Treasures of Middle-Earth -ICE, Mirror Vision

Let me start by saying that I really like the book Treasures of  Middle Earth. It has some great write ups on magic items and the  content not dealing with the actual items is simply amazing in its  detail. I would expect nothing less for an ICE MERP product. I am  not sure if they ever made a bad one.

Next let me say how much I hate the idea behind the book. Sorry  for the dichotomy here. One of the things that stand out when  reading the Lord of the Rings is the rarity of magic and magic  items in the stories. Treasure of Middle Earth (first edition) is  144 pages long and almost a hundred pages of that is filled with  magic items. I would almost never have to use this book in a long  running MERP campaign if I was running it.

The book is very much worth having though. It treats magic items  they way they should be. Most are named and not generic +3 Dwarven Thrower. As a player I loved getting magic items and as a DM I was  often too liberal in their distribution but that was when I was a  young and dumb. Often times it seems if there is some mystical  factory where magic items come off an assembly line daily. I think  if someone went to the trouble to create a magic item they are  going to want to make it unique enough to deserve its own name.  The act of creating the item should be hard enough that there is a  story connected with it as well.

The book is broken down into three different parts. The first  combines the the Introduction with the sections on how to use the  book. The second part is the section detailing the specific  magical items. It also contains the information on the Creators of  magic items and the materials used in their creation. Part three  deals with the treasure classifications and generating random  treasure.

The sections on actual magic items in the book is broken down into  eight distinct sections. There are two that are broken down even  further. These are the sections on Mage Items and on Rings. The  list of the sections from the book are below.

Arms
Armor
Garments & Gear
Jewelry, Gems & Valuables
Mage's Items
    Books
    Foods, Elixirs and Ent-Draughts
    Scrying Devices
    Staves and Wands
    Talismans and Miscellany
Musical Instruments
Rings
    Rings of Power
    Lesser Rings
Tools and Trappings

In my opinion it is the later section of part two that is what  makes the book the most valuable. It lays out the various  components that would be used in the creation of magic items and  what type of items they might be used for. This list is as  follows.

Gems
Herbs, Plants, Panaceas, and Poisons
Metals
Stones
Woods
Enchanted Materials

In the end the book is very much worth having. My concerns are not  with the book but with the magic heavy nature of role playing  games in general. In fantasy literature of of the great tropes is  the protagonist being left a great magic item by a parent or other  family member. I guess in game terms that would have to be a +5 or  better, and intelligent, items because most everyone else already  has a +3 or better weapon.


Spell:

Mirror Vision

Level: Fourth
Range: None
Duration: Special
Ares of Effect: One Mirror
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 Round
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast the magic user will cause a standard  mirror to become magical in nature. The mirror will then be able  to show the caster anything that had been reflected on its  surface.

The period of time that the caster can ask the mirror to start at  is open ended. If a time is specified before the mirror existed  then the spell will fail. The caster can also control the flow of  the images that are displayed. They can speed the flow up or slow  it down, even pausing or reversing it if desired. The can change  the aspect of the image and there is no sound connected with the  images. It should be noted that the images recorded are not tied  to the mirrors current location.

The mirror will continue to display images for as long as it can  or until the caster wills the effect to stop. The magics connected  with this spell will eventually become chaotic in nature. The  caster can depend on the images for a actual viewing period of  time equal to six turns (one hour) per their level of experience.  After that time period there is a 5% cumulative chance per hour  spent viewing that the images will be altered and start showing  things as they could have been.

The material component of this spell is just the mirror that the  spell is being cast on. The mirror will be restored to its normal  abilities once the spell expires. There is nothing to prevent the  spell from being recast on the same mirror again.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the  write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the  80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other  than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be  slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on  me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please  let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.

The Brandywine Star - Vol.1 No.1, Mage Flame

One of the worst things that can happen when buying from eBay other than  never getting the item is when the item is damaged or incomplete and was not  described as such. I recently got a pile of d20 books (please no that is what you get for buying d20 stuff) that had the edges covered with either soda spray, vomit, mold or something worse.

