I haven't bought a new RPG since Starblazer Adventures, but I have to admit this one is really getting my interest - I hear a lot of good things about it from a variety of sources, and of course I love LotR. Getting my players to play it... well, that's another story.

So, consensus - buy or no buy?

If the game didn't have such a stupid approach to Middle Earth, requiring 3 years to have a compoelte game, I'd say buy it.

To the chump that thought this was a good idea, learn your job!

Quote from: Reckall;503310Out 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.

Sure. I have been using CODA and MERP adventures. The main hurdles are:

1. MERP adventures tend to have wizards as bad guys. This will need some tinkering as TOR's magic is more subtle.

2. TOR covers the Late Third Age and has split coverage of geography over three sets. So at the moment, we have mechanical focus on the Wilderland only. If your adventure is set outside that area, then you will want to wait until the related set is released or create your own related mechanics.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;503437If the game didn't have such a stupid approach to Middle Earth, requiring 3 years to have a compoelte game, I'd say buy it.

To the chump that thought this was a good idea, learn your job!

So, by that definition D&D is an incomplete game, because it comes without a setting...
Actually, by that logic most RPGs are incomplete as they rarely come with more than a barebones setting.
Personally I take a smaller, but more developed setting over a bigger one.

Quote from: DominikSchwager;503692So, by that definition D&D is an incomplete game, because it comes without a setting...
Actually, by that logic most RPGs are incomplete as they rarely come with more than a barebones setting.
Personally I take a smaller, but more developed setting over a bigger one.

HA HA HA, you caught it as I did...  LOL

Is there anything inherent in the game itself that would prevent a GM from letting the players visit other parts of Middle Earth? There is plenty of information out there about the setting to be able to visit anywhere with only a bit of effort I'd think.

Quote from: Werekoala;503712Is there anything inherent in the game itself that would prevent a GM from letting the players visit other parts of Middle Earth? There is plenty of information out there about the setting to be able to visit anywhere with only a bit of effort I'd think.

There's nothing that would prevent it, it's more about a lack of support.

The game has a set of rules for travel across country. These rules allow you to calculate length of time, fatigue accrued from travel, etc. This part of the game is based on a hex map of the region, where each hex is a certain distance. The various sub-regions are colour-coded as to hardship level and so on. There's no reason you couldn't make you own map for the areas not covered to date - all it takes is time and effort.

Concerning playable cultures, there are six PC cultures detailed (dalesmen, beornings, woodsmen, woodelves, dwarfs of the lonely mountain, and hobbits from the shire - even though the shire itself is not detailed and is outside the scope of the book, and the possibility of Anduin vale hobbits is not mentioned at all, and elves from Rivendell or Lothlorien are not covered, despite being in the region). To play a PC from another culture, you have to create the special abilities, weakensses, cultural weapon, etc. that are mart of the mechanics.)

The adversaries included in the books are Orcs (mordor & mountain), Trolls (4 kinds), Spiders (2 kinds), Wolves (4 kinds), and bats (2 kinds). Something called a marsh-dweller is detailed in the adventure. For everything else, you'd have to make it up, maybe including special abilities.

I think that's the extent of it. The book doesn't provide the tools for exploring outside of the area, but that's not to say you couldn't do it.

Quote from: Werekoala;503712Is there anything inherent in the game itself that would prevent a GM from letting the players visit other parts of Middle Earth? There is plenty of information out there about the setting to be able to visit anywhere with only a bit of effort I'd think.

Nothing but there would be no support until the other sets are released.

At the moment, you could not make PCs from regions outside the Wilderland and there would be no antagonists that would be common in those areas that aren't also common in the Wilderlands.

It is worth noting that TOR is planning to have all Middle Earth with the same level of coverage in the next 18 months.

Quote from: Thalaba;503732The adversaries included in the books are Orcs (mordor & mountain), Trolls (4 kinds), Spiders (2 kinds), Wolves (4 kinds), and bats (2 kinds). Something called a marsh-dweller is detailed in the adventure. For everything else, you'd have to make it up, maybe including special abilities.

