Moria

[DavetheLost]

Tolkien does not seem the sort of author who does things "just to advance the plot" or "just to show off a cool creation" so the balrog probably showed up for a reason.

Tolkien's REAL genius is his ability to tie things together and retro-fit old ideas into new meanings. He can take a bunch of unrelated material and give it a coherent, consistent narrative, as if they had always meant to be that way.

This is what I was getting at. He would revise and rewrite until in the "public" version there is a reason. Even if he himself did not always know the reason as he was writing and rewriting the story.

[timb]

This came up in my FB feed as a memory, made me smile...



Oh Moria, you are going to be so much fun!

[Wbweather]

Saw this and laughed.

[torus]

I thought ICE's 1st ed. Moria cover (which was actually a backdrop painting from the Bakshi animated movie I think - they used a similar approach for Northern Mirkwood) did a great job of capturing the awe and scale of the Dwarven city. It would be a mistake to present it solely as a place of horror and darkness; for dwarves