I am considering running a D&D campaign set in Middle-earthn for my kids during the Christmas holidays. I thought I might put up my ideas here and see if anyone else would be interested in helping out with adventure ideas.

Once I put all of this together, I will upload a PDF with the encounters etc in it for anyone to download and use in their own campaigns - if anyone is interested that is.

Here's my basic storyline.

Background
The year is 3018 of the Third Age of Middle-earth. Winter has passed and spring's bounty is upon the land. The air is abuzz with the twittering of nesting birds and the rivers are running fresh and strong with the melted snow of the northern mountains. Life is returning to the land around Dale and yet there is a taint in the air that is causing unrest in the township. Rumours of war in the east and south are being spoken openly in the marketplace and guildhalls and the trade caravans from the south are becoming fewer and fewer.

Elbeth the Healer is growing anxious. Three caravans have come and gone and none have brought her the herbs she needs. A fourth has arrived this morning, and as she watched from the steps leading down to the dock, her heart fell when A'zarael the Easterling met her eyes and shook his head in apology.

The First Adventure
The player characters are approached by Elbeth to travel south with A'zarael to determine why her herbs are no longer available. She promises gold and healing medicine for them in return for their service.

They are to travle with the caravan down the Long Lake to the great falls at the southern end, where they transfer to waggons for the long trek south and east. Their journey takes them past the noxious region where Smaug the Dragon fell to the rebuilt Laketown and then on to the south. Once at the foot of the great falls, they part company with the caravan and head off to the settlement where the herbs come from. Before they do however, they see a black-clad horseman riding north towards Dale.

This township is nestled against the eastern eaves of Mirkwood the Great. But all is not well there - black smoke is rising from the forest and the smell of death awaits the adventurers.

A force of Orcs had passed through here burning as they went. They are a part of a much larger force that is enroute to assail Thranduil's realm (they rescue Gollum from his elven guards). The players must defend themselves and somehow get the word through to the Elves about the impending attack. The herbs can wait!

After this detour, they return to Dale with news of the attack and are summoned to see the King of Dale. He tells them of a visit by an emissary of Mordor. Sauron is seeking Bilbo Baggins of the Shire and will pay gladly for news of him, naming him a thief. The consequences of rejecting this offer are dire, as war is brewing in the East and South and the men of Dale cannot hope to withstand it.

The King asks the adventurers to take a message to Bilbo warning him of the hunt.

So the adventurers must travel the length of Rhovanion, across the Misty Mountains and seek the land of Halflings, all the while avoiding the spies of the Enemy.

So the stage is set for a chase across the Wilderland with many adventures along the way. I want to include an enemy character who keeps on returning, almost catching them again and again, nearly foiling their quest, and in the end is ultimately defeated by the characters.

So, feel free to add any ideas that you'd like to contribute.

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Dagster

Sounds great. . Who exactly do you want the returning evil character to be? An orc leader? A hasharin? Maybe even a ringwraith?

I think it would be really cool if they encountered Aragorn along the way, after all he spent most of his life before the War of the Ring 'battling evil in wild places'. If you did this, then you could perhaps have the entire band of Ringwraiths attack them, on their way to the Shire. Or perhaps there could be, of course, the wild race, with the wraiths and PC's both trying to reach Bilbo first.

If you wanted to ignore the timeline of the actual trilogy, you could have the PC's pass through the Misty Mountains around the same time as the dwarves were making their final stand. . Maybe the PC's could even go down in there for supplies, and find it under assault by the goblins.

Just some ideas.

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Flying is the practice of trying to crash into the ground and missing.

PCs? Personal Computers? That would make for an extremely original game


...I think Anduril Flame has some good ideas. I think the recurring evil character should be a ringwraith, like the witch-king, or maybe the mouth of sauron. I don't know the rules of D&D, but I suppose it could also be a small band of orcs, lead by a notable captain, who get picked off one by one at each encounter, until only the captain remains.

Another significant detour could be the player characters being caught and brought to Isengard, then having them escape, take refuge in Helm's Deep, where a battle could take place, then finishing their trek to the Shire.
Or maybe they could arrive at the Shire and find out that Bilbo went on another adventure, and that they have to follow him.

I'm just throwing some ideas out there... sorry if they're of no use

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Ranger of Gondor wrote:

PC stands for Player Character (In AD&D. Don't know about D&D)

I like ROG's Isengard detour idea, and the idea for Bilbo being gone when they get there.

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Flying is the practice of trying to crash into the ground and missing.

I'd suggest the primary enemy (at first at least) be the Mouth of Sauron. He'd probably be snooping around Dale for a while to eavesdrop on any whispers about Bilbo, and when he sees a random assortment of heroes travelling west, he'll probably want to investigate.

I'd also recommend certain restrictions on what type of characters you allow. If playing 4th ed, stray away from Dragonborn and Tieflings, and suggest only one magic-casting class in the party since in Middle-earth, magic is a lot more subtle

Hope it goes great for ye Dagorlad

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Tale of 9 Gamers 2010: The Misty Mountains/Angmar:

April: 0/3 choices complete

Yearly total: 50/74 models done O.o

Very cool!

Are you using D+D 4E? or 3.5?

If you google about your can come across something called the Ea D20 project, which was a 3.5 conversion of various Middle Earth material. Saves a lot of time and effort statting up enemies. (Another option is to hunt down a copy of the Lord of the Rings Adventure game (the full colour Decipher one) and tweak the rules found there to create simpler encounters.)

Beyond all that, its a great little idea, and a lovely premise for a low level adventure that can go in all sorts of interesting directions.

You don't need some uber baddie - but some sort of nasty (fifth or sixth level, in D+D terms) minion of the enemy to sort of direct the opposition and to have someone to kill at the end. Maybe loot the backstory from somewhere in the SBG world.

Remember, D+D starting characters are a bit naff, and the last thing you want to do is have our heroes massacred in their first few adventures. And if you are playing over the Christmas holidays, then they may only have a few adventures. So assume that they won't get further than level 5 or so at the most, and that the final challenges need to be balanced against that.

Don't let them have a spellcaster, and if some purist asks (4e) encounter powers are the blessings of the Valar. Or something.

I googled about for you to see if there were any handy online mechanical notes, but there were none, alas.

Sorry

Gavin

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I like the creativity in these ideas. Especially like the detour to Isengard.

The time line is intended to tie in with the main story, so the attack on Thranduil's realm is set for June 3018, which is about 4 months before Frodo arrives in Rivendell. Bilbo has already departed the Shire and so the PCs (player characters) will have to find him.

At the same time as the characters' mission, a group of Dwarves, including Gloin and Gimli, have set out from Erebor on the same errand. but they are being closely watched by the spies of Sauron.

Also, the Ringwraiths are fully occupied in their own search for the Ring, which will coincide with the Players' arrival in the Shire. While the Fellowship may avoid the Black Riders, our players may not be so lucky.

The Mouth of Sauron is a good choice for the emissary of the Dark Lord, but he cannot be killed by the players because he plays an important role in the actual story. So I was thinking of another Black Numenorian with sorcerous powers under Sauron's sway.

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Dagster

I actually had such a character floating around someplace, but I cannot remember anything about him :p

But yes, some sort of Black Numenorean sorcerer makes a perfect enemy. Killable, but still dangerous!

Gavin