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The system for LOTR is called CODA and is rather like a cross between RuneQuest crossed with Traveller, with Advantages and Disadvantages from the Hero system and Feats from Dungeons & Dragons 3e. This is not to decry the system, it is clean, functional and well described.
'Core system mechanics'
Attributes are generated on 2d6 and from these are derived secondary stats like reactions, health, defence;
To complete any task one rolls 2d6, adds a modifier from Attributes and from Skills, so as to get a result greater than a difficulty number. (In this roll the Skills are the most significant factor);
Combat is a series of opposed rolls, parries and dodges are optional actions, weapons generate a number of points of damage and armour absorbs some or all of that;
Characters have a certain number of health points per wound level, as they lose points they fall through the levels and suffer minuses to rolls. A character's health is fairly static throughout advancement;
Character creation is a mix of 'picks' of skills from racial background and then from an 'order' which is a very loose character type such as warrior, wizard, rogue, etc;
The system uses Edges and Flaws (similar to Advantages/Disadvantages in other systems) to allow meta skill flavour to the character;
In addition to orders allowing skill picks they also have special abilities which convey meta skill abilities to characters;
Advancement is through collecting experience points from crucial die rolls or adventure rewards. This is then traded in for new picks from the original character creation chapters;
Social areas such as renown, corruption, bearing and the like are well modelled in the game. Becoming well known, being born with bearing or going over to Sauron are well integrated into the mechanics;
Magic is a list of spells that are powered by the wizard, making him weary as they drain his strength;
Peter Knutsen: An acute problem with the LOTR rules is that (at least) one character class is badly designed. The Loremaster class is completely overshadowed by the Magician class in terms of skill choice. The Magician has all the skills that the Loremaster has, and gets more powerful magic (2.5 times as many spells). The only thing the Loremaster has going for him is the special abilities, which come only slowly and anyway at every advancement the Loremaster has to decide between picking spell improvement (getting 2 measly picks) or picking a lore-related ability. Decipher could have done much better, rules-wise, if they had given the Magician class fewer skills, so that there would be more point in playing a Loremaster. I do not consider such blatant imbalances to be "clean" or "functional" at all! Peter Knutsen14:57, 23 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Another problem with the article is that it claims that Decipher's LOTR RPG is the second licensed LOTR RPG rules system. That is incorrect. Iron Crown Enterprises actually released two completely different LOTR RPG systems. Besides the well known MERP, there was another one, using wholly differnt game mechanics. I remember reading a review of it in TSRs "Dragon" magazine in the early 1990s. Peter Knutsen15:00, 23 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I've played that earlier LOTR RPG (its finnish edition) in 1990s. It had very simple rules. It was a kind of RPG for beginners. --128.214.200.16614:48, 14 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed, it was the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game and it came out about 1991-ish, IIRC. Only ever played it once, I remember the mechanics were very vaguely related to MERP but much simpler - someone who owns a copy or remembers better needed! Corrected this entry to reflect this.
