So what is everybody playing?

[Slant]

We skipped out on Lord of the Rings today since two of us couldn't make it due to family events.  Instead we played some BARBARIAN! where the characters were pulp-era characters who find themselves whisked away to barbaric Mars in 1922 to fight the powerful Witch Queen and save the swashbuckling Martian civilization from ending up in slavery.  It was a cool departure from how we regularly play BARBARIAN! with characters based on 80's movies stereotypes, yet still worked like a charm.  We also did an Inquisitor scenario which I will put on the tabletop games board.

Anyhow, I have a question.  After this current LotR campaign finishes up, what should I do next?  Shoud I let them keep the characters they are now running (if most survive)?  Should I play in another age?  Or should I keep it in 4th Age?  Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:

Allow them to keep the same characters and deal with the restoration of Middle Earth in the wake of the Red Maw, gaining more power and experience and becoming major players in the going-on of Middle Earth.

Play characters set in the First Age where the magic is almost limitless and where they might actually be able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Sauron and Melchor (Perhaps having them all as part of Kalouran's troops during the wars of the First Age).

Having them all play elves in the Undying Lands where the adventures would be more subtle but of even greater scope than what we are doing now.

Do an adventure even deeper into the Fourth Age when the magic is almost entirely gone and nobody has seen an elf or dwarf for generations.

Which of these (if any) sounds the most viable?  Does anybody have any other suggestions?  Please let me know.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I think the LOTR works best for epic struggles. Hence I see the continuing characters hard to think of as exciting. Unless yet another evil rears it's head. putting it later in the 4th age would have a similar effect. Too many sequential big evil epics going on to find believable

But, since your players are very good character role players, The elves sounds like your best bet. Or at least the most thought provoking. I'd love to see the stories for that one. The 1st age one sounds a little too Robert Jordan/D&D for me. I think subtle will go for your best story telling (so guess where MY interest is here: completely selfless. Don't want anything at all from it. Nope.)

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Play in the second age, with the first coming of Sauron.... and have the players play the ancestors of their current charactors (unless they are elves and then they can play themselves, which while tricky could be fun.) Or the Early third age while the Witch King is destroying the Ranger kingdoms of the north.  This way you can still have epic, without really changing events or making the 4th Age seem well kind of redundent.

[Slant]

Session 22

Ain-Ain plunges the black dagger deep into Gandalf's gut.  Kjartan throws his broadsword from many yards away, but he is too late.  Gandalf falls.  As he does so, he drops the White Libram.  Ain-Ain comes to her senses too late, but grabs the book back up as the undead forces charge.  
Tark hits a rock outcropping and his small boat is demolished.  He is thrown nearly a hundred feet towards the shoreline and blacks out as he hits the water.  He is washed up upon the shores of Aman.

Kalouran's forces leave the Gray Havens.  With them ride also Hobbitish troops from Forlindan.  Kalouran rides in his full elaborate battle armor, as he did thousands of years before.  His wife rides next to him, clad all in black and silent as the grave.  Erinel tries to engage her in conversation, but the white elf remains silent and sullen.  Auric rides up front, showing the elves the secret paths that he used to travel between Angmar and the Grey Havens.  Kalouran comments that the paths that Auric used had been well hidden for over a thousand years and that thier discovery could have only come from one who was meant to be a true master ranger.  The white elf speaks very briefly when she adds under her breath "or an Angmar spy."

In Rohan, the undead forces sweep across the valley.  Mordante appears looming over Galdalf.  Ain-Ain in desperation holds the White Libram up and shreds it before him, telling Mordante that he will never learn the path to Valinor or the secret of summoning his evil god back into the world.  Mordante laughs at her, telling her that he already had the information because he was the one who created the White Libram.  He reveals that he created it and arranged for it to appear in Saruman's tower centuries ago with the idea that the already slightly mad Istari would fall to Darkness and seek to raise Melchor.  Unfortunately, Sauron got to Saruman first and made him his puppet.  Ain-Ain stands stunned for a moment, then raises the black dagger and stabs Mordante, but it only shatters upon his flesh.

