So I am intrested in Adventures in Middle-Earth by Cubicle 7. I already got The One Ring rpg but I don't think I will get much use of it. The rules feels quite wonky. And I am gaming on a tight budget, so I don't feel very inclined to shell out money on the 5e core books right now. So I wonder how much do you need to print out from the free 5e basic rules to run Adventures In Middle-Earth? Which chapters/pages for the very essence of it as a reference at the table?
Adventures in Middle Earth is excellent.
Yes you can use just the Basic Rules
Players Guide
Creating a Character Page 6 to 10
Playing the Game Page 57 to 62
Adventuring Page 63 to 68
Combat Page 69 to 77
Condition Summary Page 105 to 106
DM Rules
Monster Intro Page 2 to 7
Most of the Animals from the Monster Stats
Building Combat Encounters 56 to 58 However AiME has a different balance as far as combat goes so run a few sample encounters to get a feel for it.
OR
Download an editable version of the SRD and use your word processor to edit it
The Markdown version of the 5e SRD (https://github.com/gguillotte/mdsrd5)
The Word conversion (https://github.com/gguillotte/mdsrd5/blob/master/mdsrd5.docx)
I've been tempted to get Adventures in ME.
However I'm a bit leery of Cubicle 7.
I got the first edition of tOR, which was pretty awful .
It'd be nice to see a review/overview of Adventures in Middle Earth here before I invest as there's several books in the line and I don;rt want to spend money on it yet.
Quote from: estar;1018204Adventures in Middle Earth is excellent.
Yes you can use just the Basic Rules
Players Guide
Creating a Character Page 6 to 10
Playing the Game Page 57 to 62
Adventuring Page 63 to 68
Combat Page 69 to 77
Condition Summary Page 105 to 106
DM Rules
Monster Intro Page 2 to 7
Most of the Animals from the Monster Stats
Building Combat Encounters 56 to 58 However AiME has a different balance as far as combat goes so run a few sample encounters to get a feel for it.
OR
Download an editable version of the SRD and use your word processor to edit it
The Markdown version of the 5e SRD (https://github.com/gguillotte/mdsrd5)
The Word conversion (https://github.com/gguillotte/mdsrd5/blob/master/mdsrd5.docx)
Thank you very much, good sir!
Quote from: danskmacabre;1018211I've been tempted to get Adventures in ME.
However I'm a bit leery of Cubicle 7.
I got the first edition of tOR, which was pretty awful .
It'd be nice to see a review/overview of Adventures in Middle Earth here before I invest as there's several books in the line and I don;rt want to spend money on it yet.
It good, very good. It is both D&D 5e and something different.
In a nutshell Adventure in Middle Earth takes the core rules of D&D 5e and strips out monsters, classes, spells, and magic items, basically the "stuff". Then supplies it own set of monsters, classics, and magic that are crafted for Middle Earth. For example there are no spell casters, no references to ANY D&D spell. In it's place you have a set of abilities (a few of which that are called spells), and virtues that form a low key system of magic that fits Middle Earth perfectly.
The classes are
ScholarCan either be the party's (fellowship) healer or the go-to guy for lore and information.
SlayerA re-skinned barbarian but focused on killing monsters rather being somebody from a primitive culture.
The Treasure HunterThe Rogue/Thief of the system. But focusing more on Stealth than the 5e Rogue.
WandererBasically a wilderness fighter tweaked for Middle Earth
WardenA warrior who is an inspiring leader. Like a 5e bard with some of the ethos of a paladin.
WarriorA re-skinned 5e fighter with a few tweaks.
CulturesInstead of races you have cultures which could be another race. So there is a difference between a Dwarf of Erebor and a Dwarf of the Blue Mountain. The same with a Elf of Mirkwood and a Elf of Rivendell. In AiME there are Dwarves of Erebor, Hobbits of the Shire, Elves of Mirkwood, Men of Bree, Men of Minas Tirth, Men of Rohan, Woodsemen, Men of Dale, Men of the Lake, and Beornings.
VirtuesInstead of feats they have virtues including some that are culture specific. They are all very atmospheric and fit Middle Earth.
