Though I am hopeful that the movie versions will be true to (and worth of) the Tolkien books, I am rereading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings before the first film comes out. I want at least one last reading that is not tainted by how someone screwed up the film.

What is the last word on a PC game built in the Tolkien universe? Some of the last news I heard was that everyone was suing everyone else and no work was progressing on the game.

-DavidCPA

Hey David Hunt,
Coincidentally I'm re-reading The Hobbit for roughly the same purpose (LOTR is next). It's been years (since 4th grade for There and Back Again and since 18 for LOTR) and man does it hold up.

Oh, and to actually answer your question, Sierra/Universal/Vivendi/etc., was showing a game based on Fellowship of the Ring. I had no time to see it though and don't recall it being featured as anyone's coverage. They *were* showing it though... I think this augers ill.

Anyone remember "War of the Ring" from Melbourne House?

-Andrew

I do! Twas quite a while ago... wasn't there a version for the Apple IIgs? Anyway, I can remember playing through it. As I recall, there was a sort of small-scale combat, and later on an abstracted large-scale warfare.

I think it was actually based on a board game, but I'm not sure.

You may also want to check out on Ralph Bakshi's LoTR animted movie, its pretty faithful to the books imo (albeit darker and only up to halfway thru Two Towers)....

etc

About the lawsuit, Sierra has or had two LotR games in development. The single-player Xbox game they showed at E3. The MMOG LotR game wasn't shown and is the one that's a subject of a lawsuit initiated by the third-party developer who contracted to work on the game for Sierra. At one time Sierra has also been involved with lawsuits with Tolkien Enterprises over the rights to make LotR games, but they came to an agreement and now Sierra has the rights to make LotR games based on the books.

To further complicate matters, EA is probably going to make LotR games based on the movies.

I don't know about LotR games. If you think about it, Frodo and Co. spent most of their time running away from trouble. I don't know if hiding in the woods from a dark rider make for good gameplay.

Magic is also very rare in the books. Only a very few characters use the arcane arts, and it is much different than what gamers are used to. It is much more generic. I don't remember anyone casting a "pointy stick of death" spell.

Further, the monsters in the Tolkein universe are much stronger than what we are used to. Heck, a band of mountain goblins almost did Gandalf the Gray and a party of Dwarves in.

My point is, if the developers are going to make good games, they won't be able to stick to the universe as written. Good stories will help, but their writers will be hard pressed to compete with the original story.

Of course, since when has a publisher been concerned about quality when they know that geeks like us all the world over will buy an empty box if it is associated with a well-known property. (Star Trek, Tomb Raider, Star Wars, etc.)

What I'd like to see in a LotR game is a wargame, good guys vs. the forces of Sauron. Like Frank says, replicating the journey of the company isn't really a compelling game theme. It's a lot of avoiding detection and description and Frodo's inner struggle.

"Oh, and to actually answer your question, Sierra/Universal/Vivendi/etc., was showing a game based on Fellowship of the Ring. I had no time to see it though and don't recall it being featured as anyone's coverage."

I saw it. It's not a PC game (which is probably why none of the PC pubs have mentioned it), and to be honest, it didn't exactly blow me away. You play Frodo, who apparently runs around collecting "magical runes" that allow him to cast spells.

He also has a magical sling that can throw fire grenades.

It may be possible to make a game that's less faithful to the story than this one appears to be, but I honestly don't know how you'd go about it.

At least his name was Frodo...

"What I'd like to see in a LotR game is a wargame, good guys vs. the forces of Sauron."

That's what "War in Middle Earth" was (if I've got the title right). You'd start off with Frodo and the Hobbits avoiding Riders to Bree (overhead icon perspective), pick up Aragorn, fight some random monsters. Hit Rivendell, pick up the fellowship. As you passed important areas you could draft armies from them to either accompany the Fellowship or let them go their own way.

To draft armies you needed a hero: Faramir, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Gandalf.

I recall gathering every army on the map and having them meet up with the Ents, smash Isengard and then hit the gates of Morder. The battles were all mathematical, not graphical (you'd watch numbers whittle down), and it wasn't actually very good, but it had an addictive quality only a 14 year old would put up with over and over and over again...

Which I did.

