While I'm not a Tolkien Scholar, I am a bit strict when it comes to authenticity in dealing with Middle Earth. Having played in Middle Earth using the Rolemaster system, I have endured with gritted teeth the blatant and frequent spells which would have given the Fellowship a distinct advantage had they access to them.
Riding high on the wave of movie popularity, Decipher has released the Lord of the Rings Role Playing Game. I'll say up front that I haven't played the game, merely perused the book.
This hardback of 304 pages features stills from the Fellowship of the Ring on nearly every page. Besides the photos, a couple of maps, a handful of color template drawings and periodic finials round out the artwork. Pages are typically in three columns.
The Introduction is what you may expect: a section explaining roleplaying for new players (and their parents or significant others), a briefing for those who have tried the previously released Roleplaying Adventure Game, a standard How to Use This Book, and a glossary of system terminology.
Chapter One: There And Back Again gives brief overview of the locales in the world, from cities to whole regions. Although not generally enough information to base chronicles on (no doubt those will be in later sourcebooks) I found it quite useful. The next section, Creating a Hero, introduces the reader to the concepts of building the character, and includes six archetypes that players can use or modify.
Chapter Two: Might and Majesty is the meat of character generation, including primary and secondary attributes. There is also a two page spread about "The Qualities of Heroes," which have no statistics yet arguably are at least as important as the on-paper attributes in defining a character in Middle Earth (Compassion, Responsible Free Will, Generosity, Self-Sacrifice, etc.). These are great aides in acquiring the proper mindset for a Middle Earth epic.
Other attributes include Courage, which you spend to improve rolls (like Karma points or White Wolf's Willpower). If a character spends a point for "heroic, noble, and self-sacrificing purposes appropriate to the character," he regains the spent point almost immediately, whereas if he uses the point "to show off, for personal gain, or for other unheroic, ignoble or selfish purposes," it could take days or weeks to regain the point. "It's better to spend Courage than be victimized by a low roll that makes a character look bad - and which often hinders the story." I like it. There is also an attribute called Renown, which is pretty much what it sounds like: how easily one is recognized and what the other person's reaction will be.
Chapter Three: The Free Peoples lists the player races: Dwarf, Elf, Hobbit, or Man. The writeups include the race's general nature, where they reside, languages, some examples of names, some more renowned figures, and the special abilities inherent to each race. Three breeds of Elf, three of Hobbit, and four of Men are listed, and sample background packages (Man of Minas Tirith, Rider of Rohan, etc) are provided. Two character creation examples (based on two of the previous archetypes) are listed.
Chapter Three: Warrior Wizards and Kings describes the Orders, which are essential character classes. Basic orders include Barbarian, Craftsman, Loremaster, Magician, Mariner, Minstrel, Noble, Rogue, and Warrior; each has skills and special abilities. There are also packages to customize the character's Order (for example, Craftsman can be a gardener, innkeeper, smith, etc). (Just to insert a personal point: although elves have magical talents and the dwarves arguably had magic in their crafting, there were only five true wizards and they weren't truly Men. Still, wizardry is so ingrained to fantasy settings I'm not surprised they have a Magician Order) There is a sidebar for the Narrator for creating a character group, and rules for belonging to multiple Orders. In addition, there are Elite Orders (similar to but generally less esoteric than prestige classes). Like prestige classes, there are prerequisites as well as special abilities involved. The ones listed are Archer, Captain, Knight, Ranger, Spy, and Wizard (the book says the five wizards inducted a few others into their order to "ensure that their mission shall never fail." That's in the game, not in the books. If I'm mistaken, please let me know).
Chapter Four: Ringing Anvils and Rhymes of Lore lists skills and specialties. The skill list isn't tremendously long, but can be customized at need through specialties. The chapter also features the first glaring typo I found (the header on each page misspelled Rhymes) ? though I've found a few since.
Chapter Six: Stern Men and Resolute lists Traits (Edges and Flaws). Edges are like White Wolf's Merits, but as they can be bought later in the game they are probably more like d20 Feats. A few examples of Edges include Honey-Tongued, Ally, Quick-Draw, and Warwise; Flaws include Arrogant, Code of Honour, Enemy, and Dull-Eared.
Chapter Seven: Words of Power and Runes of Might is about magic in Middle Earth. More than just a grimoire, this discusses the subtle nature of magic in the setting, including the power of oaths and curses, fate, and prophesy. I really enjoyed this section; it explains the power inherent in the ME landscape like nothing else I've seen.
The spells are in line with what could be expected in the setting, from speaking with animals to evoking awe to kindling fire shaping fog and commanding others. Several pages are devoted to magic items (for more, see the Rolemaster comparison, below). Besides weapons, there are dwarf-doors, elven food and cloaks, palantiri, etc. Of course the Rings of Power receive special attention.
