DnD Adventures in 4th Age Middle Earth... Ideas?

[Errant]

Well, I'm sure it was predictable with Return of the King being just released, but it occurred to me that this is an outstanding opportunity to indulge in an adventure (or few) immersed in the shared atmosphere of superbly portrayed Middle Earth (ME) setting. I thought I’d share some of my ideas & seek any suggestions others might have that I can shamelessly use to develop the concept further.

Note – I don’t pretend to be an expert on all things Tolkien & no offence is meant to any Tolkien purists who might disagree with some of my ideas.

The starting point:
It is the dawn of the 4th Age & one year since the Battle of Pellenor Fields. Aragorn Elessar is King of the Western Realms & the elf lady Arwen Evenstar his queen. Sauron’s strongholds have been torn down & the remnants of his host scattered to the darkest corners of Middle Earth. The armies of the west are returning to their homes & garrisons, their work all but done. The War of the Ring is over, but many of Sauron’s minions & older, darker evils, still linger. It is a time for new heroes to step forward & carry on the war against shadow…

Considerations:
There is a huge body of material detailing the setting created by JRR Tolkien, much of which is considered almost sacred by many. Luckily for me, my players are pretty casual about their fantasy literature & I should be able to get away with a lot as long as I don’t contradict the movies. Nevertheless, this existing works combine to reflect a particular atmosphere that can be easily dispelled by carelessly placed encounters. One of the strongest characteristics of this atmosphere is a tendency toward subtle rather than flashy magic. The absence of fireball hurling wizards on the battlements of Helms Deep (etc) supports the concept that middle earth is a relatively ‘low magic’ setting.

Opportunities:
While many things about Tolkien’s world have been clearly established, other things have been left undefined (the origins of Hobbits for example). Selecting the LOTR movies as The ‘cannon’ sources for a 4th Age ME setting, gives players an easily accessible basis for their impressions of the game world & gives a DM many opportunities for creative invention.

The Challenge:
Two-fold: how to adapt 3.5 edition d20 DnD rules to reflect the subtle/low-magic aspect of ME while still leaving it playable for those who enjoy magic using characters; & what encounters & locations to use to reinforce the ME atmosphere.

Resources (the best I’ve so far found online):
EN World’s hosted page: http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/hosted/ME/
The Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/
Maps of the Westlands: http://members.tripod.com/john.ohara/WestLands3.htm

Favored Rules (hoping to keep changes simple):
- Half standard character wealth for new characters created above 1st Level – to restrict the number of magic items likely to be found in an adventuring group.
- No single class dedicated spell casters – wizards, clerics, & druids must take at least half their levels in at least one hybrid class or a dedicated class that does not share the same arcane/divine spell types.
- No spells involving alignment or extradimensional travel (including Teleport).

Possible First Adventure (for a mid to high level group):
King Aragorn calls upon the PCs to investigate the fate of the Academy of Adepts (still looking for a decent name), established long ago by the Istari to teach mortal races the use of magic. After surprisingly sending no aid during the War of the Ring, the Academy has now fallen completely silent & no messengers sent there have returned in weeks…

So. Anyone care to share their thoughts?

It’s my turn to DM in a few weeks & I’d love to run an adventure worthy of the setting. Any helpful suggestions would be hugely appreciated. Suitable monsters (with or without stats), locations, & encounters would all very useful.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Well, if you want a dungeon crawl, the PCs could go searching for the Mines of Moria. The Balrog may be dead, but the place is still crawling with orcs, and is still a great source of Mithril.

 

[Mystaros]

Working on just such a campaign myself...

The campaign starts FA 62, which is just right for players to have a chance to meet most of the main players of the LotR, but by this time they are old, and thus new heroes *must* arise.

Working on a whole timeline and a bunch of new villains and such. Here is one of them...

