.
"My master, Sauron the Great bids thee welcome.
"It is the Fourth Age of Middle Earth and Lord Sauron is now the undisputed master of the world.
"The selfish wicked Elves and their deluded Mannish puppets have conspired against Great Sauron and paid dearly for their folly. Minas Tirith is fallen. The fools Aragon, Gandalf, Theoden and Denethor are dead. The ragged, pathetic rabble of Gondor is destroyed.
"The Great War still flickers across Middle Earth. But its outcome is assured."
The world is changed.
In this apocalyptic reimagining of The Lord of the Rings, the players start as young heroes on the periphery of great events. But the time may come when the humblest will shape the fortunes of all.
Will you be one of them?
Campaign information:
- Source Material: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Familiarity with the books, or at least the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy, is needed. Jackson's Hobbit trilogy will be studiously ignored.
Tone: Valorous, selfless heroes in an epic fantasy gone horribly wrong. Plus funny adorable hobbits.
World: Year One of the Fourth Age of Middle Earth. (Alternative history solves the biggest problem of playing in established worlds: canon that is dominated by the actions of NPCs. I want to play in this world without the PCs being overshadowed by preexisting characters and events. PCs must have free will, move toward an uncertain future, and be able to shape it.)
System: AD&D 1e with many house rules to approximate Middle Earth.
Module: Homebrew with inspiration drawn from old-school D&D modules. I anticipate a mixture of investigation, roleplay and combat in wilderness and underground settings.
Characters: Start around second level. May be Dwarf, Elf, Hobbit, Man or Dunedain. Good alignments only (it's Tolkien!). Roleplay over rollplay. Creativity encouraged. Please honor the tone of the genre. Two posts a week for years to come.
DM: Forum bio is here.