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So, I am always on the lookout for alternative games to play. I generally try to find just one, or perhaps two, games in a genre and stick with it.
I'm still looking for that "perfect" fantasy game - for a time, I judged it to be Ars Magica, but it proved frustratingly hard to get players for that. I ran Palladium Fantasy sometimes, particularly as an alternative to 2nd edition D&D.
I felt 3rd edition was better - but I still found myself wanting... well, wanting something different.
I don't think that the Lord of the Rings RPG is the perfect solution, but I DO think its a better one.
The Thumb-Through
Thumbing through this book, its gorgeous, no doubt about it. Being based on both the core 4 books that makes up the Tolkien Legacy (the Trilogy and the Hobbit of course), and on the movies, it has a lot of material to draw from.
It's artwork is based from the movies themselves, and has lots of pretty, glossy stills all over the inside... while the cover itself has a closeup of Sauron's hand, wearing the One Ring. Great work with artwork and cover.
Eyes skimming the pages, I also see pages and pages of text on things like background, roleplaying in Middle Earth versus ye olde fantasy world, etc, interspersed with chapters on rules. Looks like it is neither rules-light nor rules-heavy. Generally, I do not like rules-light systems, as they, in most cases, also mean a lack of depth, while rules-heavy systems drown in complexity.
There are exceptions (And I have reviewed one of those exceptions), but this has generally been true; I was pleased to see that the rules didn't look too light or complex - except for lists of modifiers. That one issue caused me a small moment of concern.
Delving in Deep
After the traditional skim, I dove in deeper, and began reading.
The first part of the book is about the world; background, region, history. While it isnt an atlas, it is a good summary of the world and its regions, especially for people (such as myself) who havent read the silmarilon and other materials, and hadn't read the core 4 in 6 years.
I wasn't sure if I liked this; a part of me wanted to see... well, something else. It seemed a smidgeon abrupt, and I wanted to see an intro to the book that merges into the background. Nevertheless it is an effective tool.
Then, we start getting into the rules: the layout is good, but not great. Sometimes, the artwork pulls the eyes away from the rules, where it should be accentuating them instead. However, it is decent, and acceptable.
The rules themselves are laid out fairly well again, although not perfectly. Furthermore, by the time you read them entirely, you will find you have a lot of questions.
This was irritating: going to their web site and downloading their errata and collected rulings is virtually a must. Furthermore, so is their example of character creation.
Why?
They didn't do a good job of explaining some salient points, and one or two of them are actually misleading.
Here is an example: at the end of character creation, you get 5 "picks" which they say can be used to increase attributes, skills, etc. Now, during character creation, you use these picks the entire way through, and they are generally one-for-one.
However, advancement of a character means each Advancement (read level) you get 5 advancement picks, which are spent on different items using a variable cost.
Now, at the end of character creation, it says you can spend your 5 pics to improve an attribute by 1 point, purchase an edge, etc. And recall, up til now, everything is one-for-one, and the text in this last part implies the same thing.
Going to their errata and official rulings, you find out that these last 5 are intended to be spent like Advancements are.
This was very irritating.
You will find there are other errata, things that, while not breaking, are irritating to find you need these files from their web site for. Especially since I've heard their other products (particularly the Narrator's Screen) had some unpleasant errata problems, it makes me wonder just what the editors and authors over there are doing.
Don't let this disinterest you yet, though. There are plenty of good points in the system. They did a great job in a lot of areas, they just dropped the ball in writing clear and concise text.
The Nitty and the Gritty
The game system is good, but nothing ingenious or original. It generates stats, rolls for task resolution, and most types of damage by rolling a 2d6, adding modifiers, and checking against a target number (except damage, which is just applied against your health).
Nothing new or original, really, but the system does present some differences that makes it shine in comparison to 3rd Edition D&D.
The first is character creation. There is a lot more choices in character creation for a LotR character than in D&D. This ends up making a character more rich and detailed, a real pleasure over its D20 counterpart.
Character creation is also interesting in that, unlike D&D, you dont start out so terribly fragile - while by the end of the day, you havent become the gods that 20th level D&D characters become. Your beginning level character is more capable, while your highest end character is far more reasonable.
The second is task resolution. Being based off 2d6 rather than 1d20, it allows the system to be based off more of a bell curve. This means that on average, you are more likely to perform average, and I rather like this actually.
Being based off d6s has a small, side effect of making it easier for new RPGers to get in - they wont be staring at masses of strangely-shaped dice and become intimidated.
