Some Similarities to TOR in 5E D&D

[Deadmanwalking]

Oh, and another one I noticed today - in the entries for each race they have a little box with what that culture thinks of the other cultures, from their race's perspective (so for Humans, it will say what they think of Elves and Dwarves, for instance). Very similar to the entries for Beorn, King Bard, etc. in the TOR rules.

This is common in several other RPGs as well, though. Almost every White Wolf game does this, for example.

[daedel]

Nice thread. I also started playing RPG's with D&D, the red box back in 1989. I've played it since, all editions.

When TOR appeared I noticed how similar the Encounters mechanism was to Skill Challenges in D&D 4th. So maybe TOR was inspired by D&D instead?

This said I also think D&D 5th has been influenced by TOR. This new edition, specially Dungeon Master's Guide, puts a lot of effort in the "roleplaying" part of the game. Yeah, you can still play the kickdoor-killmonster-gettreasure way if that suits you, but exploration (journeys) and interaction are equally important in this edition.

And I totally agree about the adventures in both systems and how readable they are. The Darkening of Mirkwood is a fantastic set of adventures that can be read cover to cover like a novel. Hoard of the Dragon Queen is just a bunch of encounters that are fun to play but tedious to read.

All in all, we are talking about two great games. I consider myself lucky to have TOR for my Middle Earth tales, which are normally less-combat oriented and rely heavily on journeys, discovering and social encounters, and D&D 5th when I want to play some high-fantasy game full of evil beholders, magic items and fireballs.

(Unrelated: and when I want some space opera I've got Edge of the Empire, another monster of a game. Currently these are my third favourites

[Fenton Hardy]

I’ve been enjoying this thread too. It is easy to poke fun at D&D, as my group often does while playing TOR, but like a lot of you D&D was my introduction to RPG games. I agree that the latest edition of D&D looks more like TOR than previous iterations (I have only ever played Basic and AD&D). But I also think that people make of the system what they will. As a teenager I was content with a hack and slash dungeon crawl and I created those kinds of adventures. Then, after a twenty-year hiatus, I rediscovered D&D when my eight-year-old daughter and I wanted a game that could reflect the world of the Hobbit, which we had just finished reading. I pulled out what was left of my old Basic and 1st edition D&D materials (most of my games got lost in a flood) and started an adventure that emphasized narrative, social encounters, and puzzle solving and deemphasized combat and treasure seeking. In searching for online tutorials as a refresher, I found a number of people playing D&D who had gaming styles similar to my own – more narrative, less killing. Playing D&D again after so many years made me curious whether anything had replaced MERP. That’s how I discovered TOR. I loved the mechanics because they seemed true to Tolkien’s world and because they better reflected my own style of play. I gravitated to TOR, although I have not abandoned D&D entirely. But had I not found TOR, I would have continued to play (and actually still do play) D&D and made it work satisfactorily.

[Robin Smallburrow]

Reading these replies with interest as the only game I am playing at the moment is D&D 5e - coming back to D&D after a long hiatus it is interesting to think what things are better with D&D, and what things haven't changed. In my view until PC's gain experience points a different way in D&D the basic 'feel' of it won't change - ie 'open door, kill kobold, loot room' - too much weighting is still given to combat and loot.

What I do like about D&D 5e which seems similar to TOR is that combat seems more lethal with the use of Disadvantage/Advantage rolls and the idea of 'Death Saving Throws' .

Robin S.

[Terisonen]

Oh, and another one I noticed today - in the entries for each race they have a little box with what that culture thinks of the other cultures, from their race's perspective (so for Humans, it will say what they think of Elves and Dwarves, for instance). Very similar to the entries for Beorn, King Bard, etc. in the TOR rules.

Was existing since Runequest... RPG have one concept but many ways to apply it

[zedturtle]

I'm wondering through old threads for reasons, and thought a little bit of Necromancy was in order.

[aramis]

Couple of years ago at Gencon Mike Mearls came to the stand during a quiet time, and was browsing TOR things. I caught his name badge, so I knew who he was. But you know, we're pretty cool people at c7 so I treated him exactly as I would anyone else, and talked him through stuff without geeking out.

He was clearly already a fan of the game, and wanted the Lake-town Screen which was new to the show. He complemented the artwork, and I thanked him, mentioning that I made it. He said something like "oh really, cool! I work in games too" and I was like I TOTALLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE DUDE, but it was lovely how self effacing he was. What a nice man.

He totally tried to rip off the Travel Mechanics, but botched it by only going halfway... Actually, my first look was 'They flubbed copying TOR Travel."

The D&D5 Travel mechanics have 4 roles - navigator, foragers, lookouts and "other"... but two of them both use the same skill. It doesn't tie random encounters to failures, either.