The Ice Queen of Angmar
Helkanárfëa ( Q. “Icy Fire Spirit” ), Akûldâgalûr ( B.S. “Ice Demon” )
Valaraukar/Noldor Healer 8/Magician 16
Emblem: A white dragon rampant.
Helkanárfëa, the Ice Queen of Angmar, is the daughter of a balrog and a captured Noldor princess of the First Age, born in the pits of Morgoth. Thus, as with Lúthien, daughter of Thingol of Doriath and Melian the Maia, she is a most potent being. She was being trained as a great captain by Morgoth when the Final Doom fell upon Angband and her master, but she survived, and was cast into the waters of the north, where, due to her great might from her valaraukar father, she remained frozen alive, encased in ice for millennia. Even frozen in body she was potent in spirit, and over the ages she slowly corrupted nearby native tribes of elves, men, and orcs to her cause. When Sauron was destroyed the great wave of magic that was released in his destruction shattered her prison, and she was freed.
Since then she has slowly built her forces of Helkari (vile ice elves), Lossoth (evil snowmen), and Akûlmurûk (“ice bears,” the mighty furred orcs of the north, i.e., bugbears). Around 30 FA her first scouts snuck into Angmar and made contact with the local goblin tribes. By 50 FA she had conquered the orcs of Mount Gram, and controlled or otherwise dominated all other local orc tribes and troll bands, save those of Mount Gundabad (who oppose her and, thus far, are too strong to conquer). By 60 FA her new domicile, Lugrazbûrzum, the “Tower of Frozen Shadows,” was complete, built atop the ruins of the Witch King’s tower at Carn Dûm. Angmar is now a fairy land of ice and snow, where summer is as autumn and spring never reigns. It has become known as the “Fimbul Land,” for orcs and trolls walk the frosted moors by day and ice and frost giants are said to stride the land by night.
The Ice Queen appears not unlike a beautiful Noldorin princess of old, being 6’8” tall, with platinum-blonde hair, beautiful elven facial features, and fine slim hands. Her resemblance to Galadriel is stunning, though not so when one realizes that her mother was none other than Galadriel’s long-lost sister (she is thus great aunt to Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen, and kin to Prince Eldarion of the Reunited Kingdom). However, beneath her voluminous flowing robes of scintillating colors (which glow like the northern lights) her body is foul and demonic, covered in innumerable ice-blue scales strong as dragon plates (think of the appearance of Mystique in the X-Men movies). These scales go all the way up to her neck and to her wrists, and thus does her robe; her feet are clawed and demonic, and so she ever wears slippers of mithril and gold. The only obvious (uncovered and un-disguisable) demonic elements of her appearance are her eyes, which are a solid blue, the glowing blue of glacial ice, and her wings, which appear as those of a balrog, though ice blue in color and dripping with ice. She can “scrunch” her wings to vestigial size, and hide them under her robes when necessary, though the process takes three full rounds. The air about her is ever cold, deep frozen as the north (-20 degrees Fahrenheit); her breath freezes in a cloud of ice as she speaks, the stone floor slicks in ice under her feet, and icicles form on the arms of her throne as she sit upon it. She travels about her realm in a sleigh drawn by polar bears and manned by Lûzolog (snow trolls) and Akûlmurûk.
The Ice Queen possesses one of the lost Palantír, one of the two lost to the sea when the ship of Arvedui, the Last King, foundered. It is encased in a large column of blue glacial ice now hidden deep in the bowels of her tower at Lugrazbûrzum. It has gained several powers through her tampering with it and through its long centuries encased in the northern ice. The Palantír can only just be made out through the deep blue ice, flames writhing continuously within its dark depths. The visions granted by the Palantír now take shape within the column of ice, and can be seen by anyone who sees the column of ice when the visions are evoked by the user. It is also central to her growing power over the climate and weather within Angmar, as she uses it as a focus and amplifier of her power.

Those are the notes I have so far on this nasty. How did she come to power with Elessar on the throne, you might ask? Well, he and Eomer concentrated militarily in the south and east for the last 60 years, where the Haradrim and Easterlings had grown strong of their own accord in Sauron's absence (and they are still not fully under Gondor's sway, especially in Far Harad, where a new Great King rules, a great hunter claiming to be a Black Nûmenorean and going by the name of Ar-Minarawakûl, though others might know him as Alatar or Romestamo). Annúminas, though refounded, is still but a frontier colony (think Westermarck from the Conan stories), and only south and west of the Gwathlo do the colors of Gondor still rule the day. Only the Rangers of the Wild, the stalwarts of Bree, and the odd adventurer from Gondor, Rohan, or Rhovanion challenge the Ice Queen. Oh, and maybe a hobbit or two, especially one Tom Gamgee who, entranced by his father's tales of adventure, left the Shire some years ago to seek his own road...

 

[Endur]

There are a number of excellent adventure ideas for early 4th age. Mostly involving cleaning out old fortresses of evil.

Dol Gulder and Barad-dur have fallen, but there can still be adventures found in the ruins.

Durthang, Minas Morgul, and Umbar still stand (as they were not built with the power of Sauron), but they are priority targets for the King's army.

