RobbyPants wrote:I don't know how true to LotR he wants to stay. If he keeps magic items scarce, he'll want to cap the game at a lower level than 10. You'll quickly run into problems otherwise. As you mentioned, E6 might be a good place to start.
Extremely close, and I mentioned the same thing. A Mithril chain shirt and a +1 short sword are epic and super-awesome.
PoliteNewb wrote:Also...no cleric, druid, wizard, or sorcerer? What's Gandalf? Saruman? Sauron? Elrond?
They are all NPCs. Gandalf is a myeair spirit, or something - he shouldn't be built with class levels and the interesting bits of the game should be played on the soldier/hobbit level where goblins and orcs are not a laugable nuisance. This of course is debateable, but is the common interpretation and also in line with the opinion of the guy who wants to run the game.
If you want a d20 but non-3.5 option, check out "The Black Company" RPG for a new system of magic, which I think would actually fit LotR pretty well.
Noted, I'll have to take a look at that thanks!
FrankTrollman wrote:ubernoob wrote:Why not do 4E? It's much closer to LotR right out of the box.
This is actually true.
You'd want to do something about the fact that things are
extremely boring, but characters do gradually increase in swording ability without ever being able to solve problems in any meaningful way other than MTP + extrapolations of normal human abilities since they have no out of combat abilities worth mentioning. However, a big problem for 4e in this instance is that the guy is seriously considering removing Cure Light Wounds on the grounds that he doesn't want healing in combat. Cure Light Wounds in 3e is fucking worthless and no one cares, but he is seriously worried about it anyway, which means that he would probably explode in Nerd Rage when he saw the combat healing in 4e - since that's like the
entire game.
There wouldn't be even an ounce of support for 4e in this group, but I get your point, and the ironic thing is that this group is actually a big fan of MTP. I don't think any of us care enough about 4e to nerd rage about it for any reason.
Healing spells in combat, even the worthless ones, are being axed for two main reasons: It's a trap option in combat so let's treat it like what it is, and far less healing overall is the goal. I don't
like the idea that we're going to seriously be carrying wounds around with us for days waiting on natural healing and herbs to do the trick, but that's what he's after.
Incidentally, this group has been together for a few years after playing a pretty epic Midnight game. Since we're all familiar with it I'm guessing that setting's class
wildlander will be considered for a magic-less ranger replacement (better in every way). Also, and this is the main reason I bring this up, he's considering using that setting's
charms and
herbalism options, which were made for a low-magic setting and do a pretty good job of creating interesting and non-game-breaking options for things like healing and bonuses. Thematically it fits well with a setting where a leaf can be used to heal a hobbit, but in general I'm a fan of it for what it's trying to be.
So that's a few more additions to the old houserule bucket that he wants to be mostly empty. At least a class and subsystems aren't ingrained in everything and overly difficult to deal with. But you guys are pushing me more toward recommending E6 strongly.
Speaking of which, can anyone point me to the best source for E6 information please?
Love you guys, hugs.