Lord of the Rings TCG (Decipher) and beyond

The Lidless Eye · Post by **The Lidless Eye** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:59 am

I don't know if this is the appropriate place, but I thought I would let everyone know that Decipher will stop producing cards for its Lord of the Rings TCG in a couple of months.  

You can read the article here http://decipher.fanhq.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ID=1263.

It will be interesting to see how the LOTR TCG does once Decipher stops supporting the game.  It will also be interesting to see if some other company picks up the rights (ie WOTC) and what if anything will happen if a Hobbit movie is produced.

Ringbearer · Post by **Ringbearer** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:16 pm

THe most interesting is that the lisence is free again, so maybe someone is willing to breath new life in MECCG. That would be fun.

*can imagine the muttered curses as the Balrog set gets a reprint*

sarma72 · Post by **sarma72** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:00 am

Well, that does not surprise me... they basically annoyed a lot of people out there by banning the use of old cards in order to push everybody to buy their new sets... That goes to shows that the best strategy to keep people interested is to create new game mechanics and strategies, just as ICE did.

Ringbearer · Post by **Ringbearer** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:21 pm

Not entirely true. The deathblow was the long wait on Hunters and the near bankrupcy which made players lose interest in the game.

Darksatin · Post by **Darksatin** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:46 pm

Ringbearer wrote:THe most interesting is that the lisence is free again, so maybe someone is willing to breath new life in MECCG.

It is certainly too expensive for a player group like The Council of Elrond.  :(

ElricX · Post by **ElricX** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:09 pm

Why not Comic images? It's a great company who have made 2 greats ccg. Conan and Stargate....? Or why not Hexagonal?

Warlord of Gondor · Post by **Warlord of Gondor** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:38 pm

I heard that they finally stopped the game. Like, the last two sets just barely went on sale the other day. Even though I am a LOTR TCG Fan myself, it was hard to keep in the game with such long delays.

Hopefully ME gets back its rights.

ElricX · Post by **ElricX** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:47 pm

Why meccg.net doesn't create a "petition" to give again the right to ICE and restart the original game?  Meccg.net is the good place to start this... I think they will be consider that a game who have thousands players around 10 years later it's a good start!!!  No?

Darksatin · Post by **Darksatin** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:07 pm

Another problem is that the heirs of Tolkien (or the owners of the licence) didn't like the inventions of ICE (new characters like Galva, Vôteli, Peath ; new regions, etc...).
So, I don't know if they would agree that MECCG would be republished.

ElricX · Post by **ElricX** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:36 pm

I think if he see that he can do some $$$ this argument will convince him!

$$$ rule the world.....lol

Eyelid · Post by **Eyelid** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:19 pm

Darksatin wrote:Another problem is that the heirs of Tolkien (or the owners of the licence) didn't like the inventions of ICE (new characters like Galva, Vôteli, Peath ; new regions, etc...).
So, I don't know if they would agree that MECCG would be republished.

Perhaps so, Dominique, but why not ask them directly? We could also try to get a hold of Coleman Charlton and Mike Reynolds, the original designers, to find out if they have had any plans over the years to revive this game. Who knows, they might've already been talking to other companies to pick it up where it left off in 1999...

I'd love to see this game be re-born from its ashes. This phoenix has many reasons to rise again: see for example Coleman Charlon's interview by Jason Kight in his MECCG Newsletter #4, pages 1-5 (which you can download from this page: http://www.meccg.net/netherlands/meccg/).

What the future holds is anyone's guess. But if there's anything we can do to give it a nudge in a particular direction, I'm all for it!

The Lidless Eye · Post by **The Lidless Eye** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:10 pm

A couple of things to keep in mind.  Although Tolkien Enterprises may hold the rights to games based on Tolkien's Middle Earth, they may not hold the game mechanic.  The game mechanic would have been owned by ICE.  It is not clear to me if the game mechanic reverted to Tolkien Enterprises or not.  If it didn't, it is also unclear how ICE's bankruptcy/re-organization would have affected that intellectual property.  Therefore, although Tolkien Enterprises could licence another CCG based on Tolkien's work to any company, it is not clear if they could solely licence the rebirth of the MECCG game mechanics with any company other than ICE.

If you remember when Decipher lost the licence to Star Wars.  Decipher retained the game mechanic which they morphed into their Wars CCG.

If anybody wanted to get a hold of either Coleman Charleton or Pete Fenlon, there email addresses can be found on the following website:
http://www.mayfairgames.com/about/team.htm

sarma72 · Post by **sarma72** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:31 pm

One positive side of any MECCG revival is that our community could provide a great playtesting and launching base for a new version of this game.

On a negative side, I think a wider public may find it difficult to move away from the movie pictures and appreciate the artwork again.

I think it would be great to revive MECCG, in particular if one could manage to somehow simplify the rules, or at least avoid any inconsistency or loopholes.

Eyelid · Post by **Eyelid** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:42 pm

If anybody wanted to get a hold of either Coleman Charleton or Pete Fenlon, there email addresses can be found on the following website:
http://www.mayfairgames.com/about/team.htm

Craig, thanks for the information.
Yes, those are very sensible questions. I was in touch with someone who still works at ICE. I'll drop him a line and see what he's got to say about the issue.

Cheers,

Sly Southerner · Post by **Sly Southerner** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:09 am

sarma72 wrote:I think it would be great to revive MECCG, in particular if one could manage to somehow simplify the rules, or at least avoid any inconsistency or loopholes.

That would be the key. A second edition would be required IMHO. The major problem with MECCG is that the rules are so complex and full of holes. We are still finding problems now! At least there is 10 years of rules debate to assist anyone brave enough to try!