Moria will be cleaned out by Durin's folk.

And so on.

 

[Agback]

G'day

I set my version of this idea a few years later, and used HindSight rather than D&D. (HindSight is the fantasy version of the general purpose RPG ForeSight: I chose it because it has much lower-key magic and is also free from high-level characters with grossly superhuman abilities).

My campaign was set in Arnor, where things were still pretty wooly, and where the king was having trouble settling enough people to establish order. Most of the Dunedain of the North had either moved to Court in Gondor or settled down to re-establish their ancestral estates in Arthedain. The Rangers of the North Kingdom had to recruit a lot of non-Dunedain, and the PCs joined up.

I had several things driving adventure in Arnor. The Dunlendings were very suspicious of the new order. The dwarves of the Ered Luin and the dwarves of Erebor were in a bit of a race to re-openthe mithril-mines in Khazad-dum, and tending to squabble over it. The trolls and orcs and what have you that survived the attack on Rivendell still had to be rooted out (and some of them still had loot from Gondolin, remember). And a lot of the bad guys from the wreck of Saruman's empire had set up as bandits. The surviving Black Numenoreans of the south and east were turned on by the peoples they had ruled on Sauron's behalf, and a number of them decided to through themselves on the mercy of the King, and accept his offer of lands to settle in Arnor. There was a lot of political argy-bargy over that, especially as their traditions and customs were not compatible with the kingdoms of the elf-friends: the old ones found it difficult to adapt, while the young ones were keen to clean their slates by enthusiastic adopting of the king's interests. And finally, I supposed that the king had found it necessary to have the wreckage of the Black Tower cleared (so that people would not release really dangerous things while hunting for the world's supply of mined mithril (which if you examine the background carefully, is stockpiled in Barad-dur). This of course resulted in some pilferage and in fairly rapid fatigue of the workforce. A major string of adventures centred around a worker from the Barad-dur-clearing project who had retired to Arnor with his bonuses recognising being murdered because he recognised a deserter from that project {who was using the palantir of Minas Morgul (stolen) to direct a surprisingly successful bandit organisation}.

I wrote (as is my habit) a briefing document, which you may have a look at if you like.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Mystaros]

G'day

My campaign was set in Arnor, where things were still pretty wooly, and where the king was having trouble settling enough people to establish order.

<snip>

I wrote (as is my habit) a briefing document, which you may have a look at if you like.

Agback

Sounded like a cool campaign! I might have to nick a few things from it myself, especially the bit about the return of the Black Nûmenoreans (though it'd be a split, as I already have plans for them in Umbar and Harad). Would you mind sending me the briefing sheet, too? Thanks!

James

 

[Agback]

G'day

I strongly recommend that you take a look at Lalaith's Middle-Earth Science Page.

And bear in mind that characters of the superhuman competence of high-level D&D characters are just as incongruous in Middle-Earth as spell-flinging D&D spell-casters. Remember that Aragorn (a ranger with seventy years' experience) Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, Gandalf and four hobbits ran away from a group of orcs with a cave troll in tow. The range of character ability in Middle-Earth is narrower than that implied by the DYD character system.

Consider using something like modified RuneQuest (with divine magic only).

Regards,


Agback

edited to repair coding of the URL

 

[Agback]

ERIADOR IN 8/IV

The Ordering of Eriador

The Tale of Years records that in SR 1427 “King Elessar issues an edict that Men are not to enter the Shire, and makes it a Free Land under the protection of the Northern Sceptre”. That is a typically insular way for hobbits to put things, to say the least. The edict was indeed proclaimed, on 30 Yavannië in the year 7/IV, but its scope was far more sweeping than the hobbit annalist suggests. Titled For the Ordering of Eriador it not only rehabilitated and re-organised the Kingdom of Arnor, but also established new arrangements for those parts of Gondor between the White Mountains and the Greyflood.


Dorn Angren

The part of Gondor between the Adorn-Isen and the westward spur of the White Mountains was made a principality for the King’s son Eldarion, and the edict provided that it shall ever after be the appanage of the heir apparent to the throne. But while the Heir be under age, the government of the principality remains in the hands of a steward. The King appointed Amandil of Dol Amroth as Steward of Dorn Angren. Many soldiers of Dol Amroth, Ringló Vale, and Lamedon who served in the defence of Minas Tirith were granted estates and farms in Dorn Angren, and likewise men of Anfalas were settled on the coast.


