From: emamid@athena.ecs.csus.edu (David Emami)
Subject: Re: Middle Earth Role playing?
Organization: California State University, Sacramento
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 10:55:35 GMT

In article <1992Nov05.205814.21048@rchland.ibm.com> BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>MERP has wonderful source material and an ok gaming system.  Unfortunately,
>the system does not fit the world at all.  The MERP game is based on 
>RoleMaster which is a fairly traditional (if table heavy) gaming system.
>I played MERP for several years and it was only through dint of great
>play on the players' part that the game kept any semblance of "Middle
>Earthness" at all.
>
>The biggest problem is the magic system.  In none of the LotR or any
>other ME books is combat magic such as exists in RoleMaster used.  Yet
>you have fairly traditional mages (and mixed mage/other sorts) in the
>MERP game with fireballs, lightning bolts, and all the other traditional
>RPG spells.  When your character sheet has these lists of dozens of spells
>are you not supposed to use them to maintian the flavor?  Why are they
>even listed then??
>

Actually, Gary Gygax touched on this in one of his "Tolkein had nothing to
do with D&D" rants. In LOTR, the magic is rarely used overtly. Wizards spend
a lot of time "off somewhere", scheming. Offhand, I can think of about three
times in the novel that Gandalf used any kind of damaging spells. Most of the
help he gives is through his vast knowledge of things.

I've only come up with two ways to put mages in their place in a Middle-Earth
setting:

1. Rule that all magic-users are NPCs. Naturaly, this would go over very poorly
   with most players (especially mine), so I've never tried this.

2. Make it dangerous to be a magic-user. This is one aspect hinted at often
   through a lot of ICE's modules, yet there are no game effects. They have 
   often said things to the effect that mages not allied with Sauron are 
   actively hunted down. In ROTK, Gandalf, after using what in RM terms would be
   probably a 1st-level spell, worries that "I have now written 'Gandalf is
   here' in signs that can be read from Rivendell to the mouths of Anduin.'"
   As it is, the only real incentive NOT to use a spell is the loss of power
   points. The solution I have toyed with is to use the Power Perception skill
   from RMC-2. The basic idea is that Power Perception will detect magic use,
   even when not being actively used. Probably a very slight chance, unless
   the spell is high level, the caster is high level, or Power Perception skill
   is high. Think of the scene in Star Wars where Obi Wan feels "a great
   ebbing in the Force."

>Sorry, but this ruined the flavor of Middle Earth for me and thus the MERP
>game.

It does mar the experience a bit, but only for those of us who are die-hard
Tolkein fans. Most of my players are only vaguely familiar with LOTR, and
they have a good time, so I'm able to forget about the Prof rolling in his
grave sometimes. Also, remember that at the time that LOTR occurs, magic has
been on the wane for a while. If the camaign is set in the mid-Third Age
time frame (about 1400 years earlier), magic would be a bit more common.

And make that FOUR occassions, not three, of Gandalf using combat magic. I
forgot about his battle with the Nazgul at Weathertop. Granted, it was "off
camera", but it is strongly implied that a lot of fireball-type spells were
used.
>
>The background and other source info (especially the maps) are still quite
>excellent and I have a good number of the MERP supplements.
>-- 

If you want a good module to start with, get Hillmen of the Trollshaws. This
one is fairly magic-poor, and there are lots of things for the players to do,
see, find, and kill. Plus it links in nicely with several other modules.
Bree and the Barrow Downs is also a good one, if you run the wights to their
fullest ability.