First Age RPG Lobby

[Tuinor]

So, I've just recently read straight through the Quenta Silmarillion (Not the whole book, mind all, but the History of the Silmarils concerning the First Age) and having it still fresh in my mind I felt a great desire to host a Role Play within that time period. Hence this thread.

Anyone is welcome, so if you have a desire to join a First Age RPG, or are simply curious about the realms of Beleriand and the stories of the First Age, I hope you will go ahead and post your ideas and questions. I'll try to get back to you with a response as soon as I can.

However, before anything is started I want to make sure I can commit to such a game. I'm on the internet much more frequently nowadays, and feel I can meet such a commitment, but to make sure I will be keeping up with this discussion thread first for the next week or so ere opening any RPG thread.

[Tuinor]

So, things are looking kinda bleak for this thread, but just in case there are those who are curious about role playing in the first age but wouldn't know where to start, here I will be posting a list of playable races: first good, then evil a little later (I'm still working on that list) for those who may not know about the peoples that existed in the first age.

If any of these groups interest anyone, easy info can be found at www.lotr.wikia.com



Playable Races



Moriquendi: The Dark Elves, or the Elves who never beheld the light of the Two Trees of Valinor. These include:

Lathrim- the woodland people of King Thingol, ruler of Doriath out of Menegroth;

Falathrim-the coastal people of Cirdan, who ruled the Havens of Elgarest and Brithombar;

Laiquendi-the Green Elves of wooded Ossiriand who hold no lord;

Mithrim-kingless wanderers scattered throughout the Realms of Beleriand;



Calaquendi: The Light Elves, or the Elves who entered Valinor and beheld the light of the two Trees. These include:

Vanyar- The Fair Elves, first to arrive in Valinor and smallest of the three clans of Calaquendi, ruled by Ingwe, High King of all Elves;

Noldor- The Deep Elves, second to arrive in Valinor of the three clans of Calaquendi, ruled in Valinor by Finarfin and in Beleriand by Fingolfin and the Sons of Feanor in the northern regions of Beleriand;

Teleri- The Sea Elves, who did not all arrive in Valinor, for their clan was immense and ruled after their sundering by King Olwe in Valinor and King Thingol as Sindarin in Beleriand;



Edain: The Elf Friends, the houses of Men who won renown in days of old as the allies of the Elves against Morgoth Bauglir. These include:

The House of Beor- Allies of Finrod Felagund and oldest of the three houses of the Edain, they dwell in the realm of Estolad East of Doriath;

The House of Halleth- Known as the Halladin, a reclusive folk that dwell in the forest of Brethil, within Doriath;

The House of Hador-Allies of Fingolfin, and youngest of the three houses of the Edain, they dwelt in the realm of Dor-Lommin in Hithlim;



Naugrim: The Dwarves of Middle-Earth, the Adopted Children of Illuvatar, created by Aule of the Valar, master masons and smiths of the Mountains. These include:

Longbeards- Durin's Folk, and the people responsible for the realms of Mount Gundabad, Khazad-Dum, and Erebor under the Lonely Mountain;

Firebeards and Broadbeams- The Dwarves of the Blue Mountains of Beleriand, responsible for Nogrod and Belegost;

Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks and Stonefoots- Clans that awoke originally in the far eastern parts of Middle-Earth and rarely ever set foot in the realms of Beleriand;

Petty Dwarves- Uncivilized outcasts and exiles from the original Seven Clans, they are found in very small groups scattered all throughout Beleriand and once hunted by Sindarin Elves who mistook them for Orcs;



Shepherds of Trees: The Ents of Middle-Earth, the Adopted Children of Illuvatar, created by Yavanna of the Valar, and the guardians of the ancient forests. These include:

Ents- The "Males" of their race who dwell in deep ancient forests and tend to the trees therein.

