@vietmyke I'd say a small group should do it, 5-7 at the most, as for plot and so forth...well...I'm working on that; please feel free to add any suggestions of your own for the time being.

@POOHEAD189 What is it with people and 'the North'? I've never understood why that is so popular with folks, when there are entire areas never even covered.

I'm not adverse to the idea, just curious.

As far as the Second Age goes, it's a good choice.

<Snipped quote by Eru Iluvatar>

@eloraczyr@POOHEAD189@Andromedai

I'll tell you what - I have no actual set Age for this RP, as of yet (this is just an interest thread), but I would be interested to know if anyone would be interested in a First or Fourth Age RP sort of...looking back.

The First is clearly set in the 'glory days' of Arda, while the Fourth does allow more exploration post-WoTR, and even a little bit of invention on the players/characters parts.

I will say now that the general idea was to head into 'parts unknown' - the East or Far Harad most likely - and aid in the recovery of one of the two otherwise 'lost' Silmarils.

A Fourth Age setting would aid in this, I believe, as vast upheavals caused by Sauron and the toppling of Barad-Dur as well as the just the general affect of the war on folks would probably cause a more 'dark age' feel to the tale.

Then again, that is allegedly why Tolkien didn't write a Fourth Age book in the first place.

I am all for Fourth Age, too. I've experimented in it before, writing of the unification of Gondor and Rohan under Elessar Telcontar and the aftermath in Mordor. Coincidentally, I love exploring the Eastern lands - Khand is one of my favourite of Tolkien's creations despite the limited information available, and I'm pretty sure I know everything there is to know about the Variags, the Kekhavrathi, etc.

@JbcoolWell, because it's not explored in the books, so there are a myriad of different ways to go about that, whereas the entire south was Rohan and Gondor and everything we're already aquainted with. Sure there are a few key things listed that happened with Sauron's forces up north such as Dain dying while defending his kingdom, but it's not very specific. The only other place I'd say we could be would be very far south with the Corsairs of Umbar and the southern coast of Gondor. Though we also know how that plays out in the end.

2nd age seems fine though, to me. Or early third age, such as when the Isatari showed up.

Also, if the 4th age is done then I'm not going to go, but it seems like a very bland way to do it. No more Elves, the Dwarves are slowly going away and there is a lack of Orcs and enemies.

@POOHEAD189@Andromedai@eloraczyr@vietmyke@Eru Iluvatar

Right, so, here's what I got as a tentative idea;

It is the middle of the War of the Ring, the war is ebbing back and forth like the ocean tides, this is when our group (together or not) is approached by an elderly gentleman at least claiming to be a wizard - probably sounding familiar so far... - what he is proposing is a journey, although more of a quest, into the Eastern expanses of Middle-Earth (we may go through the North to avoid the worst of the conflict, or take boat from Harad/Umbar, I'm not entirely sure yet).

What he wants from the East, or what your required to do there, he will not openly say although he offers advice, and payment for a job well done, but what you can assume is that it is a person or persons he is after rather than an item.

He is also rather vague on the identity of what he refers to as 'the knowledge', and keeps pretty silent on the entire subject.

The beginning of the quest in laid out before you, but where it will end cannot be seen. Bravery guts and determination will be needed to succeed, do you have them?

Fini.

So, questions, thoughts and so on?

@JbcoolI like it. So it would be into the fabled land of Rhun, then? A fine idea.

@POOHEAD189 Why thank you, just gotta see what @Andromedai@eloraczyr@vietmyke@Eru Iluvatar all think first, if anything.

I'm fine just coming along for the ride. Whatever everyone else wants.

I'm pretty good with the decision :)

I've always been a big Tolkien fan, so colour me intrigued! There's still open spots left, right?

@Vor For certain! Haven't even got the OOC up yet. You are more than welcome.

Awesome!