MonsterMonsters are tough and they are not. In AiME bows are the killer weapon if the fellowship works together. Otherwise the Wolves, Spiders, Goblins, Orcs, Trolls, and the dead will just annihilate the part.
Journey, Resting and Campaign TimeAiME now has what is called a fellowship phase. At first it looks like a variant of 5e's downtime activity but it really about the flow of the campaign. Many D&D campaign grind out time day by day with the players never really stopping much.
In AiME that not the case. First off you can only take a Long Rest during the Fellowship phase and only get the full benefit of a Long Rest if you are in a sanctuary. A sanctuary is just a shorthand for a place that the PCs been around along enough to become part of the community. Outside of the fellowship Phase you can only take short rest.
Then there are Journey rules. Middle Earth is big and sparsely populated particularly in the Wilderlands, AiME's default region. The general idea is that you look at the length of the journey and the difficulty of terrain and generate one or more random encounters. Instead of rolling hex by hex or day by day, you sprinkle these encounters where it makes sense. The most you will ever generated around five encounters.
The Encounters are varied and evocative. They are not all about random NPCs or Monsters. But can involve overcoming obstacle, or seeing the wonders of Middle Earth. While at first it seems a bit structured it works pretty well once you internalize the benefits and complications. The Players Guide has the encounters with all the fluff while the Loremaster Guide presents them stripped down to their bare mechanics. I found both useful.
The Journey rules also bring up a salient point about AiME, you got to be willing to roleplay the results. A lot of things in the overall rules involve the characters feeling joy or despair. A bad journey can have the entire fellowship arriving at their destination tired, down trodden and exhausted. While a good journey can give the fellowship a major boost.
The exhaustion rules are a major factor in AiME. The first level of exhaustion imposes disadvantage on all ability checks and it goes downhill from there. And exhaustion can generally only be recovered with a long rest during the fellowship phase.
All of this works hand and hand to make AiME much gritter game than D&D 5e. In addition time flows much faster in a similar manner to Pendragon and Ars Magica Season.
The SupplementsAre kick ass way better than any previous Middle Earth RPG included ICE's MERP supplements. I got all the books now including the The One Ring versions. Even if you don't ever use AiME or TOR the supplement are just great to have for Middle Earth Roleplaying.
I agree with Estar. I purchased the TOR core rulebook years ago when it was two paperbacks and game with the set of Gandalf dice. It was poorly organized and edited and the system was a bit wonky for me. I'm not a big fan of 5E but AiME clears out a lot of the things I don't like and like Estar said, the supplements are bloody fantastic. They are coming out with a Moria box set this year and if they can make it as good as the one Decipher released I'll be super happy.
I have the one volume rules and they seem fine to me.
Thanks estar for the overview! :)
I was never a fan of the travel mechanism in tOR, so perhaps ME Adventures is not for me.
But I might buy the core player's book for a read, as I'm a big LotR fan, so it might be cool to read.
Quote from: danskmacabre;1018389Thanks estar for the overview! :)
I was never a fan of the travel mechanism in tOR, so perhaps ME Adventures is not for me.
But I might buy the core player's book for a read, as I'm a big LotR fan, so it might be cool to read.
While sharing some elements it not the same.
Quote from: estar;1018204Adventures in Middle Earth is excellent.
Yes you can use just the Basic Rules
Players Guide
Creating a Character Page 6 to 10
Playing the Game Page 57 to 62
Adventuring Page 63 to 68
Combat Page 69 to 77
Condition Summary Page 105 to 106
DM Rules
Monster Intro Page 2 to 7
Most of the Animals from the Monster Stats
Building Combat Encounters 56 to 58 However AiME has a different balance as far as combat goes so run a few sample encounters to get a feel for it.
Quote from: Teodrik;1018255Thank you very much, good sir!
Yes, that is very useful Estar. Thanks!
Do you know whether there is anything in the three physical D&D 5e core books that really makes them worth buying if all you want to do is run Adventures in Middle Earth?
Quote from: NinjaWeasel;1018472Yes, that is very useful Estar. Thanks!
Do you know whether there is anything in the three physical D&D 5e core books that really makes them worth buying if all you want to do is run Adventures in Middle Earth?
