And on basic Wikipedia research, I’d rather play a wizard class, preferably as an elf.
Great idea, What Exit? - sounds like fun! I’d be glad to play either Elladan or Elrohir as an Elven archer/swordsman. Or I could play a knight or ranger of Gondor, or even a horseman of Rohan.
Sounds like a plan What Exit?
As for game suggestions.
I suggest we leave What Exit? to handle character sheets, dice rolls etc and to provide the setting and we provide the character background and interaction.
Do we want to pick a time to play not forgetting that we are not all US based or do we just post character actions and let What Exit? say what happens next .
We could follow the Mafia game style and have to post a set of actions by a given date for What Exit? to resolve.
Or we could do the lot in a large IM chat session and have What Exit? post the results for the board to follow.
Anyone else got any ideas?
Oh and for myself, a hobbit rogue sounds like fun. Count me in. 
A human Archer sounds good. He could even be a descendant of Bard if you like.
I need to keep the Brothers and Eldarion as Special NPCs, but a Knight of Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth, Ithilien or Rohan would be easy enough.
An elven wizard will work. I have to ask how well you know Middle Earth? The Elves of Middle Earth were the arch-types for D&D but more powerful and more remote overall. That whole immortality thing plays into the picture. If you are not very familiar, an elven wizard may be tough and a Human Wizard might be far easier. An option for any Human Wizard is that they have focused so much on their advance studies, they really don’t know much about the world around them. (Think young Computer Geek/prodigy for these purposes)
These suggestions are great and exactly what I am looking for. I like the set of actions by a given date idea. I need to work up a system for combat where players give general directives so more than a round could be resolved at a time.
My rough early idea is along the lines of:
Bowyers: I will endeavor to keep the orcs at medium bow range providing cover for those in melee and moving forward or back at a steady pace as needed. If I am rushed, I will turn and run, I will look for already injured orcs and try to finish them off where possible.
Or Melee guys, I will strive to find the leader, but at all times seek to work as a unit protecting each others flanks. If the numbers appear too bad or our injuries mount I will attempt to disengage long enough to quaff my potion of speed.
Or Spellcasters: I will seek an optimal time and grouping of the enemy to use my sleep spell. In the meantime, if I see enemy spell casters, I am prepared to magic missile them to attempt to disrupt their spells. When and if I run out of spells, I will cautiously approach the battle and look for safe opportunities to hit an orc from the blind side with my weapon.
Etc.
I am not sure how the IM session would work? I was think this was more of a rapid play-by-mail style game. Could you expand on the IM part? I was thinking posts, Emails and PMs.
What should the time period of the turns be? I am thinking two days or all in, whichever comes first.
A Hobbit rogue should work well, of course they prefer to call themselves Treasure Finders and tend strongly to NG, though not above picking the pockets of the bad guys or backstabbing an orc.
Jim
- I’m thinking maybe a knight from little-known western Gondor, so that I’d have broader latitude in describing his background. Otherwise, a knight of Minas Tirith. Thanks!
- I’d rather do it via posts in a single thread, so that we could all see what was going on. Maybe you could email those who need secret info.
- Makes sense to me.
- I’ve even heard them called burglars. Or “burrahobbits.”
While I know how important lineage is in the Middle Earth universe, I would prefer to be the man at top of the family adventuring tree. This is the Fourth Age, the Age of Man, and it is time for new families of man to rise to the forefront of Middle Earth. The Tale of Bard could be my motivation, though.
I have been thinking of the idea of being a scout, but not a ranger or elf. Expect me to preface a lot of statements, “Well, I’m no Ranger of the North, but…” or “Well, I’m no woodland Elf, but…” until everyone in the party will chime in every time I begin to say it. Either that or some dwarf will cave in my skull when s/he hears it once too often.
IM works when you are trying to clarify actions, especially across timezones. The board is nice to narrative and “big things”, but some of us (OK, me) don’t visit the board much during the weekend, but I’m on IM. It is especially good when you sit down to resolve stuff, and need some clarification. The board should be the main communication tool, supported by IMs (especially if a number of us are on at one time).
