Is AiME hurting ToR?

[Pen242]

Judging by the slightly alarmingly high level of sales of the back-in-stock TOR screen overnight, I would say AME has done great things for TOR.

That's great news.

Don't get me wrong. I love ToR and have no animosity towards AiME.

ToR i's a beautiful game in it's mechanics and layout. I'm actually amazed by it. I'm just having trouble finding a game. Everyone online and locally (NC) seems to be playing AiME instead of ToR.

Hopefully, your forums here will help me find one : )

Totally understood, and no negative inference was taken. One of the reasons we made AME was the sheer number of people we met at conventions who just won't touch a new system. Which is a lasting sadness, because there's some amazing things to discover in TOR! But then hey, we also understand the pressure on people's time too.

Understood on both parts. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.

Looking forward to many journeys in ToR!

[Agnot]

I agree with Jon's sentiment that AiMe likely brought more people into the game and increase their revenue as well. Which means more books for everyone. Woot!

Like you, I live in a fairly isolated area where role-players are hard to come by. However, I've been fortunate over the years to make many close friends who also enjoy gaming. Even though we are somewhat scattered to the four-winds these days, we finally bit the bullet and agreed to meet face-to-face once a month or so to play through the Darkening of Mirkwood. It's a scheduling nightmare, but sooooo worth it.

I wish you the best of luck finding a group because, as you said, TOR is easily the best incarnation of Tolkien's work I've ever seen.

[Blubbo Baggins]

Pen242 -

Are you interested in online play live (roll20) or PbP?

If the latter I can show you a site I play on with some pretty active games (the GM & players post 2-3x/week at least).

[Wbweather]

Some of us still run live games. I have had an online game one going strong for nearly 4 years. Check out the unofficial Discord channel at https://discord.gg/aGyM8VB. There is pretty active discussion of online games and availability there on a daily basis.

[Bram Corolev]

I am currently in a ToR vs AiME dilemma. A few years ago I finished ToR Tales From Wilderland with my group and we had a wonderful time. The group disbanded because life and now I am getting an itch to start running a Darkening of Mirkwood campaign. All the people that would be interested inevitably ask me, "Can you run it in 5E?"

I own over half the ToR library already and know the system well. I have never particulary cared for D&D except I have heard the 5E rules are not bad. It seems if I really want to continue gaming in Middle earth I'm going to have to start over collecting AiME books and learn that system. I cannot decide what to do.

[Ghorin]

@Bram Corolev
Playing AiME would need you to :
- buy the books
- spend time to understand and master the system

So I would say that all people of your group could make an effort :
- the players (who want AiME) buy the books
- you spend time on them to be able to be Loremaster

[Jussi Marttila]

I own over half the ToR library already and know the system well. I have never particulary cared for D&D except I have heard the 5E rules are not bad. It seems if I really want to continue gaming in Middle earth I'm going to have to start over collecting AiME books and learn that system. I cannot decide what to do.

You can always say that the TOR online character generator is so good that it makes AiME a non-starter.

[Geomtje]

I would personally stick to TOR since you are already familiar with the system and own the books.

It seems to me that it would be less of a hassle to explain the rules than to familiarise yourself with 5E first and then converting it to AiME. And being a player is something entirely different than being a LM after all, especially rules wise. Plus you don’t need to spend money on new books.

I also think that it’s completely fair for you to ask your players to invest some time in a new system. I think its nice when players get introduced to new systems, having them brake their routines and experiencing new things. It might even help them in their other games as well.

Having that said, it is totally up to you! You have to feel comfortable with you’re doing. It being doing what your players want; buying and learning AiME or sticking to a system that you are confident in and teaching that system to your group.

[Rich H]

All the people that would be interested inevitably ask me, "Can you run it in 5E?"

Not really guys, I already have most of The One Ring books and have spent alot of money on them. I'd prefer to run it with that because of this and that it also does an amazing job of emulating Tolkien's work within the rule system. I appreciate you guys may like 5e but there are other systems out there that are just as good and I'd love to play one, TOR, with you now. You won't regret.