Chapter Eight: Axe and Sword discusses money, weapons, armor, and other gear. All lists are short in comparison to some FRPGs, but fit well enough to the setting which is often sparse regarding mundanities like local economy.
Chapter Nine: Good Words and True is all about the CODA System as it applies to LotR. A basic attribute roll ("test") is 2d6 the attribute modifier (usually ?2 to 3) plus any situational modifiers, vs. a Target Number (TN), typically a multiple of five. A skill test is the same, plus the skill rank. The amount above or below the TN determines how well or badly you did. This chapter includes the expected combat, damage, healing, test resolutions, and travel (including stats for steeds.) It also features battle rules, not in a war-game style but focusing on individuals or small units, not unlike L5R's system.
Chapter Ten: Saga and Grandeur details the philosophy of epic fantasy in Middle Earth. The essay makes it seem that it is a narrow path to keep the story in a Tolkienesque vein: both Narrator and players must be sure to keep in the heroic spirit. What is good and what is evil are clear; there are no "misunderstood" Orcs, just evil ones. I like the chapter, although I think there are non-"out to defeat the evil XX" stories that one can tell and still be true to the world. After all, it's a big, wondrous world just itching to be explored. And non-epic stories are good for building relationships between characters so that when the epic struggle does come along they will mean that much more.
Chapter Eleven: Storied Heights and Firelit Halls builds on the philosophy of the previous chapter, giving the Narrator ideas on how to structure a chronicle, maintaining pacing and drama, and gives ideas on chronicle types. It ends with sections on Experience and Renown. Experience is used to gain Advancements, which are essentially levels, and levels garner you more points to spend to gain Edges or improve skills. Now as a rule (and this is strictly my own personal preference) I dislike levels as they tend to feel artificial and limiting. Just looking over the Coda system, however, it doesn't bother me quite as much because a) it appears to me that leveling occurs fairly quickly, allowing a more even progression, and b) the resulting points can be spent anywhere (One of my dislikes of D20 is the limitations on what you can get and when ? Feats or new spell slots at certain levels only, for example).
Chapter Twelve: The Fear and the Shadow is the chapter devoted to the Bad Guys: Sauron, Saruman, the Nine, Orcs, Dunlendings, Giant Spiders, and so on.
D20 vs LotR
I personally am not a fan of d20 beyond Dungeons and Dragons (it seems artificially limiting to character development, and I am not convinced of its universal applicability), and I see a number of design similarities in LotR. As I've heard similar comparisons I guess I didn't just imagine it. I'll know better if I ever get to play it, but just looking over the game it appears LotR is a little simpler to run yet allows more freedom in character design and development.
Rolemaster LotR vs Coda LotR
As mentioned previously, I've played Middle Earth using the Rolemaster system. It probably approached the desired atmosphere better than some systems we could have tried. ICE had a great deal of generally good research and reasoned extrapolations, and produced a plethora of supplemental material; even if I started playing Decipher?s game I would still use ICE for reference (if you don't have them, good luck finding them. It's my understanding the Tolkien estate had all the in-stock MERP books destroyed.) However, to my mind Rolemaster can't touch LotR when it comes to authenticity and feel. For example, in RM there are the hundreds of spells and dozens of lists, spells that for the most part feel more like generic fantasy spells (fancy that!) than Middle Earth spells; furthermore, special abilities (like a ranger's uncanny knack for tracking or sensing ambushes) are treated as spells. The plethora of magic items which held spells and doled out power points left and right tended to draw out our powergaming sides).
LotR takes a different approach. Some weapons are indeed enchanted (they give Orcrist, Glamdring and Sting as examples) but these are exceedingly rare. The game gives another category to appease those who want special items: Heroic. These are improved items by dint of excellent craftsmanship, ancient workmanship, or important lineage and history (Anduril, for example). Such weapons may grow into their role; the book gives an example of a normal sword gaining a bonus against orcs after a long career of orc-cleaving.
One disappointment is the narrow time period of the game: because of license limitations, anything not pertaining to trilogy can be included in LotR. That means no source books based on the Simarillion are planned at this time.
In Closing
I gather that Mr. Long is a Tolkien fan, writing for fellow fans. While there are many references to places, people and events, it is necessary to have a decent handle of the setting from the "source material" in order to really run this game properly.
I was taken aback at the price ($40 US), but was pleased by the purchase. While I'm leery of some aspects of the system, my concerns are mitigated by the attention to authenticity. After a read-through I can say I've seen no other game that captures the spirit of Middle Earth so well.
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