I know MERP had the best illustrations but what is the most lore-accurate Tolkien TTRPG? Some games make up bullshit especially regarding the magic system.BTW, post some old school Tolkien illustrations
>>96891205>what is the most lore-accurate Tolkien TTRPG?MERP
>>96892633No it's not, ithas trollball, balrogs in Mirkwood and PC can do magic...
>>96891205The One Ring. Snazzy pictures as well, without warriors in underwear like the one you posted.
Damn the inspiration for pic related is obvious
>>96894016Pic is an Angus McBride. It most likely came first.
>>96894455That's what anon said.
>>96892949My local game shop has One Ring core and starter sets. Tried to get people interested by asking in the usual channels if anyone wants to give it a go, even already have everything, zero responses.I play and run Pathfinder and enjoy it but damn I wanna try something different. But anything that isn't D&D or adjacent to it just never seems to get traction.
>>96891205>>96894016It's also the inspiration, more blatantly, for the Kagunk Ogre Cheiftan mini from Reaper, the first Kagunk model they did specifically.
Making it "lore accurate" is a bit of a hash when you get right down to it. For all the backstory we get in the Silmarillion and other writings, Tolkien always liked to keep a lot of things vague since he didn't want to diminish the sense of wonder.
>>96891205>MERP had the best illustrationsAny specific edition? I'm about to paint War of the Ring and would welcome inspiration material that's specifically not movie-related.
>>96899734Anything by Angus McBride really
>>96891205Why does he show off his thighs like this.
>>96904147Don't lewd the thews.
>>96891205I don't think any of them actually do Tolkien accurately. They usually end up with mistakes that true fans see as blatant (Conan aesthetic, Orcs tall as or taller than Men, Hobbits with big feet, Dwarves just Hobbits with beards, Balrogs as horned Christian devils, Ents as literal trees, medieval armour and weapons, etc.).
>>96904983Did anybody do accurate armor and weapons?
>>96905120I'm pretty sure the most advanced armor in LotR books is chainmail.
>>96892917You asked which is more lore accurate. MERP is, although it takes a lot of liberties due to all the gaps in lore that Tolkien leftfor example; in the books there are only 2 named Nazgûl; the Witch King and Khamul the Easterling. What did MERP do? fill in the other 7 with made up shit, including 2 of them being women in lifeand yet it's still the most lore accurate LotR game
>>96904147If you had thighs like his you'd show them off too
>>96904983
>>96891205Thigh high boots for men are great. We should bring it back.
>>96904983>Dwarves just Hobbits with beards>Balrogs as horned Christian devils>Ents as literal treesThe first three, I get. But could you elaborate on these?How are most Tolkien-inspired games doing Dwarves wrong?I mean, sure, the Balrog in LOTR isn't described in tons of details, but imagining them as horned devils doesn't seem too far-fetched?Aren't Ents described by someone on Saruman's side as looking like a forest that walks?
>>96908504>How are most Tolkien-inspired games doing Dwarves wrong?Dwarves were not ever described as being aggressive drunkard Scots for one thing, nor were they just short people with beards. They were hardy, strong, stubborn, but honourable people, designed to survive through the harsh times of the First Age. D&D first began the trend of Dwarves being axe-wielding morons, but the LotR films really cemented them as this slapstick idiot viking midget trope.>I mean, sure, the Balrog in LOTR isn't described in tons of details, but imagining them as horned devils doesn't seem too far-fetched?It's too Christian to think of them like that. Tolkien's pretty much only inclusion of his faith was having a single primary God in Eru Iluvatar, but the bulk of divine interaction in Arda was the Valar, which were much closer to a pagan pantheon style of deities than anything Christian, precisely because Tolkien was going for a native British mythology to fill the gap that Arthurian legend (polluted by French and Christian ideologies) awkwardly perched in. It's then fairly obvious to see that Balrogs would be less like Christian demons or devils in aesthetic, and more like fire giants of Norse mythology, since it's clear Tolkien used a lot of Norse mythology already. Less horned goat and more enemies of Asgard.>Aren't Ents described by someone on Saruman's side as looking like a forest that walks?That's the Huorns. They were what looked like a moving forest, because they were literally trees that could move. Ents (name derived from Ettin) were always described more as giant humanoids, similar to trolls, but with some traits that resembled trees (Treebeard, for example, had smooth brown arms, a beard that had some slight mossy and twiggy qualities, big feet with seven toes each, and what was likely clothing made of green and grey bark but potentially was his torso skin, though I lean more towards clothes, his arms were bare and not bark-like, neither were his feet).
>>96908867>(polluted by French and Christian ideologies)Stopped reading right there. You know that Tolkien was an outspoken Catholic, right?
>>96905120The Dunedain as depicted in the Last Alliance are pretty book accurate. They're mostly armored in mail, with wings on their helmets.
>>96910275>Stopped reading right there.Then you stopped reading after I said "Tolkien's pretty much only inclusion of his faith was having a single primary God in Eru Iluvatar", which then renders your question pointless and dishonest. Tolkien did NOT equate his faith with his wider purpose of creating a true English myth. Which is why he never jumped the shark like his friend CS Lewis did when he included a talking lion version of Jesus, for example.
>>96908867>Ents (name derived from Ettin) were always described more as giant humanoids, similar to trolls, but with some traits that resembled treesInteresting. I had the chance of reading LOTR before the Jackson movies came out, but for some reason I still pictured them as animated trees. But re-reading about it, yeah, it seems that indeed you are right.Perhaps what got me confused is that they are said to "come to ressemble" the essences of trees they were watching over and "sometimes turn more tree-like with the time".We don't have any illustrations of Ents made by Tolkien himself? Or at least, directly Tolkien-approved?You also mentioned that the weapons and armour shouldn't be medieval, which period would be the best equivalent to late 3rd-Age tech level?
>>96912087>We don't have any illustrations of Ents made by Tolkien himself? Or at least, directly Tolkien-approved?I don't think Tolkien ever illustrated or approved one himself. Personally, this is as close as I could get to something that evokes what Tolkien was most likely going for, which would be his own version of the Green Man figure.>You also mentioned that the weapons and armour shouldn't be medieval, which period would be the best equivalent to late 3rd-Age tech level?It's honestly difficult to determine, as it not only varies between regions of Middle-earth, but also has the added variable of literal magic. The Numenoreans, for example, are supposed to be a stand-in for Atlantis, and they built structures that were clearly supernatural in origin (smooth black walls of Orthanc or the outer wall of Minas Tirith, for example), and made towers that would've made Medieval civilisations marvel. They also had steel, and magical metals like mithril, so it's not exactly that the level of tech is tied to our standard period divisions. After all, it's supposed to be a lost time period before history, which would be in the middle of what we know as the Stone Age but clearly isn't that either.But the Numenorean aesthetic as an example hints at ancient civilisations like the Egyptians or Babylonians, because Tolkien was aiming for an English equivalent. He wasn't trying to transplant the European Medieval period into our history, we already had it, he was trying to create a mythical age that we either never had or have long since lost after countless invasions and occupations. So anything that both provides an English theme but with very obvious hints towards ancient times would work. A suit of armour straight out of the War of the Roses would be inappropriate by comparison.
