The Dead Marshes

`Middle-earth Role Playing´ is a total Conversion for `The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion´ based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. With a completed heightmap work is progressing well for the team, with modellers creating assets and landscape artists bringing the world to life. This latest media update brings us various high resolution pictures revealing just some of the beautiful and detailed work accomplished so far.

Barad-dûr

You can download the older version 0.2.2 from the `MERP´ website here. Or view the rest of the media update on the Bethesda forum thread here.

Discuss in the forums.

Original post written by Kasabian for Mod Realms.

The Grey Wizard: Leader of ‘Middle-earth Role Playing’

This interview was first posted on the 24th of March, 2007.

COR: The Grey Wizard from the ‘Middle Earth Role Playing | Total Conversion’ mod for ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’ has been gracious enough to agree to answer our questions for this fourth Middle-earth modding interview. Many thanks, Grey, and welcome.

Grey: No, thank you, it’s an honor.

COR: So, where are you from, Grey?

Grey: From Middle-earth of course Actually I prefer not to disclose my whereabouts.

COR: And what does the Grey Wizard do when he’s not practising his wizardy on Oblivion?

Grey: I enjoy exercising, especially swimming. I always have to keep forces such as the Balrog and the Witch King in check, and that requires good physical strength and endurance I am also a high school student, so much of my time is spent in the class room.

COR: Most people have heard of the Elder Scrolls series of games, and Oblivion, but for those who may not know anything about them, could you give us a brief description?

Grey: The Elder Scrolls games, such as Morrowind or Oblivion are Single Player Role-Playing Games. They focus on an in depth world and in depth character generation and exploration, though Morrowind retains role-playing roots more so then Oblivion does. For information on this great series check out http://elderscrolls.com

Minas Morgul

COR: So, Middle-earth: Role Playing | Total Conversion – give us a quick overview of the mod, its history, and its goals.

Grey: Our goal is all in the title, we want to make a Role-playing game set in the world of Middle-earth. The whole world of Middle-earth fully explorable and playable is something that is unavailable to gamers currently, we hope to change that. When we say Role-playing we refer more to a pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons type of role-playing rather then the Final Fantasy style of turn based battle and narrow option of adventure. We seek to immerse the player in a world that they are part of. We want the player to feel like they are the character they are playing, that they really are in this world, and that they are playing a role in its unfolding history. To get an idea of the kind of immersion I am talking about I highly recommend finding a Dungeon Master and playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons, or picking up a copy of Morrorwind and play through some quests. It’s highly open ended, and much of what has inspired me.

COR: Do you have a set date for the start of the mod? I gather it will be a Third Age mod? And what about a main quest – any plans there?

Grey: I don’t like to give away too much of what will happen in the mod, though I will say this; the dates do vary depending on what “role” you chose in the beginning of the game. One role is Frodo, in which you will start in Hobbiton during your uncle’s birthday. You will be given a ring, and well, the rest is history. Another role will be the Dúnedain character, in which you will start at an inn in Bree awaiting hobbits of whom the Grey advised you to await.

You don’t have to play a role of a member from the Fellowship by any means, in fact there will be a number of other more “free lance” characters that will allow for more open ended play. You also don’t have to use a name such as Frodo, or Aragorn, nor use the default face. You can select your own character name, and Face Gen allows you to morph and manipulate a face model to a shape, tone, and appearance that best fits your desires. You also don’t have to stay focused on the main quest through out the game, you can take the main quest at your own pace and go take up some freelance quests almost anytime. The only exception for this is when you are somewhere like Moria or Mordor, in which occasion you can’t simply walk out of the quest and resume later.

Note; Characters such as Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, etc… will not be playable. The only defined “ultra” character that may even be considered as a playable character will be the Witch King or another Nazgûl, though we may only make minor wraiths playable.

The Prancing Pony

COR: Talking about quests, what are you aiming for? Fighting based quests with lots of action, adventure quests, or a good mix of both?

Grey: Role-playing adventure. The combat system of Oblivion won’t really be expanded upon much more. We do hope however to be able to implement large scale battles for the purposes of Helm’s Deep and Pelennor.

COR: From what I’ve heard, you’re very cautious with showing your mod to the community. Can you explain why?

Grey: Quite simple really, forbidden fruit is the sweetest Actually it goes much deeper, there are many advantages to keeping the “hype” down. One thing I really enjoy about having a smaller fan base and a relatively quiet mod is that more work gets done. I don’t have to waste time keeping my site up to date, or constantly reply to forum members, nor deal with the many headaches of a large community, especially in times of disagreement. Least of all, I also don’t want to cause a legal stir if I can avoid it. I’ve already made it quite clear in the past that I won’t quite modding this project weather I can or cannot release it, I simply enjoy doing what I do, so I’ll just keep working on it until it’s done. But to me, private seems the best.

The Party Field

COR: If set in the late third age, will characters like Aragorn, Gimli, Denethor, Frodo, … be present?

Grey: Of course, you can even play some well known characters.

COR: What about your team? Is it a large dev. team, or do you rely mostly on outsourced support, help from the Oblivion modding community at large, etc.?

Grey: I have a fairly large team of dedicated people, though only three people are daily dedicated, that being Kingevil, Fang, and myself. We also have a few other dedicated members that make great contributions from time to time. We get a little help from members of the Elder Scrolls Forums every now and then.

COR: Is the mod based on the books, the films, or an amalgamation of the two, with a little of your own imagination sprinkled on top?

