Short version: I would have loved to have played in whatever homebrew MERP/Rolemaster campaign RINGS OF POWER was based off of.
Slightly longer version: as canonical Tolkien this show is an abomination before the Lord. However, if you tell yourself early and often that this show is somebody’s game, it becomes much, much easier to watch. I liked the Dwarves, and I liked the Harfoots! The Harfoots worked for me, surprisingly. I even eventually stopped wanting to punch Celebrimbor and Elrond in the face*. All in all, on its own terms it’s not… bad?
Yeah, I know. It feels blasphemous to even say.
Moe Lane
*It has nothing to do with their personalities or actions: it’s just that I’ve rarely met two characters with such punchable faces.
So, if you view it in the best of all possible lights, it only kind of sucks.
Don’t make excuses for abominations.
If I want to vicariously participate in someone else’s game session, I’ll re-read L. Jagi Lamplighter’s “Rachel Griffin” series.
It has the benefit of being good, without qualifiers.
Speaking of MERP, I’ve been enjoying reading about the rules of Against the Darkmaster (https://www.vsdarkmaster.com/). It’s definitely my kind of retro-clone, though I doubt my game table’s ready for a game this complex.
Is it using the MERP/RM rules? The cover suggests it is, but I can’t quite tell.
It’s an evolution of the MERP system, though it’s not licensing Rolemaster or Tolkien, so it’s not quite the same engine. But it’s roll d100, add a bonus, check on a table to see your degree of success, with similar critical hit tables. The Quickstart guide is pay what you want on DriveThruRPG, if you want to see more details.
I was thinking it might work well for a play-by-post game, where the complexity won’t cause things to drag as much. Though I think Foundry has a module for it, which may speed things up.
My group is definitely moving away from complex mechanics. I have enjoyed some campaigns with really complex mechanics but I also understand that my players, on the whole, don’t have the time to invest that as much that way anymore. The story and the adventure are what they enjoy the most, and that isn’t nearly so system specific.
But I will definitely check this out. It certainly sounds like it hits my interests.