Thread: Middle-earth Basic Roleplaying preview

I thought it was high time that I gave an update as to where this ‘little’ project of mine is up to... so here goes!

Currently I am about half way through transcribing my numerous notes and ideas into a legible, understandable, and more importantly, playable format. There is a wealth of material for me to draw on thanks to the many excellent Lord of the Rings books and rpg games that have been produced over the years, especially Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP) and Deciphers Lord of the Rings (LotR).

I have been promising on this site for some months now to upload the first chapters of this work. Much to my annoyance :mad: I keep falling behind in meeting up to this promise. So I have decided to give those of you interested a sneak preview into what the first chapter will look like. :thumb:

I plan to post a sneak preview creature each week until I complete the Creatures chapter for posting here. This will be the first of the chapters for my take on a Middle-earth Basic Roleplaying game. The idea is that at the very least, it will push me harder to finish this chapter for posting and to get on with the rest of the project, but at the same time give anyone interested a chance to have a look into what this will eventually look like.

I have opened the sneak peak with two creatures; the terrifying Barrow-wights :eek: and the Barghest :shocked:

So for those of you interested, hope this wets the appetite. :thumb:

You will find them in:

BRP Central > Downloads > Systems & Settings > Other settings

Enjoy!

I am so looking forward to MEBRP! I am curious as to how you plan to do the PDF layout? Will there be art and coulmns and tables and charts, or will it just be a text document?

EDIT: Guess I should have looked at the samples first! LOL

Very cool, looking forward to more.

Are "Barghests" actually mentioned anywhere in Tolkein's writings?

I don't think they are. They are featured in "Lord of the Rings Online" however.

The Encyclopedia of Arda does not have an entry for them (and it has a lot of entries), but they are still cool!

Encyclopedia of Arda: Search

With LOTRO, is there an equivalent "Expanded Universe" seal of approval from...well...whomever is in charge of licensing? :confused:

I thought a barghest was a pastry thing you ate with premium coffee. :confused:

Originally Posted by PK Games

I am so looking forward to MEBRP! I am curious as to how you plan to do the PDF layout? Will there be art and coulmns and tables and charts, or will it just be a text document?

EDIT: Guess I should have looked at the samples first! LOL

There will be art and formatting, tables and charts. You can get an idea of this fromt the City of Heroes layout in the downloads section. This is one of the reasons that its become such a big job (and a huge file!). I want to produce as professional a looking document as I can. :thumb:

Originally Posted by bobapple

Very cool, looking forward to more.

Are "Barghests" actually mentioned anywhere in Tolkein's writings?

FunGuyFromYuggoth is right, no there are no Barghests in the Lord of the Rings mythology, but they are kind of cool and are in the Lord of the Rings Online game. This game has been one great source of inspiration (and screenshots) when doing this chapter.

I have been determined to only add creatures that would fit into Tolkien's universe, not just add in fantasy based creatures. The Barghest is a creature from Celtic folklore and Tolkien drew on a lot from Norse and Celtic mythology in his works. So I want to keep in the spirit of his works. As such you will read in the creature descriptions (especially under the creatures powers) references to Spot Rules that will appear in a later chapter. These Spot Rules will help to keep Tolkien's feel and flow to Middle-earth BRP. The chapter on Magic will be especially like this.

But bleeding heck, it's a big job!!! :shocked:

So please be patient. I am about half way through the creatures I need to transcribe, so this chapter will probably be about another month before its completed. Then I have to complete all the rest.

Fergio,

Years ago, I did up some Middle Earth species write ups for RQ3. If you think any of it would help for your BRP Middle Earth project, let me know and I'll dig out the write ups and scan them.