Middle Earth Role Playing, or MERP for short, is a system designed for role playing in Tolkien's Middle Earth, taken from "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" books (amongst others). The system is basically a cut-down version of Rolemaster, with added monster and race descriptions.
Personally, I use the Rolemaster books for combat and spells, and the MERP rules for character development. Most other MERP GMs seem to do this sort of thing too.
Several incarnations, each better indexed than the last, although with no noticeable rules changes. Current hardback version will cost you about £20. Published by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE).
Earlier editions of MERP had a vast array of supplemental source material and modules, of astoundingly high quality and exacting detail. They were phenomenally consistent with Tolkein's work, whilst filling in the gaps with new material without spoiling the atmosphere.
Sadly, these slim paperback modules are no longer available, and instead the policy seems to be to produce thicker sourcebooks, which whilst being of the same high standard, are far less numerous, and thus restrict the areas of Middle Earth in which you can easilly set your campaign.
Middle Earth with Amber Diceless Roleplaying rules. This is a rather good attempt at developing an alternative game system for use in a Middle Earth campaign. It's worth reading in its own right for its views on the game's general atmosphere. If you decided to use this system, you probably wouldn't need to buy the Amber rulebooks that it's based on, but reading them would certainly help.
Iron Crown Enterprises pages have lists of their products, and that sort of stuff. Also shows signs of having additional source material. Not much so far, but it's the sort of frighteningly detailed stuff you'd expect.
The Electronic Tolkien Encyclopedia Project is a collection of articles on all sorts of different Middle-Earth things, such as whether Balrogs had wings or not. Worth a rummage.
Contact the author of this page: Daemonic