What Happened To Smaug....

[Mim]

GB, Boneguard,

I've been off the Forums for a couple of days & only just read your requests.

Take a look at Issue 37 of The Hall of Fire:

halloffire.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Issue-37.pdf‎

In addition, the author worked on a Hârn verson:

http://www.lythia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 07&start=0

It didn't take me long to convert this to my own variant of ToR, & you should be able to do so relatively easily.

Tolwen, as usual, you answer our questions superbly! I agree on each of your choices for MERP (& why), though forgot about The Kinstrife. You raise a great point about stepping back from the whole servant of the Enemy thing & making more use of Men as villains, wholly corrupted or otherwise. I'll have another look at my MERP collection & see how many I can convert to ToR.

[Tolwen]

Wow... I have the Rivendell and Lorien supplements, and, I was so hugely disappointed in them that I stopped buying supplements altogether. I always assumed that they weren't among the best ones, though.

The perception of what is good and bad depends heavily on the preferences and expectations of the individual reader of course. Therefore we might have had different views in this regard and thus come to different conclusions. It might not be a bad idea to explore this in greater depth, but that should be done in a separate thread IMO.

Cheers
Tolwen

[Jez]

At the very worst, MERP modules are a very excellent source of maps.

[DavetheLost]

I want to be clear that I said I didn't care for MERP, not that MERP was a heap of steaming Orc dung.

There were some very good things in MERP, just not enough that I liked. I do wish I had access to those old supplements just for the maps.

[Boneguard]

GB, Boneguard,

I've been off the Forums for a couple of days & only just read your requests.
quote]

Thanks for the info.

At the very worst, MERP modules a very excellent source of maps.

Agreed MERP has awesome maps.

[FarHarad]

I know this thread kinda got high jacked by the MERP discussion, but I'd like to say that the reason I love TOR is because it reminds me of the way we placed MERP back 20+ years ago. It was the first RPG we played and we really didn't know what we were doing. It took a couple of years to get it right but those couple of years were a blast. No one played mages or used the spell lists on the other professions. We loved playing the story and just rolled and made what sense we could with the mechanics (an epiphany was that the bonuses weren't actually added to the attribute #s). Our exposure to fantasy were only Tolkien's books anyway so we knew the right mood instinctively. In other words, we only played the MERP fluff. Now I have a game to introduce to my children that has the mechanics to match—thanks One Ring.

[Glorelendil]

FarHarad: I completely agree. +1.

Now, back to the thread derailment...just skimmed over MERP Rivendell. I both love it and hate it. Love it because it's a vital focal point of Tolkien lore, both for it's role in the Hobbit and LOTR and because of the history/lineage of the place and it's inhabitants, so it's stimulating to read I.C.E.'s version and imagine the place. But...then I imagine how TOR will do it and the anticipation is so great that I literally twitch in my seat.

(Just in case any former ICE/MERP people are reading this: MERP was an epic achievement, and it met the needs/interest/desires of the day, but...at least for some of us...our interest in RPGs has evolved in the last couple decades.)

[Rich H]

(Just in case any former ICE/MERP people are reading this: MERP was an epic achievement, and it met the needs/interest/desires of the day, but...at least for some of us...our interest in RPGs has evolved in the last couple decades.)

It's something I think they'd be aware of... The shortcomings in MERP were very much due to it being a child of its time. Let's remember that with the advent of relatively cheap and accessible Desktop publishing software, electronic media, and the internet, RPG communities have been brought far closer to each other and to the companies making these games. We've also had the massive development and diversification of the indie RPG scene whereas MERP existed in a time long before this. MERP pretty much had to compete with D&D, Runequest, and other fantasy RPG of that ilk and so shared a lot of the same 'design space' as those. I think if you cut out the rules, and rules related information (eg, adventures etc) you'd get to the good stuff. Much of the MERP content in this respect was written by Tolkien enthusiasts and scholars so it's pretty tight in that respect.

[Tolwen]

I think if you cut out the rules, and rules related information (eg, adventures etc) you'd get to the good stuff. Much of the MERP content in this respect was written by Tolkien enthusiasts and scholars so it's pretty tight in that respect.

Yes, that's the point IMO. I guess no one nowadays would call the MERP mechanics well suited to Middle-earth (even back then it was hard to swallow). IMHO the only good thing about them is the crit system/ability, which makes combat deadly and unpredictable to a certain degree. For me, it is a good thing to have a combat system which allows the "kill the armoured and fresh mighty enemy with a single strike". It is a good way to make the characters wary of combat since it can quickly lead to death or maiming.

Beside this, I totally agree with you that the fluff is where the real strength of MERP lay. Of course here's light and shadow as well, but in many cases it offers good information out of the box and a very good base in others.

Cheers
Tolwen

[Jez]

For my group, I have proclaimed the area a blighted area. My version is not Canon, does not necessarily follow the limited TOR source material, and it doesn't matter to us. It does seem logical from a gaming standpoint. This is my version and I'm sticking to it!

Even in death the Rot of Smaug has become a great calamity for the ecosystem. The carcass is colossal, and even after five years is not wholly consumed. Loathsome things are the only things that can dwell in the vicinity.

The water is befouled, disease ridden, black and oily with flotsam and jetsam of hideous unknown black slimy floating colonies of stuff that's anyone's guess as to what they are.

Black maggot like things the size of big cigars wiggle in the blackened oily mud of the shoreline.
There has recently bee heard a rumor of a large tentacled thing having been spotted near the carcass so the boats give the place a wide berth.

The shoreline itself has died and supports no life but for unwholesome vegetation, biting flies and wicked nasty black mosquitoes. Vegetation has wilted and most but the hardiest of trees have died and those that survive are sick.

Loathsome things lurk in the shadows near the shore waiting for an easy meal.

I haven't had any problems with the fellowship having a burning desire to loot the corpse of Smaug.

I forgot to say earlier how much I like all this.

The lengths you go to when researching for an adventure... currently reading about Whale Fall and carcass decomposition rates according to depth...