KMC Forums - USH'S LORD OF THE RINGS GAME- New story recruitment

Owing to a high player turnover and the fact that my free time to attend to RPs has dramatically reduced over the last year, LOTR really has not gotten the attention it deserves. Which is a shame, because it is a game I have a great affection form with a truly epic and dramatic sweep that has gotten totally lost in its stretched out time.

In the most enormous battle I ever ever run in an RP, which lasted for... in fact, I can't remember a time in which it was not running, the second Part of the story is now coming to a close. The third part is an excellent time for a total re-launch of the game- something I know several RP regulars, including some of the original players who since left, have expressed an interest in.

This, then, is a general recruitment thread for the LOTR game. As LOTR mania has died down since the final film came out, this game is no longer riding on the LOTR popularity wave. That being the case, the people that should be interested in this game are as follows:

a. Die-hard LOTR enthusiasts who can handle my RP style

b. People with no objection to fantasy games who like the way I do RPs, with their long plots and heavy character focus.

If you think you fit into one of those brackets, feel free to take a look.

Soon the character creation and play rules will be re-posted- in fact., I ddi most the work in advance last August, which is fortunate as I certainly have no time now. I am making these rules as clear as possible, but a stern warning exists that this is a full RP system and the rules will take a certain amount of time to learn- they are not tremendously difficult, but nor are they entirely simple, so if that pus you off... then fair enough.

Everyone will be re-making characters- I have given starting characters slightly better stats, some professions had been tweaked, and new rules for Herbalism and Magic will be going in, and so it is better for people with existing characters to re-do from scratch (with the beneift of wisdom) and add their experience on. Experience for the current characters will be considerable; new characters will start with some freebie xp but will be, in general, cnotably less powerful than their compatriots.

Before that time (because actually I am still waiting on those new Magic rules), I don't want to confuse people by talking about rules and so forth. I just want to gauge interest, and see what people want to be.

This LOTR game is set 1000 years before the films, when Sauron is just a dead memory and Mordor a forgotten land of old evil, in the time where Man ran not one but two great Kingdoms- Gondor in the South any casual fan should know of, but in the North there was the other Kingdom, Arnor, whuich was actually a more pure Kingdom, directly descended from Isildur, than Gondor ever was. However, for many centuries, Arnor was beset by a great foe, the Witch-King, in his nearby mountain Kingdom of Angmar. War, plague and strife led to Arnor splitting into three Kingdoms, and over time only one, Arthedain, remains true to its heritage.

The game is set in Arthedain, as the struggle against the Witch-King approaches its height. On the throne is King Arvedui, the finest monarch in many centuries, a true Dunadan hero. To the west of Arthedain lies the Shire, the not-long established land of the Hobbits, under Arvedui's protection; to the east, past the enemy-occupied land of Rhudaur lays Rivendell, the great Haven of the Elves, with whom cordial relations are maintained. To the South, Cardolan, once a part of mighty Arnor but now a sparse and smashed remnant of its former glory. North of Rivendell and Rhudaur lies Angmar, the mountain Kingdom of evil, where Orcs and Goblins breed. Beyond the mountains lay the lands of the Eotheod, weak from recent occupation but growing storng, who will later be known as the Horse Lords of Rohan. To the southeast, the great Dwarven Kingdom of Khazad-DUm- later called Moria- still thrives, and smaller Dwarven operations lay in the mountains to the North also.

Man, Hobbit, Orc, Dwarf and Elf, a thousand years ago it may be, but the people are the same as those we know from the books and films. Players can be of any kind they like. Yet there is no great alliance of the free people in these times; the races are divided even amongst themselves and have little trust of each other. Why should they come together? 2000 years have passed since the time of Sauron and his defeat by the Last Alliance, and only the Elves remember, and they are keeping to themselves as they dwindle in the Third Age. Orcs still exist, but why should anyone wonder? They are far, foreign problems. If Arnor is threatened- and warred amongst itself even as it was threatended- whose business is it of anyone elses? Even Gondor cares little for its Northern cousin, even if it was not beset by its own problems, which it is- just as everyone else is. Gondor was nearly conquered by hordes from the East, who subjugated the Eotheod tpoo; no-one ever helped them. The Elves isolate themselves from the others, the Dwarves care only for gold, no-one even knows who the Hobbits are.

But some look, worried, at the threat of Angmar. In Rivendell, in very close proximity of the enemy, Elrond looks uncomfortably north at the odd power guiding the Orc hordes. To the far west, at the Elven realm of Grey Havens, the lord Cirdan wonders also. it it Cirdan who welcomed the unexpected visitors from the forgotten continent of the west, the five 'Wizards' who had come to see what was transpiring in Middle-Earth. One of these Wizards made it his business to see what was happening in the Northen Lands- the men there called him Gandalf. And Gandalf has brefirnded the great King Arvedui too.

It is on Gandalf's advice that Arvedui has thrown open the borders of hard-pressed Arthedain to all. All free races, all free types are welcome to his court at the ancient city of Fornost-Erain. There, Arvedui plans to sow the seeds of a new Alliance of races, one that will be strong enough to destroy Angmar and banish the Witch-King for all time.

And several have answered this call, people of all kinds coming to Fornost, either as representatives of their people, or travellers and adventurers wanting to see what the situation there is. The players, in this game, play these people, answering Arvedui's call, and starting to do battle with the numerous minions of the Witch-King.

The new story takes place after the start of Arvedui's recent attempts to start off a new Alliance with the shattered realm of Cardolan, a move which also helps bring a suitable resolution to a dark prophecy made at his birth. The first Lord of Cardolan has now signed up- but in a large battle at his home, the Lord has lost most of his power, and the alliance as yet means nothing. Meanwhile, a great disaster has overcome Arthedain, and people worry for the future.

Yet now is not the time for such things. It is the Summer, the time of Man, and a time to celebrate life. Arthedain is strong and still yet secure, and plans are still there for mighty things in the future. The Elves have finally shown some interest, and some contact has been made with all the lands of Middle-Earth. It is in this time of brightness and celebration, as the entertainments for the Summer begin, that the new players will join and meet the old.

But there are dark things at the heart of Arthedain itself- and Summer never lasts forever.

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If you are interested in playing, please say what race you want to be wnad what kind of character you want to be. One warning- last time I did this I got totally overrun by Elves. I do want to keep the number of Elves in the game in some sense of proportion, so please do look at the other options as well!

Thanks for your interest...

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