Elephant in the room: Moria

[farinal]

I remember since the first days of this forum and the old one Moria has always been a hot topic for years. Personally I love it. Every year or so I read the Moria chapters of the Fellowship during snowy days with a hot beverage. And I know it's not just me. A thread about it gets started (like this one) quite often too. And I remember I think it was in the old forums that our good old staff hinted at a Moria book but it's been years I think with no news.

So now we have made a lot of progress. We have lot of content on the East of the Mountains. Plus on the West side we have the Rivendell and the Ruins. Yet we still don't have a book for Moria. Now it feels so obviously attractive on the map right between these two regions we have explored...but with not much info.

My dream product would be a book on Moria & Eregion. Lot of history, some rules for lesser magical rings maybe, exploring old Elven mansions in Eregion...to find old elven artifacts, lore or ghosts. And then rules for navigating in the mines of Moria. The loot, the treasures. Perhaps a DoM style campaign that involves an effort for returning Moria to it's glory days with Balin & co.

What do you guys think? Will we ever get a Moria book? Or at least a Moria/Eregion book? Or do you think the recent surprise release of Erebor made the Moria book unlikely?

[Otaku-sempai]

Moria is tricky because it is mostly left alone until Balin's attempt in 2989 to recolonize it. And no one seems to have investigated why the colony went silent before the Fellowship of the Ring traveled through Moria in 3019. We only know of two persons who braved the dangers of Khazad-dûm in recent years: Gandalf the Grey searched there for the missing Thráin sometime before 2941; and Aragorn son of Arathorn once entered Moria for undisclosed reasons and was unwilling to talk about the experience with the rest of the Fellowship.

All of the above is probably not much of a problem for Loremasters who aren't concerned with observing Tolkien's canon. And a small, scouting mission might not even violate that canon, depending on the details.

[Corvo]

(...) And I remember I think it was in the old forums that our good old staff hinted at a Moria book but it's been years I think with no news.

No real news, but there had been hidden hints many times, even some month ago. Something is afoot.

(...) Perhaps a DoM style campaign that involves an effort for returning Moria to it's glory days with Balin & co.

What do you guys think? Will we ever get a Moria book? Or at least a Moria/Eregion book? Or do you think the recent surprise release of Erebor made the Moria book unlikely?

I think there is something in the working.
And many people here suspect it's Balin's campaign to reclaim Moria, something on the same scope of DoM campaign.

[Glorelendil]

Moria is tricky because it is mostly left alone until Balin's attempt in 2989 to recolonize it.

As far as we know...

[fjw70]

I don't think there are any elephants in Moria.

[zedturtle]

I don't think there are any elephants in Moria.

However, I do think elephants would fit into Moria. In one of the greater halls, you might be able to get several mûmakil into the same room, if you shoved hard enough.

[fjw70]

I don't think there are any elephants in Moria.

However, I do think elephants would fit into Moria. In one of the greater halls, you might be able to get several mûmakil into the same room, if you shoved hard enough.

I am not shoving those things.

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Moria is so massive that it would almost need a book the size of the core book to do it justice, and I am sure a lot of us would be willing to pay that much for it too.

Anyway, you could still adventure in there without messing with the Watcher or have knowledge of how to open that door. There is always the main entrance, plus I am sure there are many undocumented ways in and out. Also, it seemed to take a bit of noise to get the notice of the goblins and Balrog, so a careful Fellowship could go in and out fairly safely. I also have to say it seemed that Balin and company had to do more than the Fellowship did to draw attention, so it may even be possible that the Balrog is in some sort of hibernation until the dwarves got his attention. This means that before that year it might be possible to venture in and not have to deal with/run from the Balrog at all.

[spivo]

I personally would not want to play a campaign around Moria.
Maybe scouting the entrance, but to enter Moria would be to much of a dungeon crawl for my taste.

I liked the Moria part of LotR, both book and movie, but it was in large part for the shock effect of Gandalf "dying" in there.
Doesn't seem to me that Balin even managed to explore Moria before they were almost wiped out. The place is like Goblin Town, just with the added spice of a Balrog.

In LotRO I liked Moria, but that was after the Fellowship had been through.

[Otaku-sempai]

I personally would not want to play a campaign around Moria.
Maybe scouting the entrance, but to enter Moria would be to much of a dungeon crawl for my taste.

I liked the Moria part of LotR, both book and movie, but it was in large part for the shock effect of Gandalf "dying" in there.
Doesn't seem to me that Balin even managed to explore Moria before they were almost wiped out. The place is like Goblin Town, just with the added spice of a Balrog.

The first two or three years of Balin's colony went fairly well. The problem was that Moria was so vast that the goblins could easily conceal their own numbers until they were ready to strike back.

Gandalf and Aragorn both presumably used the East Gate of Moria (or the West Gate was open at the time that either of them passed into the place). However there were air vents and other such openings that a stealthy, good climber might use. They would likely be difficult to locate, but Gollum seemed to have managed. A scouting expedition in support of Balin's group would not break canon as long as Durin's Bane was not discovered nor disturbed, but attempts to determine the status of the colony after the Dwarves of Erebor lose contact with it could be problematic. Other quiet explorations prior to the coming of Balin might represent an event that makes up his mind to attempt his own expedition.