Adventures in Middle-Earth (DnD5e)

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TheophilusCarter

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I might get a chance to run some of this before too long. Any experiences with it you can share? Anything to be on the lookout for?
 
I have run it and its mostly good. The 5e design is a little shaky at times as a lot of 3rd party publisher material tends to be. They tried fixing some of the more glaring errors as they went along with "optional and alternative" rules in subsequent releases. For example, there are some in the Loremasters Guide which I recommend, and a variant of the Scholar class in the LM Screen, which is also an improvement. However, it still doesn't capture it all from memory.

If I recall correctly, there is also a recommendation to use the grittier healing option from the DMG. However, the effect of this on player powers can cause some issues as they are balanced short and long rests.If you do this, I would change those concepts for healing but nothing else.
 
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I have AiME, but the Middle Earth game I previously ran used Fate Core, and I have mainly used the Cubicle 7 books for inspiration.
Having said that, next time I run Middle Earth I might go with AiME, as it looks like it does things well

It's a great version of D&D 5E, and the Tolkien vibe is really well done.

The Rest rules look like they add some grounded realism. From memory, the campaign supplements aren't combat-centric, maybe only one or two scripted opportunities for combat in an Episode, so PCs don't need to expend Hit Dice in recovery as often.
However when combat does occur, it feels more threatening due to the reduction in opportunities to use Hit Dice for recovery.
It's not 'gritty realism', but it certainly makes player-characters pursue other options rather than combat, particularly lethal combat.

The Cubicle 7 books are really great for capturing the flavour of Middle Earth!
 
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I’ve played it. We had a campaign running a year or two ago for several months. It was good, but if you are used to playing D&D, you need to take note that the impact of having no spell casting characters is pretty significant. No magical healing, no magic missiles, no magical advantages of any kind really. The result is a lot more dangerous, especially at low levels, where an encounter with Orcs is pretty scary stuff.
 
I played two campaigns of Adventures in Middle Earth. Some observations

1) The journey system is very good. Remember that you can place the encounters anyplace along the journey where they make sense. It not a periodic roll like other editions of D&D. Instead it describe X encounters for a journey of a given length.

For me this solves a big problem with periodic encounter in that the actual encounters often doesn't quite fit the location where they happen. With the AiME journey rules, you got a lot flexibility to place them where they make sense.

Also the journey rules are an interesting mini-game in their own right. Just remember to have the players describe what they do first and roll second. Otherwise it will just seem like a dice game.

The consequences of the journey rules dominated a session unexpectedly. I generated two encounters, one an encounter with the enemy, and the other the party may get lost. So I weaved the two together into an encounter with the party's nemesis who set up an ambush by rerouting the trial the party was own.

The party did not do well and got captured. What followed was a an epic session of the party's escape. That involved among other things a fight with one member tied up and the other armed with a log against a bandit with a shortsword with everybody at a disadvantage due to exhaustion and the cold.

Then the party having to fight for survival afterwards until they made it to a friendly Woodsmen settlement (this was in Wilderlands).

2) The audience rules seem fancy but in reality amounts to a standard way of presenting what an NPC care about and what will piss them off. Note it is easy to piss off people in Middle Earth. Again best used by roleplaying first, and rolling second. Using the likes and dislike as a guide to the results.

3) As noted in previous posts, there is little in the way of flashy magic. There is some mundane healing but the biggest limitation is that you can only do a long rest in a "safe" location. Not in the wilderness. While adventuring you can only do short rests. Resource management is huge in AiME.

4) Learn the exhaustion rules. A lot of mechanics in AiME inflict exhaustion like the aforementioned journey rules. They play a minor part in a standard D&D 5e campaign. This is not the case for AiME. Luckily the meat of the mechanic is a single chart with six levels of exhaustion.

5) Creatures are tougher relative to their CR. This is a good think. There is a small number of types of creature but a lot of variety within those types. Spiders, Orcs, Trolls, the Dead, Wolves, etc.

6) The Shadow plays a similar role in AiME as insanity does in Call of Cthulhu. If you adventure in Middle Earth you will succumb eventually unless you take a long break. Often it becomes a bit fatalistic, can you do what needed before you have to retire from the field?

