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Old 01-10-2013, 10:14 AM   #31
jason taylor
 
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Default Re: Fourth Age of Middle Earth gaming

As I said there is room for gaming. The problem is that the good guys are now the top dog and it gets to be more like "Kipling with spooks and spirits" then Tolkien. Of course the good guys were always top dog if you go high enough, Melkor and Sauron being rebels. But Feanor was also a rebel, and the Valar didn't want to cause collateral to Middle Earth and so on. Now, not only are the cosmic rulers stronger then the bad guys, the Free Peoples are and that kind of takes away from the urgency. Whatever can be done, the new Numenorean empire can't be overthrown.

There is room for Heroic Fantasy but not for High Fantasy. And Tolkien preferred High Fantasy.

So like I said, the Fourth Age has room. But earlier ages have more room.
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Old 01-10-2013, 10:33 AM   #32
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Default Re: Fourth Age of Middle Earth gaming

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Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
As I said there is room for gaming. The problem is that the good guys are now the top dog and it gets to be more like "Kipling with spooks and spirits" then Tolkien. Of course the good guys were always top dog if you go high enough, Melkor and Sauron being rebels. But Feanor was also a rebel, and the Valar didn't want to cause collateral to Middle Earth and so on. Now, not only are the cosmic rulers stronger then the bad guys, the Free Peoples are and that kind of takes away from the urgency. Whatever can be done, the new Numenorean empire can't be overthrown.

There is room for Heroic Fantasy but not for High Fantasy. And Tolkien preferred High Fantasy.

So like I said, the Fourth Age has room. But earlier ages have more room.
Not if you want the same high-level story line. Of course, you could do Alternate Middle Earth.
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Old 01-10-2013, 11:03 AM   #33
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Not if you want the same high-level story line. Of course, you could do Alternate Middle Earth.
You could, but there are lots of things in the Middle Earth as it is. Like the Hunt for Gollumn, or Gandalf's adventures in Dol Guldur.
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Old 01-10-2013, 12:31 PM   #34
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As I said there is room for gaming. The problem is that the good guys are now the top dog and it gets to be more like "Kipling with spooks and spirits" then Tolkien.

<snip>

There is room for Heroic Fantasy but not for High Fantasy. And Tolkien preferred High Fantasy.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that.
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Old 01-10-2013, 03:28 PM   #35
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Default Re: Fourth Age of Middle Earth gaming

Maybe one of the blue mages gets involved (or even leads) the cult of melkor behind the scenes, and has big big plans, something so big and grand I cant even conceive
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Old 01-10-2013, 03:35 PM   #36
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You could, but there are lots of things in the Middle Earth as it is. Like the Hunt for Gollumn, or Gandalf's adventures in Dol Guldur.
Those are not things I would ever consider running. The characters involved are already known, and so are the outcomes, and it would just be too hard to create any sense of suspense.

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Old 01-10-2013, 04:27 PM   #37
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Default Re: Fourth Age of Middle Earth gaming

I did something sort of like this in a D-Hopping campaign. The characters arrived in Dol Gulder while Gandalf was on his fact-finding mission investigating the Necromancer, and they helped him escape to Lorien. It worked for a single session adventure, but I don't think I could have run an extended campaign with such a setting.
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Old 01-11-2013, 05:09 AM   #38
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Default Re: Fourth Age of Middle Earth gaming

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
As I said there is room for gaming. The problem is that the good guys are now the top dog and it gets to be more like "Kipling with spooks and spirits" then Tolkien. Of course the good guys were always top dog if you go high enough, Melkor and Sauron being rebels. But Feanor was also a rebel, and the Valar didn't want to cause collateral to Middle Earth and so on. Now, not only are the cosmic rulers stronger then the bad guys, the Free Peoples are and that kind of takes away from the urgency. Whatever can be done, the new Numenorean empire can't be overthrown.

There is room for Heroic Fantasy but not for High Fantasy. And Tolkien preferred High Fantasy.

So like I said, the Fourth Age has room. But earlier ages have more room.
Ah, but the setting and the plot are the same thing.
Not only that; but literature and gaming are not the same thing.

And who says the new 'Numenorean Empire' ( Restored Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor) can't be overthrown? It's clearly not around today, is it? So it obviously did not last forever.

And who says the future is set in stone? Tolkien isn't going to come to your table and tell you how to run a Middle Earth game. Using Middle Earth as a game setting is no different than using any other real or imagined place and time as a starting point and backdrop for gaming. The future is up to the GM, the players, and the dice.
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Old 01-11-2013, 05:25 PM   #39
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Tolkien isn't going to come to your table and tell you how to run a Middle Earth game.
Really? What if you have his ghost appear as an NPC?
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Old 01-11-2013, 05:35 PM   #40
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Really? What if you have his ghost appear as an NPC?
Then I will control what he says.

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