I was playing a Call of Cthulhu campaign and among the group of friends, the DM in that is the only other person who has read Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. The other players have only watched The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies (as well as now the Rings of Power show). But I proposed to the group after our Cthulhu game I would DM a game of Lord of the Rings RPG, published by Free League. (Besides The One Ring they have some other cool TTRPGs that look fun to try too!). I liked their Lord of the Rings system, primarily because it seems to capture the themes of Tolkien better than DnD's heavily combat/high fantasy system. Free League's game puts a lot of detail into heroes going on epic journeys, and overcoming their own flaws to strengthen the bonds of Fellowship in resisting the Shadow.
We had Session 0 last week and are going to try to play every 2 weeks. Here's how it went...
I did make clear that while this is set in the world of Middle-earth and I'm going to use some of it's events that take place in the timeline, I'm not worried or stressed about sticking strictly with the lore. Oh, they'll be consequences if they decide to burn down Bree, but I wanted them to know I wouldn't tell them "they can't do that, because Frodo needs to meet Aragorn here 100 years later!" The old plaza Boromir88 would never have done this...I was way too hung up on the "Lore" and cannon. But this a game played by friends, we're telling a story, in a world and setting that I love and I'm glad they want to be a part of it. They're the heroes of this story. Once I let them know that, they really loosened up to the idea of playing a Lord of the Rings Campaign and not DnD.
Only 1 of the 4 players has read the books, and he was pretty much always the DM in our group that played. So it's nice to give him that break, as well as to have someone to bounce ideas off of in terms of the story and just DMing a game in general. The 3 other players, did like the movies and Amazon show, but they're big fans of One Piece and it seems like they're trying to secretly turn it into a One Piece story set in Middle-earth.
I know nothing about One Piece, but when I was getting their character backgrounds, there were many mentions of characters from One Piece. Even one them writing in his backstory about a pirate "Yellowbeard." To his delight, I told him there are pirates in Lord of the Rings, they're called Corsairs, but they're essentially pirates. "I just wanted Yellowbeard to be written into the lore." Time: 2911 of the Third Age. 30 years before Thorin and co. set out on their quest for Erebor. (The 1 player who knows the books...immediately said "Oh you're doing something during the Fell Winter"...Oh Sackville-bagginses, but I did specifically want to use Tharbad as a location. mwahaha, so I don't think he's figured out everything yet).
The Player Characters:
Argorad Durahiel III (Ranger of the North, Class: Captain): Grew up on the northern shores of Lake Evendim. Often went hunting with his father in the Hills of Evendim.
New squire/steward of Argonui of the Dunedain.
House of Durahiel, long lost noble house of Arnor/Numenor.
Certain circles say the Durahiel name is cursed, as it is rumored among some that the Witch King himself was of this house some 1000+ years ago.
Argorad is determined to see the return of the Kingdom of Arnor and once again bring honor to his house.
Leoran (Elf of Lothlorien, Class: Warden): His father Rumil was a merchant, often trading with the Dwarves of Durin's folk. One day his father came back with an artifact he was going to take to his dwarf friend, because he believed it to be magical, but didn't understand the runes engraved on it. (I'm planning on this to be some type of artifact crafted by Narvi...maybe a necklace? - Then I can do a Narvi-Celebrimbor lore dump
). Leoran does not know what happened to his father or the artifact he had, for that was the last time he saw them.Zero (Man of Dale, Class: Champion): If anyone watches One Piece, apparently this is basically Zoro? Zero wants to be the best swordsman in all of Middle-earth, when he makes a commitment to something, he does not stop or he dies in the attempt. His parents from Dale for unknown reasons basically abandoned him and in the Mirkwood Elves trade with the Lake-men, an elf found him in an empty wine barrel. He's been raised by the Mirkwood elves his entire life, until discovering at age 16 he wasn't an elf, because his human parents abandoned him. He ran away from the Mirkwood Elves after this discovery, and has been a bounty hunter since. (Unbeknownst to the player, this kind of has Turin vibes)
Ramsy Debartolo Pembrook (Hobbit, Class: Scholar): Think Samwise Gamgee, but with the demeanor of Gordon Ramsey
. Ramsy wants to be the best chef in Middle-earth, because properly cooked food is the best comfort food. It's when food is done wrong that Ramsy can be unnecessarily rude and spiteful. He takes a personal offense to poorly cooked meals and is determined to travel Middle-earth, visiting the various kitchens and taverns to sets the chefs on the right path to success. (I already have some Kitchen Nightmare adventures planned for this character 
)(You should be able to clearly tell which is the player who has read the Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion before
)Session 1 will be next week. I can't wait. :D