For players who don't understand the Shadow mechanics can seem unduly punitive. It is important to get across that Sauron is more than just a bad guy with evil minions. His life force is interwoven with that of Middle Earth itself. An aspect of his tutelage under Morgoth who as Melkor had a hand in the creation of Arda the world of Middle Earth. The shadow is always seeking out weaknesses to exploit in order to corrupt the inhabitant of Middle Earth to his service. Stress the similarity to CoC insanity otherwise the player will bitch that it is a crappy alignment system.

7) AiME campaign encourage in-game breaks between adventures. Partially through the Shadow mechanic but mostly through a large variety of downtime mechanics known as the fellowship phase.

8) AiME uses feats in the form of virtues. While there are mechanical benefits nearly all of them are heavily roleplaying in natures. Most of them are culture specific which makes playing a Dwarf of Erebor different than a Woodsman of Mirkwood, a Beorning, or a Man of Mina Tirith. Some virtues have levels that can be trained up during the fellowship phase.

9) While AiME has the traditional Tolkien races, the emphasis is on culture. A Dwarf of the Blue Mountains is different than a Dwarf of Erebor despite some similarities as a result of being a dwarf. Human have the largest varieties of cultures.

10) Bows reign for the most part in AiME. A well organized party will have lots and lots of arrows for their bows.

11) The adventures and region sourcebooks are excellent.

12) Dale, and Laketown offer the opportunity for urban adventures in Wilderlands.

13) In general even allied cultures are paranoid of each other. Basically everybody is touchy about visitor unless they are proven to be friends

Feel free to ask questions.
 
Wow, this is all awesome so far, thanks folks! Keep 'em comin' and I'm going to start looking more closely at the nuts and bolts and see what specific questions I have.

Oh, wait: here's one ... What if I end up with a really small number of players. Like two or even one ... Is this run-able without the more typical large D&D party? It seems like it would be in some ways, especially since there aren't the magic-using classes to worry about. Perhaps just get the PC(s) leveled up a bit faster at first through same less deadly adventures, and then watch the difficulty of various encounters as I go (just like I would in D&D in general)?
 
Oh, wait: here's one ... What if I end up with a really small number of players. Like two or even one ... Is this run-able without the more typical large D&D party?
Yes the one campaign was two players. But there were times when they had NPC allies.

It seems like it would be in some ways, especially since there aren't the magic-using classes to worry about. Perhaps just get the PC(s) leveled up a bit faster at first through same less deadly adventures, and then watch the difficulty of various encounters as I go (just like I would in D&D in general)?
I ran my campaigns like a sandbox using the Darkening of Mirkwood campaign as a source for events that were occurring.

Some observations
1) AiME (and TOR) provide maps that have areas marked out and colored as to how dangerous they are. For example there are some very dangerous areas in the interior of Mirkwood. Overall what this means that once they get to know the layout of Wilderlands (or one of the other campaign regions). They have decent information to pick and choose their approach.

2) Wilderlands Adventures are a series of standalone adventures that low level parties can tackle. They also serve as useful templates for your original ideas. You will see that much of the "action" is really roleplaying which is pretty neutral in regards to level. When combat happens is usually because it has too. It not just thrown in to have an encounter at the right time.

For example the Marsh Bell Adventure has two potential combat encounters. An unlikely one with the elves that is often avoided with roleplaying. An encounter with a weakened stone-troll in the marsh while camping that could be avoided with luck.And one encounter where combat definitely will take takes place is the rescue. In between you are dealing with the perils of the journey, and the marsh. Along with roleplaying with a few people like the elves mentioned.

3) In general, I recommend to handle this naturally. Not really knowing their mettle, the PC's patrons will give them small job at first. For example escorting a merchant and his son safety across Mirkwood along the main trail. Then as the PCs gain experience and renown they will be trusted with more difficult tasks. Or people will seek them out with help for more difficult problem.

4)Read the shadow rules and the specific on various cultures to understand how people are motivated in Middle earth.

For example is generally known that greed and lust for treasure is a path to the Shadow and corruption. So if that the route the PCs want to take they will be dealing with some pretty unsavory characters by the standards of the local cultures. Possibly even minor agents of the Shadow.
 
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