Mountains of Mirkwood

[Rich H]

Well, if you ever need to hire someone to write it, then...

Form an orderly line, Yusei!

[Hermes Serpent]

Except Gareth gets to jump the queue!

[Rich H]

Except Gareth gets to jump the queue!

That goes without saying!

[Mim]

Just a quick note about the original mountains question - note this passage:

The Emyn Duir (Dark Mountains) were a group of high hills in the north-east of the Forest, so called because dense fir-woods grew upon their slopes; but they were not yet of evil name. In later days when the shadow of Sauron spread through Greenwood the Great, and changed its name from Eryn Galen to Taur-nu-Fuin (translated Mirkwood), the Emyn Duir became a haunt of many of his most evil creatures, and were called Emyn-nu-Fuin, the Mountains of Mirkwood (Author’s note.).

"...many of his most evil creatures..." can mean all kinds of unpleasant denizens. Gareth makes an excellent summary, though an LM can always tweak this and add an exception or two.

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three The Third Age, I The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, 280–81

[Mim]

I second the request for a source book on the Mountains!

Moria would rock & we probably all agree, but you can also have all kinds of fun with Mount Gundabad, Cirith Forn en Andrath, & Carn Dûm, just to name a few.

[Glorelendil]

...I'm picturing something a lot like "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" (Call of Cthulhu).

…do you really?

'Beyond…' is my ideal model for a Moria book, if we'll ever do it, as much as the Great Pendragon Campaign was for The Darkening. Maybe not for its length, though!

Francesco

Because of this post I went and tracked down "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" and have been reading...er, skimming...it. (445 pages!) What about it makes it your "ideal" for Moria?

[Boneguard]

...I'm picturing something a lot like "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" (Call of Cthulhu).

…do you really?

'Beyond…' is my ideal model for a Moria book, if we'll ever do it, as much as the Great Pendragon Campaign was for The Darkening. Maybe not for its length, though!

Francesco

Because of this post I went and tracked down "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" and have been reading...er, skimming...it. (445 pages!) What about it makes it your "ideal" for Moria?

"Beyond..." does work well for Moria. The doomed expedition, the Secret better left Undiscovered, the abandoned city, the travelling through dark passage, the general alienness of those dark passage and the alienness of its inhabitant.

I can see the similitude.

[Glorelendil]

Because of this post I went and tracked down "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" and have been reading...er, skimming...it. (445 pages!) What about it makes it your "ideal" for Moria?

"Beyond..." does work well for Moria. The doomed expedition, the Secret better left Undiscovered, the abandoned city, the travelling through dark passage, the general alienness of those dark passage and the alienness of its inhabitant.

I can see the similitude.

I would love to see a Moria in which the players were genuinely...not just role-playing...scared and creeped out.

[Mim]

Absolutely, Francesco's on to something with the 'Beyond' concept.

Moria should be a terrifying experience, & one in which the heroes consistently wonder if they're ever getting out alive - or sane

[DavetheLost]

I remember Gandalf saying "What ever it was it nearly broke me" after fleeing the Chamber of Records. This, presumably was the Balrog, but it could also have been something else, maybe the "Beater of the Drums". What ever it was it was powerful enough to almost break one of the Istari with a counter spell through a stone door. The thought of meeting up with that spells TPK to me.

Moria should indeed be creepy. I get the sense from LotR that for long periods even the orcs did not dwell there in great numbers.