The LotR Compendium - 43 pages of optional rule suggestions

In anticipation of our new chronicle, I have reorganised the material of our previous brochures on rule suggestions and official errata (e.g., the LotR Rules Addenda) into one 43 page book, the Gwaith-í-Mirdain's COMPENDIUM.
Let me seize this opportunity to thank YOU ALL, for the stimulating discussions we’re having on Decipher's message boards, for addressing and solving potential problems with game mechanics, for loads of clarifications, for house rules of your own posted here, and, and, and.
It was these stimuli that inspired my game group and me to write the Compendium which I’d like to invite you to check out on our website (link is given below, or simply download the Compendium here). In fact, many contents were derived from discussions on this message board, so some of you will find their names in the credits... (Hope you don’t mind me using or adapting your ideas!) Sure you’ll disagree with some of our ideas, but hopefully there are one or two things you will enjoy just as much as we do! :)

I won’t list the contents of the Compendium here, but I kindly invite you to download it here or to take a look on the Decipher section of our website where its most important features are summarised. If you choose to incorporate one or another of our rule suggestions, you may also find the TOOLS file useful which is available on our website.

Any feedback is most welcome and helpful!

Cheers, Georg

The Gwaith-í-Mirdain
http://you.are.at/middle-earth

Just a quick note. Looking at it, it looks well done. I look forward to reading it.

Don't know what the problem was - looks nice - I'll have to read when I have time to digest it all and get back to you!

Gavynn

I have downloaded and read it! It is a great tool and I must thank you for all the effort you put into creating this. Great job guys.

I must say that do not agree with everything in it. But I did use the Compedium to create my own guide. Anyway the least I can do is to give you a personal detailed review of the Compedium.

I don't have it with me right now. So maybe tonight I will post my reveiw and thougfhts on it.

Great stuff guys! Keep it coming!

I'd be very interested in a longer review, especially since I'm currently finishing the second edition!
I'm perfectly aware that the Comp. features house-rules as we see them, and you should definitely come up with your own!
BTW, you may want to check out our website http://you.are.at/middle-earth where you can find some useful play-aids for the stuff featured in the C.

Cheers, Georg

It seems it will take me a bit longer than I thought.

Sorry I am a bit busy with my project at uni at the moment, I will get around doing it in the weekend.

Ok, I before I start my merciless ;) review of compedium, just a few opening words.

It is indead an invaluable tool for any Narrator, for the wealth of information it provides and the interesting suggetsions and optional rules. Personally I do not agree with some of the optional or house rules but I will get on that later. However, I do use it and I have used it as a base for my player's guide (which is basically a collection or I should say a summary of the basic rules and features of LotR RPG, enough to get my new players started).

Before I start the review proper, I 'll let you know that what I am more interested in seeing in an RPG (and hence in any supplament like the Compedium) are the following:
A) Capuring the spirit of the game setting (in these case middle earth and Tolkien's world)
B) Balance between Realism Vs Fantasy (allow the characters to feel and be special but not becoming supreme beings!)
C) Versatility (fluid easy rules that give players the opportunity to concentrate on RP rather than bookeeping. Give a plethora of option for char, creation and development and thus the opportunity to create truly unique characters).
D) Functionality of rules (this is basically how I term the ability of the system to be include enough detail to give a certain level of realism but not go into to much detail and become uneccessarily complicated)


So now we can start!


Might and Majecty :Attributes

The changes to the Attributes modifiers I think it was not only logical but neccessary.

I will have to voice a small disagreement on the changes to Reaction. Alhtough I do not disagree with the change itself that much, is the fact that keeping in mind to raise reaction when an attribute is increased is too much bookeeping. Apart from incrising an attribute using advancements there are also spells or enchanted items that might do that. That means that Reaction will tend to go up and down quite often.
I personally stick to the original method on determining Reactions.


The Free Peoples

I like the suggestion at the begining. I think that generally, the narrator must work with the players during character creation and work the best comprise between what the chracters wants and what the narrator thinks is acceptable or adds more to the feels and spirit of the game. But I personally tend to give my players a lot of reedom here.

