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Title: Core Book (The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game) by Steven S. Long, John Rateliff, Christian Moore, Matt Forbeck, Decipher Inc ISBN: 1-58236-951-8 Publisher: Decipher Inc. Pub. Date: 30 August, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (12 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: disappointing
Comment: At first I was really excited about this book. For one thing, the art and production values are excellent, even if they lean too heavily on snapshots from the movie. Also, compared to ICE's Middle-earth Roleplaying, these rules capture some of the flavor of gaming in Tolkien's world. Wizards do not blast away with fireballs, and characters are supposed to be heroic and aligned against the powers of the shadow. These are the strengths of the game.
The weaknesses, which appear to reflect poor game balance and insufficient playtesting, became obvious after a couple of gaming sessions. For one thing, beginning characters are way too powerful. A party of hobbits was able to chase down and destroy a hill troll on their first night out of the Shire! Another problem was that many of the combat manoeuvers are underpowered and not worth expending actions on. Why give up a parry and very likely receive say 2d6+5 in order to perform a "power attack" and gain a pawltry +3 damage modifier?
As I developed my chronicle, I found that it was somewhat difficult to creatively roleplay in Tolkien's world. I believe that this is because the plot of the books is relatively structured and oriented toward a single supreme goal. Obviously, this is not a fault of the game, but simply an observation or opinion of my own.
It is probably possible to make these rules work, if you really want to try gaming in this setting. There are also a variety of alternative and optional rules online to compensate for the problems I mentioned earlier. Personally, I would recommend waiting for the second edition, or simply sticking with d20.
J. Corey Butler
Rating: 5
Summary: Provides great fun for hours on end.
Comment: My brother and I went in on this book, and it was a great buy. The book tells you how to create your own characters in the game and it also tells you how to play. This book is the main book you will need if you want to roleplaying. However, it is very helpful if you buy the Middle Earth Atlas book too, because it has a lot of maps and history details of Middle Earth. This book is great because of all the excitement and fun you can have. This is a must for any Lord of the Rings fan.
Rating: 5
Summary: 'i anvanya ar ammara parma ilyave'
Comment: This is a fabulous book. It is beautifuly laid out, the pages decored with wonderful photos from the movies. The rules are surprisingly easy to understand, largely due to their flexibility (e.g. you do not need to look up every modifier and TN [target number], you can just use the tables as sort of guidelines and trust your own judgement). I especially like the 'qualities of heroes' pages, and though it is quite difficult to get across all of these attributes they do add to the 'Tolkienesque' flavour of the game.
When I first read the Coda rules I thought that the combat would be quite tedious and dull before you memorised the rules, yet no, it flows quickly and furiously, leaving your heart pounding as if it were real! Yes, sometimes you have to look up rules, but it isn't a huge encumbrance to your enjoyment of the game.
However, the most importent attribute to the game's level of fun is the pacing. My group made the mistake of letting our charcters converse and discuss every little thing, and though this was fine at first it soon became quite dull. You've got to find a balence between dialogue and and combat/tests, and once you do the game is amazing. We played for four solid hours and it merely felt like 1 1/2 - 2 hours at the most. I have read the book six times, and this is a must-buy for any Tolkien or game fan.
[Oh, and by the way, my titles in Quenya (High Elven). 'The most beautiful and best book of all']
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Title: Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic Sourcebook (The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game) by Decipher RPG ISBN: 1582369569 Publisher: Decipher Inc. Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Fellowship of the Ring Sourcebook (The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game) by Decipher RPG ISBN: 1582369550 Publisher: Decipher Inc. Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Narrator's Screen (The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game) by Decipher RPG ISBN: 1582369534 Publisher: Decipher Inc. Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Two Towers Sourcebook (The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game) by Scott Bennie, Matt Forbeck ISBN: 1582369593 Publisher: Decipher Inc. Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Moria (The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game) by Decipher RPG ISBN: 1582369585 Publisher: Decipher Inc. Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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