Recently I was surfing over at Troll and Toad Games, and stumbled across some of the old MERP stuff by ICE from the 80's. I recall dabbling with this game back in the day, and couldn't pass up on the opportunity to pick up a copy of the 1986 boxed set for only $19.
After about a week, it arrived, and I must say, considering the fact that this boxed set is 25 years old, it was in fantastic shape. Just some minor wear on the bottom edge, but the rest of the set was well put together and in fantastic condition. No page tears in the rulebook, or missing parts from the set. The two 20 sided dice that were included are not the original dice included, but that's okay.
Having simply skimmed over the rules last night briefly, it seemed the system is a bit cumbersome in areas. While I played this a couple of times years ago, the mechanics are lost on me. Still, the opportunity to do a fantasy role play in Middle Earth has always intrigued me. Sure, a campaign could easily be adapted using a clone or some form of DnD rules, but I wanted to give the old system a shot. I'm not exactly sure when, or even if, I will get a chance to play this again, but it's a nice thing to have for the collection anyway.
If any of you readers out there have some of the old MERPS stuff from ICE just laying around collecting dust, I'd sure like to have it. Just drop me a line at robertchandler AT gmail DOT com.
Congratulations on your purchase! I have very fond memories of MERP and my first long campaign was run using the first edition of the rules (which I still own). Alas, I'm afraid I cannot part with my supplements, as they are precious to me. :)
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I used to work with some of the old ICE guys. Good people. Didn't know they had anything to with ICE until years after I met them.
Thanks RM. I'm glad I was able to get a copy in such great condition. I recall we had a few of the supplements back then. The maps were very well done, and the detail of the books was quite good. Hopefully I can get my hands on some more of this stuff.
ReplyDeleteI also recall ICE made a CCG of Middle Earth in the mid 90's. It was fairly short lived, but my friends and I loved that game. That's interesting you worked with some of those guys. Was this in the gaming industry or in another vocation?
I used to work for Kesmai Studios, which was later bought by Electronic Arts. We were a small computer game studio based in Charlottesville, Virginia (which was also where ICE was based). I remember how we were trying to get the Mage Knight license and I noticed that Pete Fenlon's maps looked very similar to those I remembered from MERP. That's when I found out that he actually did those old MERP maps (and wrote much of the content as well).
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that's pretty awesome. I don't think I could have resisted the temptation to have him sign some books. Small world.
ReplyDeleteIf you can get a handle on the rules, could you explain them? I tried to delve into this system a few months ago and it did not go well... in particular, unless I seriously misread something, you have to make a die roll to successfully move in combat. :)
ReplyDeleteI will certainly do my best, Ryan. I have really only skimmed over the rules. Once I have a chance to really pour through them, I'll post about it here.
ReplyDelete@Ryan: It's been a while since I looked at the rules in detail, but I don't think you make maneuver rolls for every move in combat. It's just for the hard stuff (like swinging from chandeliers and such). At least that's how we played it.
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