tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post4578448553434170412..comments2024-02-27T07:06:23.481-06:00Comments on Tower of Zenopus: Thoughts on a Middle Earth CampaignBlacksteelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16289298640828309072noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post-12311738783707098292012-01-12T20:36:01.332-06:002012-01-12T20:36:01.332-06:00Thanks MT - I will be checking out the blog becaus...Thanks MT - I will be checking out the blog because I am curious about some things. Was it otherwise a straight-up 3E game? <br /><br />I see your DM used a far greater time jump than I was thinking, but that works too. Going off the map and developing the hanging hint like that is something I heartily endorse! Between those three choices I can see why it took you some time to realize it was a Middle Earth campaign.Blacksteelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16289298640828309072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999500110309022298.post-31755140339237013702012-01-12T13:08:42.590-06:002012-01-12T13:08:42.590-06:00Great post with good ideas on what can (and can...Great post with good ideas on what can (and can't) work in a Middle Earth campaign. <br /><br />The longest campaign I've ever played in was a 9+ year 3E/3.5 campaign set in Middle Earth 1000 years after the War of the Ring. What was really fascinating is that the DM never told us we were in Middle Earth and it honestly took us about 3 years of play time to figure it out. <br /><br />We started out in the far East of Middle Earth, which is never really explained by Tolkien, so that left a lot of room for the DM to be creative. <br /><br />There were two warring kingdoms in the East run by two wizards who hated each other. One had troops dressed in dark blue, and the other favored a lighter blue color. Our country was sort of caught in the middle. Later on, when we figured out where we were, we learned that these two countries were ruled by the two Blue Wizards, mentioned by Tolkien in a sort of throw-away line "the two blue wizards went to the East." Tolkien tells us specifically what happened to Saruman and Gandalf, but of Rhadagast he only says that he kind of goes off into the wild and "goes native." And then with the two blue wizards, he just said that they went to the East. Our DM extrapolated from what had happened to Saruman and decided that the wizards would eventually realize that they should lord themselves over the populations of the East in a sort of "friendly despotism" but they eventually go mad with power. <br /><br />There were so many little things like this - this that Tolkien introduced in the LOTR trilogy (and in the Hobbit and Silmarillion), but he never ties up the loose ends. Our whole campaign was designed around some of those. <br /><br />The line "Morgoth will stay in chain as long as the gods sit in Valar" was a HUGE plot-point of the campaign. <br /><br />I'll be blogging a little about the campaign over at <a href="http://daddyrolleda1.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Daddy Rolled a 1</a> over the next few weeks/months if you want to take a look.Martin R. Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11672657745232101753noreply@blogger.com