Yes, MERP was good, if for no other reason than that the quality was consistent, the material was generally thematically appropriate, and it left a lot of detail for the GM to come up with so that each game was still different from anyone else's.Originally posted by ReptileJK
Ahhhh....Good ol' MERP. Many can say what they will about it, but that game provided us with hours of enjoyment in high school and college (plus, at least ICE could get product on the shelves ).
I've got just about every MERP book that I wanted over the years through eBay. Never was able to get Rider of Rohan, The Northern Wastes, or Minas Tirith.
I do have The Grey Mountains and Lorien, which are both classics, in my mind.
Reptile
PS, the young Denethor idea is interesting. Who was making the attempt on his life?
I like Riders as well as Minas Tirith, Northern Wastes was not bad but too speculative to be taken very seriously IMO. Minas Tirith introduced a lot of details that can upset one's own imagined impressions of the city based on Tolkien's works, but was otherwise nice.
I don't recall if I have Grey Mountains - most of what I have is stuff I downloaded years after ICE lost their licence. Lorien, however, was well written.
The Denethor plot was, IIRC, a conspiracy involving Umbarean spies who wanted to destabilise the Stewardship by eliminating the son of the present steward, Ecthelion. It was a case of an opportunity that was irresistible, because the spies discovered a young wife was cheating on her husband. This husband was captain of the guard, and as such was privy to Denethor's plans and movement. She was blackmailed by the spies into prodding her husband for information about Denethor, which the spies tried to exploit.
Fortunately the PC's were approached by the serving-girl of the wife who implored them for their total discretion and assistance. Not bad - they got to find out about the spies, stop the assassination, yet were sworn not to reveal the reason - which meant no credit could be taken, nor could they really warn anyone of what had happened and could happen again.