Entwives- The "Females" of their race who dwell in country sides and meadows tending to gardens of crop-yielding plants;



Maiar: The Ainur created to serve the Valar by Illuvatar before the creation of Arda, these rarely left the Valar unless bidden to by their leaders. These include:

Nature Spirits- Spirits of the elements who travel throughout Arda without form, though they may take form as need arises, and bear authority over their respective elements;

Istari- Wizards out of Aman, who walk in the form of aged Men and do the bidding of the Valar in Middle-Earth, wielding authority that is physically represented in their staffs;

Maiar- A rare few of the Maiar walk the world of Middle-Earth with waking forms that resemble the fairest of the Children of Illuvatar and have dealings with these;



Tame Beasts: There are some creatures of Arda who possess traits of the Children of Illuvatar and the Ainur, beasts seemingly inhabited by Spirits, or Feär, gifting them with knowledge and powers that the more common of their kind do not express. These include:

Great Hounds- The hounds of Orome, Huntsman of the Valar, whom he trained to help him in his hunting of the evil servants of Morgoth;

Great Eagles- The servants of Manwe in Middle-Earth, mighty eagles of enormous size and tenacious cunning, they dwell in the mountain eyries surrounding Morgoth's realm;

[Varnafindë]

What sort of events would you like to play?
If I were to join, I would be most interested in playing out interaction between canon and/or original characters during some interesting period or event - what about the split between Celebrimbor and his father in Nargothrond? Should start when Curufin and his brother and their people arrive at Nargothrond and include all the trouble they were involved in ...

I'm not interested in playing battles or much detailed fighting.

[Tuinor]

Are you talking about the mess that happened after Finrod Felagund left Nargothrond in the hands of Orodoreth to aid Beren in the quest for the Silmaril?

That sounds like it would be interesting. What would your ideas be for such an RPG?

I had in mind a quest story that would take a party across Beleriand (Possibly starting in Hithlum or Nargothrond even sounds like a good start) and possibly into Eriador, just after the Dagor Bragollac, but I had in mind a great deal of adventuring to be had, as well as several battles.

Were you thinking of a political intrigue story? I'd like to discuss it more if possible. Let me know what you were thinking about and I'll continue to work on the list of evil races.

[Earniel]

It is an unfortunate time to start a RPG in the holidays in my experience, a lot of people are away.

But there is a lot to choose from for a First Age game so I am interested to see what this game will be about. But I first have to sort out and see in what state the other games I'm in are, before I can even think of joining anything new. Like Varna I am not interested in fights and battles for fighting's sake, but I do enjoy quests with a few skirmishes.

I would in any case advise to keep the plot short, First Age games tend to be rare here: not that many of our role players are familiar with the material. So a long game is probably doomed from the start, unless it has some very dedicated players.

[feawen]

i would be interested in joining. its been a long time since i read the epic that is the Silmarillion. im probably due to reread it again. i was always interested in the interactings between the dark and light elves. having always played quite up beat chatacters id be interested in playing something a little darker.

[Tuinor]

Originally Posted by Earniel

It is an unfortunate time to start a RPG in the holidays in my experience, a lot of people are away.

I'm beginning to see that. I forget because I'm on permanent no-holiday.

Originally Posted by Earniel

I am not interested in fights and battles for fighting's sake, but I do enjoy quests with a few skirmishes.

I myself am more drawn to the idea of exploration and questing with a couple of battles mixed in... much like the way The Hobbit goes, as opposed to epic warfare as in LotR.

Originally Posted by Earniel

First Age games tend to be rare here: not that many of our role players are familiar with the material. So a long game is probably doomed from the start, unless it has some very dedicated players.

That's understandable, though I would like to have a long stay in the First Age at some point.

Originally Posted by feawen

having always played quite up beat characters id be interested in playing something a little darker.

I like quests with a tinge of darkness about them, so you'd be more than welcome if we can get any more players.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tuinor

Are you talking about the mess that happened after Finrod Felagund left Nargothrond in the hands of Orodoreth to aid Beren in the quest for the Silmaril?

That sounds like it would be interesting. What would your ideas be for such an RPG?

I had in mind a quest story that would take a party across Beleriand (Possibly starting in Hithlum or Nargothrond even sounds like a good start) and possibly into Eriador, just after the Dagor Bragollac, but I had in mind a great deal of adventuring to be had, as well as several battles.

Were you thinking of a political intrigue story? I'd like to discuss it more if possible. Let me know what you were thinking about and I'll continue to work on the list of evil races.

That's exactly the mess I'm talking about
I suppose it might be political intrigue - although I'm most interested in the effect Curufin and Celegorm have on the people of Nargothrond. First the brothers persuade the Nargothrond people not to support Finrod, so that he has only ten companions going with him when he goes with Beren. But later the brothers mess up things with Luthien so that the Nargothrond people turn against them - even those who came with them in the first place, including Curufin's own son.

