What’s the best one, based on Content, Approachability, & Ease?

There’s setting specific systems, like MERP and One Ring
There’s systems that everyone knows, like GURPS et. al. that modify simply
There’s systems that while they’d have to be heavily modified, are easy, like D&D

Then there’s so many other variants like Savage Worlds, PbtA, and others.

I just want to tell a story (well, two stories, really) but players and GMs alike need a framework.

Thoughts?

If everyone knows the system, MERP and One Ring both work well.  MERP is hilariously awesome with the crit tables.

But if playpers have more familiarity with other systems like GURPS or D&D, go with those systems.

Depends a lot on how much structure you want and what your game is going to be like - if you just want something that puts some numbers behind your characters so they don't end up taking a mile and one-hitting a Balrog, then you can probably find something rules-lite or homebrewed which will do you fine just to serve as that limitation, but means you can focus on the roleplaying aspect.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the main issues with using the other systems, which is accessability vs. suitability.

I'm not sure how well MERP holds up nowadays, and you run the risk of players not owning/ beingconfident with systems like One Ring, but if you can get them to buy in, you'll probably save yourself a lot of work in the long run.

On the flip side, a lot of people will know how to play 5e but unless you're using something like Adventures in Middle Earth (which runs into the problems above), then there's a risk that you dilute a lot of the Tolkein-ness of the setting by having stand ins for X, annoying your players by limiting their options (especially around magic), or having to literally rewrite the entire book to make sure it fits.

All in all, it's probably your judgement call about what you want to run and how much resource you're willing to put into it (be it cost or time).

For what it's worth, I have Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG and love the CODA rules system, so will always throw my hat into the ring for that.

The One Ring is my personal favorite.

Adventures in Middle Earth for 5e is pretty good in my experience

I think whichever system you choose you will find players who are interested. Some will like the system and want to join, some not like it but will join anyway, and others won’t join. But in the end you will find a pool of enough players to make it worthwhile.

What’s really important is choosing a system that YOU like and want to use. If you lose a player or two, not a problem, but if the GM folds, game over man!

(Having said all that, I like the 5e AME rules and I also have the One Ring PHB but have never played it).

In reply to Arkyn (msg # 1):

If story is the only reason or intent you might want to check out Microscope by Ben Robbins. I’m currently also having a blast playing with
The Pool.

I spent nearly a decade running monthly games of The One Ring and having owned MERP, and Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG, I feel like TOR is the closest to achieving the feeling of Middle-Earth as seen in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. My players almost unanimously loved it as well (there were some rules related stumbling blocks in the earlier days but we were all new too it so it made sense later once we understood things better) and even though it's been about two years since our last game they're all eagerly awaiting the release of the second edition currently in development.

In terms of current content it starts 5 years after The Hobbit with four adventure sets (each made of 7 linked adventures) one set in Wilderland proper, one set in Eregion, one set in Rohan, and the last set in the Dalelands. There is an epic campaign that covers 30 years as the darkness of Dol Guldur grows to try and reclaim Mirkwood for the Enemy. There are region books describing Wilderland and Mirkwood, Rivendell, the Breelands, Rohan, Dale and Erebor (with dozens of NPCs for the forces of Light and Shadow).

The new edition is moving the starting timeline forward about... 30ish years IIRC and will start off around the Shire and Eregion with a long awaited supplement on Moria in development.

I have a lot more I could say about TOR but probably the best I can say is that it is undeniably my favorite take on Middle-Earth in a TTRPG format and feels most like something that Tolkien would have fully endorsed were he alive.

I’ll take a look at all these thx team!!

TOR certainly captures the "feel" of Middle-Earth and isn't hard to learn. Check the online character generator/sheet for ease...

http://azrapse.es/tor/sheet.html

Are TOR (The One Ring, pub. 2011) and AIME and (Adventures in Middle Earth, pub. 2016) the same?  Because _SO_ much of the text is the same.  Some of the same people, but...

too many samesies.

Am reading them both atm.  At first blush, I think I prefer the AIME's connectedness to 5e though I am very undecided.

In reply to Arkyn (msg # 12):

AIME is the 5e version of TOR. As far as I'm aware, all the books from TOR were translated for 5e and I think (not 100%) that they are going to continue releasing AIME when TOR 2.0 releases.

Ah, got it. Thanks.  I've been reading that TOR won't release 2.0?

2.0 was kickstarted a few months ago, it's currently being worked on:

THE ONE RING™ Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...ndroid_project_share

And if you backed the KS, the Alpha version of the rules is out…

In reply to Gatecrasher (msg # 16):

I should probably check for that :)

There is also the recently released Against the Darkmaster, which is an upgraded version of MERP. It's really good.

There's a lot going on with these systems.  Again, at first blush with Against the DarkMaster...it's def. my 4th or 5th choice - with AIME, TOR, MERP and GURPS ahead of it.

I'm experimenting with the character creation in AIME rn.  While working, of course, but like geeze, c'mon people, I'm trying to play a game here!

Pure content, MERP. Its Rolemaster lite so rules heavy, and its OOP but you can find material and players out there.

Personally, for the others, I've looked at The One Ring and found it lacking.

I’m a RM player from the 90’s so I love me some RM (and MERP) of course.  I’m not sure I have it in me to manage the mechanics in any format, but pbp even less so.

I’m still considering game and system tho so no need to set stuff on fire as yet.

I would never set anything on fire.::Smiles:: Only voiced a personal opinion to a semi-broad question.

I think the One Ring was an amazing system, :)

Oh hey - no I meant that i didn’t want to get people fired up for nothing.  Im still at least a month away from putting up even an IC for a middle earth game.  I used to run amazing RM campaigns, but I literally needed computer systems to do so and not get bogged down in combat and that was FTF games.  I can’t imagine how that would go in pbp games.

Anyway, yah, def. love MERP; all the right feels, and no doubt there are players out there…somewhere. But I’m still a bit away from it.  I need to home-solo playtest AIME, which so far is my front runner; it’s the MERP is to RM what AIME is to 5e.  Mechanics same but setting independent.  I’ll be back here when I make a decision for sure.