I’ve run a 5 games in TOR2E so far, no campaign, just one shots. I find it falls into the same trap Free League regularly fall in (see also Twilight 2000 4th edition for example), in that it’s too crunchy to be a really good narrative system but at the same time it’s too loosey goosey to be a really good gamist system. Because of this, the system fails to really hit the spot with either audience.

The starter set with Shire adventures is really to be avoided if you care at all about the lore; with the way they treat existing book characters. But outside of starter set, I feel like TOR2E really hits the spot when it comes to emulating the feel and ambience of Middle Earth.

If you’re really a big fan of Middle Earth I can definitely recommend TOR2E, just without the starter set. But if you’re not a hardcore fan of the setting I’m not sure the system has enough pull to draw you in.

As far as alternatives go; I’ve not played the current 5E adaptation, but I’ve played C7’s 5E adaptation “Adventures in Middle Earth”, and personally found it absolutely horrible. It was a good version of 5E, but it was nothing like Middle Earth. A lot of core D&D 5E gameplay and tropes are inherently incompatible with Middle Earth setting in my opinion.

It depends on several things.

First, how do you treat your game nights? Do you treat them as a casual social gathering where it’s ok to show up fashionably late; or to not show up without warning; or to drop out last minute because of whatever non-emergency reason? If so, don’t be surprised players also treat it as something casual and social, and reading rules isn’t casual or social. Maybe D&D just is too complex and not the right game for your table if you just want to run a casual social event.

Personally I treat my D&D style campaign game nights similar to how I’d treat coaching a sports club. If you want to be a striker on a soccer team, and you don’t understand the off-side rules and don’t want to learn them, no coach in their right mind wil put you on the field either. Sure I give my players time to learn, and don’t expect them to know everything from day 1, but the absolute minimum I expect is a willingness to improve.

Practically, what I do for each player in my campaign is to compile a document which I expect them to focus on. They roll up a fighter, I will include the fighter class entry plus common special maneuver. They roll up a wizard, I will include the wizard class entry plus their spell book. They roll up a merchant (which I consider the most complicated class in my game and will discourage inexperienced players from taking it), I will give them the class entry plus a 101 intro to the economics of my campaign world. They have 3 months (approximate 10-15 weekly sessions) to understand the material I’ve given them, before I start reconsidering their presence in my campaign. Obviously there’s some flexibility, it’s not a life or death matter; but again I do expect at least some sign of willingness.

Next, please do understand I did specify campaign game nights above. Obviously things are different with one-shots like convention games or open table games at the local game store. I don’t expect the players to know any rules there and will happily guide them by the hand from start to finish.

It’s one thing if you’re playing a duet RPG with a GM and solo player (or GM-less duet ttrpg, not sure of that exists?). But the last thing i’m interested in is ‘exploring sex and romance’ while I’m sitting around a dinner table with my sister, my brother in law, and three friends I have zero interest in. All while half the table is munching on Cheetos.

I’ve only played the Dutch translations, so it could be a problem with localisation; but 5th edition felt really horribly made in my opinion. I’ve played both 3rd and 5th Edition of DSA (5th edition is what’s in this bundle), and I would never touch 5th edition again if given the choice.

That said, if you do want to try 5th edition, this collection looks very decent, has all the books I played with in Dutch, and more.