No not really. When I had just AiME and not the Loremaster Guide I use some of tolkeinish monsters like orc, goblins, and trolls but now I only use the animals which can be gotten from the SRD or the Basic Rules.
Quote from: estar;1018480No not really. When I had just AiME and not the Loremaster Guide I use some of tolkeinish monsters like orc, goblins, and trolls but now I only use the animals which can be gotten from the SRD or the Basic Rules.
That's good to know. I'm going to put together a booklet, using the SRD/Basic docs, of character gen and the essential rules for some potential players then I think.
Quote from: NinjaWeasel;1018482That's good to know. I'm going to put together a booklet, using the SRD/Basic docs, of character gen and the essential rules for some potential players then I think.
Might want to use this a template. Haven't made one for AiME. If I did it would be the first three levels and all the classes.
http://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/D&D%205e%20Convention%20Classes%20Rev%202.pdf
This info is good to know. I, too, am eyeing AiME for my low-magic gaming 5e needs.
Quote from: estar;1018405While sharing some elements it not the same.
Ok thanx, that's good to know.
So if I just get the Middle Earth Adventures
Players guide only. can I run the game with just that?
Or is the Loremaster guide an absolute necessity to run it?
For example, you can quite easily run DnD 5e without the DMG, but it's a nice to have.
Quote from: danskmacabre;1018607Ok thanx, that's good to know.
So if I just get the Middle Earth Adventures Players guide only. can I run the game with just that?
Or is the Loremaster guide an absolute necessity to run it?
For example, you can quite easily run DnD 5e without the DMG, but it's a nice to have.
What the Loremaster gives you in order is.
1) The Wilderlands setting and initial time-line
2) Describe Lake-town
3) A chapter of four page of pre-campaign advice
4) That explains specific rules in details like Rest, Exhaustion, Inspiration, Multiclassing,ec). (9 pages)
5) Getting into the nuts and bolts of Journeys (7 pages)
6) 18 pages of NPCs and how to deal with them focusing on Audiences.
7) 35 page monsters of middle Earth
8) 17 pages of Wondorous, Legendary, and Healing Item.
9) 4 pages of commentary on magic in Middle Earth
10) And it wraps it up with more details on the Fellowship Phase.
Basically the "stuff" NPC, monsters, and items are as different from 5e standard as the classes are different. Much more low key and fits the tone of Middle Earth.
So it kind of needed but on the other hand, you could run a low fantasy campaign with just the first book. Except the 5e monsters and and 5e magic items don't feel very Middle Earth.
Quote from: estar;1018640What the Loremaster gives you in order is....
Yeah, that's a lot of pretty important content, even if you're just messing about with a test session.
So it looks like getting the Player's book and Loremaster book is basically an essential purchase, which is a bigger buy in.
That's what I like about the DnD 5e PHB. It's got everything you need to try it out, including a small selection of monsters and stuff at the back.
Still, when I have some spare cash, I might splash out and get the the Player's book and Loremaster book. It'll probably be a fun read, as I've been a Tolkien fan for many years.
I think it's a fairly good emulation of genre.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1019017I think it's a fairly good emulation of genre.
Agreed. While the rules are still basically the 5E you've already seen, the feel of the books is a lot more Middle-earth than the regular 5E rulebooks.
Over the years I've played MERP, the Decipher LotR game, The One Ring, and others, and overall I think this is the version of Middle-earth I like best. (TOR had a decent feel as well, but I wasn't as happy with the rules. The other games never really felt like Middle-earth to me that much.)
Agreed. Though in some ways, it's a tough setting to play well. You can end up feeling pretty peripheral to the epic stuff that you as a player might expect of the game.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1019764Agreed. Though in some ways, it's a tough setting to play well. You can end up feeling pretty peripheral to the epic stuff that you as a player might expect of the game.
Cubicle 7 handled that well by setting it in the Wilderlands after the Battle of Five Armies. From the Return of the King appendices we know stuff goes down but not detailed well. So there a lot of room for the PCs to eventually becomes the heroes in this area of Middle Earth.
The stuff for Bree, Rivendell, and Rohan also take advantage of the gap between the Battle of the Five Armies and the events of the Lord of the Rings. For example the Rohan material is set during the reign of Thengel the father of Theoden.
