Lord of the Rings Is Finally Getting a D&D Game

[Fanghawk]

Lord of the Rings Is Finally Getting a D&D Game

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/981/981565.jpgCubicle 7, the publishers behind The One Ring, have announced a new Lord of the Rings RPG which is fully compatible with Dungeons & Dragons.

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/dungeons%20and%20dragons?os=dungeons+and+dragons>Dungeons & Dragons owes a huge debt to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/lord%20of%20the%20rings?os=lord+of+the+rings>The Lord of the Rings, which is basically a template for every fantasy RPG campaign you've ever played. That just makes it all the more strange that LotR never received its own D&D adventure outside of homebrew campaigns. Now Cubicle 7 Entertainment is finally rectifying that mistake: The tabletop publisher will team up with Sophisticated Games to produce an official Middle-earth game which is fully compatible with D&D's Fifth Edition.

Cubicle 7 currently owns Lord of the Ring's RPG license, which it uses to publish <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142737-The-Lord-of-the-Rings-RPG-Arrives-At-Bundle-of-Holding#&gid=gallery_4827&pid=1>The One Ring books and adventures. But <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165838-Wizards-of-the-Coast-Puts-Out-New-Dungeons-and-Dragons-Open-License-With-Forgotten-Realms-Content>now that Wizards of the Coast has a new Open Gaming License, nothing's stopping it from releasing a brand-new d20 game. The One Ring fans don't have to worry, since the series will stay in print as an independent line.

"We're all very excited to be building on the success of The One Ring Roleplaying Game and bringing Middle-earth to D&D players," Cubicle 7 CEO Dominic McDowall said in a statement. "Uniting two things very close to the hearts of gamers, me included, is very cool - I can't wait for the summer."

Cubicle 7 will base its new Middle-earth game around The One Ring, and has brought designer Francesco Nepitello on as a consultant. Presumably the games won't have too many content differences, but simply give D&D players a chance to play using a more familiar rules system. Details will be announced soon, but we're expecting an initial release date sometime in Summer 2016.

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[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Hmm either I am wrong or anyone can comment on this because I rememeber you guys posted this exact same article on this website a long time ago.

Because I remember an article here with the exact same covers of these Middle Earth Themed D&D tabletop games.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Hmm either I am wrong or anyone can comment on this because I rememeber you guys posted this exact same article on this website a long time ago.

Because I remember an article here with the exact same covers of these Middle Earth Themed D&D tabletop games.

These are the covers for the One Ring game, which the game Cubicle already made, and which the Escapist mentioned in a Bundle of Holding deal (linked in the original article in the hypertext for 'The One Ring' in the sentence, "Cubicle 7 currently owns Lord of the Ring's RPG license, which it uses to publish The One Ring books and adventures.") Presumably they used the same pictures because they don't have the art/covers for the new game, which is obviously just being announced as beginning it's creation.

OT: I'm interested, but wary. I was always glad that LOTR escaped the all-consuming OGL maw, because 3.5 was a system totally incapable of handling that kind of game. D&D may have it's roots in Tolkien, but in practise it is very different, and D&D's emphasis on heroic swordplay just doesn't work. The One Ring, from what I've heard, is better than a long shot compared to stuff like MERP, and managed to make the travel and inter- and intrapersonal struggles with darkness the center of the story. 5e is very much a throwback to 3.5, so I don't believe that it will handle LOTR any better than it's forefather, but I hope I'm mistaken.

 

[TheFinish]

Man, I really don't get this decision (except for the obvious fact of wanting money). The One Ring is accesible, fun and manages to capture the spirit of LoTR in a way I haven't seen any other rpg mange. No iteration of DnD has been good at doing that without serious house ruling and reworking, and I don't see 5E being any different. So, hope it turns out okay, but if it doesn't at least we still have The One Ring.

 

[Fanghawk]

snip

I think the key phrase Cubicle keeps hitting on is "D&D compatible", which hopefully means a mix of systems from D&D and One Ring. I'm guessing it'll use combat and classes from D&D along with the Fellowship/travel rules of the current game. But yes, we'll have to see how it turns out.

Now that I think of it, leveling during the Fellowship phase would be a lot more natural than D&D's usual "whenever you have enough XP" policy. You actually feel as your character improves as they age, where my D&D character has become insanely capable over the span of a few months.

 

[Mortuorum]

OT: I'm interested, but wary. I was always glad that LOTR escaped the all-consuming OGL maw, because 3.5 was a system totally incapable of handling that kind of game. D&D may have it's roots in Tolkien, but in practise it is very different, and D&D's emphasis on heroic swordplay just doesn't work. The One Ring, from what I've heard, is better than a long shot compared to stuff like MERP, and managed to make the travel and inter- and intrapersonal struggles with darkness the center of the story. 5e is very much a throwback to 3.5, so I don't believe that it will handle LOTR any better than it's forefather, but I hope I'm mistaken.

