LOTR Adventure seeds

[Chris Landmark]

Originally posted by Brandir
In the Appendicies of LOTR, the Line of Dwarves lists Thorin III Stonehelm (born 2866, assumed Kingship 3019 following death in battle of his father Dain II ironfoot) as having a son called:

'Durin VII & Last'

Actually, you're not quite correct here. Note that the line connecting Thorin III to Durin VII is not a solid line indicating immediate descent, but a dotted line indicating a more complicated descent or several generations skipped over. You can see the same thing in other geneology charts Tolkien did (such as the inclusion of Merry and Pippin in the "Baggins of Hobbiton" table later in the appendicies, or the one in the Silmarillion showing the descendents of Beor, and including both Aragorn and Arwen; many dots are included to skip over the Kings of Numenor, Lords or Anadune, Kings of Arnor, Arthedain, and Chieftains of the Dunedain and thus fit Aragorn on the same page. )

So Durin VII would not be the son of Thorin III, but will eventually rise among his descendants.

Which suggests to me that Durin VII was the last Dwarf king before the Dwarves disapeared from view?? Durin VII would have been born approx 3000, living to FA 220??

No, I doubt that is what it means. What it means is that Durin VII will be the last heir "born in his House so like to his Forefather that he received the name of Durin," and held by the Dwarves to be the the Deathless that returned. It does not indicate that he was the last king of the Dwarves. Although I have no doubt that, since he was the last "return" of Durin, the final decline of the Dwarves began after his death.

-Chris Landmark

[Brandir]

Originally posted by Chris Landmark
What it means is that Durin VII will be the last heir "born in his House so like to his Forefather that he received the name of Durin," and held by the Dwarves to be the the Deathless that returned. It does not indicate that he was the last king of the Dwarves. Although I have no doubt that, since he was the last "return" of Durin, the final decline of the Dwarves began after his death.

-Chris Landmark

I agree that the term suggests that Durin VII was the last return of Durin and indicates the final decline of the Dwarves. But how long after Thorin III was Durin VII???

I have no Tolkien sources to quote, but I get the feeling that the decline of Dwarves (and Hobbits as well) occured pretty quickly in the FA. To me, the defeat of Sauron and re-uniting of the Dunedain kingdoms signalled the beginning of the end of 'magical' Middle-earth and the start of the Dominion of Man that we now live in.

Remember, Tolkien left Middle-earth to the English as a mythology we never had:

'It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours...'

'Those days, the Third Age of Middle-earth, are now long past, and the shape of all lands has been changed; but the regions in which Hobbits then lived were doubtless the same as those in which they still linger: the North-West of the Old World, east of the Sea'

[Quotes from the prologue to LOTR]

[Glorfindel]

In my ROTK, it doesn't look any different from the line leading Thorin III to Dain II.

[Chris Landmark]

Originally posted by Brandir
I agree that the term suggests that Durin VII was the last return of Durin and indicates the final decline of the Dwarves. But how long after Thorin III was Durin VII???

I have no Tolkien sources to quote, but I get the feeling that the decline of Dwarves (and Hobbits as well) occured pretty quickly in the FA. To me, the defeat of Sauron and re-uniting of the Dunedain kingdoms signalled the beginning of the end of 'magical' Middle-earth and the start of the Dominion of Man that we now live in.

While I agree that the Fourth Age is the age of the decline of "magic", I doubt it is as sudden a process as had been originally suggested in this thread. We have to have the final fading of the Elves (the more rapid process, but still slow, as is any change with the Elves) before the final decline of the Dwarves.

It makes sense to me that Durin VII should coincide with a Golden Age for the Dwarves. The last Golden Age of course, but a Golden Age no less. Nothing less is befitting such a name. The image coming to me is of young Durin VII, before his ascention to the throne, leading an expedition to Moria, and finally reclaiming the ancient halls of his folk. Then, as King in Moria, he reigns for a remarkably long time in splendor undiminished. Once he finally dies, the final long slow decline begins, culminating in some final cataclysm which ends the Fourth Age, reshaping the Middle Earth of legend into the Europe of history.

How long does this take? Well, for some reason I want to have Durin VII appear somewhere around 500 FA, but he certainly is dead by FA 1000. How long should that final decline take? I'd guess a millenium or two. Plenty of time for Gondor and Arnor to devolve and forget their history enough so that the cataclysmic end of the Fourth Age relegates everything before to myth. Don't ask me why I feel this way, it just jumped out at me.