I have an OC which I've used in fan fiction (and will use in other RPGs) which would fit in here - I was interested in developing him in his Nargothrond days anyway. He's a relative of Nerdanel, and thus of the sons of Fëanor as well.

(I have also played his granddaughter in a 3rd Age RPG on a different board )

I would have it follow the canon events, not play any "what if"s. We needn't use the canon characters (but we could), it could be all seen through the eyes of the ordinary people of Nargothrond.

There is a risk of this becoming mostly discussions and other dialogue, and not so much action, I guess.

[Tuinor]

A sudden thought! How would some enjoy a starter story to introduce and develop characters and test the first age waters, so to speak, and then later on move into a more in depth quest and story line?

I was thinking that for those who wish to play as Noldorim (and any other random Valiquendi who came to Middle-Earth with them) the crossing of the Helcaraxe would make a fun, brief tale (with plenty of room for creative license) that could lead into a more intricate tale later on.

The only problems would be the development of Human characters, who would not live long enough to join any of the Elves in later quests. However, ancestor characters could be played, and their heirlooms and whatnot could be interwoven into the stories of their descendants.

This is just a thought, but if anyone else likes the idea I think I could make it work.

[Earniel]

Hm, I like the idea. The Crossing of the Helcaraxë has often been an unused period with lots of potential.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tuinor

the crossing of the Helcaraxe would make a fun, brief tale (with plenty of room for creative license) that could lead into a more intricate tale later on.

Needn't even be all that brief - some interpretations (or perhaps even words by Tolkien) are that it took about thirty years

But I would then choose parts of it and not cover all those thirty years in detail

[Tessar]

I think I would be interested, if there's room. I haven't really written in so long, and I'd like to get back to it. I'm not sure how much free time I'm going to have, but actually after October I should have more free time than I've had in ages... because of the way my classes are set up.

[Nautipus]

Okay, T-bone, I'm here. I will be RPGing from my mobile phone, so I blame any grammatical errors on it.

I guess I'll take a loom at the beginning of this thread so I can get an idea of just what we're doin here, and where I could fit in.

It's nice to be back, by the way, even if it's just for a while.

[Nautipus]

Looked at the beginning of this thread and I like what it looks like. I too, would like to make a darker, grittier character than what I'm normally disposed to. I also like the ??? class of beings.
Either way, I will wait until I talk to you before I do anything.

[Tuinor]

I am thinking that soon I'll start the discussion for the crossing game (for the introducing of characters and discussion of plot, etc.), but I have a question first for either of the moderators and one for anyone in general.

1st question: I want to make a unique discussion thread for each game, but don't desire to clutter up the RPG Forum. Is there any way to do this, or is it something not to be concerned over in the first place?

2nd question: How on earth does one put diacriticals (those two dots above the vowels) and accent marks on vowels in the reply box?

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tuinor

1st question: I want to make a unique discussion thread for each game, but don't desire to clutter up the RPG Forum. Is there any way to do this, or is it something not to be concerned over in the first place?

Oh, this won't be much of a problem. Most games already have a discussion thread each and it generally makes for easier play, it is common and accepted practise. So you do not have to worry about cluttering in that respect.

2nd question: How on earth does one put diacriticals (those two dots above the vowels) and accent marks on vowels in the reply box?

That depends on your keyboard. Since my language uses the double dots and accents, I have them easily accessible on my keyboard. But I don't think you will have an identical keyboard. You could look into ALT-codes, but I think those depend on your keyboard as well.

[Rían]

I found an inelegant but effective way - I put those characters in my sig, and then before I post, I drag over them and do a copy, and paste them into the edit window, and use them for the first occurrence of the name. I then type the other occurrences without them, but at the end of the post, I replace all the incorrect ones with the correct one at the beginning.

[Tuinor]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

I found an inelegant but effective way - I put those characters in my sig, and then before I post, I drag over them and do a copy, and paste them into the edit window, and use them for the first occurrence of the name. I then type the other occurrences without them, but at the end of the post, I replace all the incorrect ones with the correct one at the beginning.

Quite cunning of you! You know, I'd seen your sig several times around the moot before, and never once did it dawn on me its function... it's actually pretty brilliant!