As the battle rages, a new sound is heard.  Hundreds of dwarves firing thier crossbows of black iron take out a significant number of the unliving horde.  The dwarves, along with Milo and Kogali, give the men of Rohan and Gondor the time they need to regroup and wipe out thier unwholesome foe.  When the smoke clears, Mordante and Gandalf are gone.

On the beach of Aman, Tark rises to find himself surrounded by tall elves so powerful that they seem to glow with a vast inner fire.  They tell him that he has been asleep for nearly a day.  he says it is not possible since the dead don't sleep.  An elf tells him that the undying Lands are anathema to the undead and pulls off Tark's helm.  Tark feels his own features, gaunt from hunger and fatigue, but once again the flesh and blood of a mortal man.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

THEY DISAPPEAR!!!!!

ARGH! I'll kill you!!!!!

I thought we were at the dramatic conclusion and you went and did that to me.

[Slant]

We probably have between 4-6 more sessions, Saint.  Please don't kill me before I get the chance to finish it.

Oh, and (shameless plug) after this campaign wraps up, we will likely be doing a few weeks of a brand new RPG entitled HAVEN: CITY OF VIOLENCE, which was created and published by a bloke who lives down in my neck of the woods by the name of Louis Porter.  I know him and his playtest team and I know how many years he has spent to finally bring his game into the big league, so now that it is finally in stores I feel like it is my duty to play the damn thing myself and see if it is worth his while to put out the dozen or so supplements that he has planned over the next few years.  To summarize it in a single line, Haven is like Gotham City without Batman.   After we play it for a couple of weeks, I might even be tempted to write a review for TWG.

[Mr_Pleasington]

Brand new?

Seriously?

I've been seeing stuff on the web for that game for years now.  Not rules and such, but chatter here and there.   Has it just been in production a long time?

Can't wait for the campaign conclusion, Slant!

[Slant]

Louis originally wrote it as a free net rpg about six or seven years ago.  It showed up on a lot of pages that had links to free games.  Eventually a game company approached him about fleshing out the system and world and getting it published.  It was supposed to hit stores in April but was set back a couple of months.  

[Slant]

Session 23

Following the Battle of Rohan, Milo and Kogali reunite with their friends.  Kjartan is sorely wounded from a spear through the gut, but refuses to rest.  He welcomes Durgin's dwarves in the name of the king.

Kalouran's army of elves and hobbits makes camp for the evening at the Greyflood River.  Erinel sings and tells old tales of Kalouran's accomplishments.  The white elf does not appear to be happy with the attention Erinel is giving to her husband.  She finds Auric taking target practice out in the woods and joins him.  Her skill is incredible; easily the greatest archer of the Fourth Age.  She confronts him with her suspicions of him being a spy of the Shadow.  Auric sees the sun symbol of Eru on a silver chain around her neck and takes it in his hands, swearing that if he is a servant of the Darkness, may he be struck dead immediately.  He tells her that his only motive is for all people to be able to live free of the taint of the Shadow.

Back in Rohan, Kogali goes to Ain-Ain's tent and attempts to rekindle her former interest in him, but he is rebuked.  She tells him that all men are liars and fools.  She examines the ruined pieces of the White Libram and finds the filagreed outer covering slips back to reveal a secret page underneath the book's spine.  It is written in Black Speach and says that to summon the Dark One from beyond the veil of Death, one needs to shed the last life's blood of one of the Children of Ealde.  She now knows why Mordante took Gandalf.

In the Undying Lands, Tark stands before the great Manwe, who commend's the human's courage.  The hosts of Valinor are readied for war for the first time since the First War against Melchor milennia before.

The following morning at the Greyflood River, many hobbits and elves are found with their throats sliced open.  An elf captain finds blood on Auric's sheath.  When his sword is drawn, it is coated in blood.

