Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Our tale takes us to Middle-Earth, dear listeners. A land of beauty and wonder not seen in our realm of existence. Kingdoms of Men most noble exist in these lands, chivalrous Gondorians and the Rohirrim Horse Lords; mighty bastions of good. Within their halls of stone and under mountains old dwell the Dwarves, a proud people with whom the world watches enviously, for their mounds of wealth are plenty and theirs. In forests yonder with music, art and song have the age-old Elves made a home, a race of peace and tranquillity that will do all to defend what it has. Finally, the Hobbits most fair reside in their small dwelling; the Shire. They are a peaceful folk, not willing to get involved within the diplomacy and tidings of the other peoples of Arda.
All is not well upon Middle-Earth however, for after an eon of waiting, the Dark Lord Sauron; Servant of Morgoth, has returned. He brings with him fire and malice to conquer the lands of Men, Dwarf, Elf and Hobbit and will do all in his unquestionable power to seize the territories that he believes are rightfully his, to bring forth an order of excellence and efficiency, to succeed where his master could not. To his South reside the Haradrim, or Southrons in our Western-Tongue, tribal confederations aplenty united in their hatred for the Men of the West. To his North we find the powerful and militaristic Easterlings, Men of Rhun who have themselves brought Gondor onto her knees innumerable times. Saurons numerous legions are filled with Orcs, creatures that themselves are testimony to the defiance against Eru Ilúvatar and Sauron will unleash them upon Arda when he is ready.
Long ago, Sauron forged a mighty tool: The One Ring. He lost this weapon long ago - at the final battle of the War of the Last Alliance. Now he yearns for its return and will stop at nothing to get it to assist him in his quest for unification and conquest of Arda and funnily enough, it has ended up in the hands of a young Hobbit. Now, now is when the time is to strike for both parties, to end the stand off once and for all.
Now it is up to you, listener of this tale; what side do you fight for?
Some General Batshit; AKA "Rules"
My Word is Law, only Morgoth's may break it.
Be reasonable, friendly.
If you're making a claim to being able to do something, please, quote a LotR Source that is Canon, or argue why you believe that a source that is based on assumptions could work.
Respect eachother or I'll whack your face in with Grond.
Be realistic.
And above all: don't take it out of the frying pan and into the fire. That spoils my roast mutton.
Table of Strengths
The plywood one is clearly superior...
Anyway, generally, we need something to go on to provide bases of strengths for races; to see how powerful your Hobbit Battalions truly are:
Goblin: 1
Lesser Spiders: 1.25
Hobbit: 1.5
Orc: 1.75
Morannon Orc: 2
Lesser Men: 3
Uruk: 3.5
Higher Men: 3.75
Dwarves: 5
Great Spiders: 5.25
Half-Trolls: 6
Elves: 6.75
Trolls: 90
Olog-Hai: 110
Mumakil: 300
These are in no way set figures that will determine battle, but will merely serve as the backbone of realism. Or, y'know, the hilt of Grond when I smash your face in.
Ships and Siege
Ships: If you've got a coast, go crazy and build boats. 100 Strength.
Trebuchet: Like a catapult, but it doesn't shoot cats. 80 Strength.
Catapults: Y'know what irks me? Walls. 60 Strength.
Ballistae: If you ever feel like making a quick shish kebab... 50 Strength
Ram: More expensive than a goat, that's for sure. 30 Strength.
Ladders: Warning, keep away from snakes. 5 Strength.
Fortifications
This is going by a base number of 10,000 labourers (Essentially the forces you commit to built the structure), so, you fluctuate accordingly to how much population you have. So, if you have 20,000 labourers it reduces it by half and such.
It takes 10,000 Labourers:
5 IC pages to construct a Wooden Fortress, 10 for a Stone Fortress.
1 IC page to construct a Tower
2 IC pages to construct an Outpost.
Elves, Dwarves and Uruks receive a quality bonus, essentially their labourers are worth 1.2 of everyone else's.
Recruitment
Each faction starts with a base recruitment point pool of 2000 points (Represented as the statistics in the table above). Each IC page you detail what you've recruited, for example, as Goblins are worth 1 point, you may train 2000 Goblins every IC page.
If you wish to mount your soldiers, you double their strength. For example, you'd be able to train 1000 Morannon Orcs each page regularly. However, if you wished to mount them on Wargs you'd only be able to get 500.
The construction of Orc Pits, Barracks, etc, etc in a region (As defined by pure common sense but I can assist if necessary) will add 100 Strength to your recruitment pool. It takes 3 IC pages to build these buildings.
Race Specific Rules
Goblins and Trolls (And Mumakil, hurr durr) can't mount things.
Roster - Nation
Rhun: Yours Truly
Mordor: G-Tech.
Erebor: Vacant
Harad: Vacant
Spiders of Mirkwood: Shaggai.
Lindon: Archengnum
Isengard: Bearon
The Orcs of the Misty Mountains: Vacant
Kingdom of Gondor: Elerian
Kingdom of Rohan: Vacant
Variag Khanate: Vacant
Lorien: The Starlight.
The Petty Kingdom of Tharbad: Elerian.
Rivendell: -Rivendell-
Dale: Bearon
Roster - Characters
Mouth of Sauron: Yours Truly
Gonurl: Shaggai.
Gandalf: Greater Confederacy.
Cirdan: Archengnum.
Gloin, Dwalin, Thorin III, Gimli: Limborg
Katla: Elerian
Mahor: G-Tech
Witch-King of Angmar: Turkiet.
Jovotal. - Jordslag
The Map
Archive
IC
My Wise Council (Co-OPS)
G-Tech.
Valentir.
Quests
Ask and ye shall receive a quest that'll grant you anything from a weapon, to more units, etc. (Credit to Dan for this)
Current Quests
I am Khan, I am supreme. - Black Marshes
Caverns old; a people older - Mahor, G-Tech
Marshalling the Forces - Gondor, Elerian
A Communion of Evil - Katla, Elerian
Brigands and Baubles - Tharbad, Elerian
An old Fortress - Erebor, Limborg
Please, if you have any suggestions let me know - if others agree, I'll put a poll up.
I'm also looking for a map-maker.
