What would you like to see in the inevitable LotR games?

Personally, I would like to see games based more on the world before the one ring was lost. The non-human races are much more prevalent and interesting during those times. Publishers will probably go for the easy meat (War of the Rings) first, but follow-ups may be prequels.

A prequel is an excellent idea. Tied to the same mythology, but not stuck being compared to the classic story. Perhaps a character like Jar-Jar Binks could be added in to hook the kids :)

-DavidCPA

I'd like to see turn-based, maybe a cross betweem MOM and AOW. Fantasy games are all about the journey, so a good RPG would be nice, too. Between the two, you'd have the individual adventure and the grand clash of forces covered.

Hm. I wonder if the strategy game could start with Hitler...er, Sauron being all-powerful, but that his enemies will grow progressively more powerful until he either recovers his missing ring or is destroyed. It would set him up to have to fight constantly to keep the assorted threats down, while all the time being whittled away at as they continue to erode his power base. Once the ring is recovered (if it is recovered), then the equation will flip, and the good forces will have a very small slice of time to make a desperate bid at Sauron's destruction before he again becomes all-powerful.

Dang. I like this idea. What do you guys think? Brilliance, or boring?

"Dang. I like this idea. What do you guys think? Brilliance, or boring? "

How would the player operate? Would he be Gandalf, coordinating the efforts of the dwarves, elves, and good humans through diplomacy and commanding troops on the field? Or, would he be a leader for a single race, allowing for replayability and multiplayer.

A party-based RPG could work (a la Baldurs Gate), but it would have to use a skills-based system far beyond those we are familiar with. Powerful magic items are few and far between in the literature.

I think the Baldur's Gate style would be ideal.
Tolkien is very story/world/party-oriented.

Maybe a Neverwinter Nights mod?

(I assume BG2 isn't mod friendly... is it?)

-Andrew

I'd say play it from any one race. You could then replay as other races. The major characters in the novels (Gandalf, etc.) could appear as significant characters in the story, and in the scenarios. The general would not be directly on the battlefield. It's been a while, but I don't remember Sauron actually out there rallying the troops. Rather, he sent his lieutenents and his demons to do that. Diplomacy could work all ways. The different races would ally against Sauron, but would still have the ability to side with him if they wanted, or maybe even have secret alliances with the dark side, stabbing their unwitting, betrayed former friends at opportune times.

I'd say play it from any one race. You could then replay as other races. The major characters in the novels (Gandalf, etc.) could appear as significant characters in the story, and in the scenarios. The general would not be directly on the battlefield. It's been a while, but I don't remember Sauron actually out there rallying the troops. Rather, he sent his lieutenents and his demons to do that. Diplomacy could work all ways. The different races would ally against Sauron, but would still have the ability to side with him if they wanted, or maybe even have secret alliances with the dark side, stabbing their unwitting, betrayed former friends at opportune times.

"Maybe a Neverwinter Nights mod?

(I assume BG2 isn't mod friendly... is it?)"

I think teambg.org is working on a mod for BG2, but it seems like a herculean task from what I've read on their site.

Yeah, you could create a NWN mod for it, but the only available character types would be fighters and fighter subclasses or rogues. Any other character class is rare in the texts:

Mage: Gandalf, Radagast, Sauruman, Galadriel
Cleric: Elrond, maybe? (high wisdom)
Druid: Beorn (Shapeshifter, bear)
Bard: Tom Bombadil(?)

You guys should check out http://www.gamesystems.com.

They have an excellent PBM game on Middle Earth. The games are 25 player games (10 Good, 10 Evil, 5 Neutral) in which each player takes the helm of a nation. The standard game is set 1000 years before LOTR, but there is also a later game that takes place after the Fall of Sauron.

I played a few games many years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly.

My gaming group used to run an on-again/off-again second age campaign using Iron Crown's Middle Earth RPG--that was a lot of fun. I think the time period is the key--set the story before LotR. You could probably do a pretty interesting First Age game too, but I wonder how familiar people would be with that setting (how many people have actually read the Silmarilion?)...

I remember that old RPG. That was pretty good -- especially when compared to the meager number of other Tolkein-esque RPGs out there.

As for the people reading the Silmarilion -- I'm curious as to how many actually finished it. I started it -- a couple of times -- but just couldn't finish it. Ugh.

Don't worry guys,
Tolkien wasn't able to finish the Silmarillion either...

-Andrew

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Quote:

As for the people reading the Silmarilion -- I'm curious as to how many actually finished it.

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"Don't worry guys,
Tolkien wasn't able to finish the Silmarillion either..."

I actually read it and liked it, although it's a very different beast than the LotR trilogy. For what it's worth, I have a lot of Christopher Tolkien's books too (though they tend to be of variable quality).

The Silmarillion is actually quite a good read, once you get past the first 50 pages or so of nonsense. I can well understand the frustrations some have had, though, as it took me 3 or 4 tries to finally make it to the meat of the book.

"The Silmarillion is actually quite a good read, once you get past the first 50 pages or so of nonsense. "

Kind of how I feel about most of Umberto Echo's work.

Umberto Eco? Ugh....I still recall the agony of having attempted to start reading one of his novels. I gave up after about the 75th page of his describing a golden chalice.

"Kind of how I feel about most of Umberto Echo's work."

Nice to hear. I guess I'll stick with "The Island of the Day Before" which I have been struggling with 30 pages in. I loved "Name of the Rose", and even had a companion book that translated all the latin parts (tons of them in the book).

Better get a drink, Rob. I'm 150 pages in on IOTDBefore, and I'm still struggling a bit, but it's getting better. I liked Name of the Rose. I thought Foucault's Pendulum (sp) was brilliant.