Dunland

Eastern Enedwaith from Swanfleet to the upper Isen (except for the Treegarth of Orthanc), to which King Eomer added the land between Adorn and Isen, was recognised as the homeland of the Dunlendings. The authority of their Five Chieftains was recognised under the suzerainty of the King, and they were charged with the upkeep of the Great Road between Tharbad and the Fords of Isen, and speeding the King’s Messengers. The western border of Dunland from the confluence of Isen and Adorn to the confluence of the Swanfleet and Hoarwell, was ordered to be marked with a line of yew-trees.


Western Enedwaith

Duinhir of Morthond was made Prince of Lond Daer, and charged with the rule of the lands between Greyflood and the lower Isen, west of the Yews of Dunland. Veterans of the War from Morthond and Parth Gelin were settled on estates in this land, and from Anfalas along the coast. Vacant lands were made available for settlement by people of Gondor.


Arthedain

The old lands of Arthedain, except for the Shire, were thickly set with the lordships of the Dunedain of the North. Considerable royal woods and demesnes were preserved, especially around Lake Evendim. In many cases fiefs long in abeyance were revived for Ranger families lineally descended from the last tenants.


The Shire

The King’s edict confirmed the grant of the Shire to the hobbits by King Arvedui, and explicitly gave them leave to rule themselves according to their customs, subject to the laws and suzerainty of the North Kingdom. This presumably made the Thain the King’s vassal for the Shire. Buckland is not in point of law part of the Shire, and therefore is nominally subject to rule by the King and his Council of the North.

The King’s edict did not in point of fact forbid men to enter the Shire: that would have had the effect of preventing their use of the East-West Road. What it did was reserve the Shire to the hobbits, an exception to the rule allowing subjects of the King and his allies to settle vacant lands in Arnor.


Rhúdaur

The King assigned the principality of Rhúdaur, between Hoarwell and Loudwater and north of the Old Road to the Weather Hills, to Elladan and Elrohir, the sons of Elrond. These he also recognised as Kings of Hollin between Loudwater-Hoarwell and the Swanfleet.


Cardolan

The King’s kinsman and standard-bearer Halbarad had been killed on the Pelennor Plain. The King gave the land between Hoarwell, the Greenway, and the Old Road to Halbarad’s son Haldir, with the title of Prince of Cardolan (although this land was but a third of territory of Cardolan of old). During Haldir’s minority the wardship of Cardolan was assigned to his grandfather Haladan, who was also Lord Lieutenant of Tharbad.


Minhiriath

Most of the rest of old Cardolan, the land between Brandywine and Greyflood south-west of the road from Tharbad to Sarn Ford, was proclaimed available for the subjects and allies of the King to settle. Minhiriath was not enfeoffed to any lord or prince, and so remains subject directly to the King and the Council of the North.


Royal Works

Certain royal works were already in hand in Eriador at the time of the King’s edict.

The Great Road had been cleared from end to end, and posting-houses were nearing completion at intervals of eight leagues along the way. Where necessary the formation had been restored: cuttings and culverts renewed, causeways rebuilt. Parts of the road were being re-surfaced: even, in places, paved. A new bridge at Tharbad was scheduled to be opened in the Spring. The aim was to have a postal courier service operating from Minas Tirith to Fornost by Midsummer. The vast effort of road-building was largely supplied from Tharbad, where the river-port was restored. And a new river-port was under construction at Sarn Ford, the head of navigation on the Brandywine.

Royal fortresses at Tharbad and Fornost were still many years from completion, but the first stages had been occupied. And a city was rising again on the ruins of Annuminas, to be once again the northern capital of the Kingdom of the Dunedain.
These works involved colossal expenditures, and attracted not only hundreds of dwarvish engineers from Erebor and Ered Lindon, but thousands of Mannish masons and navvies. Markets for food and fodder, timber, clothes, charcoal, tools, horses, ponies, and oxen sprang into being. Farmers and shepherds, woodsmen, spinners and weavers, carters and publicans flocked to the Road. Life began to stir anew in Eriador.


Royal Officials

The Council of the North

Fifteen lords of the Dunedain exercise the powers of the King between Greyflood and Lune. Seven seats are hereditary and seven appointed for life, and the Seneschal of Arnor presides during the pleasure of the King.


Seneschal of Arnor

President and executive of the Council of the North, the Seneschal of Arnor governs the North-Kingdom. This office is held by Thilvagor son of Arador, the uncle of the King.


