Pyramid Review
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Adventure Game
Published by Decipher, Inc.
Written by Kenneth Hite, Matt Colville, Christian Moore, Steve Long, & Owen Seyler
Boxed set; $29.95
For fans of all things fantasy, the last few weeks of 2001 gave us two films to savor and debate. One was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and if we are not to see an RPG based upon that intellectual property, we are at least to see one based upon the second film, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Decipher, better known for their Star Wars and Star Trek collectible card games, dip their toe into the roleplaying market with another big license in the form of The Lord of the Rings RPG. It should be pointed out that while this new game is published by Decipher, it has been designed and written by the creative team behind the late and much lamented Last Unicorn Games. The same team will also be making their second stab at the Star Trek RPG license later this year.
Before the full Lord of the Rings RPG comes out, Decipher have released The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Adventure Game, a box set designed to introduce new gamers to the hobby and old gamers to the setting and the system. Of course, this is not the first RPG to be based upon the works of Tolkien, but more properly the third. The first was the complex M.E.R.P. (or Middle Earth Role Playing) published by ICE and set not during the time of the War of the Ring, but much earlier in the Second Age of Middle Earth. This was . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 15, 2002
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