Setting it in some in-between-time certainly helps, but it's still not like they would get to be the fellowship of the ring.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1020002Setting it in some in-between-time certainly helps, but it's still not like they would get to be the fellowship of the ring.
You ran a long-term Legion campaign, were people who weren't Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or Green Lantern disappointed?
Part of the reason the War of the Ring happened the way it did is because people were kicking some serious ass up in the North, and Tolkien never got around to detailing all of that, although he thought about it.
Middle-Earth is probably the most expansively detailed fantasy setting that exists, and yet for so many people, if you're not the Fellowship, there's no point to play. It's like saying there's no point to playing in Greyhawk if you're not Bigby and Robilar, or no point to Westeros if you're not Daenarys, or no point to the Realms if you're not Elminster.
Isn't the whole point of a "Living World", "World in Motion", "Sandbox Style" play that the PCs
aren't the star of the show? The PCs not being the Fellowship is the Feature for that sort of play, not the Bug.
Really the only difference between playing in the time between Hobbit and LotR and a standard sandbox campaign is that the in the standard sandbox, only the GM knows all the various factions and how things are likely to play out without PC intervention. Playing in ME, we all know how things will likely play out without PC intervention. But, if the PCs colossally screw the pooch in all the TOR campaigns, the War of the Ring might very well turn out differently.
Quote from: CRKrueger;1020022You ran a long-term Legion campaign, were people who weren't Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or Green Lantern disappointed?
...
Really the only difference between playing in the time between Hobbit and LotR and a standard sandbox campaign is that the in the standard sandbox, only the GM knows all the various factions and how things are likely to play out without PC intervention. Playing in ME, we all know how things will likely play out without PC intervention. But, if the PCs colossally screw the pooch in all the TOR campaigns, the War of the Ring might very well turn out differently.
I would think that the TOR world is really quite good for sandbox games, and less good for scripted or quest games. In the latter, you run into the problem Pundy is describing--the greatest tale in that world has already been told. Yes, you can play characters who theoretically have an influence on the War of the Ring, just like killing the emperor and destroying two Death Stars aren't the only things the rebels have to do to defeat the empire in the Star Wars setting. But in both, only one party gets to destroy the ring/kill the emperor, and we know who that party is. A sandbox game set in that world ('we're in this world because you all already know it, and your goal is to just fight evil and adventure, there is no quest') would be better, I feel, than being Filbo and Stroder, who are tasked with capturing the outpost which secures the supply lines of the Variags, such that they cannot march west and join the war of the ring.
I think the difference with a long-term Legion campaign is that Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are very rarely
'saving the world.' And even if they do once a year or so, they also stop random super-villain of the week, same as whatever Captain Expy the players decide to make up. Two of my favorite DC characters--Captain Marvel and Firestorm, if they weren't official DC characters could totally be characters some player rolled up for a campaign to battle crime 'along side' or 'the next town over from' Superman and Green Lantern, respectively.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1020002Setting it in some in-between-time certainly helps, but it's still not like they would get to be the fellowship of the ring.
Everything is connected, who to say what the PCs do wasn't an important foundation for the success of the Fellowship later on? Or what the PCs did allowed the Council not to worry about Wilderlands and Rhovanion as a factor in their planning. Not saying it easy creating a situation where that a possible outcome but it not rocket science either.
Quote from: Willie the Duck;1020032I would think that the TOR world is really quite good for sandbox games, and less good for scripted or quest games. In the latter, you run into the problem Pundy is describing--the greatest tale in that world has already been told.
I been dealing with this issue for decades with the Majestic Wilderlands. By this point a considerable amount of the setting is a result of PCs screwing around. Some areas are effected by multiple waves of PCs doing their thing. What I learned that any quest is suitably epic if it is important to the circumstances of the players.
What makes Cublicle 7's take on Middle Earth so good is they add enough interesting details to the blank spots on the maps to allow the referee to create those circumstances for a given group of PCs. While in the grand scheme nothing is as important as destroying the One Ring, other people in other lands have to deal with existential threats as a result of Sauron's machinations. In the end from the point of the view of the PCs it amounts to the same thing.
