Post
by Trippy » Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:14 am
Regarding the 'playable cultures' in the core book criticism, I think it's reasonably obvious that the main point of reference in the core is The Hobbit. The cultures available (and the geography detailed) are the ones from that book, rather than Lord of The Rings.
The issue is that, despite the recent Hobbit movies being released, most fans' frame of reference is actually in the LotR Trilogy movies - so people have been wanting things like Gondor, Rohan and Riverdale, etc for a long while.
I think the original plan was to do separate games that brought out different aspects of Middle Earth each time (an approach used in FFG's W40K and Star Wars titles), but this was abandoned as the creators didn't feel justified in creating a new rulebook each time. However, there is now a revised core book on the schedule and the previous references to The Hobbit have largely been brought to a head through the Darkening of Mirkwood Campaign. It looks as if the design crew are starting to move on to the material provided in the first one or two books of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, instead. Expect things to get epic in the next year or so.
The other point to note is that it looks as if The One Ring line is starting to move at last. There were huge delays in the Doctor Who line about a year or so ago too - but fans have become much more satisfied as they began to release books in a more regular fashion. I feel Cubicle 7 are about to do the same with the One Ring line now, and that can only be good news.
I'll probably buy the hardback myself, and get pdfs of other titles. I don't get many hardcopy games now, but I would imagine it will be quite handsome. I've no problem with the slipcase design, which was also luxurious - although I have come across a few of the soft-covers that got ripped or damaged over time - while having just one book with a comprehensive index is easier to use. Hardbacks are still the most robust design. More dice sets made readily available would be nice though.
I may even persuade some players to start a campaign (we do play Doctor Who quite regularly now, mainly as a one shot game), alongside traditional favorites (D&D, Traveller, RQ, CoC, etc). Assuming the rules are tidied a little bit and the release schedule is held to, the only real criticism left is that compared to other fantasy RPGs there isn't much of an option to play Wizard characters, still. The only other fantasy rpg that which does't really allow for Wizard PCs for canon reasons is Pendragon - which admittedly is esteemed company - but players still ask about being able to play Gandalf.
