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Old 10-06-2014, 10:39 AM   #1
Anders
 
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Default [Tolkien] Playing in the Second Age

AFAIK, the Second Age has been disregarded as an adventure setting but I think it could be turned into one. I can see several paths to adventure.
  • On Numenor you could play Faithful vs. Faithless skullduggery.
  • On the mainland there's always either side of colonization. I believe that the Numenorans started out as relatively nice "White Man's Burden" people and ended up more like actual colonialists. Or worse.
  • Then there's the war against Sauron. The One Ring is forged somewhere around 1600 SA, the War of the Elves and Sauron began in 1693 and Sauron wasn't defeated until SA 3441, so there's plenty of time for adventure.
  • A "post-Apocalyptic" setting could be played early in the Second Age. After all, humans and elves must have had a certain "what the hell just happened"-feeling after the War of Wrath.
  • And there are probably artifacts lying aroung from the War of Wrath (either side) which can cause all sorts of trouble. At least early in the age.

Pros:
  • You get a chance to fight Sauron without all those inconvenient Main Characters muddling things up. There are important characters, of course, but they're not as well established.
  • In fact, the entire age is rather sparsely detailed, making it possible for villains to exist without upsetting things. We know who was king of Numenor at any given time, but who was the governor of Umbar?
  • There's more magic around - a general theme is that the world goes from prominent magic to subtle magic. Might be nice for many people.
  • There's also probably more technology around, surprisingly. The men of Numenor strike me as TL 4 without gunpowder, while their lesser heirs in Gondor are probably TL 2 or 3.

Cons:
  • There's a ton of work to do. You need to sketch a half-dozen human cultures; more if you go a-colonizing to the South.
  • You may lose the LotR feeling.
  • Everyone will want to play an elf. Because Legolas. :)

So, what do people think?
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