Printable View
Does anyone know when the Palantir came to reside in Minas Tirith? I'm assuming it was well before the birth of Denethor II (perhaps in the second age sometime?). I can't find anything at Encyclopedia or Arda. Maybe one of you smartish folks out there has an inkling?
Thanks,
Reptile
It would have been placed in Minas Anor in 3320:
3320 Foundations of the Realms in Exile: Arnor and Gondor. The Stones are divided.
Quote taken from Appendix B The Tale of the Years'.
Hope this helps!
Oh yes, sorry, but forgot to mention that it was 3320 in the Second Age and Minas Anor was the original name for Minas Tirith (name changed in Third Age 2002 after the fall of Minas Ithil.).
For your info, the Downfall of Númenor was in Second Age 3319.
Thank you much, Brandir.
That's exactly what I was looking for.
Reptile:D
No problem! By the way, what are you planning?Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
Thank you much, Brandir.
That's exactly what I was looking for.
Reptile:D
Well, my friends and I have been gaming together for so long (since high school, and we are all almost 30 now) that one of the biggest struggles as a GM is coming up with new situations and scenarios for their characters to get into and out of (rather then just "there are some orcs, they attack. What do you do?"). This is even more difficult with LOTR, in which everything is more subtle and subdued than D&D, etc..Quote:
No problem! By the way, what are you planning?
The party consists of two dwarves and a dunedain and they've recently spent alot of time in the Mirkwood/grey mountains area and I was going to try and switch gears alittle with them by putting their characters in the realm of civilization once more. Believe it or not, I've never used Minas Tirith as a setting in all these years (mostly of playing MERP). So, I was trying to come up with a setting in Minas Tirith, that was alittle out of the ordinary. I was thinking it would be interesting to have them, for an undetermined reason as of yet, be led down into a tunnel system of some kind (sort of like the catacombs under Paris). AFter thinking about it, however, I couldn't come up with a good reason why these would exist under a place like Minas Tirith, so I dropped it. Then I started wondering about sewage systems, then aquadects. Seems like it would be a challenge to fight around all that water and cramped spaces. Furthermore, I was thinking something like an aquadect would be about the only possible way for an evil NPC to "smuggle" something into Minas Tirith. The front gate would probably be alittle too difficult. I don't know what will become of any of this yet. I have to sit down and peice everything together. I tend to come up with bits and peices during my hour drive back and forth from work.
Wow. That got long.
Perhaps I could post the notes from my last adventure to get some feed back from folks?
Reptile
Sorry, Brandir. I started replying to your question, got distracted, then continued replying thinking that I was in a different thread! So, my response may not have made sense (ie, why I was talking about aquadects, etc.).
Reptile
I was a little confused ... but put that down to my aging body and mind!
What era is your chronicle set?
I don't have my notes with me for exact dates, but approximately mid-third age. When the dwarves still inhabited their halls in the Grey Mountains and Khazad Dum, also prior to Smaug taking over Erebor.
Most of my friends love dwarven characters, howevr, there's always a few that want to be an elf or a dunedain. So, I have to come up with complex (and sometimes convuluted) ways in which dwarves will hang out with elves and dunedain. Each time it gets alittle harder.
Reptile
Sounds like the Second Age might be better for your purposes. You'd have Numenoreans, the Noldor in Hollin, and the Dwarves in Khazad-Dum. And they cooperate, to a degree. Could be interesting....:)Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
I don't have my notes with me for exact dates, but approximately mid-third age. When the dwarves still inhabited their halls in the Grey Mountains and Khazad Dum, also prior to Smaug taking over Erebor.
Most of my friends love dwarven characters, howevr, there's always a few that want to be an elf or a dunedain. So, I have to come up with complex (and sometimes convuluted) ways in which dwarves will hang out with elves and dunedain. Each time it gets alittle harder.
Reptile
Good idea. I'd like, some day, to include Numenoreans in an adventure 'cause they're cool.
Yet, I kind of want these adventures to take place after the Last Alliance. Sauron is off licking his wounds somewhere and the exploits of my current players surround several attempts by the Dark Lord to re-establish a presence in ME without drawing attention to himself (before the Necromancer appears in Dol Guldor, etc.). These occurrences are "small potatoes" in the grand scheme of things and are definately not cannon (I've made most of them up). Some folks who are purists about not added anything to adventures that was not part of Tolkien's works may have a problem with this, but after awhile of adventuring in this world, a GM has to makes some things up to keep the game interesting for his/her players.
:D
Reptile
Originally I wanted to stick exactly to events in the books, but loosened up a bit after watching the movies and seeing how some alterations are not necessarily bad (even if I don't agree with them all).Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
Some folks who are purists about not added anything to adventures that was not part of Tolkien's works may have a problem with this, but after awhile of adventuring in this world, a GM has to makes some things up to keep the game interesting for his/her players.
