My 4th Age game (revisited)

[Manveru]

I shall nag you no more! ;-)

Please post anything from the game if you can, I'd be really interested to hear about it!

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Manveru
I shall nag you no more! ;-)

Please post anything from the game if you can, I'd be really interested to hear about it!

There is no Nag I find your posts extremely helpful

And yes I shall indeed post what happens

[AslanC]

Here is the first and roughest draft of the timeline of events leading up to my campaign.

It is designed to show the major points of history for the 4th Age and hint at things that may be important to the players.

Let me know what you think and if I should add anything.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Timeline for The New Shadow

March 25th, F.A. 1 – According to Gondor this is the beinging of the Fourth Age.

July 1st, F.A. 41 - Buckland and the Westmarch are officially incorporated into the Shire by order of King Elessar.

F.A. 63 - Death of King Éomer of Rohan ; he is succeeded by his son Elfwine .

F.A. 99 - Durin VII becomes King under the Mountain.

F.A. 101 – Aldarion is born to King Elessar and Queen Arwen.

F.A. 120 - Death of King Aragorn II Elessar of Gondor; he is succeeded by his son Eldarion.

May 23rd, F.A. 139 – Durin VII and his company reenter Khazad-dûm.

October 11th, F.A. 171 – Durin VII reports that Khazad-dûm is now completely in the hands of the Dwarves and reopens the mines.

F.A. 172 - A copy of the Red Book of Westmarch is completed in Gondor by Findegil , the King's Writer . This is the last event chronicled by Tolkien.

F.A. 189 – Aldamir is born to King Eldarion.

February 3rd, F.A. 209 - King Eldarion is killed when his horse throws him while hunting. As the horse was a gift from Rohan, the Rohirrim decry the accusations that one of their horses threw its' rider. The Steward of Gondor refuses to retract the statement. This insult is not soon forgotten in Rohan. Eldarion is succeeded by his son Aldamir II.

April 12th, F.A. 299 - King Aldamir II sends Captain Dolomir and a contingent of 100 men, retainers, diplomats and loremasters into the Far East to formalize relations. This is done at the behest of his advisors.

June 21st, F.A. 299 - Captain Dolomir passes the farthest Gondorian outpost and into the East.

November 9th, F.A. 304 – Daerion is born to King eldarion and his third wife.

January 17th, F.A. 309 – King Aldamir II dies in his sleep of natural causes, he was 120 years old.

February 12th, F.A. 309 - King Daerion is crowned King of the Reunited Kingdom. He is only 5 years of age, the Stewards of Gondor and Arnor see to the day to day running of the Kingdom.

December 11t h, F.A. 315 – Dolomir returns with his company (including many Easterlings or various groups) and reports complete success in his mission.

January 3rd, F.A. 315 – Dolomir is named Steward of Mordor after his plan for the reclaiming of that land is approved.

April 14t h, F.A. 315 – The first Dwarves from Khazad-dûm arrive to help rebuild Minas Ithil, the first step in Dolomir’s plan.

June 12th, F.A. 320 – Against the wishes of his advisors, King Daerion dispatches a company to Rivendell. Their mission is to ascertain why the orcs and other fell creatures are on the move again. The group is led by Belengol the Green, a wizard and loremaster.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=

[ben hur]

Neat timeline, Aslan.

I'm curious though; Captain Dolomir was given only 100 men, all retainers, diplomats, and loremasters, to go into the East alone? Wouldn't this act be quite foolhardy? 100 men, almost none of them warriors, would stand no chance at all against any Easterling force, or against even an angry mob!

But perhaps I don't know all the story; perhaps Dolomir is really a traitor, that'd be neat. I'm sure you'll have a good explanation!

[AslanC]

Well given that everyone's hero (but not mine) Elessar had already brought the Easterlings under heel (as well as the Southrons) I figured they wouldn't need so many men to go to a place they saw as friendly or at least neutral.

Therein lays my logic

Perhaps I could increase it to 1000.

Thoughts?

[ben hur]

It says in RotK that Aragon:

"...pardoned the Easterlings that had given themselves up, and sent them away free, and he made peace with the peoples of Harad; and the slaves of Mordor he released and gave to them all the lands about Lake Núrnen to be their own."

This makes leads me to imagine that the East is still largely untamed, and the South surely will have deep embers of hate that could possibly be set aflame.

So yep, I'd increase the number a bit.

1000 might be actually too much, scaring the inhabitants, but I'm not sure. In Appendix A, Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion, when Gondor sends reinforcements north to Arnor it says this:

So great in Draught and so many were [Earnur's] ships that they could scarcely find harbourage, though both the Harlond and the Forlond also were filled; and from them descended an army of power, with munition and provision for a war of great kings. Or so it seemed to the people of the North, though this was but a small sending-force of the whole might of Gondor.

