I will be running a LOTR one shot campaign in a week. I have the Loremaster's guidebook as well as Ruins of Eriador, Tales from Eriador and Shire Adventures.
I want to give my players a fun, immersive experience at the table. We play in person, so I already have minis, maps, and audio (the LOTR soundtracks are amazing)
I was wondering if anyone has ever run this content and if so, anything I should know going into this?
I've been brushing up on my Middle Earth lore as well as Tolkien information. The content takes place during the third age between Bilbo's adventures in The Hobbit, and Frodo's adventure to destroy the ring.
Anyone have a good idea for the BBEG? My players really want to fight a Balrog, but I want to make sure its story relevant.
I play TOR rather than LotRRP, but it's still applicable. Spoilers beware for the entire post, so I won't mark them.
Lore-wise, there were seven Balrogs (due to the nature of the writing that number varies a lot, but that seems to be the number settled on). Three have been killed (one by Ecthelion, one by Glorfindel, one by Gandalf), and we don't know what happened to the other four. We only know about Durin's Bane because someone killed it and witnesses survived to tell the tale - the other four could be dead, hidden or otherwise out of common knowledge. You could make a case for another hidden Balrog somewhere.
Tales has a big enemy at the end that serves a BBEG. You could just use that. It relates to the Hill, if you've only read the first bits.
In the new book, X of the Three Rings, there's a dragon that could serve as a BBEG. There's also a few suggestions for quest lines, some of which have creatures that could serve as a BBEG.
Moria has a whole bunch of ideas. Plus, you know, Durin's Bane.
Ruins, in Gathering Storm, has three campaign outlines, called Dark Designs, with each including a BBEG. The Black Númenorean one in particular has a beasty BBEG (BBEG[al]?).
You could also repurpose Elwen from the CRB as an BBEG.
Pretty much every book has characters and creatures that could work well as a BBEG.
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For my next campaign, I want to run Free Press's Lord of the Rings 5e system and have already purchased the LOTR Core Rules book. I see 4 other suplemental material:
The Shire
Moria Shadow of Khazad-dum
Ruins of Eriador
Tales from Eriador
And then there's a new book coming out called Keepers of the Elven-Rings. Has anyone played these? Is there an order to play them in? Ie: follow the adventures based on character level. Can you even play them together as part of a larger campaign?
Any insight you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
I've played TOR, which is the same, just different mechanics.
The game doesn't work like D&D. You don't follow one book, complete it, do the next one, etc. Instead, each book covers various regions and gives you the material for locations there to make adventures. Si, if you want to go to Moria, you use the Moria sourcebook and it will give you various locations, frameworks for adventures and quests there, important people, ideas for overarching narratives, etc. Basically, it's like a Build-a-Bear campaign.
The Shire and Tales have a more D&Desque adventure setup, in that there is an order to the adventures, but only a very loose narrative binding them. You could still very easily play each adventure as a one-shot.
As mentioned, I haven't played the 5e version, so I don't know how they deal with levels - whether they have a recommended level or if they're more like TOR's flatter progression where they're all always viable. Looking through the manual, I can't really see any reference to levels, so I'd assume that, like TOR, the Landmarks aren't tuned to progression like D&D - you just play them in an order that makes narrative sense for your campaign. I don't have access to Ruins in the 5e version to check, but that seems ti be how it works (eg Star of the Mist doesn't mention what level it's suitable for).
If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to try and answer them for you.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Thank you! That really clears things up. I was wondering why I couldn't find any references to levels. I like the idea of it being more open; let's the players and I dictate what direction things turn. Thanks once again, much appreciated.
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Hello Everyone,
I will be running a LOTR one shot campaign in a week. I have the Loremaster's guidebook as well as Ruins of Eriador, Tales from Eriador and Shire Adventures.
I want to give my players a fun, immersive experience at the table. We play in person, so I already have minis, maps, and audio (the LOTR soundtracks are amazing)
I was wondering if anyone has ever run this content and if so, anything I should know going into this?
I've been brushing up on my Middle Earth lore as well as Tolkien information. The content takes place during the third age between Bilbo's adventures in The Hobbit, and Frodo's adventure to destroy the ring.
Anyone have a good idea for the BBEG? My players really want to fight a Balrog, but I want to make sure its story relevant.
I'd love to hear what you guys think!
I play TOR rather than LotRRP, but it's still applicable. Spoilers beware for the entire post, so I won't mark them.
Lore-wise, there were seven Balrogs (due to the nature of the writing that number varies a lot, but that seems to be the number settled on). Three have been killed (one by Ecthelion, one by Glorfindel, one by Gandalf), and we don't know what happened to the other four. We only know about Durin's Bane because someone killed it and witnesses survived to tell the tale - the other four could be dead, hidden or otherwise out of common knowledge. You could make a case for another hidden Balrog somewhere.
Tales has a big enemy at the end that serves a BBEG. You could just use that. It relates to the Hill, if you've only read the first bits.
In the new book, X of the Three Rings, there's a dragon that could serve as a BBEG. There's also a few suggestions for quest lines, some of which have creatures that could serve as a BBEG.
Moria has a whole bunch of ideas. Plus, you know, Durin's Bane.
Ruins, in Gathering Storm, has three campaign outlines, called Dark Designs, with each including a BBEG. The Black Númenorean one in particular has a beasty BBEG (BBEG[al]?).
You could also repurpose Elwen from the CRB as an BBEG.
Pretty much every book has characters and creatures that could work well as a BBEG.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
For my next campaign, I want to run Free Press's Lord of the Rings 5e system and have already purchased the LOTR Core Rules book. I see 4 other suplemental material:
And then there's a new book coming out called Keepers of the Elven-Rings. Has anyone played these? Is there an order to play them in? Ie: follow the adventures based on character level. Can you even play them together as part of a larger campaign?
Any insight you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
I've played TOR, which is the same, just different mechanics.
The game doesn't work like D&D. You don't follow one book, complete it, do the next one, etc. Instead, each book covers various regions and gives you the material for locations there to make adventures. Si, if you want to go to Moria, you use the Moria sourcebook and it will give you various locations, frameworks for adventures and quests there, important people, ideas for overarching narratives, etc. Basically, it's like a Build-a-Bear campaign.
The Shire and Tales have a more D&Desque adventure setup, in that there is an order to the adventures, but only a very loose narrative binding them. You could still very easily play each adventure as a one-shot.
As mentioned, I haven't played the 5e version, so I don't know how they deal with levels - whether they have a recommended level or if they're more like TOR's flatter progression where they're all always viable. Looking through the manual, I can't really see any reference to levels, so I'd assume that, like TOR, the Landmarks aren't tuned to progression like D&D - you just play them in an order that makes narrative sense for your campaign. I don't have access to Ruins in the 5e version to check, but that seems ti be how it works (eg Star of the Mist doesn't mention what level it's suitable for).
If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to try and answer them for you.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Thank you! That really clears things up. I was wondering why I couldn't find any references to levels. I like the idea of it being more open; let's the players and I dictate what direction things turn. Thanks once again, much appreciated.