System
Originally published by Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) in 1991-1993, this was a simple, "level-less" roleplaying system designed to help introduce new players (and game masters) to roleplaying in the world of JRR Tolkien’s "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings". It uses only two 6-sided dice to resolve skill checks and combat. It was an expansion of the even simpler rules used by ICE for its Middle-earth Quest books. It was intended as a stepping stone to I.C.E.’s more complex Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) system and game modules.
Players can create characters from the races of Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and Half-elves.
Characters possess Attributes and Skills rated between -5 and +5. Skills can be modified to a rating above or below these limits (i.e. under -5 or over +5). An attack roll consists of a roll of 2D6, to which the attacker's skill rating and appropriate weapon rating are added and the defender's defense and armor rating are subtracted. The result is looked up on a table to determine success or failure, and if it is a success how much damage is done.
Spell casters can only learn a very limited number of spells. Some feel this is more in tune with the flavor of Tolkien's writings than other systems.
Read more about this topic: Lord Of The Rings Adventure Game
Famous quotes containing the word system:
“[Madness] is the jail we could all end up in. And we know it. And watch our step. For a lifetime. We behave. A fantastic and entire system of social control, by the threat of example as effective over the general population as detention centers in dictatorships, the image of the madhouse floats through every mind for the course of its lifetime.”
—Kate Millett (b. 1934)
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—David K. Shipler (b. 1942)
“We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)