Question About Character Progression

[MaSQue_]

I was looking through Youtube for some tabletop gameplay but I am just not sure which one would be the better one to watch for me to really understand whats going on .... any suggestions?

I am in the same boat as you Amy, I have been searching for a TOR game session on Youtube so I can actually "SEE" how the game is played, but everyone i find, half the players you cannot understand and the video quality looks like it was recorded with a potato.

If anyone knows of some recorded game sessions that really show off the game, please link them, this is what I really want to watch to see how the gameplay is actually done.

[Otaku-sempai]

Yea but kinda turned off by that game, I heard it did not really stay with the FLAVOR of Middle-Earth, that it went off into adding new stuff to the lore, the world and the setting that were not already in it + if it plays anything like 5th edition D&D then I would not touch it just as I refuse to touch 5th edition D&D. I am primarily 1st-2nd edition only.

Well, Adventures in Middle-earth takes the material from The One Ring and essentially just adapts it for a version of the D&D 5e rules. The setting material and Loremaster characters from TOR is still there. Still, AiMe does have leveling and more familiar combat rules and provides opportunities to borrow elements from 5e, so it might be worth it for you to take a look at it.

I come from an AD&D background too. Our default campaign (still!) uses AD&D 2e with Skills & Powers, though my wife and I did play in a D&D 3.5 campaign for a while. AiMe does go to some effort to try to preserve the feel of Tolkien's Middle-earth. I might just argue that TOR does it even better.

[Rich H]

Yea but kinda turned off by that game, I heard it did not really stay with the FLAVOR of Middle-Earth, that it went off into adding new stuff to the lore, the world and the setting that were not already in it

As you've stated you haven't read Tolkien's works and only know LotR through the movies then that won't be a problem for you at all. Jackson's films depart far more from Tolkien and the flavour of Middle-earth than either TOR or AiMe

+ if it plays anything like 5th edition D&D then I would not touch it just as I refuse to touch 5th edition D&D. I am primarily 1st-2nd edition only.

5e has loads in common with AD&D and AiMe dials back the more 'gonzo' elements associated with D&D as a whole. It really captures the flavour of Middle-earth really well. And this is coming from someone that isn't a fan of any version of D&D.

[AmySmith]

Well, Adventures in Middle-earth takes the material from The One Ring and essentially just adapts it for a version of the D&D 5e rules. The setting material and Loremaster characters from TOR is still there. Still, AiMe does have leveling and more familiar combat rules and provides opportunities to borrow elements from 5e, so it might be worth it for you to take a look at it.

5th ed (even if I wanted to play 5th) and TOR rules are both unknown to me so no matter which way I go I'm learning an all new rules set. If I have to learn new rules I would rather they be TOR rules.

5e has loads in common with AD&D and AiMe dials back the more 'gonzo' elements associated with D&D as a whole. It really captures the flavour of Middle-earth really well. And this is coming from someone that isn't a fan of any version of D&D.

eh, will look at it, but odds are I still will refuse to touch 5th edition. 5th edition D&D has left a foul taste in my mouth.

[Rich H]

5th ed (even if I wanted to play 5th) and TOR rules are both unknown to me so no matter which way I go I'm learning an all new rules set. If I have to learn new rules I would rather they be TOR rules.

As an AD&D player you'll certainly pick up the rules for D&D 5e/AiMe as there are many common elements to each. TOR will likely be trickier.

eh, will look at it, but odds are I still will refuse to touch 5th edition. 5th edition D&D has left a foul taste in my mouth.

I'm not sure I follow... You state in the same post that 5e is unknown to you and yet state later on that D&D5e has left a 'foul taste' in your mouth? If it's unknown to you, how can that be?

[Stormcrow]

To take another stab at the original question...

Player characters have attributes, common skills, weapon skills, traits, and two special ratings called Valour and Wisdom. When rolling against common skills during adventures, certain circumstances allow players to earn advancement points, which are used later to raise common skill ratings. By going on adventures, you earn experience points (mostly at a set rate), which are used later to raise Valour, which gives you special equipment called Rewards, and Wisdom, which gives you special abilities called Virtues. You can also spend experience points to improve certain equipment and abilities, or to improve weapon skills. People often say you can use the total experience points earned by the character as a rough guide of personal power, but that doesn't take common skills into account.

You can't improve attributes and various derived stats directly, though some Virtues do that for you, and some special activities, called undertakings, let you improve them temporarily. You more or less never gain more traits, though you can change them.

NPCs don't have most of the statistics PCs do. Instead, most NPCs just need an Attribute score. This is a number from 1 to 12, and it represents an average of the three attributes of PCs. It also works as a general guide to the power of the NPC, roughly equivalent to D&D's levels.

So there's no single mechanism for improving your character. Many parts can be improved independently of each other, using different pools of points. There is no "balancing" of combat encounters: you have to learn that through practice and common sense—how many orcs could three hobbits REALLY fend off?

P.S.: Attributes range from 1 to 12, though most PCs start and stay in the range 2 to 7. Wisdom and Valour go from 1 to 6, and a beginning character starts with one of them at 2 and the other at 1. Once you reach these maximums, the rating can't be improved further.

[MaSQue_]

5th is just horrible. imho

For me 5th took the fun out of what made D&D special. 5th was all about making characters super powerful and haveing these crazy off the wall classes that felt like you were a GOD at low levels.

[AmySmith]

I'm not sure I follow... You state in the same post that 5e is unknown to you and yet state later on that D&D5e has left a 'foul taste' in your mouth? If it's unknown to you, how can that be?

It is unknown. ok I read up on it long ago, a very small bit, and saw things like how Wizards can wear plate armor and still cast spells and alot of other crazy stuff like that and I just never wanted to bother with it, plus everything my friends have told me about 5th from them actually playing it just turned me off. Its like they turned it into a PC game on paper. Thats mostly what I meant.

[Otaku-sempai]

5th is just horrible. imho

For me 5th took the fun out of what made D&D special. 5th was all about making characters super powerful and haveing these crazy off the wall classes that felt like you were a GOD at low levels.

Truthfully, that was pretty much my reaction to 4e. 5e seems like a step back in the right direction, at least by comparison, though I still don't have any of the books for it. In any case, you don't need to introduce any of the elements from 5e into AiMe that you don't want to include; you don't need the D&D classes, races, traits, etc. You do not need the core books from WotC, just the downloads of the basic rules. The System Reference Document (SRD 5.1) is also useful and is also a free download.

[Turin]

I feel the same way. 5th Edition is really a lot lower power then 4th or 3rd before it (3.5 included). A lot more like 2nd edition, prior to the expansions, but with a bit more customization for flavor.