For example, while using Cublicle's stuff I have a few things of my own woven in. One of them resolves around Pallandro one of the Blue Wizards of the Istari that was sent to the east. He was corrupted by Sauron, and is tasked with preparing the Easterlings beyond the Sea of Rhun to act as the spearhead of the invasion of Erebor, Dale, and the Wilderlands.
One possible resolution would be the PCs find Alatar who is "lost" but not corrupted and convince him to help deal with Pallandro. If the PCs are completely successful the end result is that the Easterling are weakened enough to give the Free Peoples of Middle Earth a chance at military victory.
Quote from: CRKrueger;1020022Isn't the whole point of a "Living World", "World in Motion", "Sandbox Style" play that the PCs aren't the star of the show? The PCs not being the Fellowship is the Feature for that sort of play, not the Bug.
I see your point. I think for some players, that idea doesn't work, because for those players, playing in Middle Earth is about affecting the main story. That is, I don't want to run Middle Earth, because I want to run sandbox, but if I ran Middle Earth, the players would expect something plotted. Of course I could get around it, but that's work I don't particularly find appealing. It's the same reason that I so seldom run alt-history.
Quote from: CRKrueger;1020022You ran a long-term Legion campaign, were people who weren't Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or Green Lantern disappointed?
Actually, in my Legion campaign the Players DID play canon characters: Ultra Boy, Sun Boy, Invisible Kid, Colossal boy, Chameleon Boy, Tyroc, Invisible Kid II, etc.
The problem is that while in the Legion you can make up new stories, there's really only one main story in Lord of The Rings.
I wrote about my initial impression of the AiME
Players' Guide here: http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2016/09/initial-impression-of-adventures-in.html
Since then I've run a campaign (about 6.5 adventures, over 14 or so 3-hour sessions). It's still not over, though the characters are heading towards a big confrontation and the resolution of a number of personal quests...
Regarding:
Quote from: estar;1018264The Supplements
Are kick ass way better than any previous Middle Earth RPG included ICE's MERP supplements. I got all the books now including the The One Ring versions. Even if you don't ever use AiME or TOR the supplement are just great to have for Middle Earth Roleplaying.
I agree that C7's Middle-earth books are very good. But I'd put in a good word for a lot of ICE's MERP books. One complaint I have about C7's
Rhovanion Region Guide is that it's surprisingly 'crowded' (there are a number of Northmen tribes never mentioned by Tolkien, a lingering Easterling tribe from the Wainriders' invasion centuries ago, some Anduin 'wild' Hobbits still around, Riverfolk traders, some lingering Eotheod tribes [they didn't want to go to Rohan for some reason?], etc.). In this respect, ICE's books on Mirkwood surprisingly deviate from Tolkien
less than C7's take. (Of course, in other respects ICE deviates far more, as it relies on the MERP system, which is way too magic-rich for Middle-earth.)
One great thing about AiME is that it is relatively to translate MERP stats into 5e (or it is for me). So if you have a decent collection of MERP stuff, you can translate the stuff you like for your AiME campaign. This is what I'm doing: drawing on both C7's AiME books and ICE's MERP books for my campaign.
Quote from: estar;1020043Everything is connected, who to say what the PCs do wasn't an important foundation for the success of the Fellowship later on? Or what the PCs did allowed the Council not to worry about Wilderlands and Rhovanion as a factor in their planning. Not saying it easy creating a situation where that a possible outcome but it not rocket science either.
This is my view as well.
But for those folks who fret about not the PCs not being able to be the 'main' heroes of the world, or that the great conflict is pre-ordained to be resolved in a particular way (as described in the LotR), one could always set a Middle-earth campaign in the Fourth Age. Indeed, one of my favourite published campaigns is the
Palantir Quest for MERP. It involves a quest for -- surprise -- the lost Palantiri of Arnor in the early 4th Age.
Quote from: estar;1020051For example, while using Cublicle's stuff I have a few things of my own woven in. One of them resolves around Pallandro one of the Blue Wizards of the Istari that was sent to the east. He was corrupted by Sauron, and is tasked with preparing the Easterlings beyond the Sea of Rhun to act as the spearhead of the invasion of Erebor, Dale, and the Wilderlands.
