Never played a roleplaying game, but love ME. Where do we start?

[maccollac]

How useful and needed are the maps?

[Otaku-sempai]

How useful and needed are the maps?

The maps are not needed at all if you are not moving beyond Wilderland for a good while. The maps of Eriador are more complete than the ones included as part of Rivendell and Ruins of the North as they extend from the Misty Mountains to the Blue Mountains and much of Lindon, including the Grey Havens (not detailed in the booklet). They also reveal a couple of intriguing locations (also yet to be discussed in detail) in the Ered Luin if you like using Dwarves. So far, Journeys & Maps provides the only in-game maps for Mordor.

My hope is that the same future sourcebook that details the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains and their region also introduces the Advanced Heroic Culture of the High Elves of the Grey Havens, covering the Havens and the Gulf of Lune (if not the regions of Forlindon and Harlindon as well). In the mean time, I did write my own guide to the regions of western Eriador, the Blue Mountains and Lindon that you can find here. If you happen to take a look at it, don't hesitate to tell me where you think it could be improved!

[Stormcrow]

How useful and needed are the maps?

As O-s said, you don't need the maps from Journeys and Maps as long as you're staying in Wilderland—those maps come as the end-papers of the core book. If you get the PDF with the book, you can print those maps. The players' map is especially useful to print, because the game lets you record the company's routes and visited places on it; once you've visited someplace, you can automatically find your way there again between adventures.

Each setting book comes with a map of the area covered on its end-papers, one for the players and one for the Loremaster. As with the Wilderland maps, you can print them if you have the PDF files. They serve the same purposes as the Wilderland maps.

In addition to advice and rules for making journeys more detailed, Journeys and Maps gives you all the maps of Middle-earth in large, folded up form.

When I got the original slipcase edition of The One Ring, which came with large, separate maps of Wilderland, I printed a duplicate of the players' map on cardstock pages taped together with wrapping paper tape, because I couldn't bear the thought of writing on the original. The players thought it was the original; the PDFs are that high-quality.

But in the end it's not absolutely essential to have large maps to draw on. You can play just from the maps on the end-papers.

[maccollac]

I think I will get the following:

- The One Ring book
- Tales of the Wilderland.
- The Companion
- Journey and Maps.

[Otaku-sempai]

I think I will get the following:

- The One Ring book
- Tales of the Wilderland.
- The Companion
- Journey and Maps.

That sounds like a plan. You should be sure to get the later, hardcover printing of Tales from Wilderland as it has some updates that bring it up to speed with the revised core rules. I still recommend the Lake-town sourcebook, but you don't need it if you are only using New Esgaroth as a jumping off point and not a setting for adventures.

[farinal]

I think I will get the following:

- The One Ring book
- Tales of the Wilderland.
- The Companion
- Journey and Maps.

I don't even think you need the Companion or the Maps when you are just beginning. The One Ring book + the Tales would be the perfect start. Companion has nice additional rules but you should master the core rules first before going for extra detailed stuff. Get a TOR dice set instead

[Falenthal]

Fully agree with Farinal. I'd even advise against buying anything else than the Core and Tales (and maybe the Lake-town+LM screen) for starters. It will add too much more information that you won't be able to use right now, at least not properly, and that you don't need.

After Core+Tales have been fully read and played from head to toe, you'll know if you want to stick to Wilderland or move to another region. If the former, Heart of the Wild and Darkening of Mirkwood are to date my favourite supplements of all time, and Erebor comes right behind. Knowing that another supplement of adventures is coming to go with Erebor, it makes the region still more appealing for adventuring.

[maccollac]

OK thanks! Will get the laketown book then!

[Glorelendil]

OK thanks! Will get the laketown book then!

Yeah, I'd make that the third choice. If you love the game get the others!

And, honestly, if you are a Tolkien fan and just can't get enough, it's fun to simply read all the books...whether it's new rules, region descriptions, or adventures...and let your imagination run wild.

[Wbweather]

I was like you a few years ago. I had never played a role-playing game but loved Tolkien's Middle-earth. I found The One Ring. My advice is similar to what others have said. Get the core book and read it. Don't try to memorize all the rules, just familiarize yourself with them at first. Play through the Marsh Bell adventure and then move on to Tales From Wilderland. Use the core rules as a reference manual to look up any rules you have questions on (we still do this in out games). By the time you make it through those adventures, you will have the game down and know what you and your group like. Then you can expand your library and chose where to go from there. I will say that the Darkening of Mirkwood campaign is great, but requires a LOT of creativity on the part of the LM to flesh out the adventures and so seeing and playing other prewritten adventures will help a ton before starting into that campaign. Of course, I cannot resist buying every book they produce, even if I have no plans of using them anytime soon.

Also, use this forum. It is the best resource out there for getting questions answered and getting great advice for playing the game. The folks here are friendly and helpful and incredibly knowledgeable.