I have the PDF and I am eagerly awaiting the physical product.

On the positive side the artwork is beautiful and I love the maps.

The game itself though seems like a bit of a mess. Rules are spread out all over the books and across both books. Lots of subsystems which seem to over complicate the system.

Do we really need -
Anguish
Weary
Hope
Hate
Endurance
Wounds
Standing
Wisdom
etc etc

I am willing to give it a try. I did learn to play Merp so this should be a breeze but just from reading the PDF I have a bit of a sinking feeling.

Sad Panda

The rules don't seem overly complex to me, but intuitive.

The concept of Weary and Miserable are consistent with the novels and give the game a real Tolkien flavour.

Although I never played the Decipher LOTR, I have played MERP and have to say that The One Ring is by far the most 'authentic Tolkien Experience' I have seen.

I sure hope so.

It maybe just a difficulty with reading it on PDF. May be easier when I ahve the physical copy.

I like the idea of the journey being important so even if you don't play it out you can abstract it.

I was hoping that the differnt lands would have encounter tables but I am sure I can come up with something like that.

Just my opinion, but I think these are critical to include in the game. Each one of these terms was used more than once throughout Tolkien's literature to describe meaningful aspects of the story. To me, then, it seems only natural to describe game mechanics with these terms.

Also, if you think about it, the mechanics that you note function in similar ways. You compare one value to another and, if it's lower, then it produces a result/condition (i.e. Fatigue>Endurance=Weary, Shadow>Hope=Miserable, etc.). The conditions (Wounded, Miserable, Weary) are very simple to implement during the game (only count 4,5, and 6; recover slower unless treated, etc.), and Wisdom, Valour, and Standing all are easy methods to understand how the person fits comparatively into Tolkien's world.

In my experience, this is actually one of the easier games to pick up and play. And, there is a lot of elasticity to the game; the rules as written allow you to make the game as complex or as simple as desired by each group. This is in stark contrast to many other popular games, where the game *seems* simple or easy to understand but, in play, actually requires a LOT of effort to manage resources and conditions, even for simple tasks.

I'd really like to hear your opinion of the game after you've had a chance to play it at the table. Unfortunately, because the game is so new, we don't have a lot of opinions from actual players just yet so it is difficult to truly assess how well the game emulates Middle-Earth. So, most of the opinions we've heard (mine included; hope to remedy that very soon) are purely academic at this point.

Again, just my opinion.

Nothing in this world worth having comes easy.

Yes, we do. And you forget Shadow Points, Flaws, Corruption, and Bouts of Madness. The first player in my clan, btw, who triggers a Bout of Madness wins a prize.

If all you're trying to do is emulate 'classic' rpg combat and mechanical skill resolution, then you probably don't. But you've got systems like BRP for that.

The point of the TOR system is to support game-play in the mood of, and aligned with, the themes and priorities of the Middle Earth setting as described by Tolkien. As such, the objective of the game mechanics is more than just to simply resolve the success or failure of a given physical or social situation or action, generically.

I can roll with a lot of the comments above and I certainly respect the decision to make the design fit the flavour.

The issue for me maybe more around the layout and the way the rules are structured.

For example having the rules for Life and Death in the chapter on Character development rather than in adventureing mechanics with the combat section is odd.

Chapter 3 just seems completely out of place as well.

Like I said I will see what the physical product is like.

Again to be positive the art is brilliant and I am hopeful that at the table a lot of the confusion will melt away.

I can understand confusion about the layout, I would have had a much harder time with it if I didn't have the resources of the discussions on this forum and rpg.net. Rules layout is always a compromise. The real key is a good TOC and index. I'd give TOR no more than a B grade on both. Essentially effective, but not superb.

Can't agree with you more!

In re-reading the Hobbit I am seeing where Francesco pulled his ideas from.

At one point, Bilbo, "sat down on the cold floor and gave himself up to complete miserableness, for a long while".

That defines the concept of Miserable perfectly and you only have to read those words to understand what the rules are trying to convey.

The mood of this game, if you will pardon the pun, is the Heart of the system. The rules are simply a way of conveying this to the player.

Obviously, that's just a single example. Read the book to find the rest!

When it comes to layout the only true gripe I have so far is that the Weapons and Armour are NOT in the Combat section.... and if you look in the ToC at you might think, Oh it's probably in the Gear section.... No sir...

... what... Looking at the ToC again....

The Weapons and Armour are hidden in the blind spot between

Customisation p72
Company Creation p80

on p77-78 that's where they're at.

Aaaaand that might not actually be so bad. I mean honestly. Once the characters are created and the game is up and running... you will not be needing these tables anyway cause all the info is on the Character Sheet... except the Called Shot effect of the weapon... but hang on a minute... that is not in the Weapons table at all... where the hell did I see that...

/wolf

I know what you mean Wolf!

I knew I'd seen the damage/encumbrance table for weapons when I read the rules, but could I find it when I wanted it?

Well, yes, I could, but I had to search the rules because I couldn't remember where it was.

And Called Shots...(Adventurers Book p162).

No matter. Going to make myself a Loremasters Screen (Until they print one for me to buy) with all that stuff on this weekend.

The layout is a mess, forgivable only because of the aesthetics, searchable PDFs, and it's a MIDDLE EARTH RPG man.

Fan development will fill the void. The character creation grid out there instantly became indispensable.

I'm working on a tweaked character sheet with Called Shot effect on the weapon line, among other things. Spot for a portrait, the back stats on the front, place for Flaws, permanent Shadow points, etc.

I read somewhere the next item in production is a screen and Laketown booklet. That's smart.

They will, eventually, have to develop a monetary system, gear lists, and such, because rpg players love them.

There are definitely typos on that character creation grid, though. For example, I noticed that the Hobbit Weapon skills are too low (the grid maker gives the Hobbits 1s in their favored Weapon skills instead of the 2s provided in the book). Is there a corrected version?

I wouldn't be concerned just by a list of names without reference to any context. That says almost nothing about the system.

FWIW TOR's system is full of symmetry which makes a lot of the concepts flow in such a way that it's pretty simple in play. There are a couple of concepts that are unusual but not complex. Try out first before coming to a conclusion.

Personally, I hope it isn't a typo. I think hobbits should start with lower weapon skills than the other cultures. Where is this grid, anyways?

I sincerely hope not, I like the system as it is. Your standard of living tells you whether you can afford something, but things like weapons or armour should only be changed if you lose a peice of equipment or gain a reward. I particularly love the fact that you can have almost anything you like if you are willing to put up with the fatigue.

E

Agreed: nobody goes shopping in Tolkien, and I don't want to see equipment lists in the game ever.

12 silver pennies, my friend. 12 silver pennies.

But that's not shopping, that's extortion!

The very fact that this game uses these concepts is BRILLIANT and captures Tolkien's Middle Earth better than any game before it.

Simply put, they SHOULD be in a Middle Earth game.

Those things and other mechanics as well place this game thoroughly on the throne of the greatest Tolkien/Middle Earth RPG of all time....ahead of MERP and Decipher's LotR games.

It's also worth noting that some of these concepts are the same. For example, Anguish is the term used when you are at zero Hope. Weary is when you Endurance drops to a certain level. They Are not really a concepts on their own. Unless of course you argue that HP are complex because it so many concepts, like Dying, HP, Dead, fully healed, Damage etc

Lists of names are indicative of very little by themselves. It would be better to talk about actual concepts and say how they overlap or make each other redundant.