In Rohan, the forces now led by Kjartan, Ain-Ain, Kogali and Milo attempt to figure out Mordant's next move.  Milo reasons that Mordante will need ships to cross to the Undying Lands, but would be hard pressed to get past the elves of the Grey Havens, especially with Kalouran's elite troops all ready to die to prevent elvin ships from falling into their hands.  Kogali tells them that there is only one other fleet in all of Middle Earth large enough and strong enouth to make the journey: the Black Fleet of Umbar.

In Kalouran's camp, many elves want to execute Auric.  He proclaims his innocence, but is horsewhipped by angry elves.  A Noldorian general draws Auric's head back to strike the fatal blow, but the white elf prevents him from doing so by shooting an arrow through the sword's blade and shattering it.  She steps in front of Auric and says that any elf or hobbit who wishes to harm the tracker needs to first survive her arrows that have never missed their mark in all of two thousand years.

End of session 23

[Slant]

Session 24

The United Army makes it's way to Umbar.  Kogali mentions for the umpteenth time that his father was a legend in Umbar and that they will be able to get anything they need there because they will follow his ordersout of respect to his late father.  Milo says that Kogali is just another hardened wharf rat with delusions of grandeur.

In Aman, Tark remembers the small picture he has sealed up in his scroll case beneath his armor.  He takes it out and looks at it, finally remembering his wife, and remembering that she has been dead for the past four years.  He is overwhelmed by grief and spends several days away from Manwe's abode, isolating himself in the vast woodlands of the Undying Lands.

At Kalouran's camp, the elves insist to Kalouran that Auric be slain.  The white elf says she will not allow it.  Kalouran sides with his wife (he's no fool) but suggests that Auric distance himself from the camp for a bit.

The army makes it to the black iron gates of Umbar.  The Umbar marines make a vast wall of raised bows to keep out the Gondorians and their allies.  One of them recongnizes Kogali as a kinsman and says that all Kogali need do is to say the word and that they will rain down swift death upon the lackies of Elessar.  Kogali gives an evil grin as he considers it.

Auric scouts far ahead as Kalouran's forces are on the move once again.  Erinel goes to keep him company, but he is in a sour mood and tells her she'd better leave before he adds another elf to his list of kills.  She tells him she does not believe that he is guilty in the slightest and says that he is by far the most honorable and noble person she has ever met, even including other elves.  Auric gives a very uncharacteristic smile and walks considerably taller.

Umbar marines usher Kjartan and his allies into the chambers of the Blue Council, whilst the rest of the army must remain beyond Umbar's bleak gates.  The Blue Council, once made up of the wisest men of numenorian blood, is now little more than a collection of petty warlords.  The war chiefs of Rhun and Harad attempt to impress upon them that the Red Maw is the enemy of all living things, and that they have allied their peoples with Elessar to stand against this threat.  The council disagrees.  They order their assassins to take Kjartan prisoner at arrowpoint, hoping to use Elessar's trusted envoy as a bargaining chip.  Kjartan flips out and attacks in a berzerker rage, ignoring the arrows slicing into his flesh as takes down his attackers in a wash of blood and gore.  The Umbar marines attack the representatives of Gondor as a huge battle ensues in the council room.  From far beyond the gates of the kingdom there comes the sound of warfare as the men of Umbar battle with the army of Gondor and their allies.

Kalouran's army is attacked by countless orcish, mannish, and warg skeletons that erupt from the ground as they pass within bowshot of Helm's Deep.  Kalouran reaches for his weapon in a fit of fury, but Auric remembers Kalouran's curse and tackles him, doing all he can to prevent the legendary elf warlord from drawing his blade in anger and sealing his own doom.  An undead uruk-hai sees the conflict and swings his scimitar at Kalouran's unprotected back.  Auric whirls the elf around, placing himself right in front of the zombie and taking the full impact of the hit.  Mortally wounded, Auric sinks to the ground.

