Finally...

[Vykwulf]

After navigating the fairways of the internet, I have found that these are, for the most part, the most active forums "dedicated" to the Lord of the Rings RPG.

I must admit, my knowledge of Middle-Earth is.. lacking. I've watched the 3 movies, ofcourse. I've also watched the animated version "[I]The Hobbit[I]," which ends basically when the first Peter Jackson film does. Unfortunately, I've never read the Tolkien books which I plan to rememdy very soon (escpecially with winter coming up.)

I've only picked up the Core Book last week, and have been searching for a place to discuss the RPG and learn more about Middle-Earth. Apparently, this is the best outlet? (Decipher had no such dedicated forum)

I have just a few questions of you verterans...

1. What is the best outlet to learn about Middle-Earth geography?

2. Where is the best place to learn about Middle-Earth's bestiary and denizens in general?

3. Which products have Decipher released?

I've seen their product list, but apparently only a few of them are out, and they are planning to discontinue the product line?

[Vykwulf]

Also, I'm particularly curious if the enhancements, Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic, Maps of Middle Earth, Maps of Middle-earth, Set 2: Cities and Strongholds, Narrator's Screen, and The Fellowship of the Ring Sourcebook are worth buying? (assuming the have been released?)

Can anyone please give me a brief review of each? I would much appreciate it.

[Tomcat]

Originally posted by Vykwulf
After navigating the fairways of the internet, I have found that these are, for the most part, the most active forums "dedicated" to the Lord of the Rings RPG.

I must admit, my knowledge of Middle-Earth is.. lacking. I've watched the 3 movies, ofcourse. I've also watched the animated version "[I]The Hobbit[I]," which ends basically when the first Peter Jackson film does. Unfortunately, I've never read the Tolkien books which I plan to rememdy very soon (escpecially with winter coming up.)

I've only picked up the Core Book last week, and have been searching for a place to discuss the RPG and learn more about Middle-Earth. Apparently, this is the best outlet? (Decipher had no such dedicated forum)

I have just a few questions of you verterans...

1. What is the best outlet to learn about Middle-Earth geography?

2. Where is the best place to learn about Middle-Earth's bestiary and denizens in general?

3. Which products have Decipher released?

I've seen their product list, but apparently only a few of them are out, and they are planning to discontinue the product line

Also, I'm particularly curious if the enhancements, Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic, Maps of Middle Earth, Maps of Middle-earth, Set 2: Cities and Strongholds, Narrator's Screen, and The Fellowship of the Ring Sourcebook are worth buying? (assuming the have been released?)

Can anyone please give me a brief review of each? I would much appreciate it.

First of all, you are missing a very active forum here:

Decipher Lord of the Rings RPG Forum

As far as your other questions lets take them in order:

1) I think there are two, though you will probably get differing opinions here - The Atlas of Middle-earth and also any regional modules created by MERP/ICE

2) The books are a must for you to read, after that you can get your information from the Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic.

3) I do not have any of the Map sets, but I am pleased with the two Sourcebooks and the Fell Beasts Supplement. You will also probably find very useful the Moria Boxed Set.

Another resource of the game that I recommend you tap into is the Hall of Fire - a fan based free webzine. You can find it here:

Hall of Fire

I hope this helped.

Tomcat

[Vykwulf]

Nice! Thank you for you very fast response.

12 issues of Hall of Fire should keep me quite busy. I really enjoy fan created community material. It's essential to the existance of alot of lost RPGs. (of which LoTR RPG may be if Decipher discontinues it)

You had said you don't have the map sourcebooks. I'm wondering if that confirms that they were indeed released? I'd like to get my hands on all the LoTR RPG products that are available, and Deciphers site leads me to believe the only ones released were the Core Book and the Fellowhsip of the Ring Sourcebook.

I, ofcourse, know that can't be correct, since you have stated you have the Fell Beasts & Wondrous Magic book.

[Breamar]

Lessee, released products:
Core Rulebook
FOTR Sourcebook
TTT Sourcebook
Fell Beasts & Wondrous Magics
the 2 map sets
Moria Boxed set
Narrator's Screen

I think that's it....

[Ineti]

Breamar's got it right. That's all the LOTR RPG products that were released by Decipher.

The core book and Fell Beasts are the only two I'd consider essential. The FOTR SB and the TTT SB are nice, especially for the location descriptions and plot hooks, but they're not essentials.

I think the Moria boxed set is excellent, as there is a 32 page book expanding the Dwarves, and a larger book about Moria that you could easily tweak to turn into any sort of dungeon crawl or other adventure beyond Moria itself.

The two map sets are nice as well. The maps are beautiful. The first set contains a 32 page bo0klet that's largely useless--it reprints the first chapter of the core book, essentially. The second map set contains a 32 page book on several locations, and all the material is new and relevant for the RPG. I'd say the second map set is the better deal of the two, if you had to choose one over the other.

As for your first two questions, The Atlas of Middle-earth, by Karen Wynn Fonstad is probably the best resource for Middle-earth geography. It's been recently revised and should be available in most any bookstore.

As for learning about the bestiary and denizens, there are a couple encyclopedias and books out there, and there's also the Encyclopedia of Arda website:

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/

More than you'll ever want to know about Middle-earth.

Have fun!