Lord Lieutenant of Fornost

Castellan of the royal fortress of Fornost Erain, the Lord Lieutenant of Fornost is Captain of the Rangers of the North and commander of the north-east frontier of Arnor. His duties are to ward against the beasts and monsters of Rhudaur and Angmar. The post is held by Amlaich son of Belegrond, who was one of the Grey Company.


Lord Lieutenant of Tharbad

Castellan of the royal fortress at Tharbad, the Lord Lieutenant of Tharbad is commander of the south-eastern frontier of Arnor. His duties would seem to be to keep an eye on the Dunlendings, and eye towards Moria, and to patrol the Great Road between Fornost and the Fords of Isen. The post is held by Haladan son of Baradan, a kinsman of the King, who is also guardian of his grandson’s principality of Cardolan.


Mayor of Michel Delving

First Shirriff and Postmaster of the Shire, elected by the hobbits for terms of seven years. The post is held by Samwise Gamgee.


Vassals in Chief

Prince of Dorn Angren

Eldarion son of Aragorn. A minor: the principality is governed by a steward, Amandil of Dol Amroth


Prince of Lond Daer

Duinhir of Morthond.


Prince of Rhúdaur

Elladan and Elrohir, sons of Elrond.


Prince of Cardolan

Haldir son of Habarad. A minor under the wardship of his grandfather Haladan son of Baradan, Lord Lieutenant of Tharbad.


Thain of the Shire

Paladin II [Took].


[Master of Buckland]

Saradoc ‘Scattergold’ [Brandybuck].


Economic conditions

Money

Since the fall of Arthedain in 1974/III and of Khazad-dûm in 1980/III the only mints operating in Eriador have been Dwarvish ones in the Ered Luin, and those had no access to silver-mines. Eriador therefore depended on coin from far away and long ago, with attendant inconveniencies, or on copper coins of small value. In Gondor the mints continued to operate, but the standard of the coin was much debased from the Kin-strife onwards. When the Stewards took over denominations that had been gold under King Valacar were mostly copper.

In 1/IV King Elessar restored the coinage, introducing a system based on standards of Elros Tar-Minyatur and Elendil. The basis of the system is the telpenion: one-twentieth of a Numenorean pound (~21.6 g) of silver 11/12 fine. Tolkien translated telpenion as ‘silver penny’, but I shall use ‘shilling’. The shilling is over-large in both size and value, and is not a popular coin. For practical purposes it is divided into twelve ‘pennies’: the Royal mints produce silver coins of a penny, threepence, sixpence, and a shilling.

A penny a day is a common wage of unskilled labour in Gondor. Which means that change of a penny is often wanted. The old standard was a copper coin the weight of a shilling with a value of 2/15 of a penny, the carnurion (‘copper’). Elessar has replaced this with a slightly larger bronze coin valued by decree at one sixth of a penny. The mints also issue half-coppers and farthings.

The standard of Numenor was for a gold coin the weight of a telpenion called the gilorion, and double-, half-, and quarter-gilyriûn. Gold was about ten times the price of silver, so the gilorion was worth about half a pound of silver. In Middle-earth at the start of the Fourth Age gold is about sixteen times the price of silver. The King has contrived that the value rather than the weight of his gold coins is preserved. His mints therefore issue a gold ‘sovereign’ weighing 27.2 g, a ‘half-sovereign’ worth ten shillings, a ‘crown’ worth five shilling, and a ‘half-crown’ weighing 3.4 grammes.

Elessar’s coins are very beautiful, the dies having been made in Erebor. On the obverse is a portrait of the King circled by the legend “Elessar aran in Arnor e Gondor”. On coins minted at Minas Tirith the King wears the crown of Gondor. On those minted at Fornost he wears the Elendilmir. The reverse designs differ from denomintion to denomination but are the same at Fornost Erain as at Minas Tirith; their encircling legends state the value of the coin in Westron. The edges of the coins are upset and milled.

