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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Return to Moria: The Pitch

This is the pitch I sent out to my group of regulars for our next mega-weekend game. Let's see who's foolish enough to sign up...

Return to Moria

Sauron is dead. Aragorn is king. Gandalf and his pals have sailed away. Ten years have passed since the One Ring was destroyed. The world has become a brighter place and the time of Men is at hand. Time for the valiant fighters, professional treasure seekers, greedy dwarfs and haughty elves to come forth.

Sauron's dark armies were scattered when the Ring was destroyed, but they didn't vanish. Instead they returned to the dark places beneath Middle Earth. Now, like a siren's song, the hidden wealth of Moria calls to the adventurous, the brave, the greedy and the foolhardy.

What it is:

Return to Moria will be an old school dungeon romp loosely (*very* loosely) based on Middle Earth. No complicated back story or deep preparation required (10' poles and torches suggested). I haven't made a final determination as to rules, but some potential candidates are:

  • 1st edition AD&D - classic standby
  • Swords & Wizardry - free retro-clone of original white box D&D
  • Labyrinth Lord - free retro-clone of original basic/expert D&D

Going back to basics for ease of character creation and less setup time. Also Dwarfs and Elves as classes! S&W and LL will be completely familiar to any D&D player.

Rough notes:

  • Everyone starts with 3 characters (1 2nd, 2 1st). There will be blood. Expect deaths.
  • Old school XP (kills and gold) with accelerated advancement.
  • Dungeon delving with the usual assortment of monsters, traps and tricks.
  • Did I mention the death part?

Characters will be based in the small town of Hollin that's sprung up west of the Misty Mountains in Eregion. There will be a tavern, a smithy, a general store, and a temple. There might be thieves and wealthy patrons funding expeditions into Moria too.

The mountains are dangerous, with various nasty creatures opening new entrances to / from Moria and waylaying travelers and explorers.

Your job: Get rich. Survive.

6 comments:

Patrick W. Rollens said...

Ah, such simple premises have launched many a campaign. I'd play!

Jack Badelaire said...

That actually sounds pretty rockin'. Hope it goes well!

Mark Thomas said...

The last couple times we've played we've been doing Fate based games, which has left a couple members cold. This is going back to our roots, since almost everyone in my group has been playing since the late 70s/early 80s (we're a bunch of old gamers). I'm excited about it :)

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

I have the old Iron Crown "Moria" supplement - lots of great stuff to be mined from there if you're running a Moria setting.

Mark Thomas said...

@Chgowiz: Mined from the Moria supplement eh? :)

Michael S/Chgowiz said...

+1XP for Line of the Day. ;)