Middle Earth #01: A Spy in Isengard

Tolkien, one of the best fantasy authors. These books are from the late eighties. They are Set in Middle earth as the name implies. RPG's...blown to hell by video games, not that they are bad. This book closley relates to dungrons and dragons, which I might add, has some rather nice books as well, but there is a problem with D & D...It requires more than one person, the isolation of a good solo rpg is hard to find. I have always loved the game, D & D, and rpg's...video rpg's. But a week ago, I ran into troubles. The first...Nobody plays D & D, so I had to give that up. And second, I had noticed I was getting less educated, my life was going no where, I found two sources. One was videogame rpg's, they take too much time, and they are difficult to end play. The other was online rpg's, they took too much time as well...all that typing, BAH! And, they all had to be done in one place...my room, cutting into time I had to be doing something else. So I quite, said to hell with it and gave up. So, one day I am in my father's basement, looking through his old books for a good read. As I bent across the stairs to grab frankenstein...which I hear is a good book...I noticed the words Middle Earth. TOLKEIN! I thought to myself. As I stretched fearlessly across the gap, it finaly came into my grasp. Apon closer inspection, I found that it was not just a fantasy book, it was a solo rpg based on tolkien's work! I then found that it was rather comoplex, a well made rpg. Copywrite of 88', the first of its series. The plot is that you are an aprentice of Saruman the white, as he falls under the influence of Sauron. You decide to help the fight against Sauron by spying on Saruman. You also decide to tell the white council by sending message to Galadrial, the Lady of Lorien, to meet a reprisentative in a location you get to pick. Your task in the book is to find clues to Saruman's betrayal by searching the tower Orthanc. Then leave the tower and meet the reprisentative. The story can be as long or short as your decisions make it. Mine was short, not very short, but not very long. There are longer versions, I just made wise choices and came into few confrontasions. For being the first of its kind, it is good, and for being only one of the many adventures you and your character(characters can be transfered from one game to another, maintaning their level, items, and abilities), it is a wonderful read. The constant fear of being found by Saruman, the many trense, if not action packed, situations, and the time limit to reach the representative. They all added to the adventure, and though I only faught two battles and three monsters, there re more that can be found, about 30 monsters, actualy. And, Saruman...if you have a death wish, or feel very lucky, that is....I find it a good way to pass the time, and for 1 to 12 $ on this site, it will be much cheaper than most video games, even for the whole series. So try the book for a few dollars,