This posting gives an initial overview of proposals for the Ea RPG Advanced Core Rules 1.0.

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Ea Role-playing Game System

Design Notes

Draft: 2008-09-07a

Initial Draft Overview and comparison between
Basic & Advanced Eä RPG Systems 1.0

Overview Introduction

The Eä Role-Playing Game System (Eä RPGS) is specifically
designed to be optimized for role playing gaming in a campaign
setting based on J.R.R. Tolkien's works whether in Middle-earth,
Numenor, or beyond. It is meant to emphasize and encourage
"Tolkienish" heroic play style.

There are two variants of the Eä RPGS available; Basic and
Advanced.

The current working version is 1.0

Why another Tolkien-based RPGS?

There have only been two “officially” licensed Tolkien-based
role-playing game system published (though a number that never quite
made it to publication, or were not officially sanctioned); Iron
Crown Enterprise’s (ICE) Middle-earth Role-playing (MERP) from 1982
through 1999, and Decipher’s CODA-based Lord of the Rings
Role-playing Game system from 2001 through 2007.

ICE's MERP system was just a scaled down generic
Rolemaster-based-system "bolted-onto" a Tolkien setting
(though the MERP supplement’s content was increasingly more "true"
to Tolkien gaming, the gaming system did not significantly improve in
that direction), and Decipher's Lord of the Rings CODA system was
actually hacked from their Star Trek system (though they did make a
significant effort to emphasize the "flavor" of "true"
Tolkien "heroic" role playing), but was severely crippled
by a very restrictive (and exorbitantly expensive) license from
Tolkien Enterprises. Both systems were still just generic RPG systems
that were not really designed for a Tolkien campaign, and so have a
number of idiosyncrasies when trying to use in a Tolkien-based
campaign. The same is true even of the efforts to make the Ea d20
system. It's still just d20, "bolted onto" a Tolkien
setting. So it has many consequences from that legacy, while trying
to not completely replace the core system.

The Ea RPG System is designed, every step of the way to emphasize
more "Tolkienish" style game play. Of course a GM (Game
Master) and players and how they actually Role Play is the most
important determining factor in having a "true feel" to it,
but a game system can (arguably) have a significant influence on
encouraging and discouraging playing certain ways. For example, a
system that doesn't have ANY magic is going to discourage players
from having magic to throw around during game play, as opposed to a
system that greatly encourages constant use of magic in a conspicuous
manner (i.e. Dungeons & Dragons, Rolemaster, etc.).

What is Role-playing gaming?

...

What is a “Tolkien-based Campaign Setting”?

...

Why the name “Eä”?

Eä is the entire universe that "is". All that is contained within Tolkien's Middle-earth-related legendarium. This name is used to represent the vast expanses of gaming possibilities in a Tolkien-based campaign that is far beyond "just" adventuring in "Middle-earth", which is only a northwest slice of a continent (of several), and spanning all four Ages and the different incarnations of the "world".

Legal-related Notes

This game system is made freely available to the public. It is in
no way endorsed or approved of by any of the Tolkien copyright,
trademark, or other intellectual property holders. This is a
fan-based created system, attempting to fill a gap that is likely to
NEVER be filled by a commercially licensed company.

Both the "Basic" and "Advanced" versions take
a more "generic" approach to naming, avoiding using any of
the names "claimed" on the list from Tolkien Enterprises as
supposedly under their sway. So for example instead of "Noldor
Elf" the race is called "High Elf". There will be a
separate document that gives the naming equivalents/conversions to
the "proper" Tolkien names, but this “conversion” will
not be included in the core rule books (just available as a separate
file). This is to hopefully keep Enterprises from having any legal
grounds in harassment. That being said, this game system is not
another "generic" rpg system. It is specifically designed
to fit as much as possible the "Feel" of a Tolkien
campaign, hopefully better than any other (finished/public) system
available out there.

Why two variants to the Eä RPGS?

