Author Topic: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E  (Read 12359 times)

Offline Maelphaxerazz

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2016, 03:09:38 PM »
In fact, perhaps D&D would be a better game if we got rid of the entire idea of there being a separation between the magical and the mundane
D&D "mundane" is pretty magical already. Given a high enough skill check, one can swim up waterfalls, squeeze through holes smaller than their head, balance upon a cloud, or track the day-old trail of a penny toad across wet granite during a thunderstorm. Therefore D&D Ex vs Sp isn't so much about mundane vs magical, but very hard magic vs very easy magic.

Offline bhu

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #21 on: March 16, 2016, 03:55:35 PM »



Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #22 on: March 16, 2016, 05:04:46 PM »
I take it, the Panda didn't know about Popcorn-shaped Chewing Gum.


It isn't all that clear from that official announcement
that they really are talking about doing it with 5e.
There never was an officially official d20 LotR.
idk whether d20 or 5e would be better or not or what.

 :???
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Offline Maelphaxerazz

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #23 on: March 16, 2016, 08:44:54 PM »
idk whether d20 or 5e would be better or not or what.
Of the two, 5e would be better, or at least easier to do. d20 has too much magic item dependency built into it. One could still do it, but it would require either having a shockingly large number of magic items (by Middle Earth standards) or writing an entirely new Monster Manual that is not fully compatible with "normal" D&D 3.5, due to the differences in CRs, AC, AB, HP, DCs, and so on.

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #24 on: March 17, 2016, 03:36:11 PM »
Good point.

And the big pile of anecdotes is
you don't need 5e magic items
= perfect for LotR.
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Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #25 on: March 19, 2016, 02:00:12 PM »
The Skill System in 5th also doesn't favor superhero abilities either. Like someone referenced the well known track a bullfrog that crossed a concrete surface three days ago and since that fourteen feet of snow has fallen is totally doable in a pinch. In 5th that'd just be labeled "impossible" and generate a DC of 30. +12ish double-Proficiency cap & a +5ish ability bonus cap and at least you have a 65% chance of getting a false reading.

At least until splat raises the possibilities some more.

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #26 on: March 20, 2016, 02:37:47 PM »
Different link for this, answers my Q about if it's 5e specific = yes.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/166831-The-One-Rings-Cubicle-7-Entertainment-Is-Making-A-Lord-of-the-Rings-Dungons-and-Dragons-Compatible-RPG#&gid=gallery_5971&pid=1

" ... The tabletop publisher will team up with Sophisticated Games to produce an official Middle-earth game which is fully compatible with D&D's Fifth Edition ... "



and now they need to negotiate with Harry Potter.
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Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #27 on: March 20, 2016, 04:10:52 PM »
What they really need to do is negotiate with Lego.

Imagine trying to hit 88mph on a Nimbus while 360 no-scope sniping a Darth Balor using a flintlock as Wolverine.

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #28 on: March 21, 2016, 05:17:15 PM »
Uhh  :twitch

that's uhh, like I can't even, wh-whaaaaat  :???


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Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #29 on: March 21, 2016, 06:55:57 PM »
Lego owns a ton of rights to make their video games including Star Wars, LotR, Marvel, Back to the Future, etc. and the games use pretty much the same exact engine. So imagine if they managed to come up with a Lego-to-D&D deal.

List.

Offline Samwise

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #30 on: March 21, 2016, 11:07:24 PM »
So imagine if they managed to come up with a Lego-to-D&D deal.

I vaguely recall some mention of a deal with some Lego knockoff company for such things some years back.
I guess it died a lingering death with "4E".

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #31 on: March 22, 2016, 04:58:05 PM »
Lego 1 .. got that
Lego 2 ... I did not know, interesting, that's a big pile of fun

88mph ... got that

Nimbus ... got that

360o no scope sniping ... got that (don't do it much)

Darth ... got that
Balor ... of course I got that

flintlock ... I can imagine / google (starts humming Davey Davey Crocket king of the wild frontier)

Wolverine ... got that


but the Gumbo / Jambalaya of all of it = that recent commercial where people's heads partially explode with blue smoke.
 :D  :twitch
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Offline Nunkuruji

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #32 on: March 22, 2016, 05:21:14 PM »
The positive outlook is attracting more/new people to the table genre, specifically the Dungeons & Dragons brand.

I suppose it can go as well or poorly as how comic book fans view the DC/Marvel movie franchises.

I have no idea what the LotRO game did or did not do, and this is similar in being only a curiosity.

Offline Unbeliever

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #33 on: April 03, 2016, 05:39:23 PM »
Full disclosure:  didn't read the thread besides the OP.

I recently played the Shadow of Mordor game on PC.  It is obviously not the sort of story Tolkien would have written (way too much action for one).  But, it captured the basic ideas, the themes, of the setting.  So, it can be done without being too wedded to the very specifics, of which I think much of this thread is fighting about, if you get that part right.

