Since there's already thread about cultures that might be featured prominently in "Errantries of the King", I wondered which places might play a larger role. I'm pretty sure we'll see Bree, The Shire, Buckland, the Old Wood and Rivendell. But what about the Blue Mountains? The ruins of Tharbad? Maybe even Angmar?
Among these less likely candidates, I think the most interesting one would be Tharbad - even though it is officially deserted by the time of The Hobbit/LOTR, one could imagine that it still has a few inhabitants who didn't show themselves to Boromir or other passers-by.

EDIT: And what about Lorien? Will they hold it back until "War of the Ring"?

All of the above sound pretty cool to me .

What about adding Moria to your list? The Barrow-downs? Angmar works great, but we can add Rhudaur/Trollshaws/Ettenmoors/Cold-fells, etc.

Finally, I understand what you're saying about Tharbad, though I suspect it's still a bit abandoned by the time of the War of the Ring. If C7 takes this route, what about using Fornost Erain as an alternative? You have the ruins of a dark & foreboding city perched over the wilderness, filled with all types of unpleasant creatures wishing to make your player-heroes' exploration as memorable as possible .

My vote would be Fornost (Erain) over Tharbad but wouldn't complain either way.

Barrow Downs for sure need to be a part of it, too me thinks.

You're right, I simply forgot about these places. I didn't even remember what kind of place Fornost was until I googled it - would work as well as great, ruined city. I guess I just prefer Tharbad because it was my first MERP-Module ... Anyway, I hope they include either Fornost or Tharbad. I would imagine both places as quiet, eerie, and maybe even a little "post-apocalyptic", with creatures of the dark and a few remaining denizens lurking in the ruins ...

Exactly. Good stuff .

Weathertop.

Forgot about that one, too. However, I'm not very excited for Weathertop - like Moria, it feels to me like a place where there's not much left to do.

Weathertop may be a stretch, other than integrating some sort of encounter into it - which can be fun. MERP did a scenario where a 'dungeon' lies beneath, but I personally don't go with that interpration.

Moria has tons to do, however, depending on whether they go before or after Balin or before or after The Fellowship of the Ring. Just getting past the Watcher in the Water, dealing with potential Orcs, Cave-trolls, or whatever else lurks within, & exploring & reclaiming lost Dwarven heritage opens up vast vistas. Conversely, they can cross Cirith Caradhras, & the mountain doesn't like trespassers .

I haven't even touched on the Balrog, which should be all but unbeatable to your player-heroes (they've not seen the light of the Undying Lands/Two Trees). The trick with canon is keeping all of this secret prior to the Fellowship. Afterward is anyone's guess...

LotRO cleverly inserted Weathertop in a quest:

About the time that the Fellowship was forming at Rivendell an army from Angmar was traversing through the Lone Lands where the Watchtower of Amon Sul once stood; they were in pursuit of Frodo, looking for the One Ring.

(since when you play you're not directly part of the Fellowship you interact with the story by being ancillary help to their cause).

The reason Weathertop was used was the quest had you scale it and peer out towards the horizon looking for the tell-tale signs of an advancing unit and report back to the Rangers when they showed up.

I think something like this could be borrowed for a TOR game; Carrock could similarly be used for this.

Weathertop is pretty impressive in that game I think. It should definitely be included in an supplement dedicated to Ered Luin - if for no other reason than it's place in the lore of the actual story.

Is the area of Middle-Earth set in stone for this product? Because with a name like that an argument can be made for several cultures and s all having to do with "kings" and the "knights errant" who perform duties for them.

King Elessar: Dunedain in Evendim or just generally in the wild. Or any of the Gondorian fiefs.
Witch-King: Angmar's orc, troll and human forces.
King Bard: Quests Bardish in nature (Dale, Esgaroth, etc)
Rohirrum: Perhaps "tainted" quests? Duties desired by Wormtongue or Saruman but accomplished by invoking Theoden's name? (None of which are seriously or directly impacted by whatever the characters decide to do.)
Southron / Easterling King: Migration closer to Evil. Gathering war materials.
Kingsfoil: Maybe we're supposed to plant entire fields of the stuff for the war effort (Good) or destory the crop (Evil).
Dead Marsh King: There has to be some kind of royalty down there. He might not be able to hold a candle to a living king, but an Undead King has the benefit of unlimited arms.

Yes I know some of this is Places and others Races. But as you can see we've got a wide range either way.

I'm pretty sure that the area is already set in stone - "Errantries of the King" refers to Aragorn and to no other kings. However, I don't remember where I read this ...

What about the sanctuaries in EOTK?

If Rivendell is out because it is a secret place, then maybe Bag End as Bilbo had " many strange guests", the Prancing Pony, maybe the Rangers camp in the Angle.

HN

Rohan is not completely out of the question. After all, Aragorn assumed a pseudonym and served in the host of King Thengel. Perhaps Edoras ,Dunharrow or the Hornburg.

I wouldn't rule Rivendell out, maybe it is just off-limits in the first set because they want to make it an important sanctuary in the second one ...

Rohan would seem strange, but only because for me, it belongs to the latter half of LOTR and therefor thematically in the last set. Still, they could include it, but that would leave very little for the third set.

youd have thought it had to lnclude rivendell

Gimli and Boromir seemed to get there easy enough

jrrtalking,

Both Gimli and Boromir could find out exactly where Rivendell was located from their respective fathers.

You're forgetting the Valar have a hand in inviting people to the Council of Elrond. Elrond states that all of the people attending the Council of Elrond arrived without invitation. They "just happened" to arrive around the same time for the same reason.