Writing an LOTR Second Age port for use with Legend

[Lubidius]

Hey. Of potential interest to some here, but I'm in the process of writing a LOTR fan conversion for Legend. I'd love input along the way if you wish to add two pence. There is not much in there yet, please consider it a work-in-progress...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xyeYqcOxltLGeSZ098Hz2gkG_z_qs9Oj7QbxwxKCJG8/edit

Also of note, I placed an Appendix listing of the Tables in the Legend Core document near the bottom; as well as what I term an Advanced Table Of Contents. Even if you don't use any of the LOTR or character creation cribs, those might be worth stealing from me. I just couldn't stand having to look for parts of the book in the PDF with the highly limited table of contents supplied with it (sorry, Mongoose, but it's little light). I just demarked the Sectional headings, and not cursive style sub-headings. I found a good handful of places in the text that likely have used inconsistent heading fonts, but I digress.

Anyhow, I'll reply again when it's nearing completion and ready for formal comments/edits.

Loving LEGEND! Can't wait to bend it a bit towards my sick LOTR Second Age setting.

 

[Lubidius]

One thing I initially would like input on is how to handle racial natural abilities. For example, I put Infravision for the Elven cultural backgrounds as what I termed a "Natural" Advanced Skill. It would be an Advanced Skill that cannot be purchased with Free Points by a Human for example. How has this been handled in previous RQ offerings? It's been a long while since I've looked over the original 1st editions and such.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I strongly recommend checking out the Middle Earth conversions that Fergo113 posted for Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying system -

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=cat&id=32

I also recommend checking out Age of Shadow roleplaying game, which uses the OpenQuest rules:

http://ageofshadow.freehostia.com/

This book is released under the Open Game License, so you can use some of the concepts in your own work if you wish.

 

[RangerDan]

Well, my first reaction would be why treat Infravision as an Advanced Skill at all?
Especially as you state that it has no set % and automatically succeeds except in extraordinary circumstances.

Legend already has special traits/abilities attached to races (like "Life Sense" for vanilla Elves).
Just state Elves, Dwarves have Infravision, define more or less what this entails in non-rules terms, and GMs can fill in the blanks :wink: .

EDIT: And thanks for the extended Table of Contents!

 

[PhilHibbs]

Just state Elves, Dwarves have Infravision, define more or less what this entails in non-rules terms, and GMs can fill in the blanks :wink: .

Why would Middle Earth dwarves and elves have infravision? I don't recall that ever being mentioned.

 

[RangerDan]

Just state Elves, Dwarves have Infravision, define more or less what this entails in non-rules terms, and GMs can fill in the blanks :wink: .

Why would Middle Earth dwarves and elves have infravision? I don't recall that ever being mentioned.

No reason from my end, I'm just responding to what's already in Lubidius' document.
I'm not exactly a Tolkien scholar, though I do recall something to this effect in my old MERP books from my ancient youth.

 

[PhilHibbs]

No reason from my end, I'm just responding to what's already in Lubidius' document.
I'm not exactly a Tolkien scholar, though I do recall something to this effect in my old MERP books from my ancient youth.

You're right, I should have replied to the other poster. Also, MERP never was a very close fit to Middle Earth either, there was lots of inapporpriate stuff in there, especially in the magic system. They tried to wedge all the tropes of other fantasy roleplaying games into Middle Earth and made a real mess.

 

[DrBargle]

They tried to wedge all the tropes of other fantasy roleplaying games into Middle Earth and made a real mess.

A real mess, with glorious Angus McBride covers.

 

[Lubidius]

- Yes, you all are correct, I should change it to "Darkvision" or "Night Vision".

- Thank you very much for pointing out the ME-BRP docs! That will help tremendously. I only noticed a few chapters there in that online repository? Are you all aware of the entirety of that document anywhere online? Looks like only 3 of the chapters are available from 2009.