Tell you what, Email or PM me the details. Let me know which small place you are from. Please use the list of those who marched into Minas Tirith in answer to the call for help. (eg. Blackroot Vale)
Actually here is lot more details:
Men of Lossarnach: Strong Armor and Great Axes but shorter and swarthier than most men of Gondor: (Old Forlong the Fat)
Ringló Vale: (Dervorin)
Blackroot Vale Known for Bowman: (Duinhir with his sons, Duilin and Derufin)
From the Anfalas, the Langstrand far away, a long line of men of many sorts, hunters and herdsmen and men of little villages, scantily
equipped save for the household of Golasgil their lord.
Lamedon: Hillman
Fisher-folk of the Ethir: Largely
Green Hills from Pinnath Gelin: (Hirluin the Fair) Green Clad
Dol Amroth of course is best known for Knights.
Harondor would be a possibility and without much traditions as the land was contested leading up to the war. Same with Umbar.
The White Mountains, Belfalas, Lebennin anywhere in Arnor and East Emnet would be other possibilities.
It is safe to assume a post-war baby boom and rapid population growth throughout Gondor and Arnor, Timing it is 63 FA which interestingly is about as far as we are from WWII. The difference being that Gondor and Arnor are being rebuilt under the sure and steady hand of Aragorn and Arwen with help from the Elves and the Dwarves. The Glittering Caves is a going concern and Legolas had led a small number of his folk to reside in Ithilien and aid Faramir & Aragorn in War & Peace. Osgiliath is rebuilding quickly and Minas Tirith now has Mithril Steel Gates.
The Orthanc is under the Stewardship of Fangorn, but a small colony of humans live in harmony with nature in Isengard. The Tower was cleaned out by Gandalf, Radagast & Arwen with some help from her brothers.
D_Odds: Sounds like a good plan for the character. You can be a tracker w/o being a Ranger, but you can also be a Ranger class without being a Dunedain Ranger. Those bonus against Orcs can be helpful.
I will need some help setting up an IM. I don’t have one and I refuse to use AIM. Is their a secure one available, that is not AIM? I also cannot use it during the day. I honestly check the Dope more than my Email.
Jim
Or Hobbits: I’ll hide until it is really inconvenient, attempt to take on the biggest orc on the battle field and then have to be rescued by the wizard
An IM session has everyone log on to an IM chat window of choice and the game is run in real time with the results posted after the event.
I would prefer mainly to post in this thread using IM for clarification.
Two days sounds like a reasonable length of time. If someone needs extra time or is away, then we can either pause the game or the GM can play the character in their absence.
Who Me?? 
::Attempts to look innocent::
::Fails::
I will not channel that cheap ripoff merchant Tassellhoff Burrfoot!!
I will not channel that cheap ripoff merchant Tassellhoff Burrfoot!!
I’m partial to Pidgin. It lets me consolidate my Yahoo!, Google, and MSN accounts in one place. Yahoo and Google also have chat in a web interface, but I don’t know if Pidgin or the web interfaces support group chat.
What version D&D are you using? I’ve done 1st and 2nd PnP style, but 3 and 3.5 only via computer RPGs. 1st or 2nd edition, I’d probably choose ranger, but in 3.5 I’d choose fighter with some levels in ranger. I like the ability of a fighter to really max out weapon proficiencies, and in 3.5, I could get just enough Ranger to get outdoor skills and special bow proficiencies due to class.
P.S. Google and Pidgin both work with AIM, allowing you to chat with AIM users as long as you have an account. No need to install AIM.
Me, I don’t have an AIM account, so it doesn’t matter.
Looks like Google would be my option. I will look into it.
As the question came up I need to let potential players know:
I don’t allow Assassins at all. I actually cannot (will not) ref evil characters. I should have mentioned that in the thread and I will. Believe me, playing evil in my worlds, leads to a short unhappy character life. I have not allowed an evil PC in nearly 20 years now.
I do allow odd things like Hobbit & Elven Bards that start as F/TH multi-class and then become a Bard sometime between 6th to 9th level. I have allowed Ranger/Bards where the character goes to 10th as a Ranger and then switches to Bard. This is restricted to the long lived Dunedain.
