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Those are all great! Many thanks!

As I'm thinking more about this, I've begun to feel the desire to have a primary antagonist for the North - someone akin to how the Witch King was the physical idea of Sauron's evil in the South.

My first thought is to use one of the Nine, or do what Turbine did in Lord of the Rings Online and create a Lieutenant of the Witch King or one of the lesser wraiths we saw in Shadows of Angmar. Then I thought of using a Black Númenórean, since they were used to some degree of success in War in the North.

I suppose I could use both, but that could seem overbearing.

I think the idea of a Black Númenórean (ala the Mouth) is a great one.

Another thought would be that you have two other Wizards that could be doing things behind the scenes. I know conventional wisdom is that they went East, but perhaps one of them has come back, or now serves Sauron. Or is manipulating/using a powerful Easterling (a magic user or lieutenant) in the North. Just throwing out ideas...

Majestic wrote:I think the idea of a Black Númenórean (ala the Mouth) is a great one.

Another thought would be that you have two other Wizards that could be doing things behind the scenes. I know conventional wisdom is that they went East, but perhaps one of them has come back, or now serves Sauron. Or is manipulating/using a powerful Easterling (a magic user or lieutenant) in the North. Just throwing out ideas...

Back when the Decipher game was being made, I had started to develop a Fourth Age campaign that had the Blue Wizards as the main antagonists, but it never came to fruition.

I do like the idea of using them, though. It gives a nice parallel to the Gandalf/Saruman dynamic, but having Radagast oppose the Blue Wizards. I do wonder if they would take on names in the Easterling tongue, in order to hide their identity, not that any in the West knew much of anything about them, but Radagast may remember.

Curulon wrote:As I'm thinking more about this, I've begun to feel the desire to have a primary antagonist for the North - someone akin to how the Witch King was the physical idea of Sauron's evil in the South.

My first thought is to use one of the Nine, or do what Turbine did in Lord of the Rings Online and create a Lieutenant of the Witch King or one of the lesser wraiths we saw in Shadows of Angmar. Then I thought of using a Black Númenórean, since they were used to some degree of success in War in the North.

I suppose I could use both, but that could seem overbearing.

If you haven't somehow defeated or banished the Steward of Carn Dûm from the Rivendell sourcebook then he might fill this slot for you. Other candidates include: Burzash, the Orc-warlord; Radgul, the chieftain of the Orcs of Mount Gram; and Heddwyn, the Witch-servant of Angmar from Ruins of the North if he still lives. Then there is Gorgol, son of Bolg, going back to The Heart of the Wild.

Otaku-sempai wrote:

Curulon wrote:As I'm thinking more about this, I've begun to feel the desire to have a primary antagonist for the North - someone akin to how the Witch King was the physical idea of Sauron's evil in the South.

My first thought is to use one of the Nine, or do what Turbine did in Lord of the Rings Online and create a Lieutenant of the Witch King or one of the lesser wraiths we saw in Shadows of Angmar. Then I thought of using a Black Númenórean, since they were used to some degree of success in War in the North.

I suppose I could use both, but that could seem overbearing.

If you haven't somehow defeated or banished the Steward of Carn Dûm from the Rivendell sourcebook then he might fill this slot for you. Other candidates include: Burzash, the Orc-warlord; Radgul, the chieftain of the Orcs of Mount Gram; and Heddwyn, the Witch-servant of Angmar from Ruins of the North if he still lives. Then there is Gorgol, son of Bolg, going back to The Heart of the Wild.

They're all effectively fair game, since Ruins of the North will be run as part of this campaign. I'll have to reread and get a better idea of what they have for the Steward, since he seems like a good candidate and is what I was thinking of doing for a Black Númenórean.

'Herumor' in my Fourth Age campaign (for the first adventure A Kidnapping in Umbar see my Resources page, for my Fourth Age Chronology see Other Minds magazine #9) is actually the Mouth of Sauron, I liked this idea because in Tolkien's writings 'the new evil' is usually a servant of the 'old evil', but always takes on the same 'tune' (based on Melkor's theme in the original Music of the Ainur)

The key to developing an adversary is to 'think as the bad guy' - what traditions/ideas would the bad guy want to pretend to so he can get the support of existing bad guys? So one of the first things 'Herumor' does is to spread the word around all the various Orc tribes of Mordor that 'he is the new Dark Lord' - and he does this by showing how 'he has the will and word of the Eye', just as Sauron showed he had the 'OK from Morgoth'. Another is that Herumor has access to some 'bad-ass' evil relics! (which also gives him legitimacy)

Robin S.

You could also use the same 'big bads' as the Darkening of Mirkwood and have the three Nazgul as the senior leaders of the Dark Forces in the area. A bunch of lesser leaders answer to them. If you haven't got Darkening of Mirkwood or Heart of the Wild by the way, then buy them as they are fantastic!

The three Nazgul are named as:
- Lieutenant of Dol Guldur (the overall leader directly answerable to Sauron)
- Ghost of the Forest
- Messenger of Mordor

Finrod Felagund wrote:You could also use the same 'big bads' as the Darkening of Mirkwood and have the three Nazgul as the senior leaders of the Dark Forces in the area. A bunch of lesser leaders answer to them. If you haven't got Darkening of Mirkwood or Heart of the Wild by the way, then buy them as they are fantastic!

The three Nazgul are named as:
- Lieutenant of Dol Guldur (the overall leader directly answerable to Sauron)
- Ghost of the Forest
- Messenger of Mordor

I have both books and hadn't though to look in them, but these are more great ideas. So much to choose from!

Curulon wrote:

Finrod Felagund wrote:You could also use the same 'big bads' as the Darkening of Mirkwood and have the three Nazgul as the senior leaders of the Dark Forces in the area. A bunch of lesser leaders answer to them. If you haven't got Darkening of Mirkwood or Heart of the Wild by the way, then buy them as they are fantastic!

The three Nazgul are named as:
- Lieutenant of Dol Guldur (the overall leader directly answerable to Sauron)
- Ghost of the Forest
- Messenger of Mordor

I have both books and hadn't though to look in them, but these are more great ideas. So much to choose from!

Do go through them as they are exceptional. Both will save you huge amounts of work!