Yeah. I don't think it would have made for a very good Lord of the Rings movie, but there are some ideas in there that I'd like to mine for D&D. I kind of like the idea of dwarves being able to access their racial memories by being buried in holes.
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Re: Middle-earth On Crack « Reply #16 on Nov 22, 2010, 1:07pm »
A few further thoughts:
1. Bilbo wrote the Silmarillion and the Hobbit. Frodo wrote the Lord of the Rings, with the appendices penned by (amongst others) Merry and Pippin. Thus, none of the canonical tales are told by an omniscient narrator. All of them are told by limited, fallible narrators. Who's to say that honest errors haven't crept into the texts?
2. Look at how accurate/inaccurate pre-modern maps are. The same can be said for the maps of Middle-earth.
3. I don't think shoe-makers are mentioned in Tolkien's works, but there is no reason to suppose that they do not exist on Middle-earth. The same can be said for black puddings, beholders, potions of gaseous form, evil high priests, etc.
Bilbo wrote the Silmarillion and the Hobbit. Frodo wrote the Lord of the Rings, with the appendices penned by (amongst others) Merry and Pippin. Thus, none of the canonical tales are told by an omniscient narrator. All of them are told by limited, fallible narrators. Who's to say that honest errors haven't crept into the texts?
Wait ... the two characters just mentioned ... Bilbo and Frodo ... weren't they under the control of the One Ring? Who is to say that there are "honest errors" at all. One could argue that if they authored each text it could be with an agenda.
What I'd love to see is the War of the Ring (actually both the Second and Third Ages) as told from Sauron's perspective. He starts out trying to hustle the Numinorians, gets caught when Morgoth gets overthrown, then slowly changes from a silver-tongued diplomat into the dark lord of the books. Perhaps he doesn't see himself as a bad guy at all, but is trying to unify Middle-earth under one banner. When the Free People win, they get to write the history. If Sauron had won then perhaps the "Free People" would have been seen as rebels and traitors.
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Re: Middle-earth On Crack « Reply #18 on Nov 22, 2010, 3:12pm »
Bilbo wrote the Silmarillion and the Hobbit. Frodo wrote the Lord of the Rings, with the appendices penned by (amongst others) Merry and Pippin. Thus, none of the canonical tales are told by an omniscient narrator. All of them are told by limited, fallible narrators. Who's to say that honest errors haven't crept into the texts?
Wait ... the two characters just mentioned ... Bilbo and Frodo ... weren't they under the control of the One Ring? Who is to say that there are "honest errors" at all. One could argue that if they authored each text it could be with an agenda.
What I'd love to see is the War of the Ring (actually both the Second and Third Ages) as told from Sauron's perspective. He starts out trying to hustle the Numinorians, gets caught when Morgoth gets overthrown, then slowly changes from a silver-tongued diplomat into the dark lord of the books. Perhaps he doesn't see himself as a bad guy at all, but is trying to unify Middle-earth under one banner. When the Free People win, they get to write the history. If Sauron had won then perhaps the "Free People" would have been seen as rebels and traitors.
Just a thought.
Heck, maybe the orcs weren't all that bad. Maybe the portrayals of orcs in LotR are racist caricatures. Maybe real orcs were just like people who lived and loved and fought to defend their families and their freedom.
1. Bilbo wrote the Silmarillion and the Hobbit. Frodo wrote the Lord of the Rings, with the appendices penned by (amongst others) Merry and Pippin. Thus, none of the canonical tales are told by an omniscient narrator. All of them are told by limited, fallible narrators. Who's to say that honest errors haven't crept into the texts?
Even better, look at it as mythology, like Tolkien intended. It’s an ancient, ancient tale passed down through layers upon layers of storytellers and versions and editions, written down and codified as we know them only relatively recently. Bilbo wrote The Hobbit about as much as Moses wrote Exodus! The version we have is santized and vaguely Christianized (like the Prose Edda or The Mabinogion and ultimately the Arthurian legendry). Obviously different story cycles from many different traditions got drawn into it—for example, the true nature of the Hobbit-gods “Farmer Maggot” and “Tom Bombadil” are only very thinly veiled, and obviously originally had their own myths that had nothing to do with Frodo and the Ring (as you can see from the remnants in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, along with the mysterious Old Man Willow, Goldberry the River’s Daughter, and other such ancient and forgotten elements).
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
Re: Middle-earth On Crack « Reply #20 on Nov 29, 2010, 10:03am »
How about Judge's Guild, "The Citadel of Fire", located in the far east and associated with the fate of the Blue Wizards. Yrammag is part the long line of Wizards that goes all the way back to the two Blue Wizards that started this order! One of many.
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Re: Middle-earth On Crack « Reply #22 on Dec 9, 2010, 3:49pm »
My ideal megadungeon is Moria. There is no one creator of it. It’s massive and ancient, with so many areas that were forgotten and rediscovered and forgotten again by waves of different inhabitants. As you go deeper and deeper into it’s like a journey into the past. There are areas that date back to Balin, and there are areas that date back to Azog, and there are areas that date back to Narvi and Celebrimbor, and there are areas that date back to Durin “the Deathless”, and at its lowest depths it is a full-on Morgothian balrog-land that predates even the awakening of the Elves. What if Gollum got the Ring back, and he’s down there in Moria somewhere? Gandalf never had a showdown with the Balrog, but he (and/or Saruman) decided to stick around and set a lot of traps, Zagig-style...
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
What I'd love to see is the War of the Ring (actually both the Second and Third Ages) as told from Sauron's perspective. He starts out trying to hustle the Numinorians, gets caught when Morgoth gets overthrown, then slowly changes from a silver-tongued diplomat into the dark lord of the books. Perhaps he doesn't see himself as a bad guy at all, but is trying to unify Middle-earth under one banner. When the Free People win, they get to write the history. If Sauron had won then perhaps the "Free People" would have been seen as rebels and traitors.
Re: Middle-earth On Crack « Reply #24 on Dec 13, 2011, 1:32pm »
I had an idea about making an alternate timeline where certain things did not happen or happened differently. I am working on a list of what-ifs that have been interesting. Here are some of them:
*Beleriand is not destroyed in the War of Wraith and becomes the powerhouse elven nation.
*Morgoth survived the War of Wrath and locked the Valar out of Middle-Earth. He deceives the Noldor of Feanor's line and they become the Drow.
*There were more Istari than what was known. Some fell and became the Nazgul. The Witch-King is actually one of the Blue-Wizards.
*The Istari are basically agents in a 'Cold-War' between the Valar and the agents of Morgoth/Sauron.
*The ages unfold as written but the One Ring was actually a gate of sorts for Sauron to channel the power of Morgoth. The Ring's destruction weakens Sauron but does not 'kill' him.
*The Ring was made as the first step in a plan to release Morgoth.
*Sauron rebels against Morgoth and founds Mordor. He takes Saruman as an apprentice to to aid in the war against Morgoth.
* The Istari teach Men the art of magic to aid in the downfall of the dark lord(s).
This is just a small list and I am sure there are more ways to change things up so you could keep a Middle-Earth setting but have a justifiable reason for the D&Disms to be included.
Re: Middle-earth On Crack « Reply #25 on Jan 23, 2012, 1:35pm »
This reminds me the roguelike TOME2. Now that's what I call Middle Earth on crack! Believe me, Middle Earth is totally awesome once you can play as eg. an ent monk, a dark elf sorcerer, a high elf paladin, and add D&D monsters and stuff to all the Middle Earth goodness.
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
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