My 4th Age game (revisited)

[AslanC]

Okay so I have decided my villain isn't good enough to the be the "New Shadow". The more I read about Giant Spiders the less I think they have what it takes to be anything more than a Lieutenant.

So while I try and create a new enemy, I am left making sure all my other ducks are in a row...

1] a new Shadow has arisen in Mordor, and its agents in the Mirkwood, Misty Mountains and Angmar are hard at work troubling the lands of Men, Elves and Dwarves.

2] The primary new race being shown are the Quenuhuine, or the Shadow Elves. Elves who have had the light of Valinor taken out of them (way back when) and now serve this new Shadow as they are corrupted to their core.

3] The Silmaril tossed into the sea has resurfaced in the Hobbit town of Downbywater, not to be confused with the area of Bywater. Downbywater is nearer to the White Towers.

4] King Daerion of Gondor has assembled a company of 8 to travel to Rivendell and seek guidence on the movements of Orcs and Urks through the Gap of Rohan, Mordor and Angmar.

Now I had a whole thing worked out of Shelob (come Morlob) trying to use the Silmaril to turn out the sun, but have decided that doesn't work at all.

It is called Lord of the Rings, so now I think my new Shadow should be trying to create a new Ring of Power, using the magic of the Silmaril to enchant it.

The characters are still the same, a Hobbit minstrel, a Captain of Arnor, a Shieldmaiden of Rohan, a ranger of the North and a Knight of Dol-Amroth. They are accompanied by a magician, a dwarf and the last-born of the Sindar elves.

I just to rework the story to a certain level.

Ideas, opinions and help is greatly appreciated.

[AslanC]

Okay so the changes thus far.

1] Shelob (nae Morlob) is now one of the agents of the New Shadow.

2] The New Shadow is called Herumor, but has a secret identity as well. Perhaps one of the Wizards of Color.

3] Herumor is bringing objects and texts together for a fell purpose. recreate the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. For this he needs the original anvil and tools Sauron used, the scrolls of ancient knowledge of Ring of Power Creation, the Silmaril to infuse the ring with power beyond his scope.

4] Through a Cult of Morgothian worship, Herumor hopes to free Morgoth from the Outer Darkness or Void. To do this will require great magics and many lives.

5] Herumor is also gathering the 9 rings of Men to himself for distribution to the 9 men of power that the Cult has corrupted already. At first they will enjoy the power of the rings (a mere shade of what it once was, and actually bolstered by the magics of Herumor) but once his new One Ring is forged, they will be betrayed and turned to Ring Wraiths, Nazgul.

6] Shelob has be transformed to a human guise for this purpose of leading the cult and secducing these men of power.

7] Herumor also has a lieutenant named Saelon who is a primary advisor and friend of King Eldarion (Daerion). Saelon is to guide the young king into making errors that will distablize the reunited Kingdom, preventing a mass army of mankind rising up against the machinations of Herumor.

8] The Quenuhuine (Elves of Shadow) are set upon the Northern Greenwood (Mirkwood) along with Giant Spiders to distract and keep the Elves occupied and unable to mass and Army as well.

9] In Angmar a large demon (think Balrog like) is gathering the forces of Orcs and trolls, etc and preparing to assail Arnor, thereby preventing the Northern part of the Kingdom from gathering and heading south.

10] All of this is to give him peace and quiet in Mordor, where he toils at the rebuilding of the Darklord's Tower and at the freedom of Morgoth.

[Kaiddin]

Good to see that you are trying it again.

Instead of Morlob how about using the name Wírilomë which means Gloomweaver . It was one of the possible names for Ungoliant. My players didn't know that so I used it for a Noldo magician that constantly sees the worst in things. She is very popular with the players.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Kaiddin
Instead of Morlob how about using the name Wírilomë which means Gloomweaver . It was one of the possible names for Ungoliant. My players didn't know that so I used it for a Noldo magician that constantly sees the worst in things. She is very popular with the players.

Hmmm. I have been looking for a name for a Wizard of the Black. Wirilome (pronounced?) might be the way to go

Thanks for the idea

[AslanC]

Also I shold clarify that the current eldarion is Eldarion II (known as Daerion as well) and not the son of Elssar and Arwen.

This King is but a boy of 16.

[ben hur]

I really like the premises of your adventure, I think it will be really fun, keep it up!

[Kaiddin]

Originally posted by AslanC
Hmmm. I have been looking for a name for a Wizard of the Black. Wirilome (pronounced?) might be the way to go

Thanks for the idea

Everyone seems to have their own way of pronouncing Tolkien's names. Some following the rules in the appendices and others not. Sauron is a good example. Some say sower' on and some sore' on . So I pronounce Wírilomë - weer i lome eh . YPMV.

I think it sounds feminine. Is your black wizard a woman? In my campaign, Wírilomë is a Noldo lady of considerable power (Compared to the rest of the npc population) who has let her pessimissim and dispair erode her abilities. Right now, the players believe that Sauron or one of his minions are using a Wormtongue like individual to sap her strength and prevent her from being a force in Middle-Earth. One player has asked if it is possible that she is another Saruman, actually being the minion in a double agent capacity. My response is, anything is possible!