In Umbar, the fighting within the council room comes to an abrupt halt when all the participants realize that there are no further sounds of combat coming from beyond the gates of Umbar, only an ominous silence.  The doors swing open and a Gondorian horseman enters with an Umbar archer close on his heels. They announce that there is an army on the horizon; an army as silent as the grave that extends for as far as the eye can see.

end of session

[Slant]

No LotR today.  Instead we played Haven: City of Violence on Friday.  I have written up a very comprehensive review and submitted it to TWG, so hopefully you should all get a chance to read it within the next few days.

[Slant]

Session 25: Loss

The battle is joined between the Shadow Army and the combined might of Men, Dwarves and Hobbits at Umbar.  Umbar archers provide a hail of arrows that pin down the undead, allowing Kjartan's forces to charge the enemy.  The undead merely walk through the arrow storm, oblivious to the damage.  It is carnage as the great army comprised of Men from all nations falters and begins to fail against the remorseless might of the living dead.

Three hundred miles away, Auric, gravely wounded, is taken to a shady spot to rest as Kalouran's battle against the undead begins to wind down.  Erinel is very upset; she can see that her friend is not long for this world.  She tries to speak to him, but he slips in and out of consciousness as his lungs collapse and his heart begins to fail.

In Umbar, the battle rages on with no end in sight as row after row of the walking dead march against the human alliance.  Ain-Ain tells Kjartan that this isn't a battle that Mordante cares about: it is only a ploy to whittle away as many of the living as possible to ensure that Mordante can achieve his goal.

In Aman, Tark finally makes peace with his past and buries the picture of his wife in a peaceful garden near Valinor.  He goes to Manwe's mountain stronghold to look down upon the beaches and help stand guard against the coming threat.  Manwe calls him "Tir Macar," which means "vigilant defender" in the Quenya tongue.

After what seems like days, the tide turns in Umbar.  The undead cease to advance and merely stand in place as the armies of Gondor and Umbar cut them down like wheat, unsure of why they have become suddenly passive.  The sky darkens and all eyes turn upwards.  Great shapes appear in the sky, blocking the sun: giant eagles, the followers of Eru and allies of the Istari of old.  Upon seeing them, the men below cheer.  Ain-Ain shouts in horror that they must take another look.  At her words, Kogali takes his spy scope and peers at the eagles.  Their feathers are matted with blood, their bodies torn and mutilated, and their eyes the dull glassy gaze of the undead.  Upon their backs are Mordante and his few trusted necromancers, all flying Westwards towards Aman.

Auric, drifting in and out of delerium, becomes aware of a blade across his throat.  Shocked into alertness, he pushes upwards with all he has left and finds himself confronting the half-orc Jonaz, now Mordante's undead assassin.  He draws his elf blade and skewers Jonaz through the heart, pinning him to a stone wall.  Erinel comes, alerted by the sounds of combat.  Auric points and tells her "here is who was murdering the elves like a dog in the night.  Tell the Baroness that her faith in me was justified."  He slumps to the ground as his final breath shudders through him.  Erinel holds him close as he tries to tell her one final thing, but is forever silenced by the cold hand of Death.

In Umbar, the remaining humans and their kin make for the ships, hoping to catch Mordante before his lead becomes too much.  The undead slowly kick back into gear, chasing them down the docks.  They make it to the ships, but it is too evident that the undead will be upon them before they can cast off.  Kogali turns to Ain-Ain and kisses her gently, asking her to remember him with fondness.  Before anybody can stop him, he leaps off the ship and cuts the moorings.  As the undead reach the docks he stands alone with both swords drawn and fights in a flashing show of steel and speed, cutting down dozens upon dozens of the living dead and allowing the ships to sail to freedom.  Their last sight of Kogali is as he falls beneath wave after wave of undead soldiers, hacking and slaying even as he is rent limb from limb.  Ain-Ain and Milo just watch in open-mouthed horror.  

end of session

[Slant]

Session 26

Kalouran's forces follow the trail of carnage to Umbar, which is now in the cold grip of the undead.  Erinel, pushed to her breaking point by her friend's demise, insists that they raze Umbar to ensure that the undead threat is destroyed in middle-earth for good.  Kalouran is taken aboack by her sudden bloodthirsty attitude, but agrees that there is no other course of action.  

