I was writing this for a LotR campaign when one of our regular players, an avid fan of the works of JRRT, passed away earlier this year. The rest of my players have opinions of his work ranging from indifference to dislike so I am shelving this idea in favour of creating a new world and using the LotR rules there.
Dedicated to Mark Ferelli
Timeline
3019 iii: the One Ring is destroyed and Sauron defeated.
3021 iii: the end of the Third Age
120 iv: death of Aragorn, beginning of the reign of Eldarion son of Aragorn
237 iv: death of Eldarion, beginning of the reign of Aldamir II son of Eldarion
274 iv: the Great Plague and the War of the North
302 iv: death of Aldamir II, beginning of the reign of Arathorn son of Aldamir II
317 iv: the current date
The Waning of the West
Men
The reign of King Ellessar was a shining time at the beginning of the Fourth Age but after he passed events turned to the worst. It was as if the spirit of resolve and strength that had served the men of Gondor for so long had finally been exhausted in the war against Mordor. Fewer children were born and the people turned to idle pleasures or even the study of forbidden and dark lore. Greed and avarice became more common. It was as if some perverse element of the men of Numenor could not keep from the path of darkness.
In the year 284 a great plague swept Middle Earth, hitting Arnor the hardest. Roughly 40% of the population died, more in the Northern areas.
In that same year a mysterious woman called the Crone lead an army of orcs and other fell creatures in an attack on Arnor. She was reputed to be a sorceress and necromancer. The conflict was savage, and Fornost was destroyed again. At great cost the evil army was defeated but the Crone deserted her troops and disappeared when it was clear that the final battle would go against her utterly.
As Gondor lost her grip of the lands between Isengard and Tharbad bandits moved in, as well as other less wholesome things. The Southrons have shaken off the control of Gondor as well. Pirates lurk off the coasts and raid up undefended rivers.
Arnor is sparsely settled now, with the population of Arthedain primarily around Annuminas and Lake Evendim, and that of Cardolan near Tharbad and between the Greyflood River and Bree, mostly East of the Greenway. Rhudaur is wholly deserted except for beasts and fell creatures. The kings’ sister Eowyn rules as Duchess of Arnor and the duchy is almost fully independent of Gondor, but the Duchess is completely loyal to her brother.
Elves
Almost all the elves have gone West. A small number still live in Rivendell, and there are wanderers here and there, that is all. Lorien is deserted and Mirkwood overrun with Evil things. The Grey Havens has the largest elvish population, such as it is, and a few ships still stand ready to take any elf over the sea.
Dwarves
Dwarves can be found in the Lonely Mountains, the Glittering Caves beneath Helm’s Deep, in isolated mining outposts, and a small colony in the Dimril Dale seeking Mithril from Moria.
Hobbits
The hobbits withdrew entirely into the Shire in 277 after the war and plague. A thick hedge had been planted along the borders of the Shire in 251 that helped isolate the halflings from the outside world.
Hidden and unknown things
The hobbits are gone, the entire population slipped away to the Grey Havens and with the approval of the Elves, took ship West. The Shire was abandoned, though the hobbits, per their ways, tidied up their homes and left everything in good order.
The Alantaru: the descendants of the kingdom founded by Alantar in the East far beyond Rhun. Their culture is now decadent, baroque, very ritualized, expansionist, and looking westwards for somewhere to conquer.
What about the other toys held by Sauron? What items and knick-knacks might he have left behind to cause trouble in the current age?
The unresolved fate of the Crone.
-Agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
-If you really think that your choice of game makes you better than someone who plays a different game, you are an idiot who has no further right to express an opinion.