CLOSED: Adventures in Middle-earth (D&D5E)

Black Heart, Black Hand

The Great Hall of Records of Minas Tirith's White Tower is one of the greatest repositories of knowledge of all mankind in Middle-earth.

And when a mysterious party steals a set of one-of-a-kind and priceless tomes of knowledge, it sets into motion a series of events that could imperil all of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.

Can you prevent the dark forces at work from prevailing?



Hello, Gamersplaners!

I am looking for some players for a 5E campaign set in Tolkien's Middle-earth, using the "Adventures in Middle-earth" setting supplement materials published by Cubicle 7.

I purchased the books back before they became ridiculously expensive on the secondhand market, and can share read-access to the PDFs if you don't have access to the books yourself.

If you're not familiar with me, I am a long time member of the forum, but have had to stop PbP for basically a couple years now due to real life, but I am getting back to a point where I feel like I can maybe run games again.

And so I want to do so!

TONE:

Primary thing I want to bring up about the tone of the game is that in AIME, there is no such thing as Alignment. All characters are generally heroic characters, as is the way with the protagonists of Tolkien's works. Part of the game in AIME is then that the heroes struggle with their flaws, and it is mechanized, and something that works best when the player buys into that struggle. We will talk about that more in the forum.

THEME:

The themes of this game will really just revolve around telling a "Tolkienian" tale. If you're a fan of Tolkien's works, and lore, you will hopefully enjoy this game, and help create the Tolkienian atmosphere through your storytelling and character's narrative.

Some of you may be thinking, "5E for Tolkien!? That's not a great fit." And you're not wrong. But you may have to just trust me for now when i say that Cubicle 7 made some excellent and meaningful changes/additions to 5E, to facilitate the themes of Tolkien's world better.

THE GAME

I would foresee this campaign going through 6 or 7 main kind of "play loops" (i.e. the D&D-like cycle of exploration > adventure > downtime, repeat), at a minimum. Which i would see requiring up to a year of play. And I would see us getting up to level 5 in that time.

If things go well and ppl want to keep going, the campaign has the potential to go on far beyond that.

I am thinking I would like to see a pace of at least 1 post per day, on average, excepting weekends.

This game is open to anyone.

I will have no formal application process. Just express that you want in, below. Pretty much first come, first served.

If we hit at least 3 players, I think we'll try to play (although i may take up a DMPC or we'll explore Sidekick-like characters or something depending on group composition), and hopefully we'll pick up more over time.

The game will be highly roleplay focused (I like to use optional rules from the DMG like "Degrees of Failure", "Success with Complication", and Matt Colville-style Skill Challenges, to keep things more narrative-facing), and there will be lots of space for ppl to geek out and indulge in Tolkien lore if they want to.

And I guess that's about it.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Hope to see you in game!

Wow surprised there isn’t more post yet lol. I don’t have a lot of Tolkien experience, just the movies, but still interested.

Would definitely like to try this, please - I read LotR a couple of times, and I enjoy the tone and scale of Tolkien's Middle Earth.
A Narrative-facing approach sounds very appropriate, for something like this.

Yea, I don't think you NEED to have any particular experience with Tolkien to enjoy this campaign.

We will just be telling a tale of heroism and adventure, at the core.

But I think it would be enjoyed MOST by folks who are Tolkien enthusiasts, basically just because of "Easter Eggs" and lore and things, the significance of which might be lost otherwise.

But if the campaign premise sounds fun, and you want in on some low magic, narrative focused 5E? You are certainly welcome as well.

I’d definitely be interested. A fan of LOTR, but not expert in it. Have 5e playing experience and can easily manage 1 a day posting

I would be excited to experience "Success with Complication" and Matt Colville-style Skill Challenges in a PbP. But I would only apply if you don't gather enough Tolkien enthusiasts as I'm not.

As a matter of interest - could you elaborate "roleplay focused". Would a player with average to low writing skills and poor vocabulary, but willing to think outside the box suit your game well?