[Manveru]

I spent over two decades blissfully unconcerned with correct pronounciation, until I saw the FotR and my interest was irretrievably piqued.

One of the first things I did was to reread the Appendix in the RotK that dealt with pronounciation, this time carefully. ;-)

All of a sudden, all of the names sounded better!! Especially 'Finrod'. I thought that this was such an unfortunate name, until I realized that it's actually pronounced:

FEEN-road

Now he wouldn't get beat up on the playground! Woohoo!

The rules for vowels are really fairly straightforward, and the examples below cover the majority:

Letter Approximate British English equivalent
------ --------------------------------------

Vowels:
/a/ father
/e/ were
/i/ machine
/o/ for
/u/ brute
/y/ as in French 'lune'
(a tighter, more pursed sound than 'moon')

Diphthongs (i.e. vowel combos):
/ai/ rye
/ae/ also like rye
/ei/ grey, stay
/oe/ boy
/ui/ ruin
/au/ loud, how

Those funny accents above vowel sounds really only indicate that you're supposed to pronouce the affected vowel for a longer period of time, like:

Eärendil = eh ' AAAAR ' en ' deel

This link may also help, it has audio examples. Wouldn't take it as gospel, but I think he's more or less correct, in general:
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/T...pronguide.html

[Manveru]

The emphisis for the name Wírilomë would fall on the second to the last consonant:

weer i LOME eh

For a more thourough look at this, check:

http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/sindari...ics.htm#stress

[Manveru]

I just realized that Wírilomë should actually be pronounced:

weeeer ' eee ' LOME ' aayy ('ay' as in 'day')

I didn't pay close enough attention the first time. Sorry!

[ben hur]

Originally posted by Manveru
All of a sudden, all of the names sounded better!! Especially 'Finrod'. I thought that this was such an unfortunate name, until I realized that it's actually pronounced:

FEEN-road

Now he wouldn't get beat up on the playground! Woohoo!

That does sound better! Especially since I always thought he was such a neat guy. Now how do you pronounce his second name, Felagund? Thanks.

[Manveru]

Felagund is actually a Dwarven name, but the rules for at least its pronounciation appear to be the same, from every reference I've encountered.

Felagund is pronounced:

FELL ' ah ' goond

a 'u' should almost always be pronounced like the vowel sound in 'moon', unless it's a diphthong (two vowels next to each other that are meant to represent one sound). So 'Taur-nu-Fuin' would be pronounced:

TOWER ' noo ' FOOen (you have to pronounce 'TOWER' more quickly than the english word, more like TOWR, if that helps).

And 'Sauron' would be:

SOUR ' own

Check the quick ref I posted above KoR! I've never been more delighted than when it 'clicked' for me. I think one of my favorites now is 'Laurelin', which I think should be pronounced:

LOUR (as in 'hour') ' eh ' leen

Almost as much fun as Gar ' BON ' zo beans. Say it again! Gar BON zo beans. ;-)

The only thing that really messes me up is Aragorn's name. By the rules laid out in the RotK appendix is should be:

AR ' ah ' gorn

But I heard Tolkien himself read it as:

AIR ' ah ' gorn

Which makes no sense to me next to 'Arwen' and 'Argonath', which are pronounced with the 'ah' sound first. The New Line movies continually shift between the first example of Aragorn's pronounciation and the second, even by the same characters!

I wonder if that's how Tolkien really thought it should be pronounced, and why. Elvish appears to be just like any other language, full of weird ass conundrums and inconsistencies like that. Ob la di.

[Sarge]

Sounds like your bad guys have good plans to keep the elves and men out of their hair. But what are they going to do about the dwarves? Just hope that they stay underground and don't interfere? No, there has to be at least a contingency plan. Maybe the Khazad don't make their presence felt often, but when they do, people get hurt.

Sauron was known to covet mithril. Maybe the agents of Herumor discovered Sauron's stash and are using it against the dwarves. They could sneak into Aglarond, leave a few chunks to be discovered, and try to engineer a rift between the dwarves and Rohan. The dwarves can be counted on to covet the mithril, and a Wormtongue kind of agent could try to convince the Rohirrim that the mithril belongs to Rohan.

Y'know, I just made this up as I was typing, but I like it a lot. It's just the kind of plot that PCs could be expected to counter.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by ben hur
I really like the premises of your adventure, I think it will be really fun, keep it up!

Well it starts back in two weeks (give or take a week) and I am really scrambling to put it all together as I go.

For example... When they reach rivendel, is it sacked as I originally wanted, or is it fine with Borlas there to tell them about this new cult that is rising and his fears about Saelon?

Since, aside from a clash with some Orcs on the way this will be the next session (Rivendell) I am stuck to decide fast.

[AslanC]

On the matter of Wírilomë.

Well I would make his definately male, since I envison him a bit like Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

Any idea on how to masculinize the name? You seem to be a wizard (pardon the pun) at the languages