Ok, so I feel a little bad that my first post is a gripe, but I swear I tried to register while I was still all stoked on the system! But man, by the time I was all validated, this one thing was buggin' me and it won't let go. Haven't had time to playtest it (I'm getting some folks interested as we speak), but overall, I'm hells of impressed.

Here is my one gripe:
If Daryl of Dale is skilled with a sword, he's not going to be completely bewildered if he picks up an axe, or a spear, or really any melee weapon.
Likewise, if Daryl knows how to use a big, powerful war bow, he knows exactly how to use a shorter hunting bow.

These should really not be represented by separate skills with nothing in common. Now, I recognize that many systems do something similar. Legend of the Five Rings, for example, has separate skills for Swords and for Spears. However, they both rely on the same base Attribute, so you roll a number of dice equal to your Agility plus your Weapon Skill. A master swordsman will have quite a high Agility, so if he picks up a spear, well, he's at a disadvantage, but he's better than a common peasant.

TOR doesn't have that. It's all on skill. A master swordsman who picks up a spear (or even a different type of sword!) is about as threatening as a Hobbit flower-girl.

Now I wouldn't rant on this without trying to fix it: I would split weapons into three skills: Melee, Archery, and Thrown. If you want to specialize in the Long Sword, you spend some amount of XP to use that particular weapon as Favored, but it's still just a subset of the Melee skill. Starting skills and XP costs would probably need adjustment. Not sure what the costs should be, but I think it would work out.

Thoughts?

It could work. But here is my thoughts on why the system is the way it is.

I tend to treat a LOTR game a little differently than other fantasy rpgs. In the fact that, treasure, weapons, bad guys....nothing is common. As a typical d&d session is door, room, monster, treasure, xp. Not that that is bad, I love a good d&d game, but LOTR to me is about the fellowship, the journey, and the struggle.

Hence why treasure in this game is a numerical value you use to increase your standard of living and the like.

Hence why enemies and the combat is so detailed.

And, why weapons, gain qualities or you get a special rare weapon. Your weapon is your weapon. Generally, if you are a longsword user you'll always use that longsword. You may improve it or find a special longsword of a long dead king. You're not seeking the next + of a magic item.

So yes, your arguement for a trained warrior being comfortable with any weapon makes perfect sense...but put it into perspective...look at Strider. He used a sword, then it was reforged (reward). But we all know that Strider could probably wield just about any weapon effectively...

I hope my post makes sense.

This crossed my mind as well. My thoughts on it were to allow all characters to use all weapons at one die plus the feat die(size permitting) and then to choose either their favoured weapon or cultural weapon group(based on their race) which operates at two dice plus the feat die.
This means that Hafdal of Esgaroth can use any weapon he finds with a single die and he can choose to use all swords or a great bow at two dice.
It allows for the fact that characters have signature weapons as well as giving some versatility. Remember that 1die represents an ability to use the weapon poorly or knowing which end of a spear to stick into your enemy....

I personally don't see any issue with the weapon skill system; its designed to encourage characters to use the weapons associated with their culture.

I would like to see a third set of weapon skills added to the list (currently each culture gets only two); among other things, this would let Hobbits start with 2 ranks in Spears or Daggers or some other, you know, thrown weapon, which they are supposed to be good with.

And for some reason I'm really interested in seeing a Hobbit Flower-Girl stated up and running around Mirkwood on an adventure. It just sounds adorable.

My thinking was that each favoured weapon past the first would get more expensive, sort of like a skill in itself. So specializing in one or two weapons wouldn't be too bad, but more than that and you're probably just wasting points.

I know this isn't a hack-and-slash game, and it probably doesn't come up for most groups very often, but it's something my inner snark just can't leave alone (and I know my inner snark pretty well. That guy's a jerk).