The Journey to Middle-earth Adventure!
Of late I have been much focused on Middle-earth as a setting for tabletop adventure gaming using an old school format. One of my goals has been to explore some ways to make my favorite FRP game feel more like the Middle-earth source material. Professor J.R.R. Tolkien created Middle-earth as a setting for some of his most famous works of fantastic fiction and inspired many of us gamers with a desire to bring that setting to the tabletop, Professor Tolkien treats Middle-earth somewhat differently in his various novels, namely The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, where narrative story is the goal and in the other related works, published posthumously and including the essential title The Silmarillion where the subject is more "history". When viewed all together, I see the "history" of the land and its people as having immense potential for gaming (and story telling) well beyond the events covered in the novels. I will henceforth treat the novels more as guidelines for how to adventure in the original author's style and the supplemental materials, including The Silmarillion, as reference works from which to draw details and inspiration for further adventure.
In each of his Middle-earth novels, The Good Professor takes us on a journey - mostly from the perspective of a humble hobbit. We walk out the front gate of Hobbittown and travel across the land having many exciting encounters with various peoples and creatures - all the while taking note of the wonderous natural features that make Middle-earth so memorable. I think a game set in any version of Middle-earth ought to channel this inspirational style of the author and deliver some similar experience to the players. In other words make your game a journey!
The time spent traveling "there and back again" need not be a hand waved portion of the game, but rather offers the referee many opportunities to act as "travel guide" as one describes the world and narrates certain relevant "facts" about its various inhabitants. It is through exploration that the world takes on a living presence for the players. The combats are merely tests of fighting prowess (and hopefully clever play). Rolling for random encounters can reveal much more than a hungry beast or greedy bandit. By including natural and man-made features and encounters of a more mundane type (a really ancient forest, ruin, wandering tradesman, or grazing animal, etc) the players will get a better feel of for the setting and it will come alive! Having read the inspirational source material and drawing upon your knowledge of Middle-earth you will find that you will have much to share with your players. The opportunity for various "side-quests" may also present themselves as your players take special interest in something, or some one they encounter along the journey.
In previous posts (here, here, here and here). I have discussed my views on taking liberties with the legendarium and making my own version of Middle-earth and how I might (and have in the past) adapted The World's First Role-Playing Game (as well as subsequent variations on the theme) for use in Middle-earth play. So let's begin to spin our (somewhat) original tale...
Wizard - Warrior - Dragon
"I tell you the old dragon, Smoke, or whatever his name is - he is dead! No one has seen hide nor hair of his scaly self in ages. Even the birds have returned to nest on the dwarf's mountain. You would think that would make the old wyrm roar if alive he be."
"What you say makes sense. The dragon may be dead. It has been a long time since he breathed fire and chased the dwarves out of their mountain. I can picture his great red-scaled bulk settling down atop that fabled mound of dwarven gold and gems - his great apatite sated with slightly charred dwarf flesh. A long nap he likely took then. Maybe even now he still slumbers?"
"No, I tell you the drake has passed on! He died in his long sleep - perhaps of indigestion! Dwarf flesh, ugh!" The crafty wizard smiles adding, "I picture his rotting bones now sitting atop that gleaming hoard. All that gold, just waiting."
"If the dragon is indeed gone, it will be just a matter of time before them greedy dwarfs, or other treasure hunters, start skulking about. Maybe we should go and take a peak? Maybe so?" The tin-clad warrior grins raising a bushy eyebrow.
So begins our journey into the dragon's lair deep under the mountain where a dwarven king once ruled. What the bold adventurers find is perhaps depicted on the Holmes Basic Set box cover below.
No comments:
Post a Comment