Well, after eight years of running PBEMs I thought that I would take a break for a while, but I had the following idea last night for a Rolemaster PBEM set in Middle-earth. It will start early in May if there's sufficient interest.
*****
It is the spring of 2942 in the Third Age. The previous year saw three key events in the history of Middle-earth. The dragon Smaug was slain by Bard the Bowman, the orc-armies of Bolg were defeated at the Battle of Five Armies before the gates of Erebor, and the evil power known as the Necromancer was driven from his fortress at Dol Guldur atop Amon Lanc.
In this time of dramatic changes, you have been summoned to Rivendell to take part in a mission of the utmost importance. Even the wisest of wizards and Elves do not know where the Necromancer fled to after his defeat, and there are those who fear that he travelled to the east, past the Sea of Rh?n, possible to find allies among the evil Men that are rumored to live there.
Your mission has multiple goals. First, you must check for signs of the Necromancer. Any indication that he fled to the east is of vital importance, and if you find this, you are to return immediately with the news. Second, you are to look for possible allies in the east. There are rumors that war with the orcs of Mordor and their human allies may be coming, and any allies in this battle will be very useful. Finally, any information about what lies to the east will probably be useful in some way, so you need to keep a record of your travels, map the lands to the east, etc.
According to legend, the east was where both Elves and Men first awoke in the First Age, The Elves at Cuivi?nen, the Water of Awakening, and the Men at Hild?rien, the Land of Followers. Stories tell of an inland body of water far to the east, the Sea of Helcar and the Orocarni Mountains that lie just past that, but little is really known of this region today, even to the wise.
You are to travel to Esgaroth, where you will then travel by boat down the Celduin, the River Running, to the Sea of Rh?n. The will then cross the inland sea to its eastern shore. There the boats will leave you and return to Esgaroth. You will then continue east by whatever means you can find, returning in roughly two year's time (late 2944) to Rivendell to report what you have learned. You will be provided with trading goods and gold. The trading goods should allow you to convincingly disguise yourselves as merchants looking for new trading opportunities, and the gold should be enough to cover you expenses along the way.
*****
If you?re interested, join the Yahoo group that I've created for the game. You can do this by either sending an e-mail to East_of_Rhun-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or through the Yahoo groups web site at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/East_of_Rhun/.
Then create a first-level character using Jonathan Dale's Excel spreadsheet (available at http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item78) and send it to me at lmartin@ksarul.com. This spreadsheet can be tricky to use, so if don't want to use it yourself, I can certainly do the bookkeeping and create a character from a description. This spreadsheet uses the RMSS rules, but most of the books that I have are RMFRP. This shouldn't be a problem, though, for the two systems are very similar.
As far as the game goes, I plan on weekly turns, trying to post a turn on Sunday night and giving players a week to post a reply. Characters will go up a level every two months, so on the first day of every odd-numbered month, go ahead and level up your character and send me a copy of the updated spreadsheet.
The only restrictions on characters are that you should try to create one that fits into Middle-earth, and that any skills gained after leveling up should reflect the experiences of the character in the game.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions that you might have at lmartin@ksarul.com.