One possible resolution would be the PCs find Alatar who is "lost" but not corrupted and convince him to help deal with Pallandro. If the PCs are completely successful the end result is that the Easterling are weakened enough to give the Free Peoples of Middle Earth a chance at military victory.
Very cool! :cool:
Quote from: Akrasia;1020577One complaint I have about C7's Rhovanion Region Guide is that it's surprisingly 'crowded' (there are a number of Northmen tribes never mentioned by Tolkien, a lingering Easterling tribe from the Wainriders' invasion centuries ago, some Anduin 'wild' Hobbits still around, Riverfolk traders, some lingering Eotheod tribes [they didn't want to go to Rohan for some reason?], etc.).
It may look dense
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2135[/ATTACH]
But keep in each of those hexes are 10 miles with a per day movement right of 20 miles or two hexes per day. Half of those sites are ruins, and notable location not settlements per say. I circled the settlements.
As for the extra groups, they are extrapolated from things mentioned in the text. We know from the appendices that Beorn became a chief of men. That there were still northmen in and around Mirkwood. As for the above region of the map we have this from Chapter Six of the Hobbit.
QuoteIn spite of the dangers of this far land bold men had of late been making their way back into it from the South, cutting down trees, and building themselves places to live in among the more pleasant woods in the valleys and along the river shores. There were many of them, and they were brave and well-armed, and even the Wargs dared not attacked them if there were many together, or in the bright day.
When I look at the same region in MERPS
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2136[/ATTACH]
Sure it only got four settlements but it not showing all the sites and points of interest either so looks far more empty. I don't think should be much debate on this. From what I understand ICE and Cubicle are following pretty much the same methodology for their respective time periods (TA 1650s versus TA 2940s). They took any hint that Tolkien give and extrapolate the shit out of it to develop a more complete picture of what Middle Earth was like.
Because of this, Arthedain, Rhudur, and Cardolan for ICE are far more densely packed than what depicted in Tolkien's writing. And for Cublic, since this is post Battle of the Five Army, the Wilderlands comes off far less empty than it did in the hobbit.
Quote from: Akrasia;1020577One great thing about AiME is that it is relatively to translate MERP stats into 5e (or it is for me). So if you have a decent collection of MERP stuff, you can translate the stuff you like for your AiME campaign. This is what I'm doing: drawing on both C7's AiME books and ICE's MERP books for my campaign.
I tried doing that but in general too much has happened between the two periods and the stuff that remained relatively unchanged has the detail fleshed out in the AiME supplement. Having said that there nothing that say you have to start in the 2940s with AiME. Unlike The One Ring there is number outside details in AiME that it feasible to use the 1650s era material of ICE.
Still wish they hired Pete Fenlon as the cartographer tho.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1020562The problem is that while in the Legion you can make up new stories, there's really only one main story in Lord of The Rings.
I don't know why you are so hung up on this point. I ran four groups of players with AiME nobody expected to step in the fellowship's shoes or that the campaign would be about destroying the One Ring.
And if you were ballsy enough, you could go with an alternative history where the events of the hobbits took place. Bilbo in the Shire with the Ring, Bilbo doesn't have a heir as Frodo drowned in the Brandywine along with Frodo's parents, Aragon died along with his parents at the hands of Orcs and thus the Dunedain chieftains shift to a different branch of the family. Then before Biblo's 111th birthday, Gandalf decides to involve the PCs in his plans instead of what occurred in the books.
The TOR/AiME stuff is good...very good. I wouldn't say it's universally better than ICE's MERP. I think ICE was much better at giving me bits and pieces I could use to make my own ME, particularly maps, NPCs, etc. C7 in its writing suffers from too much metaplot-itis. Their stuff is amazing...as long as I don't want to go too far off the paths.
Before people go apeshit, I'm not saying they are writing Pathfinder style AP railroads. I am, however, saying, that, probably due to the era more than anything else, I see the MERP supplements as being much more useful to sandbox style play. For example, if I want to play a 4th Age game with Eldarion as king, the MERP supplements, simply due to the *type* of detail they focus on, will be much more useful for that purpose, even if the situations of the adventures are specific to another era.
