The End of An Age: Part 1 – The Gathering Storm

The setting

The campaign is set in Tolkien’s legendary world of Middle Earth. It is a world populated by a diverse and vividly imagined group of races including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Orcs and Trolls, each which its own rich and detailed society – cultural background, territories, cultural histories, arts, mysticism, political agendas and methods of warfare.

The land itself is spread out across a continent that includes huge mountain ranges, ancient forests, wastelands, cities and rolling grasslands.  Tolkien has created a unique and highly detailed geography whilst intentionally leaving many significantly unexplored regions.

Combining mythology with a historical feel, Middle Earth is an ideal setting and mythological backdrop for Fantasy Role Playing and specifically campaigns.  It leads to a gaming experience which, whilst clearly set in a magical fantasy world, remains gritty and ‘real’ and yet capable of the reaching a tone that is truly epic.  

Finally, the accessible and well document nature of middle earth will give the players the freedom and option to develop rich and multi-dimensional characters that live with a functional mythological world.

The Era

Where Middle earth is an ideal FRP setting, The Second Age (set some 3000 years before the Third Age saga of the Lord Of The Rings) is an ideal FRP era. Where the first age is concerned with the high creation myth, the routes of discord and evil in the world, The Second Age is a three millennia era characterised by colonisation and attempts by the free peoples to establishing new lands and nations on the continent of Middle Earth.  It is also the era in which Sauron first establishes himself as the enemy by openly declaring war on the free peoples of middle earth.  During this time and in possession of the one ring, Sauron, and his forces, were at the height of their power, far outstripping the threat they project in the third age, where Sauron ultimately only existing as a formlessly shadow and devoid of much of his power, inaccessible due to the loss of his ruling ring.  

The Campaign itself will focus on the end game of the Second Age.  It is era of the Second Age dominated by the last of the Numenoreans.  Numenor, formerly a great nation and the greatest of the human peoples in their prime, were utterly destroyed by the deceit and treachery of Sauron.  Survivors of this catastrophe escaped the destruction of their island homeland to arrive in middle earth on nine ships in the year 3320 of the Second Age.  After arriving on the hostile and unknown continent of middle earth, within 200 years they established two major kingdoms.  Known as the kingdoms in exile, they were Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south.  Both governed by their High Kind Elendil from his seat in Annuminas in Arnor. The Southern Kingdom was Jointly ruled for Elendil by his two sons, Isildur and Anarion. Throughout this age Sauron made war on all who would not submit to his will in a campaign to dominate middle earth completely.  The Second Age came to a close when the last Alliance of free peoples was mobilised by Elendil and went on to face Sauron and the might of his armies in final confrontation that would decide the fate of middle earth for the ensuing age.

 “It (The Middle Earth mythology) should be ‘high’, purged of the gross, and fit for the more adult mind of a land long steeped in poetry. I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched.  The cycles should be linked to the majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama.”  From a letter by JRR Tolkien 1951

The events played out at the end of the second age are one such great tale ‘only placed in the scheme, and sketched.’  That the last Numenoreans, a hunted people managed to land on Middle earth in nine ships to successfully found two Realms in Exile is known.  That Elendil, their King, went on to be instrumental in mobilising the free peoples of Middle Earth in a last alliance to confront Sauron is also known.  But of the men who fought for the security of that age, who carved out the kingdoms in exile and who eventually stood with Elendil in the last alliance under the Shadow of Barad Dur, their stories are not known.

The campaign will consist of two parts set against the backdrop of this tumultuous era.  Starting some 105 years after the first arrival of the Numenoreans on middle earth, Part One ‘The Gathering Storm’ is concerned with the establishment and defence of Gondor, Part 2: The Last Alliance is concerned with Elendil’s War and will see out the epic close of the second age and end with the battles of Dagorlad and the Siege of Barad Dur, assuming anyone’s still alive that is.