Topic: Decent Middle Earth modules?

[DangerMan]

Which of the old Middle Earth modules are any good? Which have the best maps, NPCs, plots / adventures etc?

There's so many of them and all cant possible be worth checking out. We've tried Kin Strife, but never got all the way through, due to a TPK. We are actually playing Palantir Quest right now, and it's lots of fun. Im a player (not GM), so no spoilers please. 

[VladD]

Palantir quest ties in with Northern Wastes, Arnor: The land, Arnor: The people and Angmar, but those are all 2nd edition, so you'd need: Rangers of the North, Cardolan and land of the Witchking, but Northern Wastes was never released as 1st ed.

I'm a big fan of Riders of Rohan: its so full of flavor, but I greatly like the city maps such as Minas Tirith and Pelargir.

[DangerMan]

Thanks Vlad! I'll take a look at these, if I can find them.

Any thoughts on running these with RMFRP?

[kevinmccollum]

So many of the older Merp modules were great. northern and southern mirkwood, Ghosts of the Southern Anduin, Goblin gate, just to name a few.

[VladD]

As a GM I'd remake the characters presented in the modules. RMFRP tends to increase OB significantly, especially if everything is allowed and I've seen 5th lvl PC nearing 100 OB. This was not possible in RM1 or 2. It does even out at later levels between RM and RMFRP.
I'd seriously look at a lot of the creatures presented and the ones that will be used should get an overhaul as well.

To keep things more in check, I'd look over the Vault-downloads section and check out some of the House rules there. Mine are filed there somewhere...

On the story department: use the wonderful background stories and homebrew from that vantage point. Campaign modules never gave much in the way of ready to run adventures so unless the adventures presented are right up your alley, you'd better be a little creative.

I agree fully with kevinmccollum: I'm playing in Endor (and even went into the Dark Continent) for almost all my RP years and my players, even though I try to come up with great alternatives, always choose to go back there. I learned much from the modules and especially from prof. Tolkien's writings. I feel the MERP style is a great interpretation of Tolkien's :" other hands, other minds" statement.
I should note however that it does not always follow canon and real scholars cringe when you start quoting from them.

Also I should be putting in a good word for the Shadow World modules, which are in the same Depth, scope and finish as MERP, with the added benefit that this world will more easily cope with really high level Player Characters. (15th lvl +)

[kevinmccollum]

one other point about Endor was it's size. The majority of the modules covered a small section of the continent while the rest of it was ripe for development. With all of the continent, other than the section controlled by the Numenoreans and elves, under Sauronic rule, it was easy to make "evil" campaigns.

[smug]

I like most all of the old modules -- most all of the Middle Earth material in general, in fact -- but they are going to be easier to use with RM2/C than RMSS/FRP (the first Campaign Modules pre-date MERP, in fact).