Well, that is kinda pathetic.

Quote from: One Horse Town;503756Well, that is kinda pathetic.

I'm not familiar with anything outside of The Hobbit or LotR (Silmarillion and Hurin on the backburner), but what else would there be?

Quote from: One Horse Town;503756Well, that is kinda pathetic.

It's actually pretty good IME and more than covers the Wilderlands. At least, I haven't found any glaring omissions when running it (which ones do you see as missing?).

FWIW there are ten types of Orcs and wolves includes Werewolves and Hounds of Sauron, and Bats include a form of Vampire. There are also rules for creating a raft of human adversaries.

Well, really, how many different creatures/foes were there in Middle Earth? Aside from orcs, goblins, trolls, wights and wargs, there weren't many others that weren't one-offs - at least that's my impression from the movies and LotRO.

Quote from: Thalaba;503732...
The adversaries included in the books are Orcs (mordor & mountain), Trolls (4 kinds), Spiders (2 kinds), Wolves (4 kinds), and bats (2 kinds). Something called a marsh-dweller is detailed in the adventure. For everything else, you'd have to make it up, maybe including special abilities...

No dragons, specifically, 'cold drakes'?  

While I believe that Smaug was supposed to be the last of the great 'fire drakes' (at least in northwestern Middle-earth), I thought that the Withered Heath was supposed to be inhabited by various lesser drakes.  :cool:

Such creatures would probably be out of the league of most adventurers, but they seem appropriate for the region.

Also, no undead of any kind? That's somewhat disappointing.

Quote from: Akrasia;503861No dragons, specifically, 'cold drakes'?  

While I believe that Smaug was supposed to be the last of the great 'fire drakes' (at least in northwestern Middle-earth), I thought that the Withered Heath was supposed to be inhabited by various lesser drakes.  :cool:

Such creatures would probably be out of the league of most adventurers, but they seem appropriate for the region.

Also, no undead of any kind? That's somewhat disappointing.

There were no true dragons still alive at the time of the Hobbit as you point out. There were drakes and they are not statted, admittedly. There is already a bunch of good fan ones over at C7's forums but as you say most are unlikely to see much use except as a story device given their power.

Wights will no doubt appear in set two along with the Barrowdowns. I am not aware of much undead in the Wilderlands during the 50 years covered.

Quote from: Akrasia;503861No dragons, specifically, 'cold drakes'?  

While I believe that Smaug was supposed to be the last of the great 'fire drakes' (at least in northwestern Middle-earth), I thought that the Withered Heath was supposed to be inhabited by various lesser drakes.  :cool:

Such creatures would probably be out of the league of most adventurers, but they seem appropriate for the region.

Also, no undead of any kind? That's somewhat disappointing.

The 'marsh dwellers' are kind of a moist zombie, but otherwise no. I was disappointed in this, too. Similarly, I feel they missed the opportunity to explore the setting further. They didn't include any cold drakes, lesser fire drakes, wereworms, eagles, ravens, crows, boars, kine, balrogs, or watchers in the water. Presumably barrow-wights, mewlips, ents, huorns, etc. will be covered in other books.

Creatures have relatively few stats, so it would probably be easy to make up your own. They have a generic Attribute (as opposed to three for PCs or major NPCs), Endurance, Hate, Parry, and Armour ratings, a few skills, and between one and six special abilities (such as Great Size, Strike Fear, or Bewilder) which cost hate points to use.

In the interest of disclosure, the werewolf and Hound of Sauron are basically uber-wolves, and the 'Secret Shadow' listed under vampires is basically an uber-bat. I think they're perfectly in keeping with Tolkien, but if you expect lycanthrope, shape-changing, or blood-sucking from these creatures you might be disappointed. Personally, I like this treatment of those classic monsters - there's a nice subtlety about them, and the more classic versions would have seemed out of place.