Q&R general planning, ideas, interest checks and discussion

I'm down for Mech Commander if others are. Also the others, but I'm voting Mech Commander.
A decent start. Here's the intro movie to it, this was the greatest thing I'd ever seen when it first dropped. Tech's passed by but honestly, it holds up pretty decently even today aside from the low resolution. A superb intro movie that both gives a clear idea of the game and what you're doing and excites at the same time.
 
Hmm, I may not be able to get MechCommander to work. I can run it just fine but I can't seem to get screencaps or record video from it due to conflicts with its antique code, everything comes out all black. There's probably a way to make it work and I'm trying to hunt it down but haven't found anything yet.
 
Would you want to start with a set of four level 0 characters, or prefer a single higher level character?
I've been through enough forum games to know the odds of actually lasting enough to level up are slim, so I'll go with the pre-leveled character.
 
Sounds interesting.

I'll have a preview of the map ready this afternoon, still hammering out mechanics, trying to decide if a standard quest format or a council quest with players claiming individual leaders (Gothmog, the Nazgul, the Mouth of Sauron) would work better.
 


Here is a shot centered on South Ithilien, with Gondor and Mordor to the west and east respectively. Below will be a link to the full quest map, up in the Shire and Breeland you can see a 3-5 and a 5-5 Infantry unit (hex 1412 & 1812 west respectively). In Isengard you'll see the character token for Saruman the White, alongside a 15-4 Orc Infantry, and 3-6 Uruk-hai Infantry army (hex 2421 west). To the west you can see a small force of 2-6 Orc Warg Riders also under the sway of the white wizard (hex 2322 west), and north of them you can see the character token for Wulf the Chief of the Dunlendings and a 10-5 of Dunlending Infantry (hex 2420 west, and also under the sway of Saruman).

When it comes to forces of troops the first number is the combat strength, the second number is the amount of movement points they have available, Combat Strength - Movement Points (so the Breeland Infantry have a combat strength of 5, and 5 movement points), each point of Combat Strength is roughly equal to around 120 soldiers (or 250 to 350 Orcs). Its slightly variable depending on the power of the individuals that make up a unit of soldiers, less per point for forces like Trolls, Elves, or Ents, more per point for Orcs or Tribal Warriors.

For characters specifically, the first number represents their Moral/Leadership abilities (used in both individual and army combat) while the second is their movement points.


Questers will have to conduct the War of the Ring, capturing the settlements and strongholds of the Free Peoples to achieve a military victory, or find and capture the One Ring and return it to its master in Barad-Dur. The Men, Elves, and Dwarves of the West are unlikely to allow this to happen unopposed, and they are surely drawing plans against you. Beyond your enemies, you'll also need to deal with your "allies". The Orcs of Gundabad are barely controlled, while those of Moria outright ignore you as they serve another power. The Umbarians, Haradrim, and Easterlings are loyal to a point, but your strongest ally in the region, Saruman, could also become a powerful enemy...
 
Last edited:


Here is a shot centered on South Ithilien, with Gondor and Mordor to the west and east respectively. Below will be a link to the full quest map, up in the Shire and Breeland you can see a 3-5 and a 5-5 Infantry unit (hex 1412 & 1812 west respectively). In Isengard you'll see the character token for Saruman the White, alongside a 15-4 Orc Infantry, and 3-6 Uruk-hai Infantry army (hex 2421 west). To the west you can see a small force of 2-6 Orc Warg Riders also under the sway of the white wizard (hex 2322 west), and north of them you can see the character token for Wulf the Chief of the Dunlendings and a 10-5 of Dunlending Infantry (hex 2420 west, and also under the sway of Saruman).


Questers will have to conduct the War of the Ring, capturing the settlements and strongholds of the Free Peoples to achieve a military victory, or find and capture the One Ring and return it to its master in Barad-Dur. The Men, Elves, and Dwarves of the West are unlikely to allow this to happen unopposed, and they are surely drawing plans against you. Beyond your enemies, you'll also need to deal with your "allies". The Orcs of Gundabad are barely controlled, while those of Moria outright ignore you as they serve another power. The Umbarians, Haradrim, and Easterlings are loyal to a point, but your strongest ally in the region, Saruman, could also become a powerful enemy...



Honestly I think Rhûn would be more interesting to play over Mordor. You could either be a loyalist or bide your time and stab Sauron in the back. There are also some smaller factions like Dorwinion that could work too.
 
Honestly I think Rhûn would be more interesting to play over Mordor. You could either be a loyalist or bide your time and stab Sauron in the back. There are also some smaller factions like Dorwinion that could work too.

The Easterlings of Rhun will be involved, and will have their own political tracker that you'd need to manage. That said they would be easier to control and influence than say.... Isengard.

If I go with running this as a Council Quest, where the players can claim individual characters to control directly, you could absolutely take the Khan of Rhun and work to eventually betray Sauron (probably shouldn't accept any rings from him if he offers). I'm still working on unit and character counters and finishing up mechanics, really the last big decision I have is if this should be run as a standard quest with questers directing all the forces of the Shadow in the East, or if it should be a Council Quest where individual players would have a lot more control over smaller portions of the forces of Sauron.
 
The Easterlings of Rhun will be involved, and will have their own political tracker that you'd need to manage. That said they would be easier to control and influence than say.... Isengard.

If I go with running this as a Council Quest, where the players can claim individual characters to control directly, you could absolutely take the Khan of Rhun and work to eventually betray Sauron (probably shouldn't accept any rings from him if he offers). I'm still working on unit and character counters and finishing up mechanics, really the last big decision I have is if this should be run as a standard quest with questers directing all the forces of the Shadow in the East, or if it should be a Council Quest where individual players would have a lot more control over smaller portions of the forces of Sauron.

Would be funny to play as an easterling descendant of Ulfang and then betray Sauron.
 
Would be funny to play as an easterling descendant of Ulfang and then betray Sauron.

That would be a pretty distant descendant haha

Also, I do believe that all three of his sons died, but perhaps he had a bastard child that passed down the bloodline. For characters that have little or no lore in the War of the Ring during the third age (chief of the Dunlendings, the leaders of the Easterling and Haradrim and so on) custom backgrounds would be accepted.

I'm planning to have the Corsair-King of Umbar be a Black Numenorean descendant from the Kings Men that took power there following the Downfall of Numenor.
 
Last edited:
That would be a pretty distant descendant haha

Also, I do believe that all three of his sons died, but perhaps he had a bastard child that passed down the bloodline. For characters that have little or no lore in the War of the Ring during the third age (chief of the Dunlendings, the leaders of the Easterling and Haradrim and so on) custom backgrounds would be accepted.

I'm planning to have the Corsair-King of Umbar be a Black Numenorean descendant from the Kings Men that took power there following the Downfall of Numenor.

Full stop a Dunlending campaign would be awesome if you could start it right after the fall of Arnor. Mostly becauseyou could lead all the Dunlendings to build a kingdom on Eriador. Not that big of a stretch either since the men of Bree are all descendants of Dunlendings who migrated.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top