<div>My first impulse when thinking about running a different world with RQ rules is usually to re-write everything and thus never get around to actually playing. However a while ago a friend wanted to run a (quite short) campaign based on Tolkien's writings. He (and later his girlfriend who took over the game) asked me to cobble together some changes to RQIII to make it more suitable and so I had to reign by impulses in.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>In summary, and I'm at work so I may be forgetting key bits:</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Magic</strong></div>
<div>A character must have a Pow of 21 to use magic. <em>(This is an extrapolation of the Elric! rules of requiring a Pow of 16 and takes magic into the realm of powerful spirits and a handful of mortals).</em></div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Religion</strong></div>
<div>Most of the Archangels (are they 'Maia' or 'Valar'? I forget) in Tolkien's work map very easily to the generic Gods in RQIII. (<em>But as noted above your character needs a Pow of 21 or above to actually get a magical benefit from such workship
</em>.)</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Istari </strong></div>
<div>(Gandalf et al) belong to the cults of all of the Archangels and so get access to lots of Divine Magic. <em>(That made a lot more sense to me than going down the RQIII Sorcery route)</em></div>
<div><em></em> </div>
<div><strong>Mythril</strong></div>
<div>Same game rules as RQIII Iron. Except that the Poison metal effect applies to 'Darkness creatures'</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Elven Gear</strong></div>
<div>All Elven made equipment is a 1 point enchantment (typically with at least one permanent 4 point Spirit Magic spell on it so Blades have Bladesharp 4 at all times and Light when within 10m of Orcs; Ropes add +80% to Climb, Cloaks add +80% Hide and so on which come from the Elric! Cran Liret spells which map really easily to Spirit/Battle magic)
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Elven Great Bows use Dragonewt Bone Bow rules</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Races</strong></div>
<div>Men </div>
<div>normal human rules</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Dunadan, Numenoreans, etc </div>
<div>normal humans but roll 2d+6 for all characteristics</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Dwarves </div>
<div>normal Dwarf rules but no Earthsense</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Half Elves</div>
<div>normal humans but roll 2d+6 for all characteristics except STR</div>
<div>double result of age roll</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Elves </div>
<div>use Ogre rules but swap rolls for Dex and Str </div>
<div>treble result of age roll</div>
<div>and lose Disguise skill</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Hobbits </div>
<div>use Duck rules (these seemed a better fit than the RQIII Halfling ones!)</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Moria Orcs </div>
<div>use Trollkin, but no Darksense</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Orcs </div>
<div>use Dark Troll, but no Darksense</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Uruk-Hai </div>
<div>use Great Troll, but no Darksense</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Trolls </div>
<div>use Cave Trolls</div>
<div> </div>
<div>WereBears</div>
<div>use Werewolf rules</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Great Eagles</div>
<div>use Wyvern, but no stinging tail attack</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Weapons</strong></div>
<div>No Crossbows (not mentioned in the books)</div>
<div>No Rapiers (books seem ancient, pre-roman and so late medievel weapons make no sense)</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I never thought of rules for Palintirs (sp) but it seems in keeping with Tolkien that using any kind of magic brings a price. So I'd suggest that using a Palintir is like creating an enchantment (although you might not realise it) so for each d10 MP drawn from such you lose 1 Pow...........
</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Hope that helps</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Al</div>