Skills can be modified to a rating above or below these limits (i.e. under 1 or over 100, with open-ended MERP options to add or subtract additional d100).

The result is compared to the defender's armor type and looked up on a table to determine success or failure.

was working on the third edition[2] that was never published, along with many adventure and campaign modules, until Tolkien Enterprises revoked the license for games based on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in 1999.

It featured the First Edition rules, with a new box and booklet art by Chris Achilleos, along with 25mm floorplans for the sample adventure.

In the February 1984 edition of White Dwarf (Issue 50), Jonathan Sutherland reviewed the various MERP supplements available at the time, and generally liked them, although he found their price a bit steep.

73), William A. Barton commented that "If you haven't yet taken a trip to Middle-earth via the Iron Crown, I recommend you remedy the situation as soon as possible.

"[7] In the January 1985 edition of Imagine (Issue 22), Andy Blakeman stated that "by its links with Tolkien, it cannot fail to attract many new gamers into this hobby; and I am reasonably confident that these newcomers will not be disappointed.

"[8] In the June 1985 edition of White Dwarf (Issue 66), Graham Staplehurst thought "Iron Crown has done superb development work on areas that Tolkien neglected or left unspecified."

However, Staplehurst had issues with the magic system, pointing out that in Tolkien's books, magic is a rare, subtle force only used by a few powerful characters, whereas "The MERP system gives these sorts of powers to almost anyone after the acquisition of relatively few experience points; for me, it upsets the flavor of the game and its authenticity."

"[12] In a retrospective review of Middle-earth Role Playing in Black Gate, Scott Taylor said "MERP, as it is more affectionately called, became the second leading RPG sold in the 1980s, and although mismanagement and rather daunting licensing dealings with the Tolkien estate finally resulted in the games dissolution and the company's bankruptcy, the body of work put out by I.C.E.

[14] In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "MERP is a glorious mess.

The ruleset, the sourcebooks, all of it — mess ... the system Iron Crown offered feels radically out of sync with the themes and aesthetics of Tolkien's world."

However, Horvath felt the game had positive values, commenting, "MERP books aren't trash.