are to be 3 sets including this, each expanding the setting and released annually. I think the next is Eriador/Bree etc and the final one is Gondor.

That's correct, though the last will likely include Rohan too.

Out of curiosity (I do neither own nor know the game) could it be used with MERP supplements? I never liked MERP's system, but the fluff is still great.