Quote:
Originally Posted by Celjabba
You may want to check the old ICE book "Lord of Middle-Earth" 2 or 3 (the one about Dwarves and Hobbits ) I guess the "Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone" are in.
You may want to move your post to the "Roleplaying in General" Subforum instead, perhaps someone will have the inspiration for designing 7 artifacts. As said above, this forum is for the Gurps Dungeon Fantasy set.
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The best way to describe the Rings is to let their author explain:
Quote:
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JRRT:The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. `change' viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance -this is more or less an Elvish motive. But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor - thus approaching `magic', a motive easily corruptible into evil, a lust for domination. And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron...such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.
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That's taken from his collected correspondence.
Note that exact results of a Ring will depend on an
interaction between that Ring and its bearer, so each case may be a little unique. The Rings slow down the entropic effects of Time, which is probably the thing that makes them most 'perilous' (Gandalf's word) for mortals. Elves are by nature immortal, so that 'slowing' is good from their POV.
But for mortals, it has a nasty tendency to stave off death past its natural time, which leads (at best) to Gollum, at worst to wraithdom.
Even the Three Rings would be dangerous in that respect for mortals.
But as JRRT says above, they also amplify the natural talents and abilities and powers of the wearer. 'Power in accordance with stature', as Gandalf puts it. The more powerful you naturally are, the more powerful a Ring will make you.
The Dwarves are a special case on their own, they are mortal, but not like the other mortal races. The Rings can't make them live any longer or shorter, and (I suspect) could not make them invisible. But their natural talents with material things are amplified, as well as their possessive impulses about such things. The richer a Dwarf is, the richer a Ring could make him. A Ring would probably magnify a Dwarf's skills at forge and mine, too.
The old ICE game system actually fit the Rings rather well in one respect. The ICE system assigns characters magic points, the more points, the more powerful a spell you can use. They also had 'spell multipliers', items that would multiply your power points. So a x2 multiplier item would double your power, a x3 would triple it.
In the ICE system, the Great Rings tended to be x7 or x9 multipliers, with is huge. But it also means that the more power points you had to start with, the stronger a Ring makes you. If your natural level is 10, a x18 multiplier like the One Ring gives you 180 points. If your natural base is, say, 100, the Ring raises you up to 1800 points.
IIRC Gandalf had 300 points in the ICE system naturally, so the One Ring would give him 5400 points, plus other powers.