Post by gloriousbattle on Aug 17, 2011 22:49:23 GMT -6
Let's start with an example: Tolkien's infamous Blue Wizards. These featured prominently in a Middle Earth D&D campaign I once ran games.groups.yahoo.com/group/second_age_of_middle_earth/ set among the Easterlings.
We know little about the Blue Wizards, named Alatar and Pallando, or Morinehtar and Romestamo, collectively known as the Ithryn Luin. Also, much of what we do know about them is contradictory, as shown by the wikipedia excerpt, below:
"I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy occupied lands as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and "magic" traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron." -JRR Tolkien
However, some of this changes in a text written in the last year or two of Tolkien's life (published in The Peoples of Middle-earth) of 1968. They are said to have arrived not in the Third Age, but in the Second, around the year 1600, the time of the Forging of the One Ring. Their mission was to travel to the east and weaken the forces of Sauron. And it is here said that the Wizards far from failed; rather, they had a pivotal role in the victories of the West at the end of both the Second and the Third Ages. At the same time, Tolkien considered the possibility that Glorfindel arrived back in Middle-earth along with the Blue Wizards. On this later, more positive interpretation, the Blue Wizards may have been as successful as Gandalf, just located in a different theatre beyond the borders of the map in The Lord of the Rings.[6]
So, which is true?
Well, if the creator of Middle Earth himself did not know, I decided it would be fun for ME, as DM, not to know either.
So, I purposely kept the true nature of the Blue Wizards a mystery to myself as well as the players. Sometimes one or both of them would show up and aid the party just in the nick of time. Other times, they would offer some cryptic advice, that would like as not appear to get the party into trouble. When asked point blank whether they served Sauron or the West, they would typically give an answer that could be interpreted either way.
I found that this was a big headache for the party, but still a lot of fun. Who were these dudes, anyway, and what did they want? Could we trust them? Should we follow their lead? Were they helping us just to hurt us, or hurting us just to help us? The amount of speculation this generated was, for me, really entertaining, and I found more and more perplexing ways to use them as the campaign progressed. After all, even though they were the least of the Istari, they were still very powerful by Middle Earth standards, and wizards are, after all, subtle and quick to anger... so don't provoke them without VERY good reason.
Anyway, please note that the Tolkien stuff above is only by way of example, and this is NOT meant to be a purely Tolkien topic, though feel free to speculate on the nature of Alatar and Pallando if you wish.
But the main thing I am asking is, have YOU as DM, ever done anything like this? Kept the true nature of one or more elements of your campaign secret from yourself as well as your players? If not, try it. I think you'll find it makes a marvellous idea-generator.
We know little about the Blue Wizards, named Alatar and Pallando, or Morinehtar and Romestamo, collectively known as the Ithryn Luin. Also, much of what we do know about them is contradictory, as shown by the wikipedia excerpt, below:
"I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy occupied lands as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and "magic" traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron." -JRR Tolkien
However, some of this changes in a text written in the last year or two of Tolkien's life (published in The Peoples of Middle-earth) of 1968. They are said to have arrived not in the Third Age, but in the Second, around the year 1600, the time of the Forging of the One Ring. Their mission was to travel to the east and weaken the forces of Sauron. And it is here said that the Wizards far from failed; rather, they had a pivotal role in the victories of the West at the end of both the Second and the Third Ages. At the same time, Tolkien considered the possibility that Glorfindel arrived back in Middle-earth along with the Blue Wizards. On this later, more positive interpretation, the Blue Wizards may have been as successful as Gandalf, just located in a different theatre beyond the borders of the map in The Lord of the Rings.[6]
So, which is true?
Well, if the creator of Middle Earth himself did not know, I decided it would be fun for ME, as DM, not to know either.
So, I purposely kept the true nature of the Blue Wizards a mystery to myself as well as the players. Sometimes one or both of them would show up and aid the party just in the nick of time. Other times, they would offer some cryptic advice, that would like as not appear to get the party into trouble. When asked point blank whether they served Sauron or the West, they would typically give an answer that could be interpreted either way.
I found that this was a big headache for the party, but still a lot of fun. Who were these dudes, anyway, and what did they want? Could we trust them? Should we follow their lead? Were they helping us just to hurt us, or hurting us just to help us? The amount of speculation this generated was, for me, really entertaining, and I found more and more perplexing ways to use them as the campaign progressed. After all, even though they were the least of the Istari, they were still very powerful by Middle Earth standards, and wizards are, after all, subtle and quick to anger... so don't provoke them without VERY good reason.
Anyway, please note that the Tolkien stuff above is only by way of example, and this is NOT meant to be a purely Tolkien topic, though feel free to speculate on the nature of Alatar and Pallando if you wish.
But the main thing I am asking is, have YOU as DM, ever done anything like this? Kept the true nature of one or more elements of your campaign secret from yourself as well as your players? If not, try it. I think you'll find it makes a marvellous idea-generator.