- I'm shooting for a Second Age slant, so I may have some differences but that ME-BRP doc is a good foundation to compare to MERP and online/offline LOTR resources.

- And I will be taking Nightvision (previously incorrectly Infravision) out from being an Advanced Skill and just have a section for Race/Culture to describe natural abilities.

- I think I'm going to put full Cultural Background descriptions, similar to how they did it in that ME-BRP, instead of the simple table which is messy in there.

- And of course, eventually, apply actual layout and graphics just to make it all look nicer.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice! I'll post again when it's at a more advanced stage of development. This is primarily for a few one-shots or a campaign I'll be doing via Google+ Hangouts, in case anyone wants to become a potential player, private message me here.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I don't think just changing the name is the right answer - is there any mention anywhere of either being able to see in total darkness? I'd have thought it would be mentioned as they enter Moria before Gandalf makes his staff glow, or in Helm's Deep caves. Elves have exceptionally keen vision and visual processing, counting 105 Rohirim when all Gimli and Aragorn could only see a dusty smudge in the distance, and can probably see well in very low light levels.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I have an idea how to model elven or dwarven crafting:

"By taking a penalty of -50 to a crafting skill, the crafter can imbue the item with a bonus of +5% to a specific skill or +1 to a specific bonus such as damage, or 1 point of Common Magic spell.

When a crafter's skill exceeds each 100% threshold, they gain the ability to craft a particular bonus into an item."

For example, if Galadriel has 300% in Weaving, then the cloaks she makes at -200% will grant +20% to the wearer's Stealth and she will still have a 100% chance to craft the item. She can also craft items with two other bonuses, for example a scabbard that grants +4 AP to the sword (at the GMs option, less-powerful attributes such as AP might gain more than +1 per -50), and a rope that grants +20 to Survival skill.

Any opinions on what skill level a 12,000 year old elf who was taught by the Valar would have? I think I'm woefully underestimating her at 300%.

 

[DrBargle]

Any opinions on what skill level a 12,000 year old elf who was taught by the Valar would have? I think I'm woefully underestimating her at 300%.

Although, and this might not apply to a 2nd Age setting, I always get the impression that the Elves were fading, collectively and individually. Though they are the same people as those that walked with the 'gods', they do not have the same legendary capacities.

It could just be a bad case of ennui.

At the every least, I'm not sure that Galadriel should be treated as if she has been getting better and better at crafting since she was taught by the Valar - continual improvement is surely the province of short lived humans who learn their skills at the forge of the village blacksmith.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Although, and this might not apply to a 2nd Age setting, I always get the impression that the Elves were fading, collectively and individually. Though they are the same people as those that walked with the 'gods', they do not have the same legendary capacities.

The capabilities, we know. To an extent. We know in narrative terms what effect the cloaks had, the self-untying rope, Lembas, the Phial, and the scabbard from which a drawn blade would never be broken. So then it's just a case of scaling the two factors (how high the skill, and the level of item bonus per skill % together to give the right bonus. If you think a regular Galadriel-crafted item has a bonus of +50%, then the two might be scaled thus: Galadriel has a skill of 1000% and you get +5% per 100% skill. Or, Galadriel has 250% skill and you get +5 per 25% skill. I'd prefer the first option, as that gives a human with a mere 100% only a small bonus, if any.

 

[Lubidius]

If anyone cares to take part in a Second Age mini-campaign using Legend, here is my campaign's G+ page:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102714997213919784033/102714997213919784033/posts

I became resolved to use straight up Legend character creation, instead of any extrapolated LOTR backgrounds. Everyone is starting as Numenore, Elendili ("Faithful"). Using the "Civilized" background from the core Legend rules.

Of note, I've opened up the game to MERP 1st/2nd ed. spell lists, as well as Middle Earth - BRP spells, and d20 spells. (Preferring that individuals start with a MERP based grimoire, then add to it customized-wise with either of the additional tomes that are open for use.