18 thoughts on “Does anyone have a Lord of the Rings hack for DW?”

  1. The some character classes would need new moves or entirely new skill sets. The magic is very different for instance since it is so limited in LotR. Character classes like the thief work but the immolator is right out. Paladin might work but the Ranger would get no animal companion so moves would need to replace that. That sort of thing.

  2. Chris Stone-Bush Possibly but the ranger would need to be reworked, new classes like elven prince/princess might replace the paladin, or cleric for example, that kind of thing.

    It is within my skill set and interests to do so however if someone had already done the work I wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel.

  3. The problem with lotr as an rpg is the inherent railroad plot. You must destroy this ring, or else the world will end.

    Dungeon world, by default, is a much more open world than that. I’m actually working on a hack that might could do the in between.

  4. William Nichols I don’t think that is a problem at all. I guess it depends on what is meant by a “Lord of the Rings” game, but generally when people say that, they DON’T mean “I’m looking to re-enact the books” but rather “I’m looking to have some adventures in Middle Earth”.

    And honestly, no, I don’t think default DW is a good choice. You’d need to trim out or alter too much of what is baked into the playbooks.

    I also don’t necessarily think Fellowship is a good choice – Fellowship actually IS about that sort of “Throw the Ring into the fire” kind of journey, and as such, it’s kindof a weird fit for Middle Earth, because Middle Earth’s “epic quest to save the world” is already a documented thing. I haven’t read Fellowship, but from what I understand, while it’s a good fit for “epic quest style games in the vein of Lord of the Rings” I don’t think it would actually be a good fit for LotR itself.

    So yeah. Middle Earth actually varies too much from the general stock assumptions of modern fantasy games to fit easily. That’s part of what makes it great. But it also makes it hard to game in, and I don’t think there’s a PbtA game that does so well. If you’re really interested in gaming in the setting, however, Cubicle 7’s “The One Ring” RPG is really excellent in a lot of ways, and approaching it as a GM with *world style sensibilities can produce an amazing Middle Earth experience.

  5. … Oddly enough, I agree. There’s not a good hack out there.

    But, maybe I’m writing one? Its called Dragon World, with the idea that it focuses more on emotions and economy than on tactics.

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