I don't have any facts to base it on, just gut feeling, so feel free to totally disagree with me.

-Chris Landmark

[RobRobBinks]

Adventure Seed Title: The Unexpected Party Prep

Recommended Age for the adventure: Younger is just fine for this one!

Description (Please be concise; no more than three paragraphs)

The group of adventurers are all in Erebor, Dale and such at the beginning of the adventure. They sign on with the dwarven contingent there to escort a few carts of "very important" supplies to the other side of the Misty Mountains. During the journey, they realize that the cart is filled with fireworks and dwarf made toys! All in time for Bilbo's 111th birthday!

Hee hee...watch those fireworks!

[sooth]

On the way have them ambushed by Orcs with fire arrows!

[RobRobBinks]

And of course, after they get the wagons to the shire, they can encounter the Sackville-Bagginses, and then Bilbo himself...I can see a rag tag group that fough all sorts of monsters getting intot he Shire, then Bilbo waving dismissively..

"Fine, fine, just bring them round back, please don't bother me!"...

Fef!!!!

[Ineti]

Return to Moria

Recommended Age: Fourth

Description

Rumours have been spreading about attacks on villages and communities in the Vale of Anduin. A scouting team is sent by the King to investigate. The clue trail leads them to Moria, where they discover that the orcs have built a new bridge, replacing Durin's Bridge. With a reliable exit, the orcs have staged raiding parties.

The heroes' mission: Gather intelligence and destroy the bridge in an effort to delay the orcs so that an appropriate force of Free Peoples can be gathered to clean out Moria and return it to its former opulence.

(PS -- Any chance we could make this a sticky thread?)

[Helms Deep]

Sweet Home Ithilien

Time Period: Early 4th Age

A Gondorian Noble wants to recover some heirlooms that were left behind when the old family manor in Ithilien was abandoned. Even though the Shadow has been defeated, the area is still dangerous, so the characters are recruited as escorts. When it is discovered that the manor has been taken over by a group of orcs who have fled from Mordor, a rollicking seek-and-destroy mission ensues.

Additional Complications: Perhaps the party is mistaken for bandits by a group of Rangers -- can they talk their way out of it before they are skewered by arrows?

Alternatives: Could also be set in in the 3rd Age after 2954, although the opposition might be even stronger.

[Mitchell]

Hi. New here. Here's my adventure

Find one of the Seven

Age: Between Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings

Your party, which includes at least one dwarf, is given a mission to find a "artifact of great power" which is in the Grey Mountains. Upon fighting Goblins, Orcs, and a Cave Troll, or two, they find out that it's...One of the Seven Rings of Dwarves. Do they lose it to the forces of the shadow? Or do they keep it, and the greed that comes with it. And can they survive the attack of the Nazgal, the one female Ringwraith?

Also, I threw in a talking rabbit, named Bun-Bun, with a deadly blade, to help them. And a elf, who got stuck in a cave-in about 1000 years ago.

[dustin]

I have a chronicle set during the Fall of Arthedain. It is divided into two parts: one follows three PCs to Gondor to ask for assistance, then back to Arthedain just after Angmar attacks where they will assist the Prince lead the survivors to the Grey Havens, then the Prince sends them to look for his father, next, they will again lead the Prince and the newly arrived Gondorian army back into Arthedain and the Battle of Fornost. Finally, they will take the heirlooms to Rivendell where they will be held in safe keeping by Elrond.

The second part is a support to the main story. I have 3 other PCs working directly for Elrond, gathering intelligence just prior to Angmar's attack. The clues that the King of Arthedain is getting that leads him to suspect an attack is coming is in fact the clues these characters are finding and sending to Elrond, who is in turn, sending to Arvedui Last King.

Here is the problem. In the second part, my PCs are travelling through Cardolan and Rhuduar. Early in their mission, they came across an NPC named Urr who gives them a story about how he was on a mission for Elrond, and his patrol was ambushed by orcs and the survivors were then picked off one at a time by a vampire and he has spent the last several months tracking this vampire. Every time he gets close, he attacks the vamp, but just before he delivers the killing blow, the vamp's spirit leaves its current host and finds another, thus forcing Urr to start all over again. When my PCs find Urr, he has in fact just killed the latest host. (Unknown to them, the spirit has jumped into Urr's body.) They have offered to assist him in tracking down the vampire because they believe it may have something to do with Angmar. (The vamp is in fact one of Angmar's spies. He wears the Seal of the Witch King, but the PCs don't know what it is yet.)

