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[The One Ring 2e] - What are people's experiences with this system? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago by litchitar@lemmy.world to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

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Hey everyone, the story of the current campaign (Homebrew DnD5e) I'm running is wrapping up and I'm planning to run the One Ring 2e for a bit before starting another long campaign. Players and I are excited for something a bit different and I've read through the rulebook/starter set a few times now.

Has anyone here had experience with the system and is there any system specific advice you have for it?

Thank you for your time reading 🙂

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[–] tissek@ttrpg.network 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I've ran a few of the starter set adventures set in the Shire. Overall opinion is that it wasn't cup of tea to run. The system felt like it was in a odd place, too crunchy for a light system and not crunchy enough enough for a medium crunch system. It just felt... weird. A bit off. As for crunch level it is way below 5e, almost more akin to an OSR system. But it so hard tried to lean into narrative mechanics.

Now I have to admit that my experience of the system is based on playing starter set adventures, leaning into the idyllic country life. We never used the fellowship rules which does look interesting and instead just hand waved recovery between adventures. I think longer more gruelling adventures would allow the system to shine better. Primarily through the fellowship phase, the downtime and recovery phase. But instead I had a bunch of hobbits doing stuff for Bilbo.

Bilbo. Here we come to my second issue with the system. Tolkien's world and the works based off it. For many this is the selling point but I felt a bit too restrained. We do know what happens in the world, things that already were set in motion at the time of the starter set. And I'm one of those who doesn't really want to mess with canon stories so having Bilbo there, right in front of me, restrained me. I should really stop running games in well known established settings.

To summarise. It is a well crafted system that I found sitting in a weird place crunch-wise. The direct presence of lore-essential characters and events did restrain me in what I felt I could do with it.

[–] litchitar@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

This is a really good response, thank you!

I see what you mean with the lore essential characters and tend to agree. I think I'll use the starter set for inspiration but discard a bunch of it including characters like Bilbo (outside of being an NPC if players insist on visiting bag end).

Thank you for the heads up on mechanics, I think (with admittedly no experience) that relative to systems like dnd5e it's still light enough to be manageable for a short-shot. I'll keep an eye out on how the crunch handled (and ask players how they feel about it as they play).

[–] Kerrald@ttrpg.network 2 points 2 years ago

I've only played some of the starter set as a player, so I can't provide a ton of insight there. I think the biggest thing is making sure the players are bought into the core concept of the game and the system. It is not 5e, doesn't play like 5e. Combat is far more abstract, and for some that becomes a barrier.

Hopefully other GMs will chime in with advice on running it, but making sure it's a good fit for the group is where I go to first.

[–] GrumblingGM@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

I've run a 5 games in TOR2E so far, no campaign, just one shots. I find it falls into the same trap Free League regularly fall in (see also Twilight 2000 4th edition for example), in that it's too crunchy to be a really good narrative system but at the same time it's too loosey goosey to be a really good gamist system. Because of this, the system fails to really hit the spot with either audience.

The starter set with Shire adventures is really to be avoided if you care at all about the lore; with the way they treat existing book characters. But outside of starter set, I feel like TOR2E really hits the spot when it comes to emulating the feel and ambience of Middle Earth.

If you're really a big fan of Middle Earth I can definitely recommend TOR2E, just without the starter set. But if you're not a hardcore fan of the setting I'm not sure the system has enough pull to draw you in.

As far as alternatives go; I've not played the current 5E adaptation, but I've played C7's 5E adaptation "Adventures in Middle Earth", and personally found it absolutely horrible. It was a good version of 5E, but it was nothing like Middle Earth. A lot of core D&D 5E gameplay and tropes are inherently incompatible with Middle Earth setting in my opinion.