Moria Forgotten

[Tessar]

Wondering if there would be any interest in an RPG set forward in Middle Earth history. We would jump forward to a setting somewhat similar to Industrial Revolution (Think Legend of Korra) with pistols and some technology (basic telephone, simple motor cars, etc.)

I'd need to do some digging to figure out historically how far forward we would jump, but the idea being that things have leveled out somewhat... Hobbits/Dwarves are much more human-like now with very few throwbacks to their ancient heritage, elves are all gone, most of the history of the rings is considered the way we would think about The Odyssey or Iliad... too far fetched and fantastic to be entirely real.

A company wants to start mining in Moria, which has been largely forgotten from history (and most of that is considered myth). The remaining evil in Moria has dug deep in, so most thrill seekers who try to climb the mountain or who somehow enter the mountain are unhurt and never see a thing... anyone who does see something and lives to tell is dismissed as a lunatic. But a deeper exploration would unearth something much darker...

I think a lot of character types could be used here. We could even have historians and museum curator types coming along to explore for artifacts, paying to tag along with the company, we could have police/military types as hired security, miners as subject experts, administrative office types sent to keep an eye on things... I see lots of possibilities.

Any thoughts?

[Earniel]

I'd be game for that (not to mention kinda starved for RP-writing at the moment).

I am unfamiliar with Legend of Korra but now I am imagining a cross between Les Indes Noires by Jules Verne and Tolkien's LoTR and find the resulting idea quite cool and I want it.

So lots of possibilities, oh yeah. Could require quite a big bit of world-building too. Things like how many time has passed, does Gondor still exist of has it evolved into something like the Great Empire of Ondoria which is still fighting with the Metropole of Hobbiton over who gets the rights over rich ashfield next to that long dead volcano in the East and that Hobbiton claims on an interpretation of ancient myths? Although geologists are still in disagreement with the historians as to which volcano the old stories actually refer... Oh yeah, looots of possibilities.

[Tessar]

That's very much in the vein of what I'm thinking... the map has geologically remained the same, but all of the borders would have shifted. How much is the real question, and for what reasons. Like how we know about the USRR, people might still know about Gondor, The Shire, etc. but they would probably be part of something else.


I think ideally it would make sense that the mountains would still create a social/political border of a kind and split some "nations" apart on either side of it. I would think it might make sense to set this either directly after, or maybe right before the end of, a war... people are restless, soldiers are returning home and must find new work, industrialization which would have picked up during the war is maybe now struggling because the demand for production would drop after a war so maybe they're looking for new, cheap resources, or trying to specialize.



Maybe something like this: With the dwarves being close to humans now (i.e. "I've got dwarvish heritage" would now basically be the same thing as me saying "I've got Irish heritage... but I'm probably 99% French, German, and Spanish") the trick of crafting mithril might be long lost.

So maybe a company, struggling to remain open after the war (or worried about the coming end of the war), has developed a method of creating things with mithril. History/legend/etc. would probably suggest Moria as a source of mithril.

Our job would be to discover if there is a viable source of mithril, and a way of getting it safely back to a location where it could be worked. I think we might assume for the sake of storyline simplicity that airplanes aren't around in any fashion, so it would have to be transported by ground to a safe location.

Since the war is only recently over (or not quite over), the travel would probably not be 100% safe, and since it's in the mountains we could probably assume that would be either in, or close to, contested territory.



Thoughts?

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

I think ideally it would make sense that the mountains would still create a social/political border of a kind and split some "nations" apart on either side of it.

Sounds good. There's only one or two passes over the mountains in LoTR, and that's not a thing that easily changes even after a long time. That would certainly have an influence of geopolitics.

I would think it might make sense to set this either directly after, or maybe right before the end of, a war... people are restless, soldiers are returning home and must find new work, industrialization which would have picked up during the war is maybe now struggling because the demand for production would drop after a war so maybe they're looking for new, cheap resources, or trying to specialize.

Sounds good. Societies are always still in upheaval after wars, there would be a lot of conflict that can be used in the game. Especially if there's some Cold War vibe going on.

Maybe something like this: With the dwarves being close to humans now (i.e. "I've got dwarvish heritage" would now basically be the same thing as me saying "I've got Irish heritage... but I'm probably 99% French, German, and Spanish") the trick of crafting mithril might be long lost.

I would agree but I reckon, considering what Tolkien wrote, that by the time in this game, even Hobbits would have gone the way of the Dwarves and largely, if not totally, disappeared. Or perhaps not considered extinct by all, just never seen again, apart from a few, uncorroberated sightings, something like the tasmanian tiger nowadays.

So maybe a company, struggling to remain open after the war (or worried about the coming end of the war), has developed a method of creating things with mithril. History/legend/etc. would probably suggest Moria as a source of mithril.