Eventually, they will have to confront and destroy this vampire spirit, how do they trap the vampire in the host so it can be destroyed? I have thought about certain magical spells, but none of the PCs have any magical ability. The closest I have is an Elf, but the only magical ability she has is Sense Power, which does no good because the vamp has the same ability and constantly counters her to avoid detection.

Any ideas on how these three: 2 Warriors, and 1 Rogue, can trap and defeat a vampire without him jumping out of the host?

Thanks in advance,

Dustin

[Eriendir]

What it means is that Durin VII will be the last heir "born in his House so like to his Forefather that he received the name of Durin," and held by the Dwarves to be the the Deathless that returned

Don't forget that without exception, Durin VII must be born on Durin's Day. Durin's Day is when the sun and moon are in the sky together on the last day of Autumn.

[Tas II]

Ok.....not strictly speaking really possible given that the Fourth Age was pretty much the rise of man and the decline of everyone else left standing......

The Return Of Morgoth

This one does pretty much what it says on the tin. In some way the most ancient enemy, and Sauron's former Master is able to return to Middle Earth in some way. Maybe the death of Sauron released untold magicks back into the world, and simultaneously weakening the bonds of Morgoths imprisonment. Now, men must face Morgoth (albeit weakened, with the decline of magick) without elves and their magick, or perhaps some few elves are returned from the Undying Lands to aid Our Heroes(tm)....


Just an idea, feel free to shoot it down in flames!



Cheers

Tas

[Anteruo]

I posted this idea over at the Decipher BBS but decided to post here in the appropriate thread. Here goes...

Setting: Spring 3018 Third Age

The players are Riders of Rohan returning to their settlement after a long patrol. Upon entering the mead hall they see festivities; dancing, drinking, music, etc. To one side of the hall next to the great fireplace, they walk in on an argument. One of the rohirrim nobles is in argument with Grayhame (Gandalf) calling him a warmonger. Gandalf is advocating military action against a rising shadow but the noble does not see it. He sees that last year's harvest was very bountiful and that this year's omens indicate that this year's harvest perhaps may be even better. Gandalf pulls an ear of dried corn from a table centerpiece and upon husking it, reveals the eye of Sauron on the kernels. Before the noble can respond, an alarm is raised - orcs are in the stable stealing horses. It turns out that the PCs were to receive highest quality horses from their respective fathers, nobles, etc. as gifts for whatever reason. When they get to the stable, the PCs are outmanned and outgunned and the orcs make off into the night. The PCs track the orcs cross country to above the falls of Rauros to where the Nazgul are waiting for the horses to begin their search for the One Ring. From there, the PCs are drawn into either Fangorn or Mirkwood to battle orcs and perhaps Dol Guldur itself. They find themselves as part of the defense of Loth Lorien? Perhaps they make their way to be part of the Ride of the Rohirrim? From there they can adventure their way through the early years of the Fourth Age.

To be honest, this isn't the period in which I would set a chronicle but the players are most familiar with the LoTR trilogy and especially the movies. I'd much prefer playing early 3rd Age or perhaps late 2nd. Anyways, what do you all think about the chronicle idea? Does it fit canon? What would you add or remove to make it Tolkienesque? I really don't want the players to run into the Fellowship. Maybe members running into Legolas before he makes his way to Rivendell would be cool but I don't want to intrude on the books.

Thanks,

Anteruo

[calguard66]

You're right about Glamdring... IIRC he spent some time recovering in Lorien or somewhere... perhaps the PCs returned the sword to him during this time? This would also be a good time to use Durin's Tower as described in the Moria supplement, suitable damaged, of course.

As for his staff it's not the same staff he had before (in the movie anyway), so he likely created another. In fact, he would have created two... because Saruman took his staff at Orthanc, but he had one between that and his fight in Moria as well.

Actually Glamdring is mentioned twice in LOTR after Moria - the first time is when Gandalf places it in Hama's care in Edoras. The second is when Gandalf and the four Hobbits enter the Prancing Pony after the War.

So its not missing. However, one does wonder how Gandalf managed to keep it after the duel with the Moria Balrog, and how he kept hold of his staff after the duel/imprisonment by Saruman??