Peoples and Places

MMP Mithril in Middle-Earth The Court of Ardor Peoples and Places

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  • #361
    Gavin
    Participant

      When reading some of the ICE character write ups, you will come across terms that may seem unfamiliar. There is a reason for this. These terms were invented by Iron Crown Enterprises. Furthermore, these terms were created in the mid-80s before The History of Middle Earth books were published, before many of Professor Tolkien’s express intentions and plans for his legendarium became public knowledge.

      I’ve been searching google for a scan of the original high resolution map to show you all. I cannot find it. I have, however, found one of the revised maps.

      http://fanmodules.free.fr/Map%20Making/Gazeter%20version%202.jpg

      Now that map has a whole history behind it. It is the work of a Mister Thomas Morwinsky, who occassionally posts on the Mithril forums and may post here. It takes the Pete Fenlon map and expands it to fix contradictions in some of the written history and open up the setting for further expansion. It also sets out to integrate the Columbia Games HARN setting. It’s a beautiful piece of work, but I have my reservations about it. Like the MERP backstories for the Nazgul, it answered a question that didn’t need asking. Moreover, we later saw the publication of Tolkien’s Ambarquenta map, which rather firmly places the geography of Middle Earth in the ancient history of our world. Personally, I prefer keeping the exploration of Middle Earth to the original Christopher Tolkien map. (Though if someone were to create a map of Middle Earth that reflected the geology and geography of earth 14,000 years ago and still worked as a map of Middle Earth in the Fourth Age, I’d be all over that!)

      Anyway, if you want to know where the realm of Urd is, where Waw is, and possibly even where the Court of Ardor is (someplace near Tulwang, I think), go for it.

      I’ll say this much, however, I really, really wanted to loot back all the “makey uppey” Middle Earth modules as places for the Cyradon campaign. They may not be at all reflective of Tolkien, but they have a certain gonzo 80s fantasy coolness of their own.

      Gavin

      #4757
      Gavin
      Participant

        Also:

        Who are the Umlir/Umli?

        They are a MERP-ism.

        If the Dunedain are the result of a mingling of the bloodlines of Elf, Maia and Man, and the Uruk Hai are a mingling of the bloodlines of Man, Troll and Orc, then the Umli are a northern people who are half dwarf, half man.

        Uhm,
        yeah.

        Anyway, I’ve rewritten them at some point as a minor Easterling tribe from the northern steppes who have big thick beards and big axes, and are as tough as old nails.

        #4841
        Gavin
        Participant

          Other Minds Magazine has a more scholarly essay on these MERP/Mithril characters:

          http://othermindsmagazine.com/other-minds-magazine-archives/2009-03-19%20OM5.pdf

          #5039
          Gavin
          Participant

            The plan for the MERP Sample PC characters.

            The current set are the sample PCs from Away Shall Fade (the same project as those Prancing Pony regulars are for). There will be 13 in all. Most will be adaptations of extant ICE sample heroes, such as the six heroes from the old Lord of the Rings adventure campaign campaign started with “Dawn Comes Early.” Those characters are Tolman and Lily Greenthumb (Hobbit Scouts) Gallind (Sindarin Elf Bard), Tatharina (Beorning Animist/Healer), Rilwen (Half-Elf Ranger) and Glain (Dwarven Warrior). Along with that, I’ll be writing up Lauriel (a minor NPC from one of the LOR modules), Leowyn (a sample character from the MERP 2nd Ed Corebook), and Mirwen (another sample character from the MERP corebook). Other characters from the MERP 2nd Ed corebook will get a brief mention.

            Eventually I hope to have pictures of each miniature, fully painted, to go with each write up.

            Finally, I’ll probably write up exclusive MMP side quests for the actual campaign itself. The actual campaign will be submitted to either the Guild Companion or Other Minds (whoever will have me ;))

            I’ve been poking and prodding at this idea for a long time now, but I’ve gotten one of the bigger hurdles out of the way (the character writeups and mass combat rules). Next I need to figure out the Campaign Cartographer map making tool.

            Gavin

            #5047
            Gavin
            Participant

              And that’s the first six done.

              Run up the next seven characters in the next few days.

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            MMP Mithril in Middle-Earth The Court of Ardor Peoples and Places