TOR is a Tolkien NewSchool Heartbreaker - lots of cool ideas, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts.  The obvious love of the source material practically jumps off of every page.  If you are interested in running a LotR game, this is still a must buy for research and ideas, not to mention enjoyable as hell to read and look at due to Hodgson.

However, the mechanics are a mix of Eurogame and newschool RPG design philosophy.  Personally, I have nothing wrong with a game with multiple subsystems (AD&D and A&8 for example), but once you get away from Tolkien to actually running things, a weird mix of abstracted systems, conflict resolution, and narrative mechanics just makes for a mess, and the lack of modularity makes it difficult to just excise say, the overly complicated narrative positioning system in combat that replaces distances for what purpose I can't fathom.

I like the "campaign behind the novels" aspect of the game, and love the introductory adventure so I have been considering getting all the supplements just for ideas, even if it's highly unlikely I will ever use the system.

Quote from: CRKrueger;786130the overly complicated narrative positioning system in combat that replaces distances for what purpose I can't fathom.

Eh. I see where they're going with it (It simulates a melee scrum, and in melee combat range, who really gives a shit about accurate positioning - except Gleichman - because everyone is moving around too much), and it's a nice concept that shouldn't be too complex. It's essentially the same system used in the Final Fantasy games, and that works fine... but all the crap layered on top just doesn't work, and doesn't leave enough space for players to actually be creative and play the game themselves. The system could almost work on autopilot, and that's bad.

Again. It's the game that WFRP3 is berated for being, but it somehow got a free pass because...

It was The One Ring, d&d 4e and WFRP 3e triumvirate that pissed me off a few years ago. Looking forward to new iterations of 3 games i enjoy and each one a compete bust for me.

It's quite telling that even the people in this thread who have it, aren't really playing it. It's a collectors item. Looks nice, reads well, shit for actually gaming.

The designer's a nice bloke.

Quote from: One Horse Town;786140It's quite telling that even the people in this thread who have it, aren't really playing it. It's a collectors item. Looks nice, reads well, shit for actually gaming.

Played it once, and that was it. Great for ideas, utterly annoying to play.

I pre-ordered the combined volume when it was announced, then subsequently cancelled the order after I found out it was simply rearranging the material, not actually fixing anything.

TOR really does annoy the hell out of me, though, mostly because it gets a free pass since it looks nice and is Tolkien. For all the knocks on MERP, at least that game was playable.

So given that a lot us here aren't going to play TOR but say that everything-but-the-mechanics is worthwhile...

And given that a lot of us have the TOR books (corebooks, supplements, adventures)

What system would you use to run The One Ring?

Quote from: languagegeek;786378So given that a lot us here aren't going to play TOR but say that everything-but-the-mechanics is worthwhile...

And given that a lot of us have the TOR books (corebooks, supplements, adventures)

What system would you use to run The One Ring?

I bought the generic Reign: Enchiridion (or however the fuck you spell it) game last summer on a whim, because I like ORE but dislike the setting of Reign. I've thought that could be useful for Tolkien gaming because it's quite gritty and 'dangerous' and I think the magic system and the way it allows you to run groups of things as quasi-characters could be interesting for Middle Earth gaming.

Other than that, Legend/RuneQuest would be a definite possibility, for similar reasons. I think above anything else a Middle Earth game should be one in which combat has potentially severe consequences irrespective of who is involved. (This is one reason why MERP might still be a contender.)

Quote from: languagegeek;786378What system would you use to run The One Ring?

Legends of Anglerre as I think it allows to be be twisted enough to get that "Middle-Earth" vibe.

For something a bit grittier any flavor of BRP (Runequest VI, Openquest...) would do the trick.

D&D doesn't quite fit the bill but it could be fun in a DM of the Rings kind of way and just to piss off any Tolkien Jihadist happening to be at my table.

If I had no life and a computerized brain Burning Wheel is pretty much a Middle-Earth rpg without the licence.

Quote from: languagegeek;786378So given that a lot us here aren't going to play TOR but say that everything-but-the-mechanics is worthwhile...

And given that a lot of us have the TOR books (corebooks, supplements, adventures)

What system would you use to run The One Ring?

I tend to use the Decipher system that more or less works without having to reinvent the wheel. Although as posted up-thread somewhere, its really only works for one-on-one combats - the rules bog down quickly beyond that.

After that It would depend on what bits of LotR I was looking to emphasis. Runequest might work quite well. The Doctor Who RPG by Cubical 7 could offer a different take, you could see the duel of words between Gandalf and Wyrmtongue working in that quite well, and its got built in support for mixed ability parties so you can have a Hobbit Gardener and a flesh bound Angel in the same party without the game creaking too much. Actually that last idea is more and more appealing as I think about it.

Advanced Fighting Fantasy, it's a solid generic fantasy rule set. Should work fine.

Did anyone else play Decipher's LOTR CODA game? I really liked it.

I did, it seemed great but the combat system just didn't quite work right, and I could never put my finger on it so I went back to using BRP for ME.

Quote from: Brad;786174.TOR really does annoy the hell out of me, though, mostly because it gets a free pass since it looks nice and is Tolkien. For all the knocks on MERP, at least that game was playable.

It's cool if you don't like it, but I can assure you that TOR is more than just playable.

I also don't think it gets a free pass on anything, as being Tolkien actually seems to set a higher bar. Though some people don't like TOR, I have seen a number of them still recognise that TOR actually does a decent job of matching Tolkien's work in terms of both setting and rules.

If you want an RPG that tries to be true to Tolkien's work, TOR is well worth checking out IMO

Quote from: Skywalker;786466It's cool if you don't like it, but I can assure you that TOR is more than just playable.

I also don't think it gets a free pass on anything, as being Tolkien actually seems to set a higher bar. Though some people don't like TOR, I have seen a number of them still recognise that TOR actually does a decent job of matching Tolkien's work in terms of both setting and rules.

If you want an RPG that tries to be true to Tolkien's work, TOR is well worth checking out IMO

I agree with this, and that's a vote from the other side of the isle on this issue. It is a game that succeeds on its own terms for a target audience, but which does so through choices that alienates another (unfortunately large) audience.

Quote from: Larsdangly;786484I agree with this, and that's a vote from the other side of the isle on this issue. It is a game that succeeds on its own terms for a target audience, but which does so through choices that alienates another (unfortunately large) audience.

I agree that the mechanics approach does alienate a group of people, as taking any mechanics approach does. How large that group actually is, is not known though.