Role-playing

Role-playing in Middle-Earth in which the participants assume the roles of characters from Middle-Earth and experience Adventures, stories set in the fictional Background of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium can be traced back to the 1970ies, with earliest beginnings of early pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, when Game-Masters started to adapt D&D for a Tolkienesque Background or even earlier with miniature wargames such as Chainmail or Reaper during the 1960s.

In many of these RPGs players choose from several available Races, peoples or cultures of middle-earth and one ore more professions, orders or callings to create hero characters who are led through a storyline (or campaign) by a narrator (the Game-master).

Other forms of RPGs include Miniature Board Games, Strategy Board Games, Collectible Card Games, Play-by-mail and play-by-e-mail games, Forum- or discussion-board RPGS, MUDs or MUSHs and Computer or Video RPGs.

Pen&Paper Games
The earliest RPG officially using a Middle-Earth Background was Middle Earth Roleplaying, released by Iron Crown Enterprises 1984-1999, as a simplified Version of ICE's House System, Rolemaster.Lord of the Rings Adventure Game was a further simplified version of the MERP rules intended for beginners.The Lord of the Rings Role-Playing Game was a quasi-official successor released by Decipher Inc. 2002-2006, based on Deciphers own House System CODA.Since 2011 the official license to release RPGs set in Middle-Earth is held by Cubicle 7 and sophisticated games which released The One Ring - Roleplaying in Middle Earth in 2011.

In addition to these official game systems several fan-made systems (Ambarquenta, Hither lands, Lay of the Dead, Xmaster, Common Heroes) or conversions of other Systems (Rolemaster, D20) have been developed, as well as several fanzines (Other Hands, Other Minds, The Hall of Fire, The Guild Companion) dedicated to Role-Playing in Middle-Earth and Fan-module projects, devoted to exploring the so far undiscovered Wild Lands to the East or South.

See:
 * App for calculating experience points
 * Conversions