The fleet traveling to Aman finds itself unable to go any further than the ruins of Numenor.  The wind simply dies and the waters turn still as stone.  Most of those on bpard feel a strong chill and the need to go back.  Milo, though, feels a powerful force pulling him towards Aman.

In Aman, the plague eagles are sighted.  Manwe senses a powerful evil coming and shudders, telling Tark that for the first time in ten thousand years blood will be spilt in the Undying Lands.

On the Umbar ship, Milo is overcome by a fit of madness and he tries to leap over the railing of the ship.  He needs to be restrained.  Kjartan knocks him silly with a single punch.  Ain-Ain reads the hobbit's soul and says that Milo is caught up in the threads of destiny and will die if he cannot complete what Fate has decreed for him.

The elves destroy the undead forces left in Umbar, sending walking corpses fleeing into the shadows of Umbar's undercities.  On the docks, they find Kogali's mutilated body.  Erinel finds herself beginning to slip into madness, but the white elf tells her that she will need to find her strength for one final battle.  Erinel tells her that she never imagined she could feel such loss and devestation, but the white elf tells her that it is simply the way of war.  The albino uses dark magics to speak to Kogali from beyond the veil of flesh.  kogali's spirit relates what happened with the Army of Three against the forces of the Harbinger.  She tells Kogali that he may go to his rest in the arms of Eru, safe in the knowledge that his actions have helped his friends survive and have given the Living the chance they will need against the Darkness.  Erinel demands to know where she learned such evil magics.  The white elf just tells her that she has done much in her life, both good and ill, and now simply tries to use whatever skills she has to the best advantage of all.

In Aman, Manwe's mages bring down the plague eagles.  When they go to where the eagles fell, they see that is is glamour.  Tark sees the true plague eagles decending upon the cliffs overlooking Avathar.  He shoots an arrow high into the air, alerting the elves to the location of the enemy.

Upon the deck of the Umbar ship, black sails can be seen on the horizon.  Kjartan spies the Black Fleet of Umbar, ten strong, coming towards the four vessels commanded by Kjartan's forces.  It appears that the undead have caught up with them at last.  Prepared to face their doom bravely, they pick up their blades and get ready for a last stand.  As the Black Fleet draws close, they see upon the bow of the first ship a tall, sleek elf with the look of Ages upon him and the clothing of a bygone age.  Next to him is their old friend Erinel, looking haggard but resolute.  The men, dwarves, and hobbits give a great cheer as they realize that their elf allies have come at last!

End of session

[Slant]

Session 27

Kjartan welcomes the elves and Kalouran swears his peoples allegience to Kjartan and his king.  Kalouran invites the mortals to travel to Aman to stand beside their immortal allies in combat.  Having been formally invited by a child of the First Age, the humans, dwarves, and hobbits are now free to sail past sunken Numenor.  The mighty elf wizards cast magic to give the ships the speed of a shrieking wind.

On Aman, the house of Manwe is under ferocious attack.  Tark, clad in an amalgam of elf armor and Gondorian mail, stands at the forefront of Manwe's warriors, hewing through the walking corpses with a look of grim determination.

On the ship, Milo has visions of the Undying Lands becoming a bastion of death.

On the field of battle, Tark finally comes face to face with Mordante, who is uncermoniously dragging a comatose Gandalf.  The Red Maw uses his powers to attempt to create an overwhelming fear in Tark, but the man who had returned from beyond the veil of Death is unaffected by the necromancy.  Shocked and nervous, Mordante disappears with his captive.  The undead forces give Tark a wide berth.