Now running the TOR/AiME stuff RAW as intended, I would agree it's superior because it has a plan and sticks to it, and executes it very well, where the MERP stuff was never really meant to be a campaign (except for something like Palantir Quest, which I WILL run, even if it's on my deathbed in Cyberspace after all of us are in Gamer's Retirement Brainboxes to save resources.) and I will admit the MERP run over time had some stinkers.
Quote from: estar;1020596Still wish they hired Pete Fenlon as the cartographer tho.
Do you have the Pete Fenlon add-in for CC3?
Quote from: CRKrueger;1020601Do you have the Pete Fenlon add-in for CC3?
Yup and thinking of breaking it out. But given the fact I am involved in the three campaign (one as a player). I haven't had the time to get proficient at it. So I fall back on CorelDraw and how I draw for my regular stuff.
But on the other hand, it all PNG images so I could just port it over to Corel. Mmmmmmmm
The Heart of Mirkwood
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1wuT0-huGhbqJKRCLXyO3iwidUe1za1-Y)
Battle map for Valtar's bandit camp in the Wolfswood (West Anduin Vales)
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1On7j4TD-VOxpv0sVeJh8kdOno5htyQOV)
Quote from: estar;1020596Because of this, Arthedain, Rhudur, and Cardolan for ICE are far more densely packed than what depicted in Tolkien's writing. And for Cublic, since this is post Battle of the Five Army, the Wilderlands comes off far less empty than it did in the hobbit.
Well yeah, because the world Tolkien presented, while richly evocative, is completely unviable as a functioning civilization. Villages and small towns scattered a hundred miles from one another, trade almost non-existent. The population density he presents is Saharan-level. Then you get the weirdness of a region that has one small town raising an army of 1,000 well-armed men.
You don't need Harn-level historical and demographic accuracy to make a campaign world. But I don't have a problem with a game fleshing out Tolkien's world into something that's more plausibly populated.
Looks like Rivendell is next for Adventures in Middle Earth
http://cubicle7.co.uk/rivendell-region-guide-for-adventures-in-middle-earth/
(http://cubicle7.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/36F011E1-751C-4255-800D-8491EC6819D4-768x964.jpeg)
Quote from: estar;1021805Looks like Rivendell is next for Adventures in Middle Earth
http://cubicle7.co.uk/rivendell-region-guide-for-adventures-in-middle-earth/
(http://cubicle7.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/36F011E1-751C-4255-800D-8491EC6819D4-768x964.jpeg)
Cannot wait for it. I really enjoy the clip at which these products for AiMe are coming out. In about another year or so we should be at parity with TOR.
Quote from: Ulairi;1021809Cannot wait for it. I really enjoy the clip at which these products for AiMe are coming out. In about another year or so we should be at parity with TOR.
Yeah. Jugeing from the upcoming Moria module, which will have stats for both TOR and AiME, I guess that the two product lines will merge fully in the future.
Is there supposed to be a lot of adventuring in Rivendell?
Quote from: RPGPundit;1022210Is there supposed to be a lot of adventuring in Rivendell?
Yes but not of the hack and slash variety. For that, Eastern Eriador awaits. In AiME, and TOR, what you do in a safe haven, or a sanctuary is as important as the what you do while adventuring.
Quote from: estar;1022235Yes but not of the hack and slash variety. For that, Eastern Eriador awaits. In AiME, and TOR, what you do in a safe haven, or a sanctuary is as important as the what you do while adventuring.
That's what I thought. But I guess that's what happens when you make a bunch of region books.
I have many of the TOR books but, while I enjoy the lore, find my unfamiliarity with the system inhibits my fully enjoying them. I'm not eager to learn the new system as I'm not playing many RPGs at the moment and am collecting / reading TOR for pleasure. I'm seriously considering selling those bits of TOR that overlap with AiME and picking up AiME (and continuing to sell off TOR books as AiME releases books for Erebore, Rohan, etc.). Other than the system are there any major differences in terms of lore, content, etc. between the two which would make it worth keeping both sets?
Quote from: BigWeather;1024847Other than the system are there any major differences in terms of lore, content, etc. between the two which would make it worth keeping both sets?
