Middle Earth roleplaying

[sharplittleteeth]

Finished off my Middle Earth RPG last Saturday.

In the previous session, the heroes led thier army from Dale to Dol Guldur, to do battle with the werewolf Gwathgaur, minion of Sauron. And as they charged the tower, Gwathgaur laughed at them, told them they had fallen for his trap, and raced off north to invade Dale with his second army while the heroes were stuck fighting one there.

So, the campaign finale was a series of epic battles. The heroes beat a bloody retreat back to Lothlorien. Since it had been foretold that only they could slay the wolf, they persuaded some giant eagles to carry them to Dale. And there they foought a second battle, this one involving trolls, and an army of dead men who once swore allegiance to Sauron, and now found their oath bound them even in death.

It was an epic session: 6 or 7 hours long. And even then, the ending felt abrupt.

I enjoyed it. I think my players did too. There were no great plot twists or character revelations - they all happened last session. It was very much fight fight, fly on eagles, fight fight fight. So big props to Alex, whose farewell letter did a good job summing up where each of the characters were, neatly tying it in to his ranger's own life experiences.

(I know, I know - a good GM is like a parent. He has no favourites, and loves all his players equally.)

---

And thus ends our visit to Middle Earth.

Part of me wants to run more. But I'm tapped out of ideas. It's difficult running games in a someone else's setting, because eventually you start to bang your head against continuity.

And more importantly, I don't think I have anything more to say. Darkness and hope, destiny and choice - we dealt with these. Anything more would just be repeating myself.

Okay. I lied. I do have some ideas.

Part of me would love to run a Fall of Numenor game, at the end of the Second Age - sailing with Ar-Pharazon to captured Sauron, taking him back to Numenor, battling against the evil that spreads from his corruption, and finally racing to the nine ships as Numenor sinks beneath the waves. Epic stuff. But so far removed from the familiar places and people of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings that only a Tolkien geek would really appreciate it.

The Fall of Arnor in its battles against the Witch King would be more familiar ground - nazgul, Rivendell, Elrond. I think even Gandalf may have been around then.

Or I could go for a happy ending, and run the coming of the horse-lords to Rohan.

So I have some ideas. But I still don't have anything new to say. And without that emotional foundation, we might as well just go dungeon-bashing.

Comments

[andricongirl.livejournal.com]

more would be cool..

but i think i wanna try being a redneck witchy poo next ;]

[paracelsus.livejournal.com]

This sounds awesome dude, congrats on a successful game. I haven't really felt capable as a GM since a few years ago when I got the epics out of my system. Everything that I've tried has seemed a little flat since then... can't work out whether I'm growing older or growing boring.