One of the best though is when there are things included that really did not  need to be there. I have had this happen more times than I can count but  three stand out right now but I am sure there are others I am just forgetting at the moment. One with Call of Cthulhu, one with Marvel Super Heroes and  the one that had this. I saw a copy of the ICE Middle Earth Campaign Guide  with a cheap BIN and bought it for the map as I had at one point hung mine and it had pin holes. When I got it I found the pictured item inside. I had  bought mine new so I know this was not supposed to be included.

The Brandywine Star from what I can tell appears to be a fan newsletter for  "The Fellowship" which was not part of ICE from what I can tell. It appears  to have been a fan club from back in the 1980's and may still be around but  am not sure. This was there initial offering and I have never seen another  copy of it anywhere. Noble Knight has an entry for #2 but it is listed as  sold out so they must have had one at some point. When I got it I thought it  was nice and figured I might be able to find more but never have.

I wish I could tell you more about it must most of the items I post about  have been packed away as I attempt to inventory items. I scan them and then  pack them away until such time as I can dedicate a proper space to all the gaming stuff I have accumulated. If anyone knows anything about this and/or  has copies of other issues I would love to hear about it.

I mentioned having similar experiences with CoC and MSH. With Call of Cthulhu  it was a second or third printing of the original box set. I opened it and  inside other than what should have been there was the book version of Cthulhu  by Gaslight. With Marvel Super Heroes it was a copy of the Basic Set and  inside it was the Ultimate Powers Book and Realms of Magic. I guess the books  I got recently weren't the end of the world after all!


Spell:

Mage Flame

Level: Second
Range: 6"
Duration: 12 Turns + 6 Turns/Level
Ares Effect: One Item/Level
Components: V,M
Casting Time: 4 Segments
Saving Throw: None

This spell enables the magic user to create a magical flame. This flame is  similar in some ways to the light effect of a Faerie Fire spell. When the  spell is cast the items willed to carry the flame by the caster will ignite  with a bright blue fire like flame.

The flame created need to be attached to the end of an item such as a torch  or staff but can also edge an item such as a sword or other weapon. There is  no limit to the size of the item the flame can be attached to and it will  adjust in size and effect accordingly. This flame can not be directly  attached to living creatures other than the caster.

The flame will provide light just as if it were a real flame. It will not use  oxygen though and will not produce smoke or heat. The light will also persist  underwater or in an environment where a normal flame would be extinguished.

Once an item has been imbued with mage flame the control of the mage flame is  granted to the person who is in control of the item. The wielder of the item  can distinguish the flam on command. They can also transfer the flame to  another item if desired simply by touching the two items and willing it. The  item that had the flame initially will lose it when this is done.

The material component for this spell is a small ball that will be made up of  sulfur, bat guano and a small lock of the caster hair. The ball is thrown  into the air and is consumed by the spell when the spell takes effect.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups  last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology  may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I  did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any  duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If  anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in  advance and all I ask is proper credit.

Middle Earth Role Playing - Iron Crown, Cassandra's Mystical Porters

Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP) was released in 1984 and I had a copy as soon as I knew it existed. This is either my second or third copy of the first edition rulebook. I had previously purchased the Middle earth setting product that I posted about earlier. This is one of those things that could have been a phenomenal success or an abysmal failure as most licensed products can be. This was the former rather than the latter much to my and based on the line it produced many others enjoyment. I would think that MERP would still be in production today if ICE had not lost the license in 1999. If there was any negative from the movies this had to be it. I know Decipher has since let the license lapse and I am not sure who if anyone owns it now. The system is a fairly straightforward adaptation and scaled down version of Rolemaster. The game even though scaled down was not a beginner friendly game and it had too much magic in it which for most role playing games is unavoidable. The real gem from the system are the location modules which may be some of the best done accessories ever produced.