The ships make it to Aman.  No sooner do they glide to port than they are attacked by the grotesque plague eagles who drop out of the sky upon the fleet.  Ships are destroyed and over 500 warriors disappear beneath the waves forever.

Kjartan and the former elf general Cirion fight back to back in a whirling circle of death and carnage, taking out three gigantic eagles and hundreds of undead.  Ain-Ain commands a contingent of elf archers to lay down cover fire as she shatters the blades of their enemies, leaving the undead helpless as dwarf berzerkers tear them limb from limb.

Milo, unnoticed in the great battle, heads straight towards Avathar.  Erinel sees him and follows.  He tells her that while he was in Angmar, his life had been saved by hobbits who had been his own slain, undead family.  He says that he must avenge his family and all the Shire by destroying the Harbinger, even though the attempt would certainly bring about his own death.

end of session

[Slant]

Session 28: climax (get your minds out of the gutter)

Tark battles earth demons that erupt from the catacombs beneath Manwe's manse.  Manwe destroys them in a furious shower of flames.

Milo and Erinel enter the cave containing the Pit of Avathar.  Erinel cannot bring herself to enter, but Milo does.  In the cave they see the vast pit that extends to the darkest corner of Hell.  A stone disc some ten feet in diameter is suspended above the pit by Mordante's magic.  Gandalf lays spreadeagled and naked on the stone.  Mordante Stands at the lip of the pit as the black energies of Morgoth arise from the Pit of Avathar and begin to enter Gandalf's Istari body, thus allowing Morgoth, the Blackest Evil, to walk the land once more in Istari form.  Kalouran enters the cave in full battle gear and charges Mordante.  The evil Istari is caught off guard long enough for Milo to leap from the shadows upon the floating slab.  Mordante defeats Kalouran with a wave of his hand and wrenches the helm from his head to reveal not Kalouran, but his albino wife in her husband's battle gear.  Mordante glares at her in hatred, denouncing her as a traitor against Sauron and Morgoth.  He snaps her neck with his hand and leaves her to crumble to the ground.  

The remnants of Kjartan's army staves off undead elves, trees, and animals as Mordant'e power begins to infuse the Undying Lands itself.  Kjartan, Ain-Ain, Cirion, and Erinel make it into the cave containing the pit.  Mordante keeps them all at bay as Morgoth's power enters Gandalf.  The Istari stirs and his eyes are the red and black of Morgoth.  He sees Milo and grins evilly.  Milo has one choice left to him: he stabs Gandalf/Morgoth through the heart as an unearthly shriek tornadoes out from the great pit.  The black energies flow out of Gandalf's body and into Milo's, attempting to make the hobbit his new host.  In his last second of conscious action, Milo falls backwards into the abyss, slicing his own throat as he falls.  Morgoth cannot transfer to a new host in time and is sent back into the Void.

Tark and Manwe arrive the same moment.  Manwe floods the pit with the holy light of Eru.  AIn-Ain makes it look like there are a dozen Kjartans, allowing the General to get close enough to pin Mordant against the wall.  As strong as he is, Kjartan cannot hold the Red Maw.  Kalouran, finally freed of his bonds (his wife had knocked him out and tied him up to prevent him from going to his own doom) sees his wife dead at Mordante's feet and in a fit of pure rage rushes towards Mordante with sword drawn.  As Kjartan holds him in place, Kalouran cleaves the sorcerer in two bloody halves before he is struck down by his own prophetic curse.  

The cave collapses in upon itself as the stone slab containing Gandalf's corpse falls from the air into the pit.  The whole chamber drops in temperature to the ice of the Void as all inside run for their lives and souls.  Blackness takes the Undying Lands.  The survivors, less than 300 out of the nearly 6,000 who traveled to Aman, awaken upon the pristine beaches below the Pelori Mountains.  The ominous cave containing the Pit of Avathar has disappeared as if it had never been.  The sky is bright and sunny and the birds sing in the morning breeze.

End of session.

Next session: Epilogue and wrap up