Now as for the adjustments.....
I really do not think Elves and Men need more racial abilities. At the moment I finding it hard to convince players not to take an Elf instead of a hobbit for example.
I like the extra skill benefits fot the different Men sub races and also the adjastements to the dunedain. I use it more or less unchanged (maybe the odd +1 here and the odd -1 there).

Lucky Numbers is pretty nice for the Hobbits, but I have also given some more benefits to tempt my palyers in playing them more often. Nothing really too powerfull just a small + 1here, and so on.

Background packages are a very usefull guide especially to new players but also to experinced narrators, and I can see that there were some pretty good efforts there. There are packages for most if not all sub races of Men.


Warriors, Wizards and Kings

Again here one can find a nice selection of packages, from the Beorning Beresker for the Barabrian to the Pirate for the Mariner. There is a package for every taste.

But the most impressive feature here is the list of options for the Loremaster ability Vala Virtue. Really great stuff. Hats off to the people at the Gwaith-i-Mirdain for that.
Of course the is also a note on some missing skills for certain orders, Obviously the MInstrel should have Perofrm as a skill.

It is I think the general impression that some orders are lacking a bit...they are simple not very siutable for adventurers or would be heroes. I have personally changed or rather tweaked some abliies to make some orders more viable options for my players. But this is not the place of discussing these.

There are some changes to order abilities here and most of them I think are spot on. I feel that Swift Strike should be more advanced that it is in the corebook but maybe you went to far with the requisite here, Nim 11+, Armed Combat 12+ ?

There is also a new basic order here THE OUTDOORSMAN. Now do not get me wrong here, but a concept like this i would probably have it as a package rather than an order. In all honesty, this guy is basically a literate barbarian with search as an order skill. Or a warrior advanced as a Ranger.

Although, I do not like the order that much some of the order abilities are nice. Especially Expertise and Ambush which could be excellent with the barbarian and the Ranger.


Ringing Anvils and Rhymes of Lore

The are here a lot of interesting comments and suggestion on some 'troublesome' skills. Apart from the fact that here (as in all chapters) are included notes from the official errata, the subject of the LORE skill group is addressed.

As a Narrator myself, this skill is quite a pain really. Most of the groups I think should have sub-groups as well as being divided into groups.
For example, Lore (realm) under the the corebook gives you knowledge of all and every realm in middle earth. the difference by the pseciality is just not enough to actually represent the fact that a character will be more learned and informed about one realm.

There is also a table here according to which you can determine the TN increases in the Lore test for being in a foregn region. Although an interesting concept, I does complicate thing a bit for the Narrator, forcing him to more bookeeping, page fleeping, etc.

Which one of us can really say that they have complete knowledge of the history of middle earth? No one I would guess. And we have all the information readily available to us partly due to technology and partly due to the fact that we do not live in middle earth. We just get a few books some other sources (online or not) and we can find everything we can.

Well it is not that easy for charactyers who are supposed to live in Middle Earth. So why does the Lore (hisory) skill grant knowledge of all history, the Lore (Race) grants knowledge of all races and so on?

Some of these questions are addreeesed to a satisfying deggree in the compedium, thus making our lives easier (the narrator's that is).


And not forget the new skill Tame for all you Animal lovers!


Stern Men and Resolute

Here is where I start voicing some disagreements....

However, here you will find some much needed adjustements to some troublesome edges. My personal favouriste is the Warrior's Heart

[quote] Contrary to the official erratum, the effects of Warrior's Heartdo not apply to Weariness test from spellcasting....[/quote[

I absolutely love this!
There are also plenty of new flaws as well as some new edges, but none of these impressed me much.

What I found not very interesting however, it the fact that edges and flaws are rated and improvements have different requisites. I really think that this intriduces needless complications, keeping track what your total edge rating, is to determine how much the edge costs, what are the new requisites for improving an edge and so on.




more to can later....................I am getting tired now!

