Aldamir is my ID here..it's my Ranger's name that I'm not using at the moment. I will have to roll up my potentials and apply them for three levels. I did not know we were using potentials. I have leveled my character for the most part. On a side not...I think we should consider taking on a small cave drake. My creature lore tells me they are generally only about twice our level now...they do have the capability to attack 3 times in a round...(wishing I had searched for some zulsendura)....small cave drakes can be quick, but rarely have a breath weapon..just don't let them bite you(generally have acid), but their treasure can be rewarding. Just my two cents or two bronze pieces.

If anyone needs help with leveling up their character in general or stat potentials/progression please let me know a time you would like to meet over Skype and your Skype name and we can get together to get it done.

HUGE amount of info on the new Tolkien RPG, The One Ring, listed here: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?582294-The-One-Ring-RPG-slipcase-cover&p=14199857#post14199857

It looks like they are really, really capturing the feel of Tolkien's works very well, written right into the mechanics. This game will be released at GenCon and I have one on advance preorder so I will get mine mailed to me at the beginning of GenCon. I am very excited to check this out. Never before has an RPG supported Tolkien's works so well with getting the feel correct and written right into the mechanics.

Aldamir?

(1) This is an rpg. From my point of view discussing tactics and reasons like that make it sound more like a strategy game.

(2) What are you called elsewhere?

(3) Your knowledge of drakes seems to be OOC. Again - RPG not battle-game. Huge winged thing attacks, and you're saying we should have a go because you looked it up.

Guys, if this is the kind of game we're playing, I'm gonna bow out. I'm in it for the role-playing, not the barracks room lawyer stuff, and certainly not for OOC battle-plans.


The combat rules in MERP are ment to keep players away from unnecessary direct fights. Constant battles are a loose loose situation. A Peasant can get a lucky hit and kill you dead in one shot... that's the idea of it - to think of ways around direct fights. Entering into a fight just for the finds - that's DnD stuff, and I did not sign up for that. It should not be about items, about the fights, but about the setting and the atmosphere.

( I mean, lets face it, in a world where elves and dunedain are rare, we have a party full of them - "ironically" they give the best bonuses. And the two elves have less presence than my dwarf because that bit of the rules was skipped. Dwarves are the worst stat bonus class going - and yet I play! Well, anyhow, there we go.)

Aladmir is using some meta-gaming knowledge and I don't approve of that personally, but you can and I do welcome any OOC planning on my game thread for your pcs to work through puzzles, traps or encounters. There is much more to this mystery than meets the eye.

King Elessar has tasked the players to help rid the whole region of Arnor of the remaining forces of Angmar and Sauron, so there is much more fighting for you to accomplish and lost treasures/artifacts to recover.

Elves are rare (mostly Noldor, there are many Silvan and Sindar still). Dunedain are rare, but not extinct in the 4th age, man is returning to reclaim Arnor and Gondor is full of Dunedain as is Bree.

I don't mind using the thread for planning in a situation where the PCs are, say, sitting around a campfire for the night, that could be seen as them talking.

Mid fight telepathic style ideas I do mind.

And dunedain are rare unless they breed like rabbits! But my point still stands. At the moment, the game is battle/kill/loot. Flee from orcs, we fight spiders. Flee from them we fight a drake. There's no RP element at the moment other than the PCs, and some (it seems) are metagameing. I'd like to see a session where we actually roleplay and don't roll dice. Me and ash had some great fun abusing each other, but the last few sessions have been near the point of just die rolling.

I was more annoyed about the meta gameing tho. I've enjoyed your GMing, lando.

I understand your concern and thank you for the compliment. I like you playing the scruffy dwarf. There is much rping and such in your future. When you escape the tunnels/ruins.. you got a Dunedain leader and men of Gondor to return and report too. Not to mention the items you've found and some you might find. Could help with the plans for battle. The novels of JRR are full of small skirmishes, major battles and more too. So don't despair. Remember the trip from Moria and through Rohan was no picknick let alone the trip through Mordor... so sometimes you have to fight. You could always go back and take the other fork too...

Again - too many items - too much on the kill/find. In less than a day we have uncovered... what... 20 magic items? All spell users have 3x their points? Armour for spell casters just lying around? Magic swords et al are abundant? I'd rather items be toned down, unless one or two are centeral to the plot. I'd rather every incident not be a big battle. IF we get out of a place that has all the ecology of zero, then we might fight a patrol of orcs! It's very DnD (sorry, but it is) at the moment, and whilst you're a good GM, I miss being able to roleplay rather than fight.