There are two versions of the Ea RPG System. Basic and Advanced.
Basic is designed so that if players feel ready to "upgrade"
to the Advanced system, then conversion is relatively painless,
consistent and balanced. The Advanced system should only enhance and
build upon the foundations set by the basic system. There must not be
any contradictions, and a character that starts as Basic, and becomes
Advanced, vs. one that has been Advanced the entire time, should
NEVER be more powerful than a character that has been developed using
the Advanced system the entire time, otherwise there is a "bug"
that needs to be resolved between the two system variants. However,
an Advanced character WILL be more powerful than a comparably
experienced Basic Character, due to the more detailed specifics in
some areas that are available. For example, an Advanced Character
might specialize heavily in a specific weapon mastery, whereas the
Basic Character would only have their usual general skills
advancement available.

The Basic system is meant to enable players to very quickly create
a character. The goal is to make character generation for a Basic
Character be only around 15 minutes (the role model for that speed
is the Paranoia older system from West End Games). This means new
participants can get rolling very quickly, and become “hooked"
into Tolkien RPGing without the huge burden of every little detail
that often scares off new players (and GM's).

The Advanced system on the other hand provides far more detail to
almost every aspect of the game, whether it is the choice of races &
cultures, “roles” (professions/specialties/classes", action
resolution, combat, magic, etc., there is far more detail available
when using the Advanced system.

Many players may be perfectly content with a more “loosely
defined” system like the Basic variant, whereas others enjoy having
as much detail provided as possible. Rather than try to create one
system to meet the very diverse range of players and GM’s out
there, it seemed best to create two variants of the same system, that
are completely compatible, but non-dependent.

All the added detail means creating an Advanced Character takes
considerably than a Basic character. Expect closer to 1-2+ hours
instead of only 15 minutes. For those who like a very detailed,
richly developed character, this has great appeal.

This game system was designed by people who have been
role-playing gaming since the 1970’s (the inception of RPGing with
D&D). Many of whom were interested in role-playing because of
reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s works and wishing to “adventure in”
that world. There have been many different RPG systems over the years
for many settings, and many people have "munged" the existing game systems to try to make them more "Tolkienesque", but most would agree that even the licensed "official" Middle-earth based game systems have fallen short. The Eä RPG system derives ideas from many other
game systems, as well as comes up with some concepts and approaches
of it’s own, all sculpted to better fit a Tolkien-based campaign.

Below is an incomplete list of game systems that inspired some
ideas that in some way shaped the development of the Eä RPG system:

• 
  

  ICE MERP / Rolemaster

  
  
• 
  

  Decipher CODA / LotR RPG

  
  
• 
  

  Paranoia

  
  
• 
  

  Cthulu

  
  
• 
  

  d6 Star Wars

  
  
• 
  

  d20 / D&D

  
  
• 
  

  Babylon 5 (old version)

  
  
• 
  

  Twilight 2000

  
  
• 
  

  GURPS

  
  
• 
  

  Harnmaster

  
  
• 
  

  Ambarquenta

  
  
• 
  

  Hither-lands

  
  
• 
  

  Ea d20

  
  
• 
  

  Wheel of Time d20

  
  

Races & Cultures

The player race names are "genericized" due to fear of
legal harassment by Saul Zaentz’s Tolkien Enterprises (not to be
confused with the Tolkien Estate which represents the Tolkien
family), but the details about each race and culture are accurate
(you can just replace "Grey Elf" with "Sindar Elf"
without having to change anything else on the character sheet for
example).

The full, rich gamut of Tolkien’s races are included in both
the Basic and Advanced versions of the game. A Tolkien RPG would just
not be the same without this vast array of choices available, as well
as the associated languages, history, attire, and interests
associated with each culture. However, only the "Heroic"
races are listed/offered (no Uruks, Olog's, Easterlings, Corsairs,
etc.) in the Basic System. The other races and cultures are offered
in the Advanced system for character development for those wishing to
have either more complex attempts at heroic characters with atypical
backgrounds, or those campaigns that allow for non-heroic (and
usually short-lived) campaigns.

A chosen Race/Culture will significantly impact the skill sets
that a character begins with, and their affinity for developing
different skills effectively, in addition to the impact their
attribute statistics have. These skill adjustments reflect cultural
biases, education, environment, etc.

For the Basic system, racial and cultural nuances related to
skill development is represented as the number of starting ranks for
each skill category. For the Advanced system, the same holds true,
but also includes a variety of "cost modifiers" to
developing some specific skills.

Dwarves (use generic names, Firebeards, etc.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Elves (use generic names)

High

Wood

Grey

Green

Dark

Half

Humans (many, but come up with generic names.