Spell:

Cassandra's Mystical Porters

Level: Second
Range: None
Duration: 1 Day/Level
Ares Effect: None
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 Turn
Saving Throw: None

By means of this spell the magic user brings into being one porter for every three levels of experience they posses. These porters will appear to be normal humans, demi-humans or humanoids of the casters choice and may be mixed if desired.  The porters will stand out though as they will have no discernible facial features and will be surrounded by a glow similar in appearance to Farie Fire. The porters are actually lesser beings of pure force brought forth from the Prime Material Plane under control of the caster.

The porters will be totally unaffected by physical attacks on them while on this place though the items they carry may be affected. They are also immune to all magical attacks except for a dispel magic which will send them back to the Positive Material Plane though they are entitled to a save as if they were the caster to prevent this. If sent by by use of Dispel Magic any items that the porters might be carrying will return with them. The porters are also unable to affect anything on this plane other than the objects that the caster has instructed them to carry.

Each porter will be able to carry a base amount of 5000 gp weight plus an additional 1000 gp weight for every level of the cater above third. The porters will be able to understand commands given to them by the caster, and only the caster, regardless of the language used. These commands will be obeyed and followed unerringly to the literal letter as the porters have no means to interpret the meanings and intent of any orders given to them.

The material components for this spell are a drop of the casters blood and a pouch of five gold pieces for each porter summoned. The blood is consumed at the casting of the spell and the pouches vanish with the porters when they return to the Positive Material Plane.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last, were all written up back in the 80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.

J - Journey, Jason, Judges, Jumping Jacks

Journey to the Magic Isle is one of the location modules for the Shadow World campaign setting. There were a number of these made and though I don't have all of them all the ones I do have have been excellent in quality. This book deals a secret magic academy and the hidden isle it is located on. In addition to being a location guide it also has different adventures that the DM can use that are set in or connected with the isle and the academy. Over all and in particular I would advise at least getting a chance to review this book. I am sure that it can be stripped for ideas if not sued outright.

Movie:

Jason and the Argonauts is one of those movies that I know helped shape my love of mythology and that would eventually lead me into role playing games. I am not sure I like this as much as I did the Sinbad movies but it is a darn close call. Regardless of which ones you prefer these all have the classic storylines that all most all adventures can be formulated around.  I know that the special effects on these old movies can't compete with the CGI world of today's movies but I think that for hear they run laps around them. If you have a free Saturday afternoon why not grab one of these from your local video store, make up a giant tub of popcorn and get ready to be inspired to game.

Plot:

Judges arrive in town to investigate the death of one of the local nobility or their family. When things like this happen it can only mean that the adventurers are in town and things are going to happen to them. It will play out in one of two ways. The first is that one of the characters will be falsely accused of the crime (hopefully they didn't really do it) and the character whose player did not make it that week is taken into chains and the others must find a way to clear their name and get them freed. The other most likely way it can play out is that the players are needed to track down the accused and bring them to justice. The party can rest well knowing that the brought the right person to justice....can't they?

Magic:

Jumping Jacks will resemble the child's toy jack though these are about 2-3 times the size of the normal jacks. Even normal toy jacks by nature, as any parent can attest, serve well as a poor mans caltrop. Jumping Jacks because of their larger size will be even more effective. Anyone stepping one one of these will suffer 2-5 (d4+1) points of damage. The real nature of these will then be discovered. Once stepped on the jack immediately springs into the air with great force. This will require the person that stepped on them to save versus dexterity at a minus equal to the amount of damage they took. Those who fail will fall to the ground due to the loss of balance and will spend X number of rounds regaining their feet and their bearings. The X will be one the number they failed their save by with a minimum of one. The racket from this will allow all in range a chance to detect the event at double the normal rate of success. Once activated the Jumping Jack becomes non magical in nature. There will be anywhere from 21 to 40 Jumping Jacks normally found at any given time.