TRoS for Middle Earth anyone actually done it?

[johnmarron]

Hi all,
    I'm sure this has come up in the forum before, but I wasn't able to locate any discussion of it using the search function.  Has anyone actually run a Middle Earth game using TRoS, and if so, have they posted their adaptations anywhere?

Thanks,
John

[Durgil]

I have contemplated a Hârnic/Middle-earth hybrid, but don't have anything posted on it.  To this point though I'd not allow fully articulated plate armour, and mail with augmented plate protection would be very rare.  I'd also not allow the cut & thrust sword, the doppelhander, estoc, saber, and rapier.  Because of the severe limitation on heavy armour, I'd also consider not allowing the bastard sword either (even though you do see quite a few of them in the LotR movies and they are my personal favorite).  I think I'd also get rid of all of the pole weapons except the pike, quarterstaff, and spears as well as the flails.  As far as magic is concerned, I haven't really done much in that arena because the magic of Middle-earth and TRoS are so different.  If you want to allow Men to use spells, then I'd recommend looking at Decipher's LotR RPG and try to incorporate that system into TRoS.  For my own personal tastes, only the wizards and elves had any real magical powers, I'd incorporate Authentic Thaumaturgy for magical use with the rest of humanity.

[Todd Bogenrief]

I had just come here to post this very same question.  I was thinking last night about converting my Forgotten Realms D&D game to Riddle of Steel when I came to the conclusion that it was just spraying some perfume on a pile of crap.  

What I really wanted was a good Middle Earth game and I looked at my bookshelf and thought that the Riddle of Steel system would make a pretty good match for it.  

Like Durgil said, I think that it would only take a few minor changes to the weapons to really match the feel, and I think the grittier feel of combat and the spiritual attributes would be good for the system.  The races also wouldn't need too much change.  

I think the magic system would be the trickiest part.

[Mike Holmes]

There's a discussion in the Heroquest forum along these lines that might be helpful, especially with regard to magic.

Mike

[Bastoche]

The reason why I turned to TROS was to make a middle earth campaign. I will order the handbook as a christmas gift and after a careful reading, I'll look into the customizations necessary for a middle earth campaign. For instance races and magic items.

[kenjib]

TROS magic works well with literary world - magic as plot device.  One thing you need to do with magic for middle earth is to change the costs for casting spells.  Some suggestions would be some form of corruption (themes of power corrupting are common in Tolkein) and drawing attention to onesself - i.e. perhaps failing the "age roll" exposes you somehow makes you vulnerable to being detected by/revealed to other wizards depending on the level of failure.  I would probably incorporate both simultaneously as they go well together.  Fatigue is another option that could be compounded with the other two.

The other thing you would need to do is re-tool some of the vagaries.  Level 3 motion, for example, is not in keeping with LotR.

I don't think it would be a large task to make the magic work with the right feel - just some fine tuning.

[johnmarron]

I wanted to thank everyone for their responses.  Keeping these suggestions in mind, I've written up a little 1 page word document with primarily racial mods and lists of common, rare, and nonexistent weapons and armor.  I'd be happy to email it to anyone who was interested, and would welcome any feedback on the adaptations.

John

[Durgil]

You can send a copy my way if you like.

[Todd Bogenrief]

You can send a copy my way if you like.

Seconded. :)

tbogenrief1 @ comcast dot net

[BirdMan]

Thirded!

[Blake Hutchins]

Fourthed.

blake@lunarlogic.com

Thanks!

[Valamir]

Would it be possible for the "Fifthed" and successives to be made by PM instead.

[Gary_Bingham]

Seconded ;)

[johnmarron]

Would it be possible for the "Fifthed" and successives to be made by PM instead.

Ralph,
   The file is a word document with a table, and when I try to paste it into a PM, the formatting is lost.  Sorry for my limited internet savvy, but if you can tell me how to avoid this, I'd be happy to PM it to all who are interested.

John

[johnmarron]

BTW - This is really only a skecthy first run at a TRoS adaptation for Middle Earth.  It consists primarily of a table of racial priorities, attribute modifiers, and innate gifts (some of which would be new to TRoS).  I also included additional bonus skill multipliers for longer lived races (i.e., instead of 1 X MA in points to buy new skills or -1's to existing skills, other races get 2 X MA, 3 X, etc.)
    The rest is just a list of common, rare, and not allowed weapons and armor lifted primarily from Durgil's post above.
    Just wanted folks to know it's definitley not a complete adaptation, by any means.  I'd be happy to get any feedback folks have on what is there, however, as well as what else would be needed to actually run a game in ME using TRoS.

John