Riverfolk

Horsemen (Rohirrim)

Northmen

Create a separate, not included with the rulebook, conversion
between the races,

High Elf = Noldor

Horsemen = Rohirrim

etc.

In basic system, one's race affects the bgeginnining ranks one has
in certain skill categories, (and the maximum that you can have for
that race in that category.?? this might not translate well to the
advanced system, so might not want to include this, but then again,
will get out of balance for more experienced characters in basic
versus advanced, but should I include the costs then? That will still
be out of balance for basic versus advanced. hmmmm, will have to
think about that).

In advanced system there is no "maximum" but instead is
a "cost" rate modifier for the race for certain categories
and for certain specific skills.

Mechanics

The Basic system will use 1d6. And attempt to be as simple as
possible. A minimum of charts will be used. Generally just (very
basic) math will be necessary to calculate action/combat resolution.

The reason for choosing d6 (instead of d10, d20, etc.) is that
most everyone has at least one six sided die lying around their home
from some boardgame or other, and/or they are very easy (and
inexpensive) to obtain. Using only a single d6 makes the game
(ridiculously?) simple to calculate and use so that a broader range
of age groups (younger children, and adults of various attention
spans and math (dis)inclinations), will find the rules more easily
accessible. After they play the game for some time (weeks? Months?),
they will likely want more variety of options and results, and they
will have now learned all the “Basics” so they can handle the next
“step up” to the Advanced system, without having to learn a new
system.

The Advanced system will be d100 (percentile) based. This allows
for greater granularity and variety of distinction (but of course
means more complexity). Also, many charts will be offered
(optionally) to help a GM/Player have enhancement of ideas to add
more "color" to the game (such as critical result charts).

Combat Resolution (Basic):

1d6 roll + Assault Modifier (AM) vs. target's roll
- Warding Modifier (WM)

Highest roll "succeeds", tie is biased
towards the defender.

Example:

Attacker
rolls 5, and has a +3 AM for a total result of 8

Defender
rolls 3, and has a +3 WM for a total result of 6

Attacker
successfully assaults/hits the defender.

*Optional rule: only in the case if an attacker
could normally never hit an opponent due to it's skills/DB being too
high, on a "nat 6 (nat 100)", the attacker actually
succeeds in hitting. The same goes for a defender who, if normally
could never defend against an attacker with any chance of success
(the attackers OB is too high to ever have a DB succeed against),
then a roll of 6 will be an automatic block.
If both parties roll
a "nat 6 (nat 100)", then the attack was neutralized and
defense wins out over offense for that attack. (advanced system: if a
parry type actiond defending, a roll should be done to see if both
weapons are shattered)

Attribute Statistics:

Stats: basic system has ?7?, advanced has ?12?

1. Strength (other name)

2. Constituion (other names: hardiness, toughness, resilency)

3. Spirit (mana, )

4. Wisdom

5. Intelligence (IQ, reasoning, logic, this modifies knowledge and
speed of learning and problem solving that uses logic (not intuition)

6. Emotional Intelligence (empathy, intuition, compassion)

7. Heroism (bravery, daring, boldness, ...)

8. Luck

9. Charisma

10. Appearance (beauty, comeliness, other)

11. Manual Dexterity

12. PHysical Dexterity (other name)

Others? Moxie? Chutzpah? Daring-do (heroism)? Fate? Piety?

Status/Health/Hits

In basic system just use health status (like Decipher).

In advanced version, use specific hit areas with wound details and
an overall health status, with levels of wounds to each area, to
indicate severity, like TW2000.

Conversion from Basic to Advanced

My only concern here, between the two systems is that conversion
between the d6 and d100 won't be as clean as it could be (such as d10
or d20 to d100).

But if an established conversion chart is created, it should be
do-able:

For example, to convert an attribute statistic from d6 to d100 Ea
RPG:

1 = 20

2 = 35

3 = 50

4 = 65

5 = 80

6 = 95 (correct, a Basic Character will not get to have a 100
attribute when converting, they will have to work up to that).

For ranks, they will actually be the same number. 5 ranks in the
Basic System is equal to 5 ranks in the Advanced system. The
difference is that the Basic ranks are developed in Generic Skills,
versus the Advanced being able to build on the Generics with
specialized skill development, due to "Role" and
Race/Culture, and usage.

