The One Ring RPG

[Shallazar]

So after Shane posted that his group had met Beorn in an rpg, I began sleuthing.

There are some wild threads on rpg.net concerning The One Ring rpg by Cubicle 7 and the actual play is a pretty entertaining read.
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?592009-The-One-Ring-Up-the-Reeking-River

I'm super intrigued and saddend that I didn't catch it at GenCon. I've gone ahead and preordered it but I was wondering if anyone else has heard anything about it and thoughts on it and whatnot.

Apparently its been built from the ground up to epitomize a Tolkienesque feel. Its got rules for days of travel and an awesome fully hexed out worldmap. I'm looking forward to the day my copy arrives.

The first product concentrates on "off the set" adventures in the Wild with further sets looking to include the war of the ring and such things.

Oh yeah and NO wizards as playable characters.

[Shallazar]

My books just came in the mail today, and although I notice a distinct lack of  interest, I'll continue to update this thread.
Deal with it.

Anyhow, the whole package is pretty neat. Two rulebooks (one for players, the other for GM), two maps (one for players, one for GMs) a set of dice- all come in this nice hardcover slip case with a neat little drawer for the dice.

I've only flipped through it but I've noticed that the closest thing to a Wizard would be a Woodman, with the Wizards' pupil background and then I guess what amounts to the "Scholar" class. You'd be all wise and shit, but no one in the game is going to be casting fireball or sleep. Most of the magic is like, being able to start a fire really well, or being all hobbit quiet.

The art work is amazing, there are even  videos on youtube of the artist sharing his secrets with you. The interviews with the developers and designers are pretty lame and would be better as podcasts.

I'm hoping to run and record a game of this before 2012. But don't hold your breath.

[SageNytell]

Hobbit quiet, eh? 
What sort of ruleset does it use - d6, d20, something weirder?
I've always been distantly interested in running something in Middle Earth, but having never read anything past The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, my general setting knowledge is limited - that and the people who I would theoretically run such a game would only be interested in running the movies/books, which I wouldn't want to do.

(Alright, alright, I would totally make an exception for Helm's Deep.  )

[Shallazar]

It uses a d6 for most things but a special d12 which has 11 and 12 replaced with the eye of Sauron and Gandalf's rune.

For skill checks you normally use the d6 (i think) but on special occasions you use the "feat die" (d12). The eye of Sauron is the worst possible thing and the rune is usually no penalty.

I'm not quite to the rules section yet but the basic mechanic is simple enough. Anther neat thing is that as your Valor stat increases its symbolized as finding  special items like hobbit ancestral swords or discovering that you are somehow related to the king.

There is a HQ building component that allows players to establish safe places as launching points for further adventures or refuges where they can relieve the fatigue of travel and restore hope to characters. Characters kind of accrue corruption from experiencing or doing evil things until they are consumed by the shadow, but restoring hope allows for that to be removed. This is the most Tolkienesque aspect imo.

The books smell glorious!

Adventures typically take place in "The Wild" that is the land between the Misty Mountains and the Iron hills, and as far south as Lothlorien but not Isengard.