-Andrew

Yeah, me too.

Then, shortly thereafter, I picked up the LoTR game by Interplay, and it was decent. It almost had an Ultima 6 feel to it...Not as cool, but fun.

That's when I dropped War in Middle Earth. (Yeah, that's the right title.)

"The battles were all mathematical, not graphical (you'd watch numbers whittle down)..."

That description reminds me of Defender of the Crown that I played in the late 80's. It had decent graphics for the time (and a nice silhouette of a naked lady), but many of the battles entailed watching your number of men and horses decrease as the battle wore on.

Thinking back on it, DOTC was a very good game. Sword fights, jousting, thievery along with straight up battles between armies. I know a game based on this one is in development. Hope it keeps the same quality as the original.

--Various comments on LoTR game.
Reading the discussion above, I also can't think how the story could be adapted to a good style of gameplay. A wargame sounds the best, but I don't know many companies that would fund development of a wargame based on this subject. We'll just have to wait and see.


-DavidCPA

Hey, was that the NES version of Defender of the Crown you were talking about? I still have that...Cool game, I agree.

On topic, I think a loose adaptation -- though not as loose as some that have been -- would be okay. The Interplay version wasn't bad, in terms of gameplay. A version not unlike that one would be pretty good, if it were updated. Heck, I'd wager that game would still be fun.

"Hey, was that the NES version of Defender of the Crown you were talking about?"

No, PC version. I don't think the original Nintendo was out when I played Defender of the Crown.

-DavidCPA

"What I'd like to see in a LotR game is a wargame, good guys vs. the forces of Sauron."

That's what a good portion of the SPI boardgame "War of the Ring" was. There was the Fellowship aspect and there was the Gondor/Rohan vs. Mordor wargame element. The problem (or maybe it wasn't a problem) was that it was quite faithful to the books, so the West had no real chance of defeating Mordor in the wargame, so you either destroyed the Ring or lost the game. Kind of made the wargame irrelevant (which was the situation in the books).

Anyone who has children old enough to play general boardgames and who might be interested in the LotR should pick up Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings boardgame (distributed in the US by Parker Brothers). I think Jason Lutes posted about it here in some long-ago thread. It's very cleverly designed, not overly complex, and is cooperative, so you and your kids can cooperate in trying to get as high a score as possible. It's also a fun adult game but I don't think there are many boardgamers on these messageboards.

"Kind of made the wargame irrelevant (which was the situation in the books)."
!!!!GEEK DANDER RISES!!!

No! Nah-ah! Mr. Smarty-pants Geryk! The War of the Ring was crucial! Were it not for the battle at Gonder it's fairly clear Sauron would have had his Nazgul searching for Frodo and Sam. The distraction was key I say!

I'd love to try that wargame Bruce. You described it to me once before. A co-operative boardgame. Maybe bring it to Gen Con if you're coming up.

-Andrew

"Anyone who has children old enough to play general boardgames and who might be interested in the LotR should pick up Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings boardgame (distributed in the US by Parker Brothers)."

Hasbro doesn't as yet list the game on their US website, but according to this British site, it will be published in the States by Wizards of the Coast (it's not on their site yet either). The recommended age is 12 and up.

"The problem (or maybe it wasn't a problem) was that it was quite faithful to the books, so the West had no real chance of defeating Mordor in the wargame, so you either destroyed the Ring or lost the game. Kind of made the wargame irrelevant (which was the situation in the books)."

Well, what you do then is give Mordor superior forces and allow the West two ways to win: Defeat Mordor outright, or delay Mordor long enough to keep them from capturing the capital cities before the ring is destroyed.

A game where your goal was to slow down the enemy's advance instead of winning outright could be interesting.

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Quote:

A game where your goal was to slow down the enemy's advance instead of winning outright could be interesting.

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Did any of you ever play The Lord of the Rings collectible card game? It seemed reasonable to me though I only played it a few times with my wife. I even got The One Ring, an extremely rare card. Anyway, the game was very complex for a CCG.

--Dave

"it will be published in the States by Wizards of the Coast"

I just saw the Parker Brothers label on my German version and erroneously thought it would be the same in the US. I see it is WotC, and that Amazon has it in stock already.

see link.