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Dalriada wrote:

Rich H wrote: hey, leave that for when they do the Warhammer version of the rules!

Now I want this Virtue for a urban culture : "small but vicious dog".

It's similar to the Hound of Mirkwood, except that when you use Persuade, Courtesy, or Stealth you roll the feat die twice and take the worst result.

Glorelendil wrote:If you assemble a bunch of 1st level adventurers from Forochel, Far Harad, Umbar, and Ithilien and have them meet in a tavern in Bree...it just doesn't feel like Tolkien.

Good point, but that's more of a question of adventure design than whether these basic 14 Cultures should be included in a single Worldbook, or spread out over a product line.

What's their first adventure going to be, killing rats under the Prancing Pony?

Their first adventure would be a prelude or introductory chapter to their own novel-sized Quest. In the Worldbook, I'd include a big GM chapter on how to design a Quest at two scales: 1) an adventure with a similar scope as the Quest of Erebor, and 2) an adventure the size of the Quest of Mount Doom. There's no better, more fundamental GM advice than giving practical, concrete, detailed advice on how to model the two existing Middle-earth stories.

Tertiarily, there'd be options for other kinds of adventure...one-shot stories...even dungeoneering. But the two archetypal Middle-earth stories are the Quest of Erebor and the Quest of Mount Doom.
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Also, from day one of the Worldbook's release, I'd have free PDF downloads on hand at the C7 website, containing converted crunch (5E stablocks and notes) for all the TOR adventures and sourcebooks published so far. An advertisement in the back of the Worldbook would direct the purchaser to the C7 website, boosting sales of TOR backstock.
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Furthermore, I would negotiate a deal with The Saul Zaentz Company and Iron Crown Enterprises to re-release all of the I.C.E. MERP adventures as PDFs at DriveThruRPG.com. (The new Conan RPG kickstarter also re-released the old d20 Conan product line as PDF resources.) The PDFs would be bundled with dual-statted TOR and ME-D&D conversion notes. I.C.E. Middle-earth would be explicitly recognized as alternate Middle-earth, distinct from C7 Middle-earth.* But each GM would be free to combine elements of the two to make their own Middle-earth.

*(Even better would be to say that the ICE depiction of Middle-earth exists as fiction *within* the world of C7 Middle-earth...that the ICE gamebooks are translations of a particular hobbit author from the Third Age...a la the Red Book of Westmarch. And that the ICE source mixed fact and fancy in his depiction of Rhun, Harad, and other unique aspects of ICE Middle-earth.)
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Having TOR and D&D5E stat-sheets for all C7 and ICE adventures and sourcebooks would provide years of adventure.
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As for totally new products...I would publish two adventure paths:

1) The Quest of Erebor, which would be playable in three ways:

A) You could play as Bilbo and the Dwarves, and more-or-less re-inact the Quest of Erebor. Similar to the Dragonlance adventure path which re-inacted the Dragonlance chronicles.
B) You could play the Quest with your own characters in place of Bilbo. In this story, either Bilbo was never born, or Gandalf marked his rune on your door(s) instead. Could be an all-hobbit Company, an all-dwarf Company, a mixed hobbit-dwarf Company, or some other far-flung crew who meets Gandalf at a tavern in Bree.
C) A parallel Quest, which begins on the same day that Bilbo walked out his door, and which traverses a similar geographic route (Rivendell, Misty Mountains, Mirkwood, Dale), and even crosses paths with Thorin and Company (just "off-screen"), but which is an entirely separate Quest...though of similar importance as Bilbo's quest.

2) The Quest of Mount Doom, containing three story options:

A) Play the LotR as the Nine Walkers. The story would diverge somewhat from that of the books, but there'd be ways to periodically guide the story back to the published narrative.
B) Play the LotR as your own characters, who were summoned to Rivendell instead of Frodo and company.
C) A parallel Quest which traverses a similar geographic route as the Quest of Mount Doom. A similarly world-shaking mission. I don't know exactly what. Maybe Elrond (or Glorfindel or Cirdan) has the Company deliver a sacred artifact to the middle of the Sea of Nurn, or something tremendously difficult like that. "One does not simply walk into Nurn."
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After that, I'd cover totally new ground.

While you're at it, I'd like a pony too (I hear they help with Encumbrance).

Middle-earth Way wrote: Furthermore, I would negotiate a deal with The Saul Zaentz Company and Iron Crown Enterprises...

You should make them foot the bill, too.

zedturtle wrote:While you're at it, I'd like a pony too (I hear they help with Encumbrance).

Back in 2014, I proposed that Cubicle 7 make a D&D5e version of Middle-earth. Some wise-man at the EN World forums guffawed and opined that I was wishing for a pony.

Glorelendil wrote:

Middle-earth Way wrote: Furthermore, I would negotiate a deal with The Saul Zaentz Company and Iron Crown Enterprises...

You should make them foot the bill, too.

I don't know the financial arrangements which occurred between Modiphius Entertainment (the party equivalent to C7), Mongoose Publishing (equivalent to ICE), and Conan Conan Properties International LLC (equivalent to The Saul Zaentz Company), but if three parties can make a deal for the good of the Hyborian Age setting, then three parties could do so for Middle-earth.

Middle-earth Way wrote: I don't know the financial arrangements which occurred between Modiphius Entertainment (the party equivalent to C7), Mongoose Publishing (equivalent to ICE), and Conan Conan Properties International LLC (equivalent to The Saul Zaentz Company), but if three parties can make a deal for the good of the Hyborian Age setting, then three parties could do so for Middle-earth.

No, because the MERP books were probably not completely within the law licence-wise. They used a lot of stuff from the Silmarillion for example.
Now that the Tolkien licence is much bigger (thanks to the movie) and therefore watched, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work anymore.

Middle-earth Way wrote:Back in 2014, I proposed that Cubicle 7 make a D&D5e version of Middle-earth. Some wise-man at the EN World forums guffawed and opined that I was wishing for a pony.

Hah! Well, I guess you got the last laugh then. I know I was very surprised by the announcement... it certainly was not inevitable but good on you for seeing the possibility.

I'm curious about the Modiphius deal with the Howard estate. Aren't most of the original REH stories, and the Conan character himself, in the public domain? I know if I were developing a Conan game I wouldn't pay a whole lot for rights to the few things that are still under copyright.

But I guess that's waaaaaaay off-topic.

Dalriada wrote:No, because the MERP books were probably not completely within the law licence-wise. They used a lot of stuff from the Silmarillion for example.

Darn. You're right.

Looking forward to the day when love of the game/art/creativity trumps legalism and monetization.

Would require a special agreement with the Tolkien Estate.