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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ShadowDenizen" data-source="post: 1538536" data-attributes="member: 16485">I'm also intrigued: I'm not normally a fan of AU Middle-Earth stuff, but for some reason, your premise spoke to me.I think leaving the fate of the Ring as a mystery is very smart, for at least the first half of the campaign. As source material, I would recommend, first and foremost (after the LotR trilogy and the Silmarillion, of course!!), "Unfinished Tales".  IIRC, this is the only place that the two Blue Wizards (Pallando and Alatar) are mentioned.  Again, IIRC, it states that the two Blue' Wizards' fates are unknown after they passed to the East: they seem a logical element to bring into the camapign.I would also recommend the "Midnight" setting: not LotR specific, but very useful stuff anyway.  The old MERP stuff, if you can find it (especially Angus McBrides' "Characters of Middle Earth" and "Treasures of Middle Earth") would be useful, too.That said, there are quite a few potenital story-seeds in your prologue already: I personally like the idea of the Blue Wizards factoring in to the campaign, and the idea of Sam as a "Dark Hobbit" is also somewhat intriguing.  You could also deal with the Corsairs of Umbar, as I can easily picture them sailing up the River Anduin in teh wake of Saurons "victory".  Ditto for the Haradrim. (ICE put out cool supplements for both Haradwaith and Umbar, as well.)As a initial setup, perhaps, while helping fortify/evacuate Minas Tirith, the heroes comes across presence of a Cult ("The Cult of the Unlidded Eye" or some such) that worships Sauron? This seems to me a nice catalyst, and it gives the opportunity to introduce a concrete foe, a beatable villain to the PC's, since they really can't hope to stand against Sauron (or indeed any of his minions!) at this low a level.</blockquote>

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