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I am very... very interested in getting started in a campaign using the Lord of the Rings game from Decipher. So far, I'm really enjoying their Star Trek game.
I was wondering... and I'm sure someone here can help me out...
What books did Decipher publish to the LOTR RPG ? I know there's a whole big set of 7 or 8 of them for sale at Hill's Games, pretty cheap.
And, secondly... what books do you need to get started if you want to run a really well-rounded campaign ?
Thanks, for any info
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LotR is fun. CODA is a nice fit, and there is a lot of well written fan material out there in the Hall Of Fire webzine. Use the forum search and you shall find that.
The complete product line of the LotR CODA game consists of the
Corerulebook (which acutally is the only book you really need to get into the game)
The Fellowship of the Ring Sourcebook (beautiful, but rather thin book)
The Two Towers Sourcebook (as the FotR)
Fell Beasts and Wonderous Magic (quite usefull to have)
Helm's Deep Sourcebook (Don't have that book, so can't really say)
Moria Boxed Set (my personal favorite product)
A Gamemaster's Screen (with a minor adventure)
One (maybe two?) Map-Sets (well done Artwork!)
A character booklet (not really a must have item).
Those books were published in print.
There have been two more books that have only been released as electronic books, that could be bought at DriveThru RPG and RPGNow. Those are no longer legally availably, as the distribution stoped, once the LotR-licence of Decipher expired. The printed materials you could probably find used or with luck even in mint condition.
My advice would be to go for the corebook and Fell Beasts and Wonderous Magic and see if you like CODA for LotR as much as for Star Trek .
If you like the game, and you come across a decently priced Moria box, get yourself one of those as well. It's one of the best products I have in my rather big collection of RPG stuff!
Welcome to the Game
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I just found one of the Map Sets on Amazon- a used one for $300.
That's as bad as some of the prices people charge for old FASA books.
I'm going to follow your advice and grab the Corebook and the Fell Beasts book, as well as a GM's screen. I'll get started that way. You can get CODA LOTR books pretty cheap from a place called Hill's Games.
It's where I got my CODA Trek set.
I've RP'd in Middle-Earth before, using ICE's game. I'm anxious to see how CODA does with it since the game did win a Best RPG award. And I'm a big fan of the movies.
I love RPing in Middle-Earth as far as a Fantasy game goes. D&D is a good fantasy system, but Middle-Earth is such a rich backdrop...
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Originally Posted by FASAGrrl
Then you'll just love the layout of the books. The Corebook as well as the FotR and TTT sourcebooks are made up with stills from the movies! Fell Beasts has more drawings in it, though.
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IF the GM screen is sold individually, do not purchase it... it was filled with errors.
As Cut said, the best books to have are the Core book, Fell-beasts, and Moria. The two books that came out on PDF are really good, too - Paths of the Wise, and Isengard. Helms Deep is okay. The two sourcebooks are really irrelevant unless you plan to use characters from the stories - although there are a few good maps and a couple of rules added within them.
Otherwise, I love the CODA game system - bugs and all, though they are easily fixed with a few house rules. Match the system up with a lot of the resources from ICE/MERP, and all the Tolkien books and you have an endless resource for gaming in ME.
Have fun!
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Soooo, Tomcat, if you're using the GM screen to run a game you might end up getting some poor Elf's ears lopped off using the combat charts ?
Can't have that happening to Lefalas.
Fellowship, Two Towers, and Helm's Deep SBs.... no real rules-changing stuff ?
I've found that to be true about CODA myself- a bit of homebrewing and you've got a really good gaming system.
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