Or perhaps even just discovered mithril ore still exists. It is probable that some mithril artefacts survived the ages as heir looms or as museum pieces but maybe everybody thought it was just a very sofisticated (and secret) fabrication process rather than an unknown metal. Given the time passed all other mitrhil mines would have long been exhausted. Moria would be the only place left to have it, and the old legends could serve as a guide.

I think we might assume for the sake of storyline simplicity that airplanes aren't around in any fashion, so it would have to be transported by ground to a safe location.

Early airplanes would not have worked well in the mountains either, so I would agree no eagles to fly us all the way to Mount Doom, no airplanes.

Since the war is only recently over (or not quite over), the travel would probably not be 100% safe, and since it's in the mountains we could probably assume that would be either in, or close to, contested territory.

Or generally lawless lands, like in Westerns.

[Tessar]

I like it! Sounds like we're thinking on the same page.

I'm liking the idea of a Cold War vibe, and what might make it more brutal is if throughout the war it just so happened that on both sides major generals defected during the war and caused such massive distrust and damage that at this point no one trusts anyone. Maybe the war is "over" but does anyone believe it? And that kind of thing would have major trickle down effects into communication systems. I'm imagining a lot of people would be distrustful of authority and of their own security... probably people developing a lot of communication codes and secret "languages," to feel safe.

Obviously distrust of strangers or outsiders would be very strong. I imagine any team put together would be pretty thoroughly drilled to insure no foul play, there would be factions and groups even within the team. Everyone would need to be somehow connected to the company (maybe a relation is a higher up in the company, or they've directly worked with/for the company before) but not necessarily to eachother.


For communication I'd imagine maybe some primative telephones, then primarily telegrams/morse code for other long distances. Weapons we could easily make a case for hand guns of a certain size and rifles, but I'd imagine for all that maybe in general use bows/slings/knives have probably not fallen out of use. Particularly during the war guns would have gone to the military, so I imagine anyone not living in a city might have an excuse to turn to bow and arrow to try to get food.


In general terms of the team I'd think they would need security personal, demolition expert(s), miners, crafts people (specifically informed about mythril), at least an administrative figure (probably my character for plot control purposes), and could definitely justify some extra persons (historian, treasure hunter for museum, news paper person looking for a story, etc.) so this would start out as a pretty good sized group... although obviously things will not go smoothly in the mines.

Definitely no youngsters on this trip, everyone would need to be at least mid-twenties I think. Might could have a security person younger than that, but I think even that would be a stretch. Everyone would need some level of expertise to justify their expense in the journey, even if it's just a newspaper reporter. They would probably need to be an award winning writer or something, and maybe directly connected to the company somehow for them to even know about this trip.

[Acalewia]

This sounds fun.

I'm also not familiar with Legend of Korra, but from the discussion I'm getting an Indiana Jones meets LotR meets Steampunk vibe going on here.

I agree with the age thing. Most expeditions would rather have people with experience on their team than young people with no experience who have just graduated college or something

[Tessar]

Very much, although I was trying to be careful not to specifically use the word steampunk... definitely not that exact genera, but I do imagine something similar.

[Acalewia]

Awesome. I'm interested

[Tessar]

Anyone having thoughts on the character(s) they'd like to play?

[Tessar]

One thing I'm really having fun playing with is cartography art... love maps, been trying to learn how to draw them. I might try throwing together a sketch of the new geography and we'll see if together we can come up with something that makes sense, and gives our game some geographic markers that help us determine a political map.

[Acalewia]

Still thinking it over.

What positions in the expedition are we needing?

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Anyone having thoughts on the character(s) they'd like to play?

Still thinking too. Since there is just the three of us (for now, at least), I'm thinking we might best take multiple characters with a few cannonfodder NPC's to pad out the team?

So what roles would be absolutely necessary? I mean, we can't all be historians, there would have to be at least a geologist or similar or we wouldn't even be able to identify mithril if we slipped on it.

So, I'm thinking:
- a administrative/representative guy from the firm to be in charge
- a geologist/miner figure
- a caving expert/local guide
- an historian with a familiarity for Dwarven ruins or lore
- one or two porters/workers who can be NPC'd.

The geologist could double as the caving expert/local guide in a pinch, I reckon.

Feel free to change, dismiss, or amend.

[Tessar]

We'll definitely start with a larger crew... I can't imagine a trip like this starting with any less than 15 people... maybe even 30. There will be a lot of "no namer" NPC types to fill out the group.

I will definitely be playing an administrator, a guard, and possibly a miner depending on what everyone else is looking at.

[Varnafindë]

Hmmm ... would I be able to join this kind of story, I wonder?
I guess I could try some minor character for a start, and see whether I'm able to write that sort of culture/technology.

My elf family would be no use here, and I like families - but if people might have Hobbit heritage as well, then I could build on some Hobbits I've played elsewhere (friends of Barufiniel) and establish a connection that my character doesn't really know about, other than old family legends.