Coin metal wgt size value
(g) (mm) (pence)
Sovereign Au 27.2 27.2 240
Half-sov Au 13.6 21.6 120
Crown Au 6.8 17.2 60
Half-crown Au 3.4 13.6 30
Shilling Ag 21.6 30.9 12
Sixpence Ag 10.8 24.5 6
Threepence Ag 5.4 19.5 3
Penny Ag 1.8 13.5 1
Copper bronze 21.6 32.6 1/6
Half-copper bronze 10.8 25.9 1/12
Farthing bronze 5.4 20.5 1/24

Coin reverse design
Sovereign Eärendil on Vingilot
Half-sov. The Sun, the Moon, and 7 stars
Crown Tree, stars, and crown
Half-crown 2 snakes, one upholding & one
devouring a crown of flowers
Shilling A mounted ranger bearing the
Royal standard
Sixpence The elessar and motto ‘Elessar’
Threepence A hand holding three leaves of athelas
Penny The star of the Dúnedain
Copper A herdsman with sheep and cow
Half-copper A woman pouring from a jug
Farthing A sheaf of wheat


Prices

It is unfortunately impossible to give a list of prices that is representative for the whole of the Reunited Realm, because they necessarily vary considerably from place to place, and even from season to season and from year to year. Goods are cheaper where they are made than where they are shipped to. It is hard even to give a general indication of the value of money: a person can live cheaper in Arnor than in Gondor. The prices that follow are typical of Tharbad in summer in a year of moderate plenty.


Armour price
jerkin, leather 1/9
jacket, leather 4/–
breeches, leather 2/8
cuirass, cuirboilli 3/6
byrnie (mail shirt) §1 15/–
hauberk (mail tunic) §4
mail hose, pair §2 6/8
cuirass, scale §2
cuirass, plate §2 6/8
vambraces, pair §1 11/2
greaves §1 11/2
iron cap §1 3/4
casque §1 15/–
helm §2 6/8

Clothing & footwear price
belt (leather) 1.5
boots, low (leather) 6
boots, high (leather) 9
breeches 1/4
cloak, hooded 2/3
coat, full length 3/–
dress (dirndl) 2/–
gloves 3
gown 2/3
hat 7.5
hose 7.5
jacket 2/–
shirt/blouse 6
shoes 2.25
smock 9
socks 1
surcoat 1/6
tunic, short (jupon) 1/6
tunic, long 2/3
waistcoat/jerkin 10.5

shoddy -50%
fine material +100%
leather +100%
dyed (green, indigo, russet, brown) +25%
gaily dyed (blue, yellow, murrey) +50%
richly dyed (black, scarlet, violet) +75%
fleece-lined +200%
fur-timmed +200%
fur-lined +400 to +1100%
embroidered +25%
richly embroidered +75%
brocade +225%

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'd love to be a played in a dwarf-centric ME campaign that took back the Mines of Moria. Talk about your ultimate dungeon crawl.

That said, there's lots of opportunities for other adventures. Some that occur to me:

- Immediately post-LotR: clearing Ithilien of remnants/deserters from Mordor's armies
- Scouring Mordor. Poking around the haunted ruins of Barad-dur could be fun.
- Clearing Minas Morgul so it could be razed to the ground
- Purging the Barrow-downs of evil (a great adventure for a mostly hobbit party)
- Investigating the ruins of Angmar.
- Clearing the old capital of Arnor so that Aragorn & Co can take up residence
- Humans investigating the now-empty homes of the elves in Rivendell, Lothlorien, and the Havens
- Colonizing Dunland/Eriador
- Hobbits clearing the Westmarch & Tower Hills
- Elves mopping up in Mirkwood (esp. around the Necromancer's old dungeons)
- Good for any age -- exploring the ruins of dwarven and elven holdings in the Blue Mountains.


I'd probably defer to simple changes to keep the game recognizable, rather than go for a perfect match to Middle Earth (using some of the suggestions at the EN World ME pages). But that's more because I'd find the game easier to DM that way.

Personally, I'd keep character levels low, eliminate some of the flashier spells, remove paladin, ranger, & bard spellcasting (but otherwise keep the classes the same -- bardic music has a bit of a Tolkienish flair), and probably require that characters with levels in primary spellcasting classes (wiz/sor/clr/drd) to multiclass such that no more than half of their levels at any time are levels in primary spellcasting classes. Perhaps consider replacing spellcasting classes with adepts, or start PCs in NPC classes.

I prefer a low-level view of Middle Earth as a d20 game, anyway (where Sauron is a 13th level Wizard, and Aragorn is maybe 8th level) -- but that's just me. Many folks would argue vehemently that you can't do ME characters justice in d20 without epic levels.

 

[d4]

wandering through one of the sites you mentioned (the Encyclopedia of Arda), i came across this interesting "throw-away" line about the two Blue Wizards who disappeared into the East: (emphasis mine)

"Tolkien tells us 'What success they [Alatar and Pallando] had I do not know; but I fear they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were the founders or beginners of secret cults and 'magic' traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.' (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No. 211)."

might make good BBEGs for the post-Sauron period.