Now pardon me for stating my interest and..eh crapping on the idea in such a short span of time, but why does it have to be set during the War of the Ring? Is it relevant to the plot or something? I feel like this particular time-period has been done to death and it's also quite restricting. It's basically the endgame - the lines have been drawn, we know the sides, we know their motivations, we know who the heroes & villains are....ultimately everything is centered around what happens in Gondor and Mordor. We don't have a lot of information about the East, but presumably it's firmly under Sauron's dominion at this time, isn't that kinda, I dunno, boring? Outsiders like our characters will be noticed immediately and will there even be any meaningful interaction apart from fighting? What's more, what motivation will our characters have on going on this journey, when Sauron's forces are actively trying to destroy their homelands?

Don't get me wrong, I like the premise of the plot, I just think that the period should be tweaked a bit. A better fit in my opinion would be during the Watchful Peace (2063 TA - 2460 TA) or some time after it. Why? Well for one, Tolkien hasn't written much about it, so we have more room for creative freedom. Additionally, the Easterlings haven't all united under Sauron, so there will be more variety (as opposed to "all these evil men worshipping the Dark Lord"); in fact, if I remember it right, Sauron himself was active in the East during this time, so that can be a theme as well.

Just my 2 cents.

@Vor Hhmmm, some good points there, I like it; let me mull on this for a bit and I'll get to thinking. Thank you for your 2 cents though, I'll try not to waste them.

@POOHEAD189@Andromedai@eloraczyr@vietmyke@Eru Iluvatar

Right, so, here's what I got as a tentative idea;

It is the middle of the War of the Ring, the war is ebbing back and forth like the ocean tides, this is when our group (together or not) is approached by an elderly gentleman at least claiming to be a wizard - probably sounding familiar so far... - what he is proposing is a journey, although more of a quest, into the Eastern expanses of Middle-Earth (we may go through the North to avoid the worst of the conflict, or take boat from Harad/Umbar, I'm not entirely sure yet).

What he wants from the East, or what your required to do there, he will not openly say although he offers advice, and payment for a job well done, but what you can assume is that it is a person or persons he is after rather than an item.

He is also rather vague on the identity of what he refers to as 'the knowledge', and keeps pretty silent on the entire subject.

The beginning of the quest in laid out before you, but where it will end cannot be seen. Bravery guts and determination will be needed to succeed, do you have them?

Fini.

So, questions, thoughts and so on?

Sounds good to me.

So is this thing still happening?

IT BETTER

@Vor@POOHEAD189@Andromedai@eloraczyr@Eru Iluvatar@vietmyke

Sorry-sorry!

Yes, this is still going ahead, and I've actually quite grown to like Vor's idea; so we'll be setting this during the Watchful Peace - I was going to put it near but not quite at the end, if that's cool with everyone? If that is cool with everyone, I'll start on an OOC thread.

I'm a big Tolkien fan and would love to be apart of this.

@AsgardianLord19 So it is written, so shall it be done. :)

Welcome aboard.

@JbcoolI like it. Let's do it

Hi!

I've been watching this for awhile, I was a reserve player (in case there weren't enough players, I would join in) in one of the thread starter's topics but I found this!

I've been interested in Tolkien lore (the background and landscape), but not it's history and events and I think that would be very fitting for playing a character that has not personally experienced the events of the destruction of a certain finger ornament. Thus, I express my interest in playing a character here. Likely of The Race of Man (or perhaps even elven, IF there are too many Humans around. Then maybe beorn-like if too many elves too. Then maybe ...*goes on for a good half an hour or so*).

I'll be inclined to play my character as ignorant of the details of what happened during the times of the movies and books, except for having heard word of recounts and stories that were told throughout the land - even then my character might still have not heard them due to a rather isolated lifestyle, apart from the occiasional trip to the markets and stores. So if my character starts asking things like:

"I know where we should bring this! ....Where was that place they got rid of the ....that ....I forgot, necklace or was it ring -thing again? The one which Saurus wanted ...you know where I mean. You know. You know? You ...that ........neverind."

Bear with me.