Got in a lot of Middle Earth RPG booklets in the shop, the classic Eighties editions with those glorious color maps. They came stapled in the centerfold, but these a former owner had pulled from the staples. Opportunity to take some photos and do a few comparisons.
MERP items available in the shop
The Northern and Southern Mirkwood maps fit very well together!
These maps that so lovingly detail locales from Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) were all drawn by Peter C. Fenlon of Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE).
You may remember the ads on the rear cover of Dragon magazines back in the day.
Middle Earth Roleplaying my RPG Reference
When I added the Angmar map to the Mirkwood maps, we had a case of a disappearing mountain range!
Angmar was one of the earliest of the MERP campaign books, and I think Fenlon and company were still getting their base format settled. The earlier map uses a white background, rather than the soft water colors that were consistent in the later MERP maps.
The maps are clearly to the same scale (1 inch = 20 miles), as can be seen by comparing the Anduin River and its tributaries on the Angmar vs Mirkwood maps. But there’s a spine of mountains in the wrong place.
Comparing the region to the corresponding area on the great Middle Earth poster map from the Campaign Guidebook (1982) reveals the error.
The Misty Mountains should extend to the southwest, not the southeast!
Error aside, the MERP maps are a treasure from the old school RPGs. So much inspiration to be found here.
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