Magic is far more subtle; you wont have fireball-wielding, disintigrating, teleporting wizards here. No, wizards in Lord of the Rings are more subtle, and in part by necessity. Magic is not as powerful as in D&D, but it is powerful in that its the only "game in town," and the tolkienesque subtlety really shines through.
Combat, along with character creation, is where this system really shines. One thing I always disliked about D&D is the "I can fight as well at 100 hit points or 1 hit point. Then, bang, I just drop."
Lord of the Rings uses a health stat, which might be maybe, say, 8 pts. And although this can change a small amount, it isn't much. Instead, you also have what are known as health levels. Each time you take your Health in damage, you drop another health level, which has cumulative penalties, until your death. So, it has some of the fluid mechanics of a health pool system, while still having penalties as you drop.
Combat also uses skills, rather than the Bonus to hit based on level system of D&D; and your defenses are rather... well, ok, but not great, unless you take active measures (parrying, dodge, etc) to defend yourself. This I also like, it gives you more tactical options over D&D.
Combat is also great in that it really brings out epic feel and combat. There is a suggestion to narrators near the end of the book that I think is grand - for reducing the "cannon fodder" npcs in such a way that they dont have health levels or health scores, but just require one, two, or three successes to kill. This significantly reduces the effort in keeping track of NPCs, and allows characters to take down Orcs by the droves.
Meanwhile, against the major villains, you bring out the character sheet with health and health levels, and go at it.
Advancement is another area I thought was great. Each time you level - er, Advance, sorry - you dont improve across the board, such as D&D; instead, you have to pick and choose what areas you improve in. And I find I liked this a lot too.
Summary
If you got the opinion I'm conflicted, well, I am... sort of.
The game had some definite low points. Going to their web site and downloading their errata, example of character creation, and official rulings is virtually a must - this is something they should have caught, and its very irritating.
The game also does nothing original. It appears to have borrowed from D20 and other game systems. Also, their is a small amount of complexity in their great list of modifiers to attempts to do things, but this may not be too terribly bad.
Also, and unmentioned before, but it will take a strong DM if you have experienced players, because character creation can be heavily abused by power gamers and munchkins - although this was addressed slightly in the errata and official rulings.
However, it has some very strong points as well. First, it is a visually very attractive book.
It does a great, great job of reflecting the setting, and it does an excellent job of simulating epic level adventuring, whether you want to start slaughtering hordes of orcs or major level villains. Your characters are strong in the beginning, without becoming godlike in the end.
Characters are richer and more detailed, and you dont get a better, more detailed fantasy world than Middle Earth, and more people know it than any other.
Who Should Buy This Game?
1) Anyone who is a Tolkien Junkie.
2) If you like D20, but find it lacking and want something just a tiny bit different.
3) If you are looking for a game that you can learn quickly, seems familiar, and is great for emphasizing being heroes, and playing epic level adventures, rather than treasure hunting hack n slashing.
Who Shouldn't Buy This Game
1) Anyone who can't stand the idea of needing to download errata, official rulings, and examples of character creation. While these arent NECESSARY, the book has a few mistakes that aren't easily caught, and is unclear, and these help enough that I consider them almost must-haves.
2) If you are just fine with D20 as it stands
3) System Junkies who are always on the look out for those great, original systems - this is a good system, but its nothing ground-breaking or original.
Conclusion
The game system itself is actually pretty good, and frankly, I do feel it compares favorably to 3rd edition D&D; enough so that I would more likely want to run the Lord of the Rings RPG than I would D&D.
But it does have some flaws and weaknesses, which will require a bit of initial effort to fix. I didn't have a problem with it, and overall I feel greatly rewarded with having done so; but not everyone will feel that way, and the couple of weak points might really irritate some people.
If you like lord of the rings, like D&D, but wish for something a little more story-oriented and epic in scale, get this book. If you are unforgiving of faults, or mistakes in printing, or prefer the more "treasure hunting" aspect of D&D or like it exactly as it stands, this may not be for you.
Me? I'm playing LotR over D&D any day - but I felt an honest review was necessary.
Scoring
Style: A beautiful book that maybe could have used a tiny bit of tweaking to emphasis the text a bit better. Overall, however, a great presentation. [4]
Substance: A good game system, and a great alternative to 3E, but with a few trip-ups, and nothing original. [3]
(and if you find the "ultimate" fantasy game out there, let me know :D )
