Do not worry about our "need for more steel." Play what you individually want to play and what interests you most. I think it would be awesome to have a bard onboard that writes ballads of our adventures and it could be very Tolkienesque in feel. I'm all for that. Whichever way you go is cool but do not give up on what you want to play to help the party get more warrior types.

My character is almost done, I just need to finish using her background points. She's really not much to speak of - no huge bonuses, but my rolls were a little distributed, resulting in a scout who has higher strength than agility! The plan was to make her a bow-weilder, but looks like she won't be too terrible in melee either if it weren't for the fact that she'd get slashed to pieces in a heartbeat.

I have sent her off to be evaluated along with a few questions and hope to get the last few bits tied up in the next 12 hours.

We're not playing until next week so you got a few days. I won't be reviewing pcs or anything until probably Wed due to finals/projects and such. I am a busy new grad student who has been unemployed since Feb so I'm trying to land a new job on Tues as well.

Doh, you're right. Don't know why I was thinking it was the 4th. Bummer -- I'm ready to play

Best of luck on your job hunt.

Note: I had a good question from snowquilter tonight in an email. If you're using a race that has a note under Special Abilities in the culture section pgs
146-174, you can have those to your sheet, you don't get anything money or magical gear wise unless you spend background options on it, but any skill bonuses go ahead and add them in. Also note, this section gives you some ideas on how to spend your background options, plus gives you standard outfit/appearance etc info that will be useful rounding out your pc.

Also should you wish to spend your gold on minor magic items (+5/+10) you may or you may buy something else if you can swing it, run it by me for approval. See pg 260 of the MERP 2e rules.

I've got several character sheets that can be used, including a new excel sheet designed by one of the folks who are going to play MERP with me in person next month at my local FLGS. So if anyone wants it, drop me a line.

I'm going to be answering some emails tonight prior to my Rifts game. I'd like everyone's pcs completed to me by Wednesday or so. I got a lot of studying/finals/project stuff to do this weekend, so don't expect a lot of posts on this forum or emails beyond tonight. Plus I got an important interview Tues (along with a final) so wish me luck.

The War of the Ring has ended with its destruction in the fires of Mount Doom and the fall of Sauron and his Nine, however, Middle-Earth is far from free of evil. Orcs, Trolls, Dragons, Men and other evils still lurk and dwell in dark places and will give King Elessar much trouble for years to come.

Will you stand against the darkness and help thwart these evils? The 4th Age of Middle-Earth calls heroes like you forth!

Game will start in and around the area of Bree and the Barrowdowns. However, pcs need not be from Bree.

Game Time/Day: Saturday evenings 9-1 am EST.
Start Date: tentatively Sat Dec 11th
Timeline: Fourth Age 1
Game: MERP 2e rules with possible Rolemaster expansion later on.
House Rules: 100 gp to start (ignore 2 gp starting funds), you may pick your background options or roll them randomly. However, if you wish to combine them all into one mighty magic item/heirloom or the like, you must seek approval from me first. You can buy minor magic items with your gold or herbs or the like. See pgs 258-260 MERP 2e.

Also no Orcs/Trolls/Corsairs/Easterlings/Haradrim/Variags/Black Numenoreans as pc races. Noldor are also going to be rare. Sindar or Silvan elves ok, most other men and dwarves, hobbits are alright. Also you may reroll your attributes if they're all lower then 65 one additional time, keeping the results. Remember that you can replace your lowest stat with a 90 for your prime attribute. Also remember any stat below 20 can be rerolled at any time.

Sheets should be in .doc/.rtf/.txt/,pdf or pc node files preferred, but the .xls file that trollblood offered will work too. Send me your completed sheets to my email at landothearchmagi at comcast.net.

PARTY
trollblood2008-Dwarven Animist
daddystabz-Dunedain Ranger
wysiwyg-Half-Elven Warrior
Amaraxis-Hobbit Burgular in the works
debo11-Nodor Elven Mage in the works
Storycrafter - Sindarian Bard?
snowquilter-Woodman Scout?