From this passage I mean to show how powerful Gondor was, around the year 1973 of the Third Age. Since it is now the year 299 of the Fourth Age, a great amount of the might of Gondor may have been reclaimed by this time. Meaning that the force could easily be a few thousand if need be.

If too many came, of course, it might frighten the Easterlings, or they might declare war, whereas the intentions of that force are to mediate an alliance.

So probably a few extra hundred warriors might suffice. Of course, whatever you think is best is good.

[AslanC]

But am I crazy of did not in King elessar's reign he conquor the East and the South?

I am sure I read that some where... anyone?

[ben hur]

Here are a couple page references in the Core Book which you may have read:

Page 71: Last paragraph under Men of Darkness.

Page 33: Last paragraph under Umbar.

Page 33: Last paragraph under Harad.

Page 33: Last paragraph under Rhun.

All these seem to suggest that King Elessar made peace or conquered them, but they continued to make trouble for a while. Even FA 300 or so, at the time of your game, the conquered South could easily contain firebrands that would anger the people into rebellion, and the East could not possibly be entirely conquered.

In fact, looking at the major map, it says "Map of the West of Middle-earth". Perhaps suggesting that there is a whole "East of Middle-earth" that is uncharted? If it's the about the same size as the West of Middle-earth and contains even half as many people, it could be a big problem/solution of interesting quality.

[Chris Landmark]

Looks pretty good, Aslan. I think you've brought Durin VII (and last) on stage too soon in the game (IMO, there should be a few generations between Thorin III and him), but otherwise it has good potential.

-Chris Landmark

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Chris Landmark
Looks pretty good, Aslan. I think you've brought Durin VII (and last) on stage too soon in the game (IMO, there should be a few generations between Thorin III and him), but otherwise it has good potential.

Thanks Chris.

I bring in Durin VII based on a Michael Martinez article that started this whole affair for me.

And I quote

in The Peoples of Middle-earth we learn that Durin VII, the Dwarven king destined to restore the Longbeard Dwarves to Moria, would probably have been the son of Thorin III Stonehelm, the son of Dain II Ironfoot. Thorin III was born in the year 2866 of the Third Age, and he would have been 153 years old when his father died in the War of the Ring. Thorin probably would not have lived to the end of Aragorn's reign (though Gimli, who was born in TA 2879, did live that long). Hence, Durin VII became King under the Mountain around the year Fourth Age 100.

When did the Longbeard Dwarves return to Moria? Maybe early in Durin's reign, but probably not until after Aragorn's death. Undoubtedly the event would have occurred before the year 172 of the Fourth Age, when Findegil made the last recorded note in the Thain's Copy of the Red Book of Westmarch. So the recovery of Moria probably occurred between the years 120 and 172. Such an event would have resulted, perhaps, in one of the last wars with Orcs before the time of The New Shadow. Borlas, the aged protagonist of The New Shadow, could smell "the old evil", which apparently was the evil represented by the true Orcs, former servants of Sauron, and other creatures. Perhaps he would have fought these creatures in his youth.

So therein lies my reasioning for the palcing of Durin VII.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by ben hur
In fact, looking at the major map, it says "Map of the West of Middle-earth". Perhaps suggesting that there is a whole "East of Middle-earth" that is uncharted? If it's the about the same size as the West of Middle-earth and contains even half as many people, it could be a big problem/solution of interesting quality.

Well I have decided to use the world map provided with the MERP supplement Adventure & Campaign Guide. I just like that map

[TheDivineCynic]

Moved here as requested .........

You know if you want big bad you could always use Thuringwethil the messenger of Morgoth. She used to run around as a bat a lot, but nobody knows what happened to her.

Maybe Sauron's death woke her up & she is out doing evil things again. She is not quite a Sauron threat without a ring, but she is still a big threat & allows you to bring in a new name.

[AslanC]

Interesting idea, she would make an excellent replacement for the whole Morlob/Shelob idea or an extension of it

What do we know about Tolkien's vampires? They have Bat-wings but can take human form right?

What about sunlight? Drinking blood? Etc... ?

[Camdin]

There is a Vampire write up in Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic, complete with stats for a Vampire-Bat.

Contrary to popular thoughts on vampires in most other RPGs, these vampires are not technically Undead. Basically, a "Tolkienian" vampire is an evil spirit that can possess a mortal body. It can then masquerade (pardon the reference to "that other game" ) as that person.
Under the possession of a vampire spirit, the mortal body decays and gains Corruption and can be "healed" by consuming blood. The vampire spirit can enter and leave the possessed body at will and take the form of a bat. They can only possess Men, Hobbits, and Dwarves. No mention is made of "staking the heart" or any vulnerability to sunlight, but you can mimic actual vampire mythology by ruling that by day a vampire cannot use any of its special abilities or spells. (Vampires turning to dust in sunlight is an invention of Hollywood).

[AslanC]

Interesting.

But they can't posses elves eh?

Cool.

I will have to read up on this