Trolls of the Misty Mountains

ICE published the licensed game Middle Earth Role-Playing in 1982, and then released many supplements for it over the next 17 years, until the Tolkien Estate withdrew their license in 1999. Trolls of the Misty Mountains was written by John Cresswell and Mike Cresswell, with a cover by Daniel Horne, cartography by Jessica Ney, and illustrations by Denis Loubet, and was published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 1986 as a 32-page book.^[3] I.C.E. revisited this area in later publications including Phantom of the Northern Marches (1986), Dark Mage of Rhudaur (1989), and Arnor (1994).^[2]

In Issue 39 of Abyss, John Davies noted "These three scenarios are well designed but surprisingly unsophisticated, and the whole package seems aimed at younger readers." He also pointed out that all three adventures were "very reward-oriented, sort of seek and find type situations, characteristic of material designed for younger players." Davies also found the adventures, at 3–4 hours each, were "rather brief." Davies concluded, "These complaints aside, the adventures are well crafted, and while they may not present any mental challenges or great original themes, they are playable and moderately interesting."^[4]

In the December 1986 edition of Adventurer (Issue 6, Jon Sutherland was unimpressed, saying, "This is awful, boring and hack [...] The link with Tolkien’s source materials is flimsy, and the adventures are reminiscent of the old Judges Guild modules." He concluded with a recommendation to avoid this book, saying, "You would have thought that with all the rich background and the relatively high quality of the other ’ready-to-run’ modules, that the thirty -two pages would have something half decent in them. This is not the case."^[5]

Graham Staplehurst reviewed Trolls of the Misty Mountains for White Dwarf #87, and stated that "there is perhaps something less than original in its basis. Although useful for a GM without time to produce their own adventures, the module slips a little from the excellent standards previously set by ICE."^[1]

Denis Beck, in the April 1987 edition of Casus Belli (Issue #37), called these adventures "very classic." His only complaint was "the meagerness of the historical background, which risks confusing a beginner gamemaster."^[6]