I'd love to give my Mountain Dwarf another run out. He was created for an AIME campaign on here that ran out of steam

I'm interested in trying out AIME. I'm a long-time D&D player and Tolkien fan, but I've forgotten many of the details in the Hobbit and LOTR trilogy, which I read decades ago. I enjoy getting into character and can keep up the one post a day schedule.

I'm also interested. I'm a huge Tolkien fan and have played the One Ring rpg but not the 5e version and I have only limited experience with 5e.

Yea, sure, so when I say "highly roleplay focused", I'm really just saying that:

1st there's probably going to be less combat than in a "normal" D&D game. And instead more investigation and interaction with the world, to solve problems. It's still D&D at it's core, so there will still be plenty of combat, but my hope is that much of the problem solving is player-driven choices and interaction with the world.

2nd I'm also saying that fewer rolls will be used to accomplish the same amount or even more things/progress the narrative more than might "normally" happen in D&D. And again this draws some focus away from the dice (just by virtue of the dice have fewer instances where they directly impact the narrative), and puts more focus again on player choices and interaction with the world.

That's really all I am saying in those two or three loaded words.

This doesn't mean you have to be a great writer, I'm totally fine with 3rd person narration-type roleplay - i.e. instead of writing out your Bard's florid and persuasive speech in the voice of your Bard condemning the actions of That Guy, you can just say, "My Bard makes a florid and persuasive speech about this, focusing on the shady actions of That Guy." and I will treat it (roughly) the same so long as you can demonstrate you understand the dynamics at play.

So, as long as you can problem solve and effectively communicate your ways and means and goals, you won't be penalized for not typing out dwarvish accents or speaking in medieval iambic pentameter (that said, particularly "good" roleplay/characterization may be rewarded).

Woah, went to type that reply and came back and there's three more interested parties!

Ok, I think that takes me to 6.

I'll "close" the thread for now.

We'll start up character creation, see if everyone wants to stick with it as we go along, and I'll open this back up if we lose anyone.

Thanks folks!

Following

There is one person that has yet to accept the dms invite. I think they said they would wait another week. Maybe check back in a week and you might have a place.

I will simply note - I would have been all over this if my game list wasn't so busy already. I hope you have a wonderful game out of it. If you are ever down a player and need someone badly, let me know after you touch base with Knifesedgegames.

The player in question PMed me expressing interest before I had even created this Recruitment thread, so I sent them a return message and an invite.

They haven't been online since they messaged me, but they appear to have been an active member historically.

So I figure maybe they went on vacation right after messaging me (or something)?

Anyway, I'm leaving the offer open for a week in good faith.

I extended the offer last Sunday afternoon.

So they have about 72 hrs to show that they're responsive and still interested, at which point, so as not to lose momentum, I'll invite KEG.

No worries, happy to wait. FYI, I have dabbled with AIME but not a ton of experience with 5e aside from that.

I have a fairly good familiarity with Middle Earth, as Lord of the Rings Online has been my MMO of choice for 14 years.

Hey Knifesedge, so the person returned, but declined the invite.

However I realized that I already have 6 players in the game from those who accepted their invites - i.e. I had inadvertently invited 1 more person than I originally intended to take on.

So I'm going to roll with just the 6 I already have.

And if once we get rolling, I feel like I can take on an additional player, or ofc if we lose anyone, you will be first in line.

Thank you for your interest!

That’s fine, totally understand! If you have any dropouts, feel free to fire me a DM

Hello gamers,

I am opening up a spot in this Adventures in Middle-earth, D&D 5E game.

We're mid-story.

Player would be creating a 2nd level character, using the Adventures in Middle-earth classes and cultures. So please have access to at least the Players Guide.

There will be a small story restriction/requirement so that we can bring you in to the story, but should still be able to accommodate most concepts within that.

Let's me know if you're interested.

Regards,
em

Really interested! I want to learn from the master! :)

Invite sent!