Hey guys. Just finished up my sheet and have sent it in to Lando by email. Ready to play next weekend...cant wait.

My mage turned out quiet well, not to mention he isn't too bad with a long bow either.

Very cool. Very much looking forward to Saturday night here, as well.

After being wishy washy about it for 2 days, I finally settled on the Dorwinidan bard from the book. I changed the name and will be slightly altering the back story, but I found I was over analyzing everything with my own attempt from scratch and needed to just get on with things.

I figure I might take the opportunity to ask a few questions during the week to prepare for this Saturday's session.
1) What kind of action would it take to switch weapons? Say I want to switch between the harp and the bow mid-combat?
2) What are your thoughts on healing herbs?
3) I've recently gotten OpenRPG 1.8.0 working fine on my client (Linux) and am quickly learning how to use it. Is there any value to prepping things for my character? Character sheet/stats? Die rolls?

1) You would have to shift items. Movement is decreased by 10' for each item shifted. OB is lowered by 30 for each item shifted when making a melee attack. This is covered on the Action Table (ST-11). I suggest printing this table and having it handy during the game.

Due to my interview and final exam tomorrow, don't expect me to look at any pcs until Wed or Thurs.

As for your questions, the action table is what you'll want to reference. You will take penalties to movement and your OB switching weapons etc.

2) Healling Herbs or additional weapons/gear etc are recommended. You can buy some minor magic items via the rules on pg 260 if you want, just note what you spent it on. I will be checking math.

3) I recommend making a MERP character node, I have one I made years ago, but I seem to have misplaced it. It was on wrathofnodes.com at one time. Doesn't hurt have your OB and MM or other useful skills done up in macros.

I'll give some house rules for the setup of the first game and such on Sat.

It looks like I might've gotten everyone's pcs in email. I'm going to start reviewing pcs in more depth later today.

Unfortunately, due to final exam studying and due to my spouse/family wishing to do something Saturday night I will be postponing our start day until the following Sat night, so the 18th we should start and that'll give me time to make sure everyone's pc is squared away.

The War of the Ring has ended with its destruction in the fires of Mount Doom and the fall of Sauron and his Nine, however, Middle-Earth is far from free of evil. Orcs, Trolls, Dragons, Men and other evils still lurk and dwell in dark places and will give King Elessar much trouble for years to come.

Will you stand against the darkness and help thwart these evils? The 4th Age of Middle-Earth calls heroes like you forth!

Game will start in and around the area of Bree and the Barrowdowns. However, pcs need not be from Bree.

Game Time/Day: Saturday evenings 9-1 am EST.
Start Date: Sat Dec 18th
Timeline: Fourth Age 1
Game: MERP 2e rules with possible Rolemaster expansion later on.
House Rules: 100 gp to start (ignore 2 gp starting funds), you may pick your background options or roll them randomly. However, if you wish to combine them all into one mighty magic item/heirloom or the like, you must seek approval from me first. You can buy minor magic items with your gold or herbs or the like. See pgs 258-260 MERP 2e.

Also no Orcs/Trolls/Corsairs/Easterlings/Haradrim/Variags/Black Numenoreans as pc races. Noldor are also going to be rare. Sindar or Silvan elves ok, most other men and dwarves, hobbits are alright. Also you may reroll your attributes if they're all lower then 65 one additional time, keeping the results. Remember that you can replace your lowest stat with a 90 for your prime attribute. Also remember any stat below 20 can be rerolled at any time.

Sheets should be in .doc/.rtf/.txt/,pdf or pc node files preferred, but the .xls file that trollblood offered will work too. Send me your completed sheets to my email at landothearchmagi at comcast.net.

PARTY
trollblood2008-Dwarven Animist
daddystabz-Dunedain Ranger
wysiwyg-Half-Elven Warrior
Amaraxis-Hobbit Burgular in the works
debo11-Nodor Elven Mage in the works
Storycrafter - Sindarian Bard?
snowquilter-Woodman Scout?