It was very intersting to learn your opinion, especially because I'm working on a 2nd edition of the Compendium. Some of the points you criticised - e.g., restrictions for edges - I won't be able to change, though. IMHO, this would require a too radical a change from the original system. But as with all optional suggestions of the Compendium - simply skip or ignore the parts you don't like! (Probably this is most important "rule" of the book! ;) On the other hand, I personally don't feel that it makes chargen and advancing too complicated--after all, it only matters on these occasions! But again, this is a matter of personal taste.)
For your applause - I have to share it with, or rather give it away to, many of the participants of Decipher's great message boards. E.g., most of the racial and order packages you enjoyed so much have been written by Colin Chapman (who unfortunately lost his, well, committment to this game). The Vala Virtue ability is from Manveru. For more detailed acknowledgements, please see the Credits section of the Compendium.
Let me close this reply by saying again how useful your comments are, and how great it is to get so much enthusiastic cheering for the Compendium! :) I'm very curious to learn your ideas on the rest of the booklet, so please keep it coming!

As I promised here is the second part


Words of Power and Runes of Might

Just answer this. How many times have you seen a Spellcaster in your games outperforming the hardiest of warrior in terms of endurance? More than once I assume, since Stamina is used for Weariness for spellacsting as well as physical activities. Not any more..... A new hybrid reaction called Vigour is introduced here.
Basically Vigour is the average of Stamina+Willpower. The logic is simple and well founded, spellcasting is demanding for both mind and body. Although I haven't tested it to any great extend myself, it seemes to be working great.

The re is also a section here on Learning Spells. I have to say that I do not like the ideas here very much. In our games we always take it that, experience (and the way it is spent) represents things you have learbt during the last sessions, not things we are going to learn or research. But of course it is optional, as everything else, so no-one forces you to use it!

Apart from these, there are suggestions of arnour protection from spells, directing spells, and criticals from spells (more on criticals later). All in all, thre are some really nice stuff there!


Axe and Sword

This chapter is pure gold! My personal favourite. More than threee pages of miscellaneous equipment, gear and so on, alist on herbs and their effects. Of course all tables are complete with prices, weight and suggections on rarity, how prices can change from place to place. This is a must for all narrators and players..

Another great feature is the revisited table for weapons and armour. Apart from the parry bonus, each weapon now has also an initiative modifier. Although I have changed some modifiers here (nothing great really just the odd +1 or -1) the new revisited entries for damage/parry bonus are much better than those on the corebook.
I small aside here, please can somebody tell me why on earth would anyone want to use a short bow instead of a longbow? The answer is that he wouldn't because there is not point in doing so, unless they are of small size. Initiative modifiers work wonders here though, a short bow is easier to use and hence someone can fire with it faster than it would do with the more cumbersome longbow. Alhtough I think the difference in their intiative modifier should be a bit bigger than -1 (probably -2 or -3). But this just a small matter here. This section is great, you can even find prices for library access and public baths......now how great is that!


Optional Play Rules

The first section here is on movement rates. I like the way that the baic movement rate is determined. It is basically dependant on your nimbleness and vitality modifier. But this is where my agreements stop.
When calculators have to come out to deternime movement rates, rates for a different pace (crawl, walk, jog, etc.) I tend to get annoyed. Of course if you don't mind using calculators or other computer tools (a specialised sheet is provided in the website) you will be ok. But personally I tend to rely on anly the basics, sometimes it saves me some inconvinience.

Apart from that the are interesting options here plus a new combat manoeuvre 'Hit and Run'. So all you Fleet Footed Rogues can use your ability to great effect. There is a wealth of information for all of you narrators, on stuff like sleeping in the wilderness, falling damage, dyhydration and starvation, overland travel and so on. You are just bound to find something that you will want to use!

