Roleplaying in Middle Earth

[Warchild]

I've always wanted run a fourth age campaign. Where Aragorn is the king (probably quite a few years after the books so that he is an old king) and needs to send others on vital missions (such as the Rangers - a prestige class opportunity if i've ever seen one!!) and such. There were enough possibilities that existed that could power many campaigns in that setting. Though it would be more of a time of men and politics than Armies of orcs and evil. Though there is no reason why Melkor (sp??) couldn't somehow rise his ugly head once again.
Running a campaign in the fourth age would allow the pc's to write their own ticket within the world as well. A big component of the attraction in my mind.

 

[mattcolville]

This is a great question. I'm not sure how I'd answer it.

First, I think I'd take Tolkien's advice on Alternate Wars of the Ring and have Saruman craft his own Ruling Ring. But how that would play out. . .I'm not sure.

I have to be careful how I put this. . .but, let's *imagine* that some company got the LotR rights and were doing a game and were putting out a bunch of adventures. One of them *might* involve the PCs being sent to stop one of the Nazgul, who's gone to Esgaroth to gather the bones of Smaug from Lake Town and bring them back to Mordor for *reanimation.*

Some will think this is goofy. . .I think it's bad-ash!

 

[mmadsen]

Hey, mmadsen, where do you live? I'd play (or run) a game like that!

I'm not in Michigan, but I am in cyberspace. Maybe we should run an e-mail Tolkien-esque campaign.

 

[Corinth]

I'm starting my campaign on the day that Aragorn dies in FA 120 so that I don't have to worry about contradicting the canon, and I can concentrate upon taking Tolkien's toybox and making it mine.

The big theme is transition. Aragorn and Eldarion work with their allies to make Arnor truly a great kingdom of the North again, and in return they aid their allies in restoring lost birthrights or taking possession of realms ceded to them. The lost Seeing Stones are found, Moria is reclaimed (so that the dwarves can go inside and fade from the world of Men forever), the orcs (and worse) found and destroyed, etc. so that--for a time--it seems like Evil is Dead.

Y'all know better than that.

For my campaign, there will be contestants to succeed Sauron as the Dark Lord. One of them is the Mouth of Sauron, who's going to be my master villain. There will be others, including a genius Uruk-Hai warlord who does something no mortal creature could: unite the orcs under one banner. (He's got a secret of his own, but that's another story.) Magic will pass fully into the hands of Men and proliferate throughout Endor; the Wizard class comes into its own in the Fourth Age. The world is indeed changed, but not all that was feared to fade does so in the way most feared.

I can't wait for Janurary, when the players are able to do this.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm not in Michigan, but I am in cyberspace. Maybe we should run an e-mail Tolkien-esque campaign.

Anytime! Sounds like fun!

 

[Sulimo]

With the release of the LotR RPG on the horizon, I am very curious to know how one would run a campaign set in Middle-Earth. From what I understand, the LotR Core Book will center around the time after the events of The Hobbit and just before the Lord of the Rings trilogy. To me, this presents something of a minor problem. Like Dragonlance, LotR suffers from the problem of the PC's not being directly involved with the Major Happenings of the time.

I dont see that as a problem at all. Frankly, having PC's directing involved in the quest is something our group never was really keen on.

Thats probably one of the reasons why ICE used TA1640 as the temporal setting for their game...which our group played a long-running campaign in for almost 10 years.

 

[EvilPheemy]

If you want to run something concurrently with the Hobbit, you could craft a campaign agains the Necromancer. You could even include Gandalf as a recurring NPC/Patron (as he was very involved in the investigation and resulting attack on the Necromancer. Thus giving your players rp time with Gandalf, and having them oppose (and possibly overcome) the Dark Lord.

 

[Sir Hawkeye]

This is a tough question, one that I am struggling with as I was picked to run Middle-Earth in my group.

As far as story goes, I'm going with something that will probably get me branded a heretic. I'm going with an alternate world type of thing.

The quest of the Fellowship started from Rivendell, but in this world, the quest failed when Gandalf was lost at The Bridge. The ring and it's bearer have been lost.
Aragorn took power in Gondor and is currently besieged by Mordor. The Lord of the Nazgul rebuilt Dol Guldor, and Saruman still holds power in Orthanc.
I realize most Tolkien enthusiasts would not be pleased with this game, but I do not want to limit the accomplishments my players can achieve.
Of course, the ultimate goal of the campaign is to find the ring (and hopefully the ringbearer), and cast it into Mount Doom.

As far as race restrictions, I have not decided on that yet. That is a tough one, but if you work at it, it can be resolved.

Personally, I think that's a cool idea, but if they wouldn't like that, I'd hate to see what they'd think of my campaign:

Hypothesis: The destruction of the Ring and the fading of the elves creates a magical power vacuum, destroying the barriers between Middle-Earth and the D&D planar structure.

Result: PC's are knee-deep in the extremely creepy ruins of Numenor, chasing an insane lich, trying to stop Arda from becoming a battlefield for the Blood War. And speaking of barriers being broken, Someone Unpleasant is trying to come back from the Void. Whee!
WARNING: Do not attempt at home with less than 20th level characters.

 

[Desdichado]

Y'know I didn't address this, but I'm a Tolkien fanatic, and I still think gaming in an "alternate Tolkien universe" is a good idea. In fact, I'd be tempted to do the same thing. That way, the players -- if they have good knowledge of the books -- can't use that to their advantage. After all, it's an alternate history, so things that they think they know, they may not!

 

[Doug Justice]

This is a great question. I'm not sure how I'd answer it.

First, I think I'd take Tolkien's advice on Alternate Wars of the Ring and have Saruman craft his own Ruling Ring. But how that would play out. . .I'm not sure.

I have to be careful how I put this. . .but, let's *imagine* that some company got the LotR rights and were doing a game and were putting out a bunch of adventures. One of them *might* involve the PCs being sent to stop one of the Nazgul, who's gone to Esgaroth to gather the bones of Smaug from Lake Town and bring them back to Mordor for *reanimation.*

Some will think this is goofy. . .I think it's bad-ash!

Yep, these sound like a good bit of fun! If I'm not mistaken this idea comes from Tolkien, himself. *If* these adventures were produced, I *imagine* I *might* buy them

Doug