Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Middle Earth: Melee (TFT) or Man to Man (GURPS)

Skarg · 08-08-2019, 04:23 PM

1. Have you found Melee or Man to Man to be more fun as a stand-alone combat game?
"More fun" is subjective. I find Man to Man / GURPS more fun for me, but I only started playing it after playing TFT combat heavily for six years and becoming unhappy with the limits of TFT (which GURPS addressed all of).

It took years of playing and enjoying TFT to become sensitive to those, limits, however.

2. Did you miss the combat options from MTM when you played Melee?
Yes.

3. Did MTM feel way too slow (in particular with ranged attacks taking up to 6 turns and defensive maneuvers making it hard for anyone to take damage)
No. But experience matters. After years of TFT, I'd memorized it and it was second nature. MTM was then easy to learn. Then after some months running GURPS, GURPS became almost as fast as TFT for me.

However in some cases, like someone tries to reload, aim and fire a crossbow while a bunch of other figures are fighting each other with swords and spears, yeah, it may feel like the archers have a lot of real-time between shots, but I'm ok with that.

4. Does either feel more Tolkien-esque to you?
No, TFT is just much simpler. I think you're right-on when thinking that the lack of defenses is an issue for hero survival in some circumstances, but if you have good players with strong characters and the terrain/situation allows ways to avoid getting swarmed or shot, then it can be possible to survive a lot of action in TFT.

5. Does Melee feel interesting enough for this setting on its own (granted that I added a few special abilities)?
I'd want to add a bit... like the rest of the rules found in In The Labyrinth, or inventing extra things, but in a pinch, Melee could be enough.

08-08-2019, 04:23 PM	#7
Skarg Join Date: May 2015	Re: Middle Earth: Melee (TFT) or Man to Man (GURPS) 1. Have you found Melee or Man to Man to be more fun as a stand-alone combat game? "More fun" is subjective. I find Man to Man / GURPS more fun for me, but I only started playing it after playing TFT combat heavily for six years and becoming unhappy with the limits of TFT (which GURPS addressed all of). It took years of playing and enjoying TFT to become sensitive to those, limits, however. 2. Did you miss the combat options from MTM when you played Melee? Yes. 3. Did MTM feel way too slow (in particular with ranged attacks taking up to 6 turns and defensive maneuvers making it hard for anyone to take damage) No. But experience matters. After years of TFT, I'd memorized it and it was second nature. MTM was then easy to learn. Then after some months running GURPS, GURPS became almost as fast as TFT for me. However in some cases, like someone tries to reload, aim and fire a crossbow while a bunch of other figures are fighting each other with swords and spears, yeah, it may feel like the archers have a lot of real-time between shots, but I'm ok with that. 4. Does either feel more Tolkien-esque to you? No, TFT is just much simpler. I think you're right-on when thinking that the lack of defenses is an issue for hero survival in some circumstances, but if you have good players with strong characters and the terrain/situation allows ways to avoid getting swarmed or shot, then it can be possible to survive a lot of action in TFT. 5. Does Melee feel interesting enough for this setting on its own (granted that I added a few special abilities)? I'd want to add a bit... like the rest of the rules found in In The Labyrinth, or inventing extra things, but in a pinch, Melee could be enough.