She could be a historian and work as treasure hunter for a museum, I guess - if I may claim one of those positions when I don't really know what I'm doing ...

[Tessar]

That does sound interesting, and I love it.

We'll have to find a connection between your character and the company, if you're thinking someone involved with a museum or a historian. Possibly someone privately hired by the company based on reputation? Or maybe one of your family members (brother/sister/father/etc.) could be an upper level executive who's pushing a profit angle (sell anything found to museum), or maybe even the family member who's involved in the company could be a board member of the museum and thus involved doubly in the expedition's interests.

[Earniel]

I'm thinking of creating a local guide-sorta character: someone who knows the mountain terrain, knows where the drinkable streams are and the suitable camping spots, someone who used to take tourists and hunters up to the mountains and dwarf ruins before the war for legal and... well, sometimes slightly less legal things activities like smuggling, but good luck in getting her to admit the latter. That sort of thing. With income-loss due to the war, she'll be strapped for cash and ready to take on any job that pays well.

[Tessar]

I love it, that's super creative and I think this might be the one character we could justify having absolutely no connection to the company. I'd imagine guides for that area would be one in a million, and the company would pay her very handsomely for discretion and for the size of the party she would be leading.

[Earniel]

Excellent! I'll work on the full character profile then.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tessar

That does sound interesting, and I love it.

We'll have to find a connection between your character and the company, if you're thinking someone involved with a museum or a historian. Possibly someone privately hired by the company based on reputation? Or maybe one of your family members (brother/sister/father/etc.) could be an upper level executive who's pushing a profit angle (sell anything found to museum), or maybe even the family member who's involved in the company could be a board member of the museum and thus involved doubly in the expedition's interests.

It's her uncle - her father's younger brother. He's involved in the company, and he's also a board member of the museum. He's not necessarily part of the expedition, though, but he's the one who gets her into it.

Is it ok for her name to be Primula?
Both my previous Hobbits were called Primula - one was one of Samwise Gamgee's ancestors, and the other was one of his descendants.

I'd like this Primula to be a further descendant, too - it's part of the family legend that there is Hobbit blood in them (it's true, but they don't know that for sure).

They even have an ancient manuscript that is supposed to have come into the family as a gift from an Elf to a Hobbit. It's hardly legible now, but Primula, who is a librarian as well as a historian (I guess the museum may have a library section?), has an ambition of deciphering it all and making a new copy. (It's the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, HoME X, and Barufiniel copied it for them from an older copy. )

Primula knows a lot about old legends talking about what treasures there should be in the ancient dwellings of the Dwarves.

Her uncle is eager to get her in as part of the expedition - if any of the treasures are found, he wants to make sure that they end up at the museum. For the historical significance, of course, but also because good exhibits draw visitors and mean more money for the museum.

[Earniel]

Here's what I have for my character, I may take on a secondary later, but this will be my main character:

Name: Seghun Cardell
Age: she estimates it's about 29
Appearance: 5,6 feet tall; hazel eyes; short, curly brown hair. Not particularly muscled or strong, but she has great endurance.

History: Seghun has worked as a mountain guide from an early age, a trade she learned from her father. Before the war the two of them guided tourists, prospectors and hunters and many others into the mountains and to where they wanted to go, be it the best sightseeing spots, dwarven ruins, or good hunting grounds. They never judged their clients' motives or goals, but charged a higher danger fee for the ones they thought shifty. 'Cardell and his gal' were considered good guides in the way that they almost always brought their clients back alive.

Guide jobs became sparse in the war with many people drafted and little money available for sport or leisure. Her father died just before the end of the war and Seghun was determined to continue to work on the mountain on her own.

While unmarried, Seghun has an extended family through the few local towns and lodges. Her oldest sister owns a tavern, and since she can read an write, takes care of Seghun's paper work, while sending her the odd client. Seghun also occasionally takes her nephew Tarin along to teach him the trade so she will have someone to leave the business to.

Character and skills: Seghun is sociable and likes company but will go up the mountain alone when the fancy takes her. She's considered discrete (has to be, considering the sort of clients she sometimes takes) and trustworthy -- except for cardgames, no local will ever play with her again, even though they can't work out quite how she does it.

She carries an ancient one-shot rifle and a hunting knife. She can hunt and trap successfully enough to survive periods without provisions.

She cannot read or write, like a lot of people in the mountains, but she knows all the local signs and pictograms. She also knows all the stories the tourists like to hear, although it remains to be seen what real scholars think of them. (And although she will not admit it publicly, she's fairly sure her father made up the most entertaining of them.)

Originally Posted by Varnafindë

I'd like this Primula to be a further descendant, too - it's part of the family legend that there is Hobbit blood in them (it's true, but they don't know that for sure).

I like the way you try to connect everyone of your characters through many a RPG. Although I reckon this must have been the farthest branch yet!