Dwarves could be clerics of Aüle. They may still use axes as a weapon choice but prefer large war hammers and war shields.
Elves cannot be Clerics or Druids at all.
Did I mention that there are no Gnomes? If you really want a Gnome, we can make you some stunted off family of Dwarves I suppose.
Ask or PM away as I am sure I failed to cover most odd situations.
I will largely being using AD&D 1st ed. as the base rules, but with many modifications to fit the Middle Earth World.
I think this answers the open questions.
Would I be able to get in on this, it sounds like fun. I haven’t ever played any D&D or really anything D&D related, but I read the webcomic Order of the Stick on a regular basis.
If there is room for me, what should I track down so I can get up to speed as quickly as possible?
I don’t think we are going to be following the rules too closely. This is going to have stress the roleplaying aspect over the rules aspects. Do you know Middle Earth at all? Even from the movies would help. Otherwise you will be lost for both the land and the rules we will be using.
If this is you’re first playing anything like this, you probably want to start with simple like a basic fighter. Ideally you might want to be a front line fighter with an interesting secondary skill. Dwarves are good for this as the are well armored compared to other folk, but Riders of Rohan should also be very simple.
Jim
I am familiar with the books and movies, and Dwarves kick 3 kinds of ass, so that sounds good to me. I will start looking up info on D&D dwarves and some classes etc. Is it ok if I PM you when I have questions (so as not to clutter up the thread)?
Jim,
Will you roll up our characters and send out the stats? Are you in the pre-planning stages, or have you a plan to put everyone together at the beginning, or will you give each character a reason to get to a central gathering place (and a chance to earn a level or two getting there - nothing I hate worse than 1st level characters who are vulnerable to a 2 y.o. with a slingshot and a lucky roll)?
CatInASuit, though I envision myself as neutral/chaotic good, Tasselhoff is the second up against the wall when the revolution comes (Raistlin is first)! I’m assuming that ME hobbits are known more as warriors and friends of Kings than as burglars, on the whole (at least outside Bree and the Shire).
Here is what I see so far:
CatInASuit: Hobbit rogue
appleciders: Elven wizard
Elendil’s Heir: Human fighter (Gondorian)
NAF1138: Dwarven fighter
d_odds: Human ranger (Dale)
Very good start. Always hated clerics myself, nothing more than battlefield EMTs.
PMs are good.
I will roll out the characters. The more details you provide of what you are looking for, the more I can tailor the character. If the party likes, I am even willing to start the characters as 3rd level instead of 1st. The other choice is to start at first but have a strong character along. Think of the Hobbits escorted by Strider. I will ensure survival as the ref from happenstance, but not stupidity.
As to gathering characters up, I will make that decision once we know from how many corners everyone is coming from. The table game I ref’ing now was complicated as two elves came from as far as Rhûn and needed to meet up with a Dwarf of Erebor and a Beorning. Somehow I got them altogether at Thranduil’s and added the two key NPCs to start them off. It worked well and somehow led to Rivendell via Gundabad. Two more player characters were added, one at the town of Old Ford and one in Rivendell. These last two started at 3rd as the party was already at least 4th. The first four started at 1st level.
You are correct about the Hobbits.
Thanks for the Character summary.
I’ll vote for 3rd, but with no special equipment. Games move too slow at first level. You can rationalize it that most of us were involved in some way in the War of the Ring, and gained enough experience there. Personally, I would look at all the different classes and figure out which needed the most XP to reach 3rd level, then give everyone that amount of XP.
With a brother like Caramon, I’m not surprised Raistlin turned out the way he did
Starting at 3rd lvl should be fine. I’ll send some background detail on the character shortly.
I’m not going to be able to play if this is too timing-based; I can probably get in a post or two a day but no more than that.
A human wizard is fine, if that’s better for you. I’m medium familiar with LoTR, and quite familiar with The Hobbit. I’ll PM some details.
I think the general idea will be to post your actions over a couple of days so you don’t have to post every few hours just to play.
I think everyone is going to take a bit of time to adjust to the game. I’ve never played anything like it before (aside from a PBeM that lasted 3 emails).