Middle Earth: Melee (TFT) or Man to Man (GURPS)

middlearthenthusiast · 08-07-2019, 11:33 PM

Hey!

I've been seeking to develop a Middle Earth skirmish game to play with my friends and see what it would be like for players to develop their own ME characters and battle it out on cool terrain. I bought a used copy of Man to Man and then discovered GURPS-Lite and put my favorite parts of both together to create a 'menu' of combat options for players and started making mock-up character profiles on index cards. I've even found some wooden hex bases that fit perfectly on the map. I've been gluing figures to them and highlighting the front three engagement edges with red marker to help resolve facing.

I've just discovered Melee/Wizard/The Fantasy Trip and am really curious to try it out, but am reluctant to spend the money. My play-test with MTM/GURPS-Lite felt really slow, my hits would rarely land, and my archer spent four turns shooting only to do two damage that ended up being negated by armor because his ST was only 8. Melee seems to be a lot more of what I'm looking for speed-wise, but I'm worried that:
1. Eliminating Defense rolls will make combat too deadly and fatal hits too random
2. The lack of options will make all of the characters feel too similar (I don't want a generic orc lackey two-shotting Aragorn)
3. The lack of options will make combat boring.

Basically what I want to know:
1. Have you found Melee or Man to Man to be more fun as a stand-alone combat game?
2. Did you miss the combat options from MTM when you played Melee?
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)
4. Does either feel more Tolkien-esque to you?
5. Does Melee feel interesting enough for this setting on its own (granted that I added a few special abilities)?

08-07-2019, 11:33 PM	#1
middlearthenthusiast Join Date: Aug 2019	Middle Earth: Melee (TFT) or Man to Man (GURPS) Hey! I've been seeking to develop a Middle Earth skirmish game to play with my friends and see what it would be like for players to develop their own ME characters and battle it out on cool terrain. I bought a used copy of Man to Man and then discovered GURPS-Lite and put my favorite parts of both together to create a 'menu' of combat options for players and started making mock-up character profiles on index cards. I've even found some wooden hex bases that fit perfectly on the map. I've been gluing figures to them and highlighting the front three engagement edges with red marker to help resolve facing. I've just discovered Melee/Wizard/The Fantasy Trip and am really curious to try it out, but am reluctant to spend the money. My play-test with MTM/GURPS-Lite felt really slow, my hits would rarely land, and my archer spent four turns shooting only to do two damage that ended up being negated by armor because his ST was only 8. Melee seems to be a lot more of what I'm looking for speed-wise, but I'm worried that: 1. Eliminating Defense rolls will make combat too deadly and fatal hits too random 2. The lack of options will make all of the characters feel too similar (I don't want a generic orc lackey two-shotting Aragorn) 3. The lack of options will make combat boring. Basically what I want to know: 1. Have you found Melee or Man to Man to be more fun as a stand-alone combat game? 2. Did you miss the combat options from MTM when you played Melee? 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) 4. Does either feel more Tolkien-esque to you? 5. Does Melee feel interesting enough for this setting on its own (granted that I added a few special abilities)?