Adventures In Middle Earth

[j_spencer93]

Ok. Since my last thread concerning this didn't get a single reply I will cut the topic down to a single book.
Are the feats, new items, and classes presented here able to be added to a normal game without to many balance issues? I am not good at judging these sort of things.

[Tallis]

What book?

[j_spencer93]

Adventures in Middle-Earth Player's Guide

[Anonymouswizard]

Short answer? Possibly.

Long answer? I can't give a proper review until I've a) seen the book and b) played the classes, which as I'm on a Fate binge is unlikely. The most likely thing to have happened for the classes to be roughly balanced with the Fighter, Rogue, Paladin, and similar classes, instead of Clerics and Wizards, which means that adding them shouldn't cause problems. OF course, it's always possible that they decided to focus on balancing the classes with each other, I won't know unless I see the book.

[j_spencer93]

Well ill add some info. None of the classes are magic, and three of them seem to just be a renamed fighter, barbarian, and rogue. However, they added a class that can heal without magic which i do like.

[Stan]

I've spent only a couple of hours reading it so far - got the pdf this morning.

I think you could use ME classes in D&D but vice versa could mess things up. The Feats/Virtues that I've browsed through aren't particularly powerful. The equipment fits well with a medieval setting - I'd use one set or the other with equipment, converting gp so sp if using D&D treasure.

Conceptually, the backgrounds are quite different, with a role more than a background, such as doomed to die. But mechanically, they're still 2 skills and feature. I'm on the fence if I'd mix them.

If you wanted a low magic non-ME game, you could use the rules with a limited amount of magic added back in. You could use it for Arthurian tells with only a few tweaks as the rules capture high fantasy/low magic fairly well. I'd allow magic initiate in such a game as long as no damage causing cantrips were allowed. Maybe allow half and/or third caster classes depending on what you're going for.

edit: some of the ME powers get into a territory that D&D doesn't, with things like the DM giving you a clue on the threat in a future adventure. Vaguely defined things like that might not mix with certain play styles. There aren't a lot but powers tied into shadow or avoiding it will have no application.

[j_spencer93]

The classes are what I was most interested in. Hoping to have a little more feedback on if they are balanced or not. But ill take one yes as a good thing.
Are there anymore licensed books like this?