But I will make another bad comment before I move on to the next chapter. I am referring to the section of 'Size & Weapon Reach'. Althoug the concept of keeping a foe at bay with reach weapons is a great one. I complete disagee on how size-reach is been handled here. Basically, it states that a big creater with reach will find it easier to hit you when you are close to him and so the to hit penalty due to size is cancelled the closer you get to the creature. I am sorry but what happens is exactly the opposite. Try the follwoing simple test: Try to hit a fly. When the fly is around your natural reach you will find it easier to hit it. If the fly gets closer and closer, you will find that you need to make some rather awkward movements with your arms to hit it, or move a step backwards and bring it with natural reach again. The same applies to weapons. If you are wielding a big spear, it is easy to hit your opponent when you keep the at bay, at the distance of the reach of the long spear. If your opponent gets too close the spear becomes next to useless.

Advanecement Picks

I am sorry but I cannot really comment on this section. The reason is that I use a completely different way of awarding experience and spending it. (I use a method very similar to the one used in the system of White Wolf games - Vampires, Werewolf, etc.) But I if you feel that the way advancement was handled in the book was not to your taste, here you will find plenty of suggestion and ideas for spending advancement picks.

The Fear and the Shadow

Has anyone seen the movement rates of the fell beast on the Feel Beast and Wondrous Magic book? They are simply ridiculous. According to it, a cat is slower than a turtle, and this is the only one I can remeber form the top of my head, believe me there are plenty of silly examples like this. So it was a great relief when I saw a table with the revisited movement rates of monsters (both tactical and overland). This one is again a must-have for all narrators.

More Optional Rules

At the start there is a very nice section on the Language skill and a very interesting list of different langauges (and dialects) of middle earth.

The rest of this chapter is concetrated on epxerience. As I said before I use a completely different approach but I have to say that these guys have put some effort on developming new ways for awarding and calculating experience. It is definitely worth a look.
Finally there is a section on crital failures and fumbles for combat and spells, Even heroes suffer from these some times. Remeber Legolas in Moria trying to shoot at the goblins, dropping his arrow? It is how you recover from these that distinguish a hero from a normal adventurer. The table has enough material to cover most sistuations.

Cutting Blades and Blazing Flames

A great title for this chapter that addresses critical hit for both weapons and spells.

If you are looking for a way to put some more deapth on your battles and also make them more dangerous affairs, look no further. The chapter goes on explaining critical hit, called shots, criticals with spells, effects of criticals and so on.. At the end you will find two huge and detailed tables on critical strikes for weapons and spells.



Conclusions

This is with no doubt a great supplement for every narrator and player. Remeber that the rules here are optional house rule. If you do not like something, just do not use it, and if you like an idea but not the way it is implemented just change it.

I can guarantee that you will definitely find something in here that you will want to use in your chronicles. But even if you don't, you are bound to find some ideas and suggestion on creating your own house rules.

Hats of to the guys at Gweith-i-Mirdan and all those that helped in producing this great supplement. Spent some time to have a look at it, you will not be disappointed.



Oouff, I finished at last. Hope you enjoyed it!

By the way Olorwe, if you really want to see some of my modifications/house rules/changes I am happy to email them to you. Just tell me where. ;)


Keep up the good work guys.:)

Once again, a huge thank you, Eol! If it’s alright with you, I’d like to post your review on our website. And of course I’d love to check out your house rules, so please send them to olorwe@rolemaster.at :) I’d also be very interested to learn more about your amendments to the Compendium (e.g., weapon statistics, etc.)
There’s only one thing I’d like to add to your argumentation on short and long bows: the biggest advantage of a short bow is its size. If a player insists on having a long bow, I let him get stuck in the next dungeon’s corridor, or the bow gets caught in low branches, etc. Believe me, no one will ever again light-heartedly take a long bow after you’ve executed this several times ;)
Ah, almost forget your criticism on the weapon reach issue: good points! I’ll think about a revision (or do you have any ideas?), though the example with the fly is perhaps a little bit exaggerated – even a Hobbit is not as small as a fly compared to a troll ;) But of course you’re right! On the other hand, I tend to ignore size modifiers altogether. They are very realistic, for sure, but they take a lot of the fun of GMing large beasties from you! No, to be serious, I believe that large creatures should pose a significant threat, and making them harder to hit is one way. But this portion certainly needs to be revisited.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Georg
P.S.: I’d like to take the chance to expand the invitation for submitting your house rules to The Gwaith-i-Mírdain to all readers of this board! If you have some cool stuff you’d like to share with other gamers and which you’d like to see in the Compendium, please go ahead and e-mail us: olorwe@rolemaster.at
:) ;)

No problem Olorwe, it is good to se people to be enthuaisatic about LotR RPG. Of course you can post the reveiw on out website. I will read it agian though and try to correct any mistakes I made.

