'MERP' stands for 'Middle Earth Role Playing', a system produced by I.C.E. (Iron Crown Enterprises) to allow roleplaying games set in the world of J.R.R.Tolkein's Middle Earth.

MERP is a complex and supposidly realistic system, featuring a gritty style of game. Players cannot really expect to lead their characters into high fantasy adventure, for it is the time after the destruction of the one-ring and all the great powers are gone from the world. It is a system where powers advance slowly, wounds and fatigue can be fatal, and players can expect a lot of adventures involving shepherds, pirates and grubby villages.

At the same time it is still a world where Orks and Balrogs lurk, so the appeal of the Lord of the Rings is not entirly gone. The game has always marketed itself as "The Role Playing Game of J.R.R. Tolkein's World" and filled itself with imagesdrawn from The Lord of The Rings, so it retains its links to high fantasy, despite its grittiness.

The game has a number of features and flaws worthy of mention:

1. The Game has one of the most complex action and combat systems ever invented. With each player forced to add up long lists of movement columns to determine exactly who goes first and how fast, and then rolling handfuls of dice on multitudes of tables to determine the result. Luckily this game also has one of the most entertaining set of critical damage tables ever, with results ranging from bruised shins to spines exploding through the backs of bodies.
2. MERP also has a similarly complex system for generating characters, which involves determining their childhood experiences, followed by adolescant interests, early study, work, experience and training. While this certainly gives well fleshed out characters it can hardly be said to be either quick or convenient.
3. Luckily MERP is saved when its love for complexity turns to its rules for spells and herbs. It is widely acknowledged amongst roleplayers that, if you want a source for anything to do with plants in a game, MERP is your game. Similarly the magic system is exhaustive and actually manages not to unbalence the low-power ethos of the system.

First published in 1984 MERP is by no means a new system, as is clear from its older, more rules-heavy, design, and it is also not extremly poular today. However MERP is the system that everyone thinks of when Middle Earth is mentioned in a Roleplaying context. In more recent years MERP has spawned both a CCG (Wizards), and a Collectible Dice Game, Dicemaster.