Quote:
Originally Posted by combatmedic
Is it boring because Sauron is gone?
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On the contrary, IMO it becomes interesting because Sauron is gone. If you set a game during the late Third Age the players would tend to be distracted by the thought that there was something else going on that was more important than what their characters were doing, that they could be doing something more worthwhile, that they were not the protagonists, and that their story was not the story. Moreover there would be too much clear-cut conflict in which the players knew who needed to be supported and who opposed, too much patent good and evil: that leaves the players with only tactical choices to make. ("I only need to know one thing: where they are!")
So when my players asked me to run something set in Middle-earth I chose the beginning of the Fourth Age, and the Reconstruction of Arnor. There was conflict between the Dunedain of the North and the Hobbits of the Shire (on one hand) and the immigrating Men of Shadow on the other, and something to be said for each side. The Dunedain of the North had given their all to the struggle for over a thousand years, and deserved recognition and reward: Arnor was made up of lands that were rightfully their lordships. On the other hand the refugee Black Númenoreans had been promised a new start and land for the homesteading, and they had preserved arts the the Dunedain of the North needed, and they had repented, goddammit! Without open warfare and clear-cut good and evil there was a lot more to do, find out, and think about than tactics. The PCs ended up striving to prevent a split between the young and old Black Númenoreans over the issue of humility. It was fun.