The party defeated the spiders and acquired some ancient treasures that will be useful to them in their fight against the darkness. However, they have come upon ancient dwarven ruins dating back to the war against Morgoth and guarding them is some ancient evil, a drake, descendant of the ancient dragons of Morgoth. Will they stand against this evil and possibly gain more ancient treasures and secrets or flee to the surface in this deadly trapped place?

All current players should consider themselves level 3 and adjust their sheets accordingly. Please email them to me by Wed 7/27/11.

Game Time/Day: Saturday evenings 9 pm-12:30 am EST.
Session #17
Game Server: Mayhem
Backup: Blackstar
Game Room: Middle-Earth Roleplay
Timeline: Fourth Age 1
Game: MERP 2e rules with possible Rolemaster expansion later on.
Level: 3
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.

Magic Items/Background Options
Magic items come in all shapes/sizes and they can make up for low stats and they can grant you PP as well if you need some to learn / cast spells.
Depending on how you wish to spend your background options will give you different options to choose from. You can roll randomly or pick or work up something with my help.

Here are some examples:

You can substitute any style sword/axe/weapon for these..

1 background option: +15 Broadsword (made of Arborang with Numenorean runes) with scabbard
OR
+1 spell adder (wand/staff or something) or x2 power point multiplier (ring, amulet, brooch etc)
2 background options: +30 Broadsword (made of Arborang with Numenorean runes) with scabbard
OR
+15 Broadsword (made of Arborang with Numenorean runes) with scabbard
+15 Bow or Thrown missile weapon made of some fine wood/steel (I'll look up the material)

You could spend more pts to get something like "of Slaying Orcs" or the like too. Or you could spend an option to get an item like a pair of magic boots/cloak or some other device that enhances a skill +15 bonus or something.

There are lots of examples in the books/supplements or just run your ideas by me.

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.

House Rules
Every PC starts a game session with 3 Fate Points.

A Fate Point may be spent to:
- Add a +50 bonus to a Maneuver or Attack roll if declared before the dice are rolled
- Add a +25 bonus to a Maneuver or Attack roll if declared after the dice are rolled
- Add +25 to DB against one attack
- Save you from an instant death crit table result, instead placing you in a coma for 1d10 hours

Fate Points may not be spent on Resistance Rolls.
No more than 2 FP may be spent on any one roll.
(Note that this heavily favors action and offense over defense. This is intentional as I want to encourage heroic action and attempting wild stunts rather than turtling.)

You gain 1 FP by performing heroic deeds and acting with valor. You can keep doing this until you're up to your full allotment of 3 FP. You may never hold more than 3 Fate Points at a time and they do not carry over from session to session. Each session you begin anew with your allotted 3 Fate Points. When spending Fate Points on a wild maneuver or attack you should describe the cinematic action you perform vividly and with flare. Villain NPCs do NOT have Fate Points, except for important main villain NPCs, at the GM's discretion. So an average orc would never have Fate Points but the Witch King of Angmar likely would.

Roleplay encouraged. Please be sure to state your actions clearly.

NPCS (who hired the pcs) (brother/sister)
Grithnir - Dunedain Warrior (uses a fine sword of ancient Numenor make, probably from his father)
Morwen - Dunedain Warrior/Animist (prefers to use a fine bow)

PARTY
daddystabz-Dunedain Ranger
debo11-Ashetar Noldor Elven Mage
Maltar - Dunedain Scout (played by Kyanna)
Max - Olrin Dwarven Warrior
Aldamir-Animist
TheVoid-PC reviewing
Opening-any class

To be fair Max, we had many sessions where there was quite a bit of roleplaying before you joined especially. We have been in a place in our adventures lately that simply calls for a lot of combat. I'm sure there will be plenty of roleplaying to come as well.

I also sometimes worry about the Tolkien feel coming through in the games. I have never felt real comfortable with the level of magic in MERP 2e. It just seems like AD&D with LotR skins tacked on to me. Having a mage in the group that can cast electric bolts and barriers from scrolls and stuff pushes the Tolkien credibility to the limit as far as I can tell. I've discussed this a bit lately on RPG.net and most Tolkien purists there seem to agree with me on this aspect of MERP and how things have played out in general. This is one reason I'm VERY excited now for The One Ring RPG. After looking extensively at its mechanics I feel it captures the spirit of Tolkien's writings better than any game before and player casters don't exist in that game at all.