Level-less Game System

The Ea RPG System is a level-less system. Advancement is based on
skill, attribute, and other advances, rather than some arbitrary
"level" assignments. As a character attempts to succeed at
a challenging action, the player/GM will keep track of the number of
successes for specific tasks. Next to each (specialized in the
advanced) skill listing will be 10 "chit marks" (25 chit
marks next to the "generic skill categories"). Each time a
character succeeds at an action, that player marks another "chit".
When all 10 are filled in, then the "ranking" of that skill
is increased by one. The 10 chits are removed, and the process begins
again. It will really be up to the GM to tell the player whether or
not a chit mark should be marked or not. Not every successful action
is worth this increase (completely mundane actions, or actions far
below developing their skill, like "shooting fish in a barrell",
will not actually improve one's skills for example).

Character advancements is fluid, no waiting to "level
up".
Each time a skill gains 10 "Chit marks" that
skill gains a rank/level/(other name?), on the spot (even in combat,
it would take effect on the next round of action for that character,
for example, he succeeds in attacking the orc and makes his 10th
"chit", he now has that OB rank "level up", which
will apply on the following round's attack (even if the member is
able to attack more than once per round, it won't apply until that
round is finished (so as not to interrupt the middle of combat game
play flow).
A "heroic only" system for the basic version
(can't play evil/neutral, only "good").
Advanced allows
to play evil/neutral characters (orcs, etc.)
Just a basic list of
most rudimentary "general skills" for the basic system,
keep it as short as possible, burt covering all the "Areas".
Advanced
system then creates detailed skills as sub-skills of those major
categories.

Role / Specialization / Class / Profession / Calling / (other
name?)

Player will choose what their Character's "Role" in life
is. They may choose an "open" approach with no specific
specialization, or make pick from a number of specific "Roles".
Roles cover trades (farmer, blacksmith, etc.) professions (soldier,
loremaster, etc.)  societal ranking (lord, mayor, etc.), etc.

The Basic system will offer just a handful of "Roles" in
addition to an "Open/generic/undefined" role. These will be
applicable and usable by every race/culture offered in the

The Advanced system will offer a vast array of Roles with specific
details for each, detailing specific racial/cultural notes/modifiers,
skill development impacts, etc.

Roles – Basic

“Open” Role

This is the “role-less” role. The
Character doesn’t have any predetermined role in life, neither in
position, crafts, trade, hobby, etc. The Player will allocate skill
points evenly across all areas for initial development and at even
development costs for future development.

Advantage: Maximum flexibility for the
player to shape the character any way their want.

Disadvantage, no real distinction or
special bonuses. Has the fewest “bonus” skill points since has
not taken any training in life to develop skills.

Tradesman/Craftsman

The character has decided to focus on
a particular trade/craft. This might be range across several specific
specialties (like horse-shoe smith, weaponsmith, armorsmith (all
under the title of “smith”), or may be very specialized
(bowyer/fletcher). For the basic system, anything under this category
is treated the same. For the Advanced system, specific skills are
detailed for the specific specialty.

For example, in the Basic someone who
chooses the Tradesman Role, get craft skill point bonus for the
general skill category, they can technically use this for ANY craft
action they attempt. For the Advanced system however, they get fewer
bonus points for the general skill category, but get more bonus
points for specific crafts (blacksmith, swordsmith, bowyer/fletcher,
etc.).

This role includes, but is not limited
to: Farmer, gardener, shipwright, miner, mason, tinkerer,

Combatant

Soldier, man-at-arms, mercenary,
(sailor?), pugilist, wrestler, barbarian, knight, ranger,

Ranking (Nobility?) (need better
naming, more Tolkienesque).

Lord, Mayor, Governor, bourgeoisie,

Healer

Medicine man/woman, shaman, leech,

Loremaster

Alchemist, wizard, mage, sorcerer (has
evil connotation in Tolkien), historian, librarian, seer, student,

Wanderer (not all who wander are lost).

Traveler, Rogue, Vagabond, Adventurer,
Bard, jack-of-all-trades (master of none), gypsy, entertainer,
singer, dancer, actor,

Any others that cover “Basic”?

