Ranking the MERP Adventure modules

[@gaffer6635]

Enjoyed your review, but would have ranked brigands of Mirkwood higher and shelob lower. Your choices for 1 and 2 match mine. Appreciate you keeping the MERP game alive and online.

[@romandacil3984]

Thanks, I could never get my head around Brigands other than the survival rate for players was much higher than in any other region (except Rivendell).

[@georgecrichton8508]

An interesting ranking. I mostly used bits and pieces of the modules in different areas. I found the town layouts useful.

[@lennyblade]

Out of all these, Thieves of Tharbad was the one I played the most, I remember looking a lot at those maps. Great and interesting vid!

[@MrKurtank]

Tharbad has probably my all-time favourite McBride artwork -- also enjoyed the layout however I never played it because I always wanted to use it a reborn city in the Fourth Age, a campaign I had tonnes of ideas for and reams of nots on but never realised. Dagorlad I enjoyed, and Bree was the first module I ever bought, not long after it came out. Looks pretty battered now but I loved how you could raid the barrow downs and gear up your party. Then I realised what they meant in the module, that anyone who did that probably wouldn't be welcome back without first giving up the grave-robbed items - that lead to some interesting encounters. Not to mention Gondorian artifacts being found on ne'er-do-wells within the walls of Minas Tirith. That was fun to run as a GM - they thought they were scot-free...lol. I think one of them is still in gaol.

[@nebulanz8232]

Solid ranking video. Wouldn't change the order. Bree and the barrow downs and Hillman of the Trollshaws have a ton of good material to use, especially for starting a campaign. Cheer Roman.

[@meatKog]

I still have all of these books in storage.

[@romandacil3984]

Cool. When is the last time you played the game?

[@jonpayton4262]

Putting my ranking before I watch the vid... let's see how many we agree on: 1. Bree and the Barrow Downs 2. Thieves of Tharbad 3. Hillmen of the Trollshaws 4, Erech and the Paths of the Dead 5. Shelobs Lair 6. Dagorland 7. Goblin Gate 8. Rivendell 9. Brigands of Mirkwood

[@romandacil3984]

Cool list, we pretty much agree on 6,8, & 9. Bree and the Barrow Downs was pretty close to being #1 for me but I loved how Hillmen filled out Rhudaur which was why I gave it top spot. Tharbad was another that I debated ranking higher.

[@jonpayton4262]

@@romandacil3984 Also, I might be a little biased towards Erech, as it meshes well with Haunted Ruins of the Dunlendings - which I love.

[@SeanCSHConsulting]

Any suggestions on a tight grouping of Adventure and Ready to Run Adventures for a beginning group? Beginning in MERP, that is, not roleplaying or Tolkien. The collection of material is slightly overwhelming both geographically and historically.

[@romandacil3984]

Good question, I would go with Thieves of Tharbad for a beginner group. City scape going after Thieves and smugglers is a good way to get experience. 2 that I haven't reviewed yet are Trolls of the MIsty Mountains and Ghosts of the Southern Anduin are also good Ready to Run adventures for beginners. MERP does a a fairly realistic job of filling in historical/geographical blanks that Tolkien never got around to especially in regards to Arnor.

[@SeanCSHConsulting]

@@romandacil3984 Cheers for the reply.

[@SeanCSHConsulting]

It seems like TA 1640 is the designed setting for a lot of the adventure material. What's the advancement rate of typical PCs in MERP - how frequently would they level up, playing these Ready-to-Runs, say?

[@romandacil3984]

@@SeanCSHConsulting I believe they chose that time setting as it was after the Great Plague and there was a dislocation in population. Also it was when the forces of good & evil were well balanced. After the 20th century TA, with the fall of Arthedain and the appearance of the Balrog in Moria, the balance shifts in Sauron's favor. Characters should be able to level up after 3 of the Ready to Run Adventures. It all depends on how simple or hard the adventure is or how much risks they are willing to take. Fighting a small band of bandits, battling wolves and maybe taking on singular Troll in the course of 3 adventures say in the Breeland area would allow for a group to level up.

[@SeanCSHConsulting]

@@romandacil3984 Cheers again.

[@RHampton]

It has been so long since I read my MERP stuff and even then I lack your deep expertise in Tolkein-lore. I defer to your list.

[@romandacil3984]

Thanks. LOTR-Hobbit,Silmarillion & Unfinished Tales are the books that I read at least once a year.

[@machfront]

Heh. I see you’ve been ‘fan-corrected’ on at least a bit of your Tolkien pronunciation. Heheh. Hey! Me too! All my life! Even when you’re a fan!😂 Having said that….”brigand” is a common term. It’s “BREAH-gund”or “BRI-guhnd” (more usually) , (quickly smashed together), brother. 🙂 Cheers, and thanks for the fun vid. Also…despite me being 50 and playing MERP way back, and would use much more rules-lite systems now…. Yes, yes, yes…Bree and Trollshaws!…yes! Both best of the best!

[@romandacil3984]

Thanks. My pronunciation does indeed suck on more than one occasion (and language). Glad you liked the video.

[@billedmunds80]

Really enjoyed this video, as well as your other MERP stuff. One suggestion: look into proper pronunciation. For example, Cirith Ungol is pronounced "Kirith Ungol" rather than "Sirith Ungol."

[@romandacil3984]

😅Your right my pronunciation sucks. Mostly as a result of reading LOTR back when I was 13 (1984) didn't know how things were pronounced and so it's more out of habit. I don't have the gift of gab like my wife who is tri-lingual.

[@SageMasterRPG]

I agree with your order, very good video.

[@TheBrotherSean]

Assassins of Dol Amroth was my favourite - not even ranked!!

[@romandacil3984]

Haven't got that far yet. Assassins is with the next group of the Ready to Run Adventures. I still have 4 more R-R Adv to review before ranking them.

[@sunsin1592]

Why organize them this way? Just because they say "adventure module" on the cover? There were lots of other modules featuring a bunch of short adventures. You consider them a different category? Ready to run?

[@romandacil3984]

Jumping ahead. I getting ready to go through them as well. Those 9 books were almost but not quite like the Campaign Modules and they had more than the Ready to Adventure Modules.