I find the idea of a LoTR game being "fully compatible" with D&D5E puzzling. As Thunderous Cacophony points out, while D&D (arguably) has its roots in Tolkienesque fantasy, they are quite different. Off the top of my head, you'd need to get rid of clerics, sorcerers and paladins altogether; radically change the rules for wizards, rangers, druids, halflings (hobbits) and elves; add new races (Aragorn was not entirely human and Gandalf and the other wizards were not at all human); and completely rethink how magic and healing work.

Then, you just need to convince the players that a party of four first-level halfling thieves, a human fighter, dwarf fighter, numenorean ranger, elf archer, epic maiar wizard and no healer is a good adventuring group.

 

[hermes]

Finally?

I might be wrong, but there seems to be several RPG rulesets that has been adapted for LOTR settings (not that I think it is a good idea, pure Tolkien setting is rather restrictive in classes and races)

 

[Thaluikhain]

OT: I'm interested, but wary. I was always glad that LOTR escaped the all-consuming OGL maw, because 3.5 was a system totally incapable of handling that kind of game. D&D may have it's roots in Tolkien, but in practise it is very different, and D&D's emphasis on heroic swordplay just doesn't work. The One Ring, from what I've heard, is better than a long shot compared to stuff like MERP, and managed to make the travel and inter- and intrapersonal struggles with darkness the center of the story. 5e is very much a throwback to 3.5, so I don't believe that it will handle LOTR any better than it's forefather, but I hope I'm mistaken.

I find the idea of a LoTR game being "fully compatible" with D&D5E puzzling. As Thunderous Cacophony points out, while D&D (arguably) has its roots in Tolkienesque fantasy, they are quite different. Off the top of my head, you'd need to get rid of clerics, sorcerers and paladins altogether; radically change the rules for wizards, rangers, druids, halflings (hobbits) and elves; add new races (Aragorn was not entirely human and Gandalf and the other wizards were not at all human); and completely rethink how magic and healing work.

Then, you just need to convince the players that a party of four first-level halfling thieves, a human fighter, dwarf fighter, numenorean ranger, elf archer, epic maiar wizard and no healer is a good adventuring group.

I was thinking that...well, I was thinking drop wizards altogether (except as 5 NPCs), and make people like Aragorn into Paladins. Either way, rather odd.

Oh, and the monsters. There's two or three types of orcs, sometimes they ride wolves and maybe you see a troll. And that's about it for the most part.

 

[Fanghawk]

OT: I'm interested, but wary. I was always glad that LOTR escaped the all-consuming OGL maw, because 3.5 was a system totally incapable of handling that kind of game. D&D may have it's roots in Tolkien, but in practise it is very different, and D&D's emphasis on heroic swordplay just doesn't work. The One Ring, from what I've heard, is better than a long shot compared to stuff like MERP, and managed to make the travel and inter- and intrapersonal struggles with darkness the center of the story. 5e is very much a throwback to 3.5, so I don't believe that it will handle LOTR any better than it's forefather, but I hope I'm mistaken.

I find the idea of a LoTR game being "fully compatible" with D&D5E puzzling. As Thunderous Cacophony points out, while D&D (arguably) has its roots in Tolkienesque fantasy, they are quite different. Off the top of my head, you'd need to get rid of clerics, sorcerers and paladins altogether; radically change the rules for wizards, rangers, druids, halflings (hobbits) and elves; add new races (Aragorn was not entirely human and Gandalf and the other wizards were not at all human); and completely rethink how magic and healing work.

Then, you just need to convince the players that a party of four first-level halfling thieves, a human fighter, dwarf fighter, numenorean ranger, elf archer, epic maiar wizard and no healer is a good adventuring group.

I was thinking that...well, I was thinking drop wizards altogether (except as 5 NPCs), and make people like Aragorn into Paladins. Either way, rather odd.

Oh, and the monsters. There's two or three types of orcs, sometimes they ride wolves and maybe you see a troll. And that's about it for the most part.

There's also the Ringwraiths, the giant spiders of the Northern Forests, Balrog, Shelob.... Hell, you could probably throw in Sauron's previous body for a final boss for anyone wanting a historic campaign. And that's not even touching Tolkien's extended lore. There's probably enough monsters in One Ring's supplements alone to make for a decent bestiary.

Agreed though, wizards are tricky unless you heavily rework the "Brown-Grey-White" model to better fit the leveling system. And Radagast really feels more like a Druid anyway.