Roles – Advanced

Long list here... Each with specific
skills defined with bonuses.

In order to “qualify” for a more
specific role, certain minimum requirements of attribute statistics
must be met (minimum intelligence for loremaster-librarian, minimum
empathy/perception for healer->woodman shaman, etc.).

Otherwise they can only develop under
the general (Basic) role and call themselves what they want, but they
won’t have the advantages of being “truly” gifted and trained
in that area.

For example, someone may call
themselves a great healing shaman, but have terrible
empathy/perception, and so have been rejected from being trained by
anyone of value, and “muddle through” developing their own
techniques. Some might actually work to some degree, and could slowly
get better, but not as quickly as someone with a mentor to help them
develop and learn the “trade secrets” as well as have the needed
perceptiveness to excel at what they are doing.

More to come soon...

"Why another Tolkien-based RPGS?"

I would tend to disagree with the premises put forward as the reasons for yet another RPGS.  I agree that D20 Dungeons and Dragons, or ICE systems do not reflect the world well, but mainly, that was because, as you said, someone tried to force Tolkien into the systems respectively. 

I do not think moving from a D20 to a D6 will create the 'Tolkien feel' you are looking for.  I could be wrong, but, before you go through the immense task of creating a new RPGS, and dropping all the quality work on the D20, perhaps a good discussion on, what exactly is the 'Tolkien feel' you are looking for?

Taking from the D&D 4th ediiton creation process, I gained an insight into what WoTC believes to be the 'core essentials' of Dungeons and Dragons.  Defining that set the groundwork for all development and production.

So, Hawke, I have a question.

What things in an RPG contain or distract from a 'Tolkien feel'?

I agree. There is something basic:

First one must have a very clear and concrete idea of what would one like to achieve and then think of a system to express that.

Id say that d6 is not a very good idea per se. d6 systems include rollinng thousands of dice.

I think the main problem lies in character building... in classes and ability scores, etc.

I think a Tolkien RPG, should have open character classes and an armour class and hit points system which fit better than the D&D system. Of course Magic is crucial too. And I don't think there should be a "cleric" class. There aren't different religions which consist on worshipping different gods which all happen to exist (polytheism). EA is monoteistic world. It deals more with races than religions. Kingdoms and their stories through generations.

A d20 may work if changed dramatically. But as I said Ryan is right. BEFORE doing anything lets make a list of things to achieve. Let us start with the more general ideas and then try to think of concrete consecuenses deriving from it.

I have some ideas:

1. We should not try to make all races balanced (you can still make lesser races appealing by letting them advance quicker). It is clear that the Noldor are supperior to most races in most aspects. There are cultures that are more advanced than others.

2. There should be Attribute Statistics that reflect various different aspects. I personally thing there shoulb be clearly more than 6 as in D&D where having a good perception (eyesight) and being wise is the same. Will power should be inlcuded, looks should be separate from the ability to influence others (worm tongue was lame looking but persuasive).

3. I agree on level-less (tolkien has a wide variety of warrior, rangers, rougues, etc. and a class system is to rigid for it).

4. Ability increase should be role played based. One shpould not be able to "buy" any abilities. One should not be able to get certain skills without  appropriate  teaching. Part of learning more tings should be inlcuded in the activities explicitly donde during the game. One must investigate about ring lore not just figure that or any other thing out of the blu just case one has earned new points.

6. I think we should not use a HP system where at a certain point a warrior has the HP of a dragon. It does not reflect what one reads on the books. Better warriors are more difficult to hit and have better armour and weapons and Tolkien heroes retain the capacity to be killed by a lucky minor character wich is impossible ina world with fighters having 150 hitpoints and a long sword only being cable of dealing 16 HP on critical hit.

(An interesting approach is the SW 3.0 (wound points and vitality) which allows using Damage resistance and armour class separately and keeping the real HP of a character close to reality (close to the actual mass of the type of race). Just an idea to think.)

7. I think one can more or less have a system designed (stats, skillsm etc.) without having a very clear idea of magic.

I think one should have more combat options in order to compensate the lack of color deriving from magic and magic items of other systems.

(I know I will get the "we must get things fluent", etc, comment... but if the game is too plain and unable to describe a varaiety of actions and we add the low magic, then battles will be 2 dimention boring things.