When I have my amendements/house rules ready and in one place I will certainly email them to you. I will not say when, last time I did that with the review and I ended up doing a week after. But you should have them, I guess, by Friday the latest.


I agree with you on the bow-subject. But unfortunately there is not consistent mechanic to represent this (the size I mean). And players have a tendecy of looking at the number at hand and the rules to solve such problems. (especially when your players come from a dnd, D20 background).

Of course the example with the fly is exaggerated but it serves to show a point. I think the greatest advantage of a big creature and what makes them hard to deal with is that before you can reach them and harm them they would have hit you several time due to reach. Also the larger size means more damage (much more damage). Morevoer they can take advantage of this by overunning opponetns, pushing them aside, etc. And worst of all, it is not possible to parry/block an attack by by a 100 pound clud wielded by a Troll with your little sword. You can try of course, but you can imaginne what happens then.............

Now I will go and finish by ammandements and house rules for you..........:D

Olorwe,

First, let me say that it looks like you put a lot of hard work into your compendium!

I am just starting to sift through it and I like (mostly) what you noted about the LORE: REGIONS skill.

I did have a question about REACTIONS and how you calculate them. I know you round up after your average of the two attributes, but I was curious as to how it has actually playtested.

(I did note you mentioning that the REAC go up as a attribute does and I don't think that would be too much work overall.)

Thanks for the kind words! :) Concerning your question on playtesting the new way of calculating reactions, I can assure you that we've had fairly good results. Reaction scores are, at least for most characters, still so low that they quite a few tests get messed up. On the other hand, they tend to be a bit higher after a couple of advancements, which makes them better balanced with opposed skills (e.g., Intimidate vs. Willpower). But actually I think they still are too low with starting characters who haven't picked any reaction-boosting edges, whereas characters with such edges have (despite our restrictions on edges) far too high reaction scores. But that's just my impression... Anyway, using the optional formula on calculating reactions won't change too much about the game, so just go for it if you like the concept. Hope that helps! :)

With the many fine ideas in mind that have been discussed on this board since the first release of the LotR Compendium in September, and yet more questions that arose in our gaming group, I decided to compile a 2nd edition of the LotR Compendium which now has 54 pages of optional rule suggestions and background material.
The second edition adds material on various topics such as attribute generation, spending Courage, a new Spell Specialty, learning spells, combat manoeuvres, combat pacing, horses, and healing. It also features two elite orders, eight fell beasts and five items of wondrous magic which were originally presented on this forum by various authors - whom I owe many thanks! (I hope you don’t mind me using your ideas! You will find your names in the credits, along with a complete list of the contents I consciously used from you.)
I won’t repeat the exact table of contents here, but I kindly invite you to take a look on the Decipher section of our website (http://you.are.at/middle-earth ) where its most important features are summarised and from which you can download the Compendium II. If you choose to incorporate one or another of our rule suggestions, you may also find the Tools file useful (which, among other things, contains an enhanced Microsoft Excel-based character sheet).

At the same time we worked on a complete relaunch of our website. Again, I’d like to invite you to check out its fresher look and of course the new contents! Besides the revised Compendium, that mainly is a section on our campaigns (though unfortunately mostly in German) and the fantasy roleplaying game we plan to write ourselves. Please expect another minor update next week which will add some nice fonts to the Downloads section, and please note that we have changed the name of our gaming group to “Heren Turambarion”. That is Quenya for “Masters of Fate”, and replaces the old name “Gwaith-i-Mírdain. We simply realized that there are too many GiMs out there!

As always, any feedback is highly appreciated and most helpful!

Cheers, Georg and the Heren Turambarion

http://you.are.at/middle-earth

The re-format looks good on the site.