As a side note, I've noticed a pretty strong resurgence of Sword & Sorcery type of stuff in gaming.  There's a lot more REH, Fritz Leiber, and Michael Moorcock stuff that I'm coming across rather than the Dragonlance/LotR epic fantasy that dominated during the halcyon days of my youth.

Offline Libertad

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #34 on: April 03, 2016, 07:11:33 PM »
As a side note, I've noticed a pretty strong resurgence of Sword & Sorcery type of stuff in gaming.  There's a lot more REH, Fritz Leiber, and Michael Moorcock stuff that I'm coming across rather than the Dragonlance/LotR epic fantasy that dominated during the halcyon days of my youth.

This might sound weird, but I think that between this and the Conan RPG funding by leaps and bounds on KickStarter, I believe that the older demographic of nerds feel a comeback to 5th. The kind who stuck with old-school D&D and resented 4th Edition's major changes.

It seems that Dungeons & Dragons has a resurgence, but as of now is primarily among the gamers who grew up in the pre-Internet days and were influenced by what was popular then. I think that abandoning 4th Edition and emphasizing the "roots" of D&D as it were played a major part.

Granted, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings has a lot of young fans, but I haven't seen much attempts at bringing in more "new media." There's been no Harry Potter RPG in the tabletop scene, nor a "fantasy anime" sourcebook even in third-party D&D. The most we got right now is Ponyfinder, but I don't see many online communities talking about things like "my kids love Steven Universe, how can I transplant them into 5th Edition?" or any actual good attempts at transplanting great video game mechanics since Neverwinter Nights. The closest we've got was Pathfinder Online, and that pretty much devolved into a "not for Wow babbies, pure role-players!" circlejerk.

Even the April Fool's joke by Wizards of the Coast this year had a tinge of resentment against WarCraft and new media. As in "how can we beat our rivals at Blizzard?" than asking "why is Blizzard so popular and what can we do to draw in outsiders?"


I'm sorry if this sounds negative, and I guess it is in some parts, but I sort of feel that tabletop gaming has focused on the decades-long players it already has at the expense of appealing to younger generations. There's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't gel well with the supposed unifying aspect of 5th Edition and recent talks about increasing diversity and representation in geek culture (lso something promoted by Wizards, Onyx Path, and the big dogs in the industry).
« Last Edit: April 03, 2016, 07:13:43 PM by Libertad »

Offline Samwise

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Re: An official Lord of the Rings setting to be published for D&D 5E
« Reply #35 on: April 03, 2016, 08:48:09 PM »
I'm sorry if this sounds negative, and I guess it is in some parts, but I sort of feel that tabletop gaming has focused on the decades-long players it already has at the expense of appealing to younger generations. There's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't gel well with the supposed unifying aspect of 5th Edition and recent talks about increasing diversity and representation in geek culture (lso something promoted by Wizards, Onyx Path, and the big dogs in the industry).

As one of those decades-long players . . . I think you are right, but I think you are missing some cause and effect elements.

As I've seen it, a lot, if not most, of the drive with settings and "feel" has come from the "squeaky wheels" - whichever sub-group of fans makes the most noise gets the most lip service.
And currently, that seems to be the self-proclaimed OSR crowd, particularly the Appendix N fanbois.
That has two major problems:
1. Just because they are the noisiest, including the most active on forums or social media, in no way establishes they represent what is, or should be, the core fan base. The biggest case studies of this are WotC trying to go "Iron Kingdoms" with their last version of the game, and even keeping the writer of that around for the current edition, along with the echo chamber that is Paizo and its wallowing in spellcaster indulgement and torture pr0n adventures.
2. Particularly with the Appendix N fanbois, most of them are utterly clueless about the genre they are insisting is the "heart" of D&D. I've actually read massive amounts of Appendix N, and while it is great inspiration on a trope level, direct conversion of the material would be a complete disaster. To begin with, 90% of the stories are solo adventures, with 9% being duos, and only 1% getting into anything even vaguely resembling stable teams. Mind you, some people love campaigns where the PCs spend more time backstabbing each other than fighting any monsters, but that is definitely not the dominant market, no matter how many OSR clone games they Kickstart.

On top of that is just how jerky vocal grognards tend to be with new material. They will whine about getting more material for their favorite setting, then almost invariably trash it to the point of driving away newcomers from even considering it. Of course as soon as they've killed it they will be out in force to pick up "free" copies of everything for use in their campaigns, blithely dismissing reminders of how they smeared it so viciously when it was being issued.

So as much as I'd "love" to see a dozen new Greyhawk sourcebooks, with me as project manager of course, realistically I recognize that WotC should move onto an entirely new setting, preferably one that resonates more with new fantasy trends (without subordinating the system in the process) to attract new players.