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So I own lots of beginner boxes, starter sets, introductory games, etc. It's an interest of mine, and part of my subtle effort to recruit one or more of the kids (the D&D 5E Starter Set actually belongs to the twelve-year-old, I gave it to him last year and told him that he was going to run the game... it almost worked).

So, just for fun, let's talk about a Starter Kit for The One Ring. Note that I'm going to talk like this is really happening, which it's not (as far as I know):

Physical Format:

Let's rock it old-school (pretty much because it has to be done this way)... we're doing a boxed set. Two booklets (64 pages each, saddle-stitched. Colour covers... hopefully colour throughout, but I think dark brown ink on an off-white/cream/ivory stock could be an alternative), one set of dice, two full colour maps (11"x17" if budget is an issue, 17" x 22" maps if possible).

Eight pregen characters, each with Wisdom 2 and Valour 2 (there's a reason for this that I will get into later). Four backgrounds, one female and one male exemplar of each. The heroes are designed to complement the adventure (one of the booklets is, of course, an adventure).

The Rules Guide:

Characters are pregenerated, so character creation is skipped over. The rules for encounters, journeys, and combats is mostly unharmed, but more examples are given and all examples relate to the included adventure. In other words, every example shows you how to use the rules in situations that are very likely to arise in the actual game you play.

Improvement/Fellowship Phases are done much like the revised rulebook. However, only Masteries and Qualities are listed. A Note however will be provided, letting players know that they can select the alternate Reward or Virtue of the other character from the same background.

The background would be: Bree-hobbits, Bree-men, Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, and Rangers of the North (minimum duplication, although that will change when the Adventurer's Companion comes out). Again, the full backgrounds would not be available, just used to make the sample characters.

Note that there is no section on enemies. There is a loremaster guide, but no extensive history.

Trouble in Bree

Most of the official full-fledged adventures take up about 24 pages. My one-session adventure takes up 12. Taking a cue from the D&D Starter Set, we're going to go for guided-adventure plus mini-sandbox. That's why I choose Bree (though this project could be transfered to Laketown, should management decide that was a better fit). So a regular adventure to get the story moving and 3-4 seeds of other adventures for loremasters to flesh out. Adversary information is presented inside the adventure, and abilities are explained on a per monster basis. That means Hate use will need to be explained when the first enemy is encountered. Maybe that can fit inside the rulebook, but if not it will be part of the "hand-holding" inherent to the main adventure.

Other seeds will make use of the Midgewater Marsh, the Old Forest, the Barrow-downs and the Greenway (maybe down to Sarn Ford).

Retail Pricing and Target Market:

This is designed to be an accessible point of entry purchase, especially for new players. Thus, getting the price under the critical threshold of "birth-day money / weekend money" is important. Ideal price point would be $19.99 US, but $24.99 or $29.99 could be sustainable, if necessary. Blank character sheets and sufficient space allocated in the rulebook for full featured character creation could alleviate some of a higher price point.

The ratio of "readers of Tolkien" to "players of The One Ring" is unacceptably high. With the near-demise of the corporate bookseller, vying for shelf-space there is only one facet. A push to a general retailer might produce better results (or disastrous margins). An alternative would be to partner with others in the distribution space and target a release day that would endeavour to get the boxed set into the speciality game stores that inevitably pop-up around Christmas time. A big time-sensitive push with a limited print-run might produce the best results.

- - - - - -

Okay, once again this isn't real and is just me having fun... Tear it apart, suggest alternatives. Tell me how you would do it...

I'm watching for the announcement that Zed has been hired as a consultant project manager for C7.

I don't have any brilliant suggestions for additional or alternative items to include (although two sets of dice, one cream one green so there's an "LM" flavor and "PC" flavor could be fun--or did you already suggest that? I read the original post last night while I was tired), but I will say: I'd buy that. Which I'm sure comes as a huge shock given my propensity for pre-ordering all TOR products immediately.

If C7 could get our imaginary Beginner Box on Tabletop that would be awesome, because big book stores (and other stores, I'm sure) often order a bunch of whatever game Wil and co. are playing that week to be ready for the demand once the episode airs.

And while I know the PJ movies are taboo on this forum, if there was a picture of Viggo somewhere on it, I'd probably buy two copies. Just sayin'.

I think if C7 did anything like this the smart thinking would be to see how the Lone Wolf Adventure Game is received, learn from it, and then take on those things to develop a starter set for TOR; which in some ways would be a slightly easier option for them considering they already have a mature rule set for this game whereas they're introducing it wholesale, new, and as both beginner and expert rules in the LWAG.

