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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1792116" data-attributes="member: 3146">Aagh! The movie has ruined you.This is true in the movie. Not in the book. In the book, Aragorn was not shirking a duty to become king but was rather waiting for a time when he could become king without starting a civil war. (Indeed, he might have been able to pull off becoming king when Denethor became the steward but chose to leave Gondor for the north after his victory over the corsairs of Umbar. Denethor, as he intimated to Gandalf, would have fought to keep the throne even if he wouldn't ever take up the title of king).So far, so good. Frodo indeed, was a sort of reluctant hero. Still, his reluctance was that of inertia rather than a kind of active reluctance. He wanted to go visit the elves and to have adventures since he was a lad but he loved the shire too (as Bilbo noted when he decided not to ask Frodo to go with him). So, he was the kind of guy who was always planning to have grand adventures but never got around to it rather than the kind of guy who shuddered at the thought of adventure. Bilbo was a respectable hobbit prior to his adventures. Frodo was less staid.That's the basic picture given by the movie. In the book, however, Boromir wanted to go and seek the meaning of his brother's dream, viewing it as a grand quest and a chance for adventure. Of all the characters in the Lord of the Rings, Boromir was probably the most likely to kick in a door rather than open it, to open a tomb and explore it to see what was inside, etc.Quite right. Although, you'll notice that Aragorn and Boromir both shared a conception of honor that meant they would have been much more daring (for instance staying to help Gandalf on the Moria bridge), had it not been their duty to safeguard the hobbits and the ring.Well, assuming that the world had basically held still, the hobbits might have gotten around to visiting Bilbo in Rivendell but likely would have gone no further. And the other Fellowship members would have continued to have individual adventures. If Boromir died before becoming Steward or died without an leaving an heir and Faramir became Steward, Aragorn might have sent his claim to the throne of Gondor and become king. He would not have done so with either Denethor or Boromir as Steward because they would not have yielded the throne. Whether or not he claimed the throne, though, he would have had adventures tracking down servants of Sauron across the land, joining the Rohirrim and riding with their warriors until he became a trusted captain, possibly even earning rank in the service of Gondor under some disguise or pseudonym.Boromir would have been a great war leader in Gondor and would likely have had a lot of adventures but of a different kind.Gandalf had lots of adventures before he was a part of the Fellowship and he would have continued to have them--they just would have been less epic.Legolas likely would have had a fair number of minor adventures in the Mirkwood--he might have been involved in the capture of Dol Guldur, for instance.Gimli--well, Gimli would probably have gone into Moria as a part of a dwarven scouting expedition to find out what happened to Balin and the colonists. He might even have survived.It doesn't have to damage a campaign, no. However, there are only two ways to get involved in an adventure:To choose adventureOr to have it thrust upon you unwillingly.If players don't make characters who would choose adventure, the only way they will adventure is to be railroaded. It's that simple. Adventuring is like a ship. You can buy passage, or you can get shanghaied but one way or the other, you've got to get on the ship or you won't cross the sea. It's that simple.</blockquote>

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