No, as far as Lore goes, AiME is replicating what they released for TOR. Just organized a bit differently for example Lake-Town not the Marsh Bell is in the Loremaster Book.
Quote from: estar;1024975No, as far as Lore goes, AiME is replicating what they released for TOR. Just organized a bit differently for example Lake-Town not the Marsh Bell is in the Loremaster Book.
Ah, that's good to hear. I'll hang on to my TOR stuff but likely (as AiME catches up) start buying the AiME versions in favor of TOR. I won't rush to replace what I have yet, though.
I think you need the player's book and some kind of record of stats for common monsters, but then you can use TOR setting and adventure books pretty freely with AiME
To take it in another direction for a moment, how amenable is AiME to having the serial numbers filed off and being used as a lower-calorie, lower-magic alternative to the standard 5e smorgasbord?
Quote from: Gorilla_Zod;1025018To take it in another direction for a moment, how amenable is AiME to having the serial numbers filed off and being used as a lower-calorie, lower-magic alternative to the standard 5e smorgasbord?
As someone who's only read, not played AiME, I think the classes and legendary items would cater to this gritty, low-magic mindset quite well. Using the Cultures (races) from AiME is more problematic, since the fluff behind them is very baked-in to the setting.
Quote from: Larsdangly;1025015I think you need the player's book and some kind of record of stats for common monsters, but then you can use TOR setting and adventure books pretty freely with AiME
Yeah I thought that and bought most of the TOR books. But as it turns out monsters (and NPCs) are the one thing that been scattered throughout the supplement. While I don't particularly care for that type of organization, I am impressed with the write up for the more iconic monsters like the Nazgul. They are not killable in the traditional sense although you can (temporarily) defeat them.
Quote from: Gorilla_Zod;1025018To take it in another direction for a moment, how amenable is AiME to having the serial numbers filed off and being used as a lower-calorie, lower-magic alternative to the standard 5e smorgasbord?
Quite good just keep in mind that the Shadow mechanic pops enough that you will have to think about how to handle it. Very similar to how insanity works in Call of Cthulu. It possible to run a CoC campaign for a lot of sessions without encountering anything that involves insanity but obviously the cool stuff that everybody plays the game for goes hand in hand with the insanity mechanics.
For just low fantasy roleplaying, The AiME book alone suffices although the Loremaster books as value especially for the stripped down Journey rules, the NPCs, and the Monsters. What makes AiME monsters interesting is that they seem slightly overpowered compared to their 5e counterpart.
Above if you ever play, the bow is your friend make sure every member of the party has one.
Quote from: estar;1025059Quite good just keep in mind that the Shadow mechanic pops enough that you will have to think about how to handle it. Very similar to how insanity works in Call of Cthulu. It possible to run a CoC campaign for a lot of sessions without encountering anything that involves insanity but obviously the cool stuff that everybody plays the game for goes hand in hand with the insanity mechanics.
For just low fantasy roleplaying, The AiME book alone suffices although the Loremaster books as value especially for the stripped down Journey rules, the NPCs, and the Monsters. What makes AiME monsters interesting is that they seem slightly overpowered compared to their 5e counterpart.
Above if you ever play, the bow is your friend make sure every member of the party has one.
Cheers man, you've sold me on the idea. My campaign world has something that I think I can kitbash into the Shadow role. Thanks again.
Quote from: estar;1025059What makes AiME monsters interesting is that they seem slightly overpowered compared to their 5e counterpart.
Great point. I'm gearing up to start a 5e game and I think I'll be subbing-in some of the AiME monsters for variety and challenge. There's also some excellent monster building rules and new abilities listed in the LMG.
I also really like the idea of PC's and monsters being closely matched, but I worry a bit about how its accomplished in AiME: PC's will often find themselves going toe to toe with orcs 'n such having ~20 hp, where most people hit a foe ~30-40 % of the time, and on average do ~7-8 points of damage, meaning you are typically going to spend 8-9 rounds cutting one down to size. I feel like combat could drag. The systems I've had a lot of fun with for Middle Earth campaigns have combat systems that are pretty lethal and fast playing: The Fantasy Trip, low-level 1E AD&D, or low-point-total GURPS.
I keep seeing "TOR" and thinking y'all are talking about science fiction novels.