I wonder if this idea could be combined with Falenthal's "TOR for Kids" idea. It might accomplish two things:
1) Adults might buy it in order to share their Tolkien passion with their kids, whereas they might not do so if it were just for themselves.
2) And in so doing, find it an easier transition into RPGing, and thus become interested (ensnared?) in trying the full version.

Rue wrote:I don't have any brilliant suggestions for additional or alternative items to include (although two sets of dice, one cream one green so there's an "LM" flavor and "PC" flavor could be fun--or did you already suggest that? I read the original post last night while I was tired), but I will say: I'd buy that. Which I'm sure comes as a huge shock given my propensity for pre-ordering all TOR products immediately.

If C7 could get our imaginary Beginner Box on Tabletop that would be awesome, because big book stores (and other stores, I'm sure) often order a bunch of whatever game Wil and co. are playing that week to be ready for the demand once the episode airs.

And while I know the PJ movies are taboo on this forum, if there was a picture of Viggo somewhere on it, I'd probably buy two copies. Just sayin'.

And then I could go on Tabletop and run the adventure for Wil and friends!

I don't often talk about this (meaning I'm not sure if I've been clear about this is the relevant threads) but I tell everyone that I have three kids. This is emotionally true, but biologically speaking I only have one child. I've raised the other two for nearly twelve years now, and Wil sharing his thoughts on being a stepfather has been influential on me. So, a different reason to meet him than some.

This is a brilliant idea, zed. And I would imagine it's quite doable, too, being as Decipher did one years ago.

Their's was a simplified version of their RPG. They called it The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Adventure Game), and it came complete with pre-generated PCs (of the main characters from the movies/books), a full-color map (two-sided, of places in Moria), and cardstock paper miniatures, as well as booklets similar to what you mentioned.

Yep, I bought that, and the Two Towers version as well. They live on my starter set shelf.

I suppose I should copy-paste my original post and send an email to Andrew.

Glorelendil wrote:I wonder if this idea could be combined with Falenthal's "TOR for Kids" idea. It might accomplish two things:
1) Adults might buy it in order to share their Tolkien passion with their kids, whereas they might not do so if it were just for themselves.
2) And in so doing, find it an easier transition into RPGing, and thus become interested (ensnared?) in trying the full version.

An idea that I've been giving some thought would be to make an introductory kit with modular rules and steps, each one recommended from a certain age on.
For example, the first step would be to recommend some toons for your kids when they're 2 - 3 years old. This would be tricky, as everyone has different thoughts as a parent to what is acceptable for their kids. To introduce the world of faeries (and then faery tales, and then The Hobbit, which is an evolution from faery tales), I'd recommend Ben & Holly, Disney's Faerys (Tinker Bell), Mia and Me.
Then, a second step is to read them lots of tales when going to sleep. It's a special moment, and you introduce the art of narrating to them, and imagining full stories from just a few drawings.
Third, when 3-4 years old, I played something with my daughter that we called "Adventures": she choosed a certain faery character she'd like to be (a mermaid, a unicorn, a ladybird,...) and I exposed a situation to her. Typical "You hear a noise in the waters/bushes/..." and, when she tells me she goes there "you find a dolphin/rabbit/... injured that asks for help".There were no rules, just imagination and improvisation.
Fourth, when 4-5 years old, we began with games with rules (tabletop ones) that have developed in the TOR for Kids.
I'm pretty sure in 1 or 2 years we'll be able to introduce traits and some abilities with mechanical effects, things like open ended rolls, etc.
And rules will be able to get more complex, until a certain "Starter Kit" level can be achieved by the age of 11-12.

Such an "evolving set of rules" would be cool to have for parents who want to share their passion with their kids.

Falenthal wrote: Such an "evolving set of rules" would be cool to have for parents who want to share their passion with their kids.

It might be impractically complex, but I like the idea...at least as an intellectual exercise.

1) Include two pages for parents on "what to do up to age X"
2) Make the "core rules" target age X+
3) Then have maybe 3-4 chapters, each of which has a new set of rules, and a target age.
4) Ideally, the last step would be to graduate to the full version of the game.

Doing this well would require not only extensive user testing, but probably also a lot of input from some neo-Piagetians. And a more specific threshold for each component would be to figure out some kind of simple cognitive test, or behaviors to look for, rather than just using age.

What this problem really needs is for a developmental psych researcher to get a big grant, then put a bunch of graduate students on it. You'd end up with a product that would be fantastic for kids emotional and cognitive growth, that would produce legions of gamers.