:D
Reptile
The campaign I have now is more flexible. I am keeping the players close to but not quite involved in major canonical events, but in a few instances I have made subtle changes to events so that players can't quite predict what is supposed to happen next. It's close enough that no one complains, but remains fresh.
mmmm.. fresh. :D
I agree. It seems almost impossible to do any sort of involved adventuring without tinkering with what's considered canon at least alittle. Of course, you can just write up adventures that follow the "there's something....how can we defeat it in combat" line of thinking, but that just gets boring.Quote:
The campaign I have now is more flexible. I am keeping the players close to but not quite involved in major canonical events, but in a few instances I have made subtle changes to events so that players can't quite predict what is supposed to happen next. It's close enough that no one complains, but remains fresh.
;)
JK
You're right - LOTR is not supposed to be hack and slash. Mind you a good fight is plenty of fun, but a monster-of-the-week campaign is not interesting to me or my players.Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
I agree. It seems almost impossible to do any sort of involved adventuring without tinkering with what's considered canon at least alittle. Of course, you can just write up adventures that follow the "there's something....how can we defeat it in combat" line of thinking, but that just gets boring.
;)
JK
I decided to run things at the end of the Third Age, around the time Aragorn went to Umbar as Thorongil and burned their fleet. Naturally the players will assist....
I also threw in an assassination attempt on a young Denethor that the PCs foiled. (Stole that one from an adventure in MERP's Minas Tirith module.).
Ahhhh....Good ol' MERP. Many can say what they will about it, but that game provided us with hours of enjoyment in high school and college (plus, at least ICE could get product on the shelves ;) ).
I've got just about every MERP book that I wanted over the years through eBay. Never was able to get Rider of Rohan, The Northern Wastes, or Minas Tirith.
I do have The Grey Mountains and Lorien, which are both classics, in my mind.
Reptile
PS, the young Denethor idea is interesting. Who was making the attempt on his life?
Yes, MERP was good, if for no other reason than that the quality was consistent, the material was generally thematically appropriate, and it left a lot of detail for the GM to come up with so that each game was still different from anyone else's.Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
Ahhhh....Good ol' MERP. Many can say what they will about it, but that game provided us with hours of enjoyment in high school and college (plus, at least ICE could get product on the shelves ;) ).
I've got just about every MERP book that I wanted over the years through eBay. Never was able to get Rider of Rohan, The Northern Wastes, or Minas Tirith.
I do have The Grey Mountains and Lorien, which are both classics, in my mind.
Reptile
PS, the young Denethor idea is interesting. Who was making the attempt on his life?
I like Riders as well as Minas Tirith, Northern Wastes was not bad but too speculative to be taken very seriously IMO. Minas Tirith introduced a lot of details that can upset one's own imagined impressions of the city based on Tolkien's works, but was otherwise nice.
I don't recall if I have Grey Mountains - most of what I have is stuff I downloaded years after ICE lost their licence. Lorien, however, was well written.
The Denethor plot was, IIRC, a conspiracy involving Umbarean spies who wanted to destabilise the Stewardship by eliminating the son of the present steward, Ecthelion. It was a case of an opportunity that was irresistible, because the spies discovered a young wife was cheating on her husband. This husband was captain of the guard, and as such was privy to Denethor's plans and movement. She was blackmailed by the spies into prodding her husband for information about Denethor, which the spies tried to exploit.
Fortunately the PC's were approached by the serving-girl of the wife who implored them for their total discretion and assistance. Not bad - they got to find out about the spies, stop the assassination, yet were sworn not to reveal the reason - which meant no credit could be taken, nor could they really warn anyone of what had happened and could happen again.
:cool:
Nicely laid out.
So, you have the Minas Tirith module? Maybe you could answer a question I posed on another thread about water acquisition in the city?
http://forum.trek-rpg.net/showthread...&threadid=9930
Thanks
Reptile
PS. The Grey Mountains is excellent if you are interested in Dwarves and Dragons. That comprises the majority of the book. Seeing that I love both, it's natural that it's probably my favorite of the later modules.
Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
Nicely laid out.
So, you have the Minas Tirith module? Maybe you could answer a question I posed on another thread about water acquisition in the city?
http://forum.trek-rpg.net/showthread...&threadid=9930
Thanks
Reptile
PS. The Grey Mountains is excellent if you are interested in Dwarves and Dragons. That comprises the majority of the book. Seeing that I love both, it's natural that it's probably my favorite of the later modules.
1)I'll take a look when I get home - I haven't the module in front of me right now.
2)I'll take a look when I get home - Not sure if I have Grey Mountains, but you've piqued my curiosity.
;)
OK, I looked it up. The city is fed by 3 aqueducts, fed by a vale to the southwest of the city. Snowmelt and rainwater feed a giant reservoir that then runs via the aqueducts to the city. All three are buried for almost their full length. They distribute water to underground cisterns which then feed water to pipes going to individual buildings.Quote:
Originally posted by ReptileJK
Nicely laid out.
So, you have the Minas Tirith module? Maybe you could answer a question I posed on another thread about water acquisition in the city?
Excellent! Thanks!