The Core Book of Decipher Games' The Lord of
the Rings Roleplaying Game contains all that is needed to play games of
epic, heroic role-playing set in Middle-earth. An interesting distinction
can be made in terms of style between The Lord of the Rings RPG and
Middle-Earth Role Playing. The first is about Tolkienesque tales
of heroic proportions modeled on The Lord of the Rings' story, the second
accommodates games of any type where the story takes place in the world created
by Tolkien. The difference is about style of play; in the first case the game
involves heroes modeled on the Fellowship of the Ring, in the second you are
not so restricted in terms of narrative style and can play villains if you
want to.
Let me quote from the book to illustrate more clearly:
"Characters appropriate for epic fantasy in general, and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game in particular, are heroes… They adventure to serve the greater good, in a spirit of self-sacrifice to help the world - just like Frodo agreeing to take the Ring to the Fire… Of course, heroes may acquire glory and riches along the way, but that's not their motivation for adventuring. They go on adventures because they must, to save the world.
In the modern day, when many people are cynical and distrust the government, and con artists take advantage of tragedies and disasters to prey on innocent people, it can be hard for gamers to think like this. It would be easy to create a character whose attitudes mirror modern bitterness, self-absorption, hunger for power and riches, and jadedness. But those attitudes are completely inappropriate for The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game PCs."
So this is the premise of the game style, with stark contrast between good and evil, and no question about which side the PCs are taking. There are no nice Orcs, kind Trolls, or friendly Dragons. Ever. If a character is corrupted by the Shadow, it becomes a NPC. The book expounds quite extensively on what constitutes Grand Sagas of Epic Fantasy and provides a wealth of information on how to create some. Of course, nothing prevents us from using this material to create games where the PCs are Orcs trying to resist King Elessar's advance at Mount Gundabad, or Trolls raiding the fresh settlements of the restored North Kingdom. The book will provide all the relevant data (and crunchy bits) to do so, if that is what you want. But that is not the fundamental idea the authors developed behind the game.
With the matter of style out of the way, let's talk about the Middle-earth content of this book. In two words: gold mine. The first chapter contains a historical and geographical recapitulation of Middle-earth that draws from all of Tolkien's work, discussing each area in terms of the Second Age and Third Age events that shaped them. It was a very satisfying read for the lightweight Tolkien buff that I am (I read everything no more than twice so far). The different races available to player characters are the Dwarves, the Elves (Noldor, Sindar, Sylvan), Hobbits (Fallohides, Harfoots, Stoors) and Men (Dúnedain, Middle People, Men of Darkness, Wild Men). Elven-blooded men are discussed, such as the princely house of Dol Amroth.
Characters usually belong to orders, the equivalent of character class in many RPGs, and they are the Barbarian, the Craftsman, the Loremaster, the Magician, the Mariner, the Minstrel, the Noble, the Rogue, and the Warrior. A character can belong to more than one order. When evolving with experience, characters can also become members of elite orders, so long as they meet the requirements. The elite orders dercibed in the book are the Archer, the Captain, the Knight, the Ranger, and the Wizard.
Some enchanted items are described in the book. The description includes the item's history and powers in terms of game/rules effects. These items are Dwarf Doors, Dwarven Magical Toys, Elven-Food, Elven-Gear (boats, cloaks, rope), Enchanted and Heroic Blades (Glamdring, Orcrist, Sting, Anduril, Dúnadan Blades), Ent-Draughts, Morgul-Knife, The Palantíri, The Rings of Power (The One, The Seven, The Nine, The Three, The Lesser Rings).
Creatures and individuals for whome crunchy bits are included, on top of the races mentioned above, are the Nazgul (with special attention given to the Witch-king), Saruman "the White", Gollum, Gr&iactue;ma Wormtongue, Dunlendings, Orcs, Uruk-hai, Half-Orcs, Trolls, Olog-Hai, The Balrog of Moria, Barrow-Wights, Large Giant Spiders, Shelob, Hell-Hawk, Műmakil (Oliphaunts), Wolves, Wargs, Werewolves.
This game uses Decipher's Coda System, which is simple and yet extensive. The system entails a lot of opposed tests, and there is only one "measuring scale" for target numbers, whatever the action to be accomplished. Everything is resolved by throwing a pair of six-sided dice. That's it. Overal, the Coda System is very reminiscent of the d20 system, simpler and perhaps more flexible (or at least more interpretative), but just as extensive.
The subject of magic needs to be adressed in a review of this game. Again, permit me to quote from the book to best describe this aspect:
"The most important thing to remember about spells and magic for your chronicle is that magic, as an inherent part of Middle-earth, is both defined by and reflects the flavour of the setting. In Middle-earth, magic spells tend to be low-powered and simple compared to spells in other fantasy settings and games, Magicians, even wizards, cannot fly, summon demons, walk through walls, or blast their foes with bolts of arcane energy. Even Gandalf, the most powerful wizard in the land during the War of the Ring, could not slay the Witch-king with a wave of his hand, toss balls of fire to destroy legions of Orcs, repair the gates of Minas Tirith with a spell, or instantly transport himself and Fordo to Orodruin. However, he and other spellcasters could open and lock doors, shatter objects, converse with beasts, and start fires. In Middle-earth, a land of subtle and flavorful magic, these abilities make spellcasters powerful and awe-inspiring - even if they don't allow them to effortlessly kill enemy after enemy."
That being said, the list of spells available to casters enumarates seventy-three diferent ones. Characters learn a few spells, and learn new ones slowly. Casting spells is very tiresome.
I hope that this little review has helped to give you an idea of what this book is about. I must say that I think it succeeded quite admirably in creating a role playing game that is very faithful to Tolkien's genre of storytelling, and to what most characterises The Lord of the Rings. I want to leave you with one last quote from the book, which should help you understand the feeling of this game:
"The natural tendency for most players is to arm and equip their characters to the teeth… In contrast, look at the Fellowship of the Ring. Aragorn, who entered the story bearing as his only weapon a broken blade, caries his longsword. Boromir has his longsword as well, and a shield… Only Gimli and Frodo wear any armor at all. In short, none of them remotely qualifies as heavily armed. If you want the PCs in your group to feel like true Tolkienesque characters, they should do the same."
