The Lord of the Rings RPG

         This is a page for Decipher's "The Lord of the Rings" Roleplaying Game, released in late 2002, but also about role-playing in Tolkien's Middle-earth in general.

Review of LotR RPG Core Book

This is my review of the core book, which goes into fair detail based on a close reading, sorting through online errata and rulings, and playtesting.

 

The Northern Shadow Campaign

A link for the LOTR campaign which I played in from February 2003 to January 2004. It was set in neary Lake-town and Mirkwood early in the time period of the War of the Ring.
House Rules Document (First Draft)

 

Beorning Background

Background on the Beornings as a culture, who are mentioned but not detailed in the Lord of the Rings RPG book -- and never described directly as a people in Tolkien.

 

Principles of Magic in Middle Earth

A collection of quotes and speculation on the nature of magic in Tolkien's Middle Earth -- mostly independent of rules system.

 

Campaign Ideas

A collection of campaign ideas set on Middle Earth in roughly the times and regions of the Lord of the Rings, independent of rules system.

 

Links

My links for Tolkien role-playing in general, including for Decipher's LOTR, ICE MERP, and general sites for background on Tolkien.

 

Interview of Steven S. Long

An interview of Steven S. Long from August 2001 answering questions about the design of the RPG.

Play Aids

LotR RPG Core Book Combined Errata

Decipher has released three files: an "errata" file which corrects outright editting errors, a "rulings" file which corrects unclear text, and an "FAQ" which corrects common mistakes. This file merges all three, organized by page number of the core book.

 

LotR RPG Character Generation Summary

This provides a step-by-step view of character generation, not clear from the original rulebook.

 

Table of Order Skills

This is a table which shows the skills for all of the orders in the core book in a compact form.

 

Order Comparisons

This is a large page with a table of all the combinations of two orders. It links to a view of the comparison of their skill sets: what skills they have in common, what each has in addition, and what they are missing.

 

Maneuvers Table

This is a single-page table of the maneuvers from the core rulebook, put into a handy table.

 

Sample Fellowship of the Ring Stats

This is some sample stats for characters out of the Fellowship of the Ring sourcebook (Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas). To me, it was eye-opening about the system and how it viewed itself in relation to the material.

 

Other References

Role-Playing in the Fourth Age by Jeff Black
Names of Middle Earth by Colin Chapman (100KB, 4 pages)
Decipher Rules Quick Reference (100KB, 13 pages)
Decipher Spell List / Grimoire (150KB, 1 page)