New Lord of the Rings RPG Stuff from Decipher

[Lightray]

Dunno, my planning may well not work out... I still need to think of a way to actually beat Sauron in the end. (Hmm. Thinking about it now, one of the silmarilli did get thrown into the sea... that would definitely shake things up a bit. O_O )

Well, the Silmarils in the sea and fires aren't supposed to be accessible until Arda is broken again. But Feanor and the Noldor made other tools and weapons. Plus there's always those other two Istari who "failed" in the east. And Sauron was defeated in physical combat once before. Heck, for that matter, Glorfindel took down a balrog on his own, and Figolfin fought Morgoth himself.

So a cinematic fight scene isn't out of the question. You just need to find a modern Turin Turambur.

Speaking of the ol' Black Helm, that's probably the best era of all. You aren't facing that chump Sauron, but Morgoth! And Turin Turambur? would pwn Conan in about no-time flat.

[Lupus]

Well, the Silmarils in the sea and fires aren't supposed to be accessible until Arda is broken again. But Feanor and the Noldor made other tools and weapons. Plus there's always those other two Istari who "failed" in the east. And Sauron was defeated in physical combat once before. Heck, for that matter, Glorfindel took down a balrog on his own, and Figolfin fought Morgoth himself.

So a cinematic fight scene isn't out of the question. You just need to find a modern Turin Turambur.

Speaking of the ol' Black Helm, that's probably the best era of all. You aren't facing that chump Sauron, but Morgoth! And Turin Turambur? would pwn Conan in about no-time flat.

Ah, I'd forgotten that, about the silmarilli. Still, with Sauron threatening to win, one could always surface at precisely the right (or wrong) time. I just have no idea what effect it would have. O_O

Two other Istari: I have a player who wants to play an Easterling character. He was recruited into a secret society set up by one of the Blue Wizards, where they pass on teaching such as 'Sauron Sucks! (And other great works of literature.)' Sounds interesting to me, so I'm working on Easterling culture. (Does anyone know, btw, if their name for themselves has ever been revealed? The current bunch of Easterlings is also called the Balchoth, but that's a Sindarin name.)

And yep, the First Age is always a possibility. Would be very difficult, however... running a game then, while preserving the incredible mythic flavour. I mean, the audacity of fighting Morgoth (in his day, one of the mightiest of the Valar, even if he was clothed in flesh then).

Also, it seemed to be a long time between events, quite often, unless you set it in the ealry days, or after the Battle of Sudden Flame. Plus, there was something of a cosmic re-ordering after the First Age, if I understand it correctly. For one, the end of the First Age was the end of the Elder Days... I seem to remember hints that time didn't count in the same way, then, as it did afterwards. A year in the First Age may well have been many years in later Ages. That's not necessarily the case, of course.

Still, if you can do the work... wow. What a genuinely cool setting.

As for physical combat in the third age, I have plans for Glorfindel. One of my changed chronologies is that the Balrog didn't get beaten by Gandalf. So once the War begins in earnest, it'll emerge, looking for a fight...

Meanwhile, yeah, Sauron can still be defeated. Probably not physically - I'm not planning on him getting the One Ring back. If he does, I'm not sure there's a power in Middle Earth that can stop him. I've certainly read (I can't remember exactly where, but I believe it was from someone who knows more about Tolkein than I) that if he regains the Ring, he'll be able to exert control over the bearers of the Elven Rings - there was a reason they never put them on while Sauron held his Ring.

And aside from him, there are his armies. Even with the Fellowship romping around, his armies were only barely defeatable. With any alternate timeline, things become MUCH harder. I'm pondering possibilities, but there aren't many options that don't end up in Sauron Wins.

[Mutant for Hire]

If you allow for the Middle Earth timeline to diverge from Tolkien, it's difficult to say you're really playing in Middle Earth. My issue is with those who try to set up a game in Tolkien's world. At that point, unless you're doing the Fourth Age, you're more or less stuck with Tolkien's history. It's not unlike playing in a White Wolf game where nothing you do will really alter history.

[tkdguy]

Another thing you can do is play in the East or the South, away from the events of LOTR. Remember that the Easterlings and Southrons were groups of people, not single races of people. Of course, that would mean a lot of work, but maybe you can find other sources to help you out.

