Rivendell Preview 1: What's in it?

[Rich H]

In general I think TOR is a game that requires players & LM to "buy in" to the playstyle and theme, rather than enforcing it through restrictions. Ideally the player and the LM will work together on a character concept. If that breaks down, and either side starts rules-lawyering, I think they're playing the wrong game.

Agreed. The game shouldn't have to have rules in it to solely mitigate 'bad gamers'. It's a waste of time that can be better spent on far cooler things.

[Morgoth]

I'm excited for this. I wonder how close my homebrew of Dunedain and High Elves came to Cubicle 7's.

[Murcushio]

I'm somewhat iffy on not including Bree in what's probably going to end up being the primary Eriador sourcebook. Bree is centrally located at a crossroads and is the logical place to base out of if you're having adventures west of the Misty Mountains and don't happen to be all buddy-buddy with Elrond and the elves. (I don't see Elrond being all that eager to offer his home as a base of operations to a bunch of adventurers whose agenda may or may not dovetail with his own.)

It's like... concentration and organization of information is an issue. You have the Rivendell book, okay, that's Rivendell, Rhudaur, and part of Cardolan. Let's assume Bree gets covered in the Adventurer's Companion, now you're on two books.

But there's a lot to do in western Eriador as well! That's where Fornost is. Annuminas. The North Downs. the Brandywine River. The Blue Mountains. Forochel, where the Snow-men live. The Grey Havens, Lond Daer... I'm omitting the Shire, because the Shire isn't really a place where adventures happen.

If we assume all of that is covered in Ruins of the North (which it may not be, as that's currently being billed as an adventure, not a setting book) now we're up to three books.

I dunno. My GM is already annoyed at having to flip between three setting books (core, HotW, Lake-town) for Wilderland/Mirkwood.

[Glorelendil]

More books, please.

[Stormcrow]

It's like... concentration and organization of information is an issue. You have the Rivendell book, okay, that's Rivendell, Rhudaur, and part of Cardolan. Let's assume Bree gets covered in the Adventurer's Companion, now you're on two books.

I'm not in the least surprised. After all, the core rules don't have any significant information on Lake-town, the most cosmopolitan part of Wilderland. You've got to get the Lake-town book for that. Heart of the Wild doesn't include anything east of Mirkwood, so you don't get The Lonely Mountain, the Iron Hills, or the River Running.

I dunno. My GM is already annoyed at having to flip between three setting books (core, HotW, Lake-town) for Wilderland/Mirkwood.

I was expecting this the moment I heard the game was going to be split into three core sets, plus supplements. This is how the company makes its money. You're going to spend hundreds of dollars/pounds to get everything.

[Murcushio]

I dunno. My GM is already annoyed at having to flip between three setting books (core, HotW, Lake-town) for Wilderland/Mirkwood.

I was expecting this the moment I heard the game was going to be split into three core sets, plus supplements. This is how the company makes its money. You're going to spend hundreds of dollars/pounds to get everything.

I suppose so. At least they're not quite as bad yet as Iron Crown Enterprises. During the first edition of MERP, they published an entire book just on Northern Mirkwood.

Then another one just Southern Mirkwood.

Then a third book on Mirkwood as a whole and the Vales of Anduin, which was mostly a re-capitulation of the stuff we already had but also had some new stuff as well.

ICE also really liked to make a lot of their setting books half-setting, half-adventure modules, which was annoying if you just wanted one or the other. Oh, and they liked to split their setting books between geography and people, as well.

So I suppose I should count my blessings here, but it's still deeply annoying from a standpoint of "I'd like to buy a book about Eriador, and then a book about Wilderland, and then a book about Rohan, and then a book about... okay, you know, Gondor can probably support two books, fine, I'll give you that. And then a book about Umbar and Harad, maybe. And Mordor, I'll buy a book about Mordor. And I'll also buy books that are just bestiaries or lists of useful items. And adventure modules."

That seems like it would still funnel plenty of my money to the fine folks here at C7, while also allowing me to haul down a single book about Eriador and look up what I need instead of trying to remember which of three the tidbit I'm searching for is in.

[Rocmistro]

Ok Rich, Elfcrush, and Aramis: I recant. The "unlock" idea sucks.

[Glorelendil]

Ok Rich, Elfcrush, and Aramis: I recant. The "unlock" idea sucks.

No it doesn't. It just probably isn't ideal.

If we all have to have ideas perfected before posting them the discussion will get rather dull, and we'll miss out on the opportunity for imperfect ones to inspire better ones.

EDIT: I just re-read Andrew's post at the beginning of this thread and I'm literally fidgeting with excitement.

[Shane]

I was expecting this the moment I heard the game was going to be split into three core sets, plus supplements. This is how the company makes its money. You're going to spend hundreds of dollars/pounds to get everything.

I think that's just how it is. No game can come into the world 100% complete in setting and rules; the workload in advance would be way too much. Especially on licensed games. And companies do produce product; it's what they are there for.

Also, the C7 guys have to eat, so new stuff will be published. We as customers can vote with our wallets, and the level of enjoyment my group is getting out of this game means I vote "carry on" and have the pre-orders to support that vote.

In terms of the content, I think it could be split in a far worse way than it is. Most of my reference for setting and story comes from TDoM and HotW, with occasionally forays into the main book or TfW, which is nowhere near as many books as it could be. My L5R game under slow prep at the moment references about a dozen setting books. All things considered, I am very happy with the way C7 are handling the releases.

I respect your right to disagree with how they are doing it, of course, I just don't share your view.

Regards,

Shane

[Rocmistro]

Ok Rich, Elfcrush, and Aramis: I recant. The "unlock" idea sucks.

No it doesn't. It just probably isn't ideal.

If we all have to have ideas perfected before posting them the discussion will get rather dull, and we'll miss out on the opportunity for imperfect ones to inspire better ones.

EDIT: I just re-read Andrew's post at the beginning of this thread and I'm literally fidgeting with excitement.

Well thanks for the gentle let-down EC.

I'm just afraid of the propensity for the small, provincial, intimate hero designs of TOR: AOtEotW to be cast aside by everyone in favor of WAP-NADs (Wise and Powerful Noldor and Dunedain). I don't want to see that smallness go away.

If it does, I'm going to blame everyone who did not support my sucky, draconian, medieval "unlock" approach to solving the problem.