Grey: We focus exclusively (within the limitations of the engine) on the lore of the books when it comes to quests, characters, and game-play. As far as our visual references go, we often use the Movie/Weta concepts for our 3d models and visual development as long as it doesn’t conflict with the lore.

COR: Which sources have you mainly used in your research for the mod? Mainly book based, or does that include the films (and books about the films), websites, forums, and so on?

Grey: Of course the books, which I am yet to read all of, though I have read most. The Fantastic Encyclopedia of Arda has been one of our greatest references as far as lore goes. Wikipedia has been helpful in much the same manner as EOA (Encyclopedia of Arda). http://www.tuckborough.net/ has been helpful as well. And http://www.framecaplib.com/lotrlib.htm is unchallenged as the best visual reference on the net.

The Morgul Wall

COR: To what extent do you feel ‘bound’ by the lore? In such a large and detailed world you would necessarily have to invent quite a lot, would you not?

Grey: The lore tells us a lot. One thing that Tolkien was keen on was detail. The universe in which Arda takes place is very well detailed and there is a reference for almost every part of the western part of Middle-earth. Places such as Rhûn, and the vineyards east have little information, but enough to inspire us to credit the lore. It is unknown whether it is elves, men, or some other undiscovered free-folk that yields the greatest wine in the west, but we can make a fair guess with the lore provided, you’ll have to wait and see what we choose to use in the mod Another great example is Gothmog, lieutenant to the Witch King. The idea of an orc playing this role is rather unrealistic in my opinion, and it can be disputed of what race he came. We will go with our “best instinct” again based on the lore provided, and you’ll just have to wait and see One last measure of dispute is weather Balrogs have wings or not. :p I can tell you now though, our balrog will have wings

COR: I believe you started modding for ‘The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind’? Or did you mod any other games before that?

Grey: I did some notepad modding for a game called Carnivores 2. I was trying to make fantasy themed maps inspired by EverQuest at the time. I had fair success and I still have the files. I play around with them from time to time. Morrowind came out shortly after and it was love at first sight when I discovered the Construction Set. I bought Morrowind about a week after it’s launch and began modding it immediately. I never released anything to the public because I was working on a Middle-earth mod (alone) and making little private mods, though I did gain much Construction Set experience from it.

Inside Minas Morgul

COR: Which is your favorite part of modding?

Grey: 3d Modeling and world/level/dungeon building.

COR: What was your first view on modding?

Grey: I thought it looked like fun. I’ve always liked building things, and modding gave me the opportunity to build my favorite fantasy world in it’s entirety.

COR: If you had known that modding requires a lot of spare time, hard work that sometimes just leads to nothing, would you still have chosen to become a modder?

Grey: Of course, it’s my passion.

COR: Do you think Bethesda supports the mod community enough?

Grey: No, we hardly ever hear form anybody of any authority, though Joel Burgess is very dedicated from my perceptions of him.

COR: Do you prefer Morrowind over Oblivion or vice verca, putting aside the graphics?

Grey: I prefer Morrowind to Oblivion a million to one. Oblivion is a good game, but I have often commented that Morrowind is by far my favorite game of all time. It’s left a very deep impression on me.

COR: Which is your favorite Oblivion or Morrowind mod?

Grey: I enjoyed Solstheim Castle for Morrowind quite a bit, though I don’t really have a favorite. I enjoy my own mods a bit, but I don’t generally play either game often. I don’t use mods for Oblivion, because I don’t want them to conflict with my personal modding. I play Morrowind on occasion, but the only time I play Oblivion is to test the mod.

COR: Do you think the Construction Set is user-friendly, or is it more for the advanced user?

Grey: At first, it’s not user friendly at all, but after five years it grows on you. For how powerful it can be (especially Oblivion’s Construction Set) I would say it is very user friendly in relevance.

COR: Could you give us an estimate for a releases date, or – barring that – an estimate of where you are now as far as the development goes?

Grey: I always say 12%, because no matter how much progress there is, it’s always twelve percent of what I want completed. :p We don’t have a EDA (estimated date of arrival).

Hobbit Holes

COR: Will the next release be a public beta, or a stable release after some private beta testing?

Grey: We will do some private beta testing, which is within the bounds of the law. After all the bugs are worked out, if we don’t receive a cease and desist, we will make a public beta, which is not as much of a beta as it is just a demo of what’s to come. The chances of a cease and desist are low, at least we as well as all of our sister mods (FA:TW, LotR:TW, BF2ME, etc…) are yet to receive even one. I think the hope of making a public release is high, and if not, just sign up for private testing

COR: And at the very end we again have some ‘quick questions’:

COR: Which is your favourite race in MERPTC?

Grey: Dwarves because they are unique to Oblivion.

COR: Which is your favourite class in MERPTC?

Grey: Magician, not the fireballs Magician, the lore master kind of Magician that Gandalf was

COR: Which is your favourite book by Tolkien?

Grey: The Silmarillion, it’s an absolute masterpiece ;D

COR: Who is your favourite character from a book by Tolkien?

Grey: Gandalf

COR: What is your favourite moment from a book by Tolkien?

Grey: The bridge of Khazad-Dum with Gandalf and the Balrog

COR: Which is your favourite film?

Grey: The Fellowship of the Ring

COR: Which is your favourite character from the films?

Grey: Gandalf

COR: Which is your favourite scene from the films?

Grey: The bridge of Khazad-Dum with Gandalf and the Balrog

COR: We await your mod with great anticipation. I’d like to thank you for your time and I wish you the best of luck with MERP|TC. For more information on Grey and his mod please check out their website.

Discuss in the forums.