History skill for Middle Earth

[khorboth]

I am contemplating a Fourth Age campaign for Middle Earth and I came up with an idea for the History skill. Which should be important. I'd like some feedback.

If a character wants some background on anything, they get to roll History with cultural modifiers. If successful, the player may look up the item online, probably on this wiki. They may then click on one additional link for each point by which they succeeded. On a critical success, the GM may point out plot-relevant information.

This may well involve 10-20 minute digressions into the history of places or people which... seems appropriate. Furthermore, I, the GM, will not the sole fount of knowledge. It will also help to show the rich history of the world without me making any point of touching on the plot-relevant bits.

Thoughts?

[Stormcrow]

Some of your players may already know stuff not known by other players. Some players may look stuff up anyway whether they succeed or not. ("You're not allowed to read anything about Tolkien's world while you're a member of this campaign!") You're making players rely on History rolls to catch up to other players.

I'd use History rolls to let characters learn bits of history important to the adventure, not to govern which bits of Tolkien lore the players are allowed to know.

[Phantasm]

Characters should already know the basics and important stuff of their regional history anyway.

For instance, all Rohirrim should know that Eorl was the leader who led them from the North to settle in Rohan proper, same as those in the US should know George Washington was our first President and General of the Army in the Revolution. Tracing King Theoden's lineage all the way back to Eorl, of course, should probably requite a History roll to get important names right.

Events in living history (50-75 years) should probably be at a bonus; general events farther in the past I'd call for an unmodified roll. Trivia or details about how events played out would be at a penalty.

[whswhs]

To start with, look closely at the restrictions on area and duration for history specialties. Middle-Earth has nearly as much history since Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's hand as our world has in total, and there's the Second Age before that, and the First Age before THAT.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Characters should already know the basics and important stuff of their regional history anyway.

For instance, all Rohirrim should know that Eorl was the leader who led them from the North to settle in Rohan proper, same as those in the US should know George Washington was our first President and General of the Army in the Revolution. Tracing King Theoden's lineage all the way back to Eorl, of course, should probably requite a History roll to get important names right.

Actually, the Rohirrim might be an exception to that. While they've picked up a lot of literacy and high culture from their Gondorian cousins, they've also retained a lot of their own traditions, and they strike me as the sort who would have a significant bardic and oral tradition. Memorizing the names in the royal lines might be the sort of thing they teach every kid in early childhood.

They remembered the hobbits, for ex, from the days many centuries past when they both lived in the upper Anduin Valley. They're the sort who keep the past in mind. (Probably also the sort to keep a grudge alive for generations, too.)

[khorboth]

Originally Posted by whswhs

To start with, look closely at the restrictions on area and duration for history specialties. Middle-Earth has nearly as much history since Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's hand as our world has in total, and there's the Second Age before that, and the First Age before THAT.

This is a very good point. I am, however, willing to sacrifice a little realism to get the feel of the game right. I'm trying to systematize Tolkien's multi-page backstories without just having the GM drone on about stuff.

I expect most characters will have a handful of History skills at low level and maybe one or two at a higher level. I'm still fairly early in the planning stages, but I'm thinking each player will have two characters. One high-powered and one Hobbit. It's deliberately mirroring the Fellowship for both in-game character reasons and prophecy reasons. I'm planning on a high-powered campaign, so there will be one slot for a "young" elf who may have quite a few. And then, people have to explain things to the Hobbits whose breadth of history is somewhat more narrow.