Aid In Constructing Another D&D Middle-Earth Campaign

Corinth

First Post
This thread is about my sometimes-mentioned D&D Middle-Earth campaign that I have in development, with a launch date at the end of this year.

I intend to a D&D campaign set in the Fourth Age of Middle-Earth, and I intend to set in far in the East. A new Dark Lord arises and comes to conquer the East, bringing it once more under Shadow. The PCs, as part of the Free Peoples of the East, are to do what they can to prevent this from happening.

Here is what I have so far:
  • The PCs are subjects of a lost Numenorean successor state in the Far East, in the lands where Elves and Men first awoke in the First Age, and they decend from the last son of Elendil and his wife. (Her ship was lost during the Exodus from Numenor, went far astray and ended up making a Homeric-like journey to the Far East in search of a new home.) Until late in the Second Age, they thought that they were the only Faithful that survived.
  • "Magic" is assumed to be inherent arcane spellcasting. "Lore" can--and does--include arcane spellcasting that needs no such talent, as is the case with wizards.
  • The Blue Wizards arrived in the Far East with Saruman, who convinced them to create an organization in the image of the Istari as the primary means of working against Sauron and the Nine. From this endevor is how wizardry--as D&D defines it--first came to Middle-Earth.
  • Wizardry is still rare, as many mortal Blue Wizards died at the hands various vassals of the Nine over the Second and Third Age. The Numenoreans rarely practice it due to their blood ties to Valinor.
  • Clerics exist, but there is no organized religion in Numenorean culture per se. Rather, a cleric PC would be someone who is called to serve by one of the Valar. As Morgoth is also a Vala, he also does this. Other Mannish cultures vary widely in worship practices.
  • Orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, etc. are all "Orcs" and have the same humanoid subtype modifier.
  • Right now, I've restricted PCs to Men until I work out (or use another's) playable version of elves and Numenoreans.

I am aware of the D20 Middle-Earth site here at EN World, and I do consult it when I need something to jar my processes. At this point, I would like to make explicit my primary design consideration: to deviate as little as possible from the D&D rules, so that I do only what is absolutely necessary to achieve the desired result.

And I'd like your help.
 

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