[Lupus]

If you allow for the Middle Earth timeline to diverge from Tolkien, it's difficult to say you're really playing in Middle Earth. My issue is with those who try to set up a game in Tolkien's world. At that point, unless you're doing the Fourth Age, you're more or less stuck with Tolkien's history. It's not unlike playing in a White Wolf game where nothing you do will really alter history.

For me, it's definitely still a game in Middle-Earth. That describes the setting, not the specific timeline.

But that's semantics, so I'll shut up.

[Lightray]

If you allow for the Middle Earth timeline to diverge from Tolkien, it's difficult to say you're really playing in Middle Earth. My issue is with those who try to set up a game in Tolkien's world. At that point, unless you're doing the Fourth Age, you're more or less stuck with Tolkien's history. It's not unlike playing in a White Wolf game where nothing you do will really alter history.

I'd have no problem with running a game in Middle-Earth that divulged from Tolkien, and I'd still say we'd be playing in Middle-Earth.

I'd have no problem with running a WoD game that caused events to diverge wildly from "real world" history.

I've had no problems with running an L5R game that veered sharply away from the canon metaplot. In fact, it was a blast. And I still call it an L5R game, even though I ignored eggshell ninja, glowy spirit samurai, the Spirit Wars, tainted Otosan Uchi, etc., etc.

I do have problems with claims that any divergence from canon [whatever] means I'm not really playing [whatever]. Because I doubt even the Tolkien estate is going to send out the ninja death squad to get me if I claim I'm running Middle-Earth without hobbits.

[tkdguy]

My favorite character was Elrond's 4th kid. Aside from Arwen having a younger brother, everything was pretty much standard (at least from the MERP POV).

[Just A Guy Name]

Because I doubt even the Tolkien estate is going to send out the ninja death squad to get me if I claim I'm running Middle-Earth without hobbits.

Of course not

A Nazgul death squad.

[Captain Obvious]

Because I doubt even the Tolkien estate is going to send out the ninja death squad to get me if I claim I'm running Middle-Earth without hobbits.

Actually, I think they usually send out an invisible midget with a magic knife/short sword.

EDIT: And now I read to the bottom of the page and find that my joke is redundant. Too bad...you all have to live with it.

[Funksaw]

The thing is, Decipher could have been pushing the LOTR RPG while the movies were coming out. Instead, they held off on it... just to bury the licence so there'd be no competition for the card game. Now that the movies are over - and there's no demand for the card game - this strikes me as a "WTF do we do now?" move.

[Solomon]

The thing is, Decipher could have been pushing the LOTR RPG while the movies were coming out. Instead, they held off on it... just to bury the licence so there'd be no competition for the card game. Now that the movies are over - and there's no demand for the card game - this strikes me as a "WTF do we do now?" move.

I tend to disagree. Even assuming RPGs to be "competitors" to card games (which I don't believe), sales volumes would indicate that competion from RPGs is a weak one at best. Besides, there are so many LOTR games (minis, collectable minis, RISK, boardgames etc) that "burying" just one more license would have been pointless.
More to the point, there's ample evidence that Decipher at one point had a fairly ambitious program for the RPG, or at lest planned on supporting it consistently. Several freelance writers were at work shortly before the line was discontinued. I tend to think that Decipher simply blundered because of their lack of experience in the RPG industry.

[Lupus]

I tend to disagree. Even assuming RPGs to be "competitors" to card games (which I don't believe), sales volumes would indicate that competion from RPGs is a weak one at best. Besides, there are so many LOTR games (minis, collectable minis, RISK, boardgames etc) that "burying" just one more license would have been pointless.
More to the point, there's ample evidence that Decipher at one point had a fairly ambitious program for the RPG, or at lest planned on supporting it consistently. Several freelance writers were at work shortly before the line was discontinued. I tend to think that Decipher simply blundered because of their lack of experience in the RPG industry.

Probably went 'oh damn, it's not selling like D&D, obviously it's crap and not profitable enough!'

[Solomon]

Probably went 'oh damn, it's not selling like D&D, obviously it's crap and not profitable enough!'

Profitability was probably a major factor - all the time they were busy promoting the LOTR CCG, which was a lot more profitable. Maybe they'd have promoted both but didn't have the resources, of just maybe they really expected the licence to sell more. That was the same mistake Marvel did with their Universe game, I heard.