I have been thinking about Middle Earth again of late, which seems to be a current trend among several bloggers. My go-to system when thinking about a game is always White Box, so it is with the three Little Brown Books in mind that I am usually thinking of ways to model Middle Earth in game terms. One of the challenges for me is to get the atmosphere or feeling right. This means I need to add something for the Shadow influence of evil that haunts Middle Earth through much of it's history. I usually tend to think of gaming Middle Earth in Third Age history terms, somewhere between 1000 and 2000 TA. The 1300-1400's being attractive because of the kin-strife in Gondor and the 1900's fall of Arthedain in the north. I have also found the freedom presented by the lack of details on Far Harad and the Easterlings presents a lot of opportunity.
The influence of the Shadow influence or corruption upon the PCs seems to loosely fit into an alignment kind of thing. Alignment in White Box combined with a saving throw mechanic is my latest thought regarding this evil influence. I am thinking about starting player characters off as Neutral (halfway between good and evil on a continuum) regarding their alignment and during play they may slide toward good (Law) or evil (Chaos) as they are exposed to events involving good or evil, beings (supernatural and otherwise) and as they make various decisions.Wisdom seems to be the associated attribute score (if one is needed) and a high Wisdom may grant a +1 to resist the draw of the Shadow or aid in moving toward good. I am also thinking about a series of behavior dichotomies such as greed/generosity, mercy/ruthlessness, hope/despair, and truth/deceit which could move a PC further along the continuum between good and evil depending on player choices. Witnessing an evil or good act could also call for a saving throw.
Advancing along the alignment track toward evil should make the PC more susceptible to control by Shadow forces, ultimately leading to complete loss of free will and handing the character sheet over to the referee to become a minion of evil. A fate worse than death? This is in keeping with my interpretation of Middle Earth as a dark and perilous place. Along the way as the PC adventures one could develop good blessings or evil curses which affect the PC (example "Paladin" abilities ala Greyhawk). This idea needs work.
Saving throws against Shadow should get easier/harder to make as the campaign progresses. Shadow saving throws should be tied to the PC's history of resistance rather than level. As one succeeds in incorporating goodness into themselves and resisting evil influences, one should become more good and better able to resist evil. In other words the saving throw reflects this. The slippery slope to corruption by evil and domination by the Shadow would work the same. The more evil one becomes (failed saving throws) the harder it gets to resist evil's influence (make saving throws and move toward good).
Question to self - could one play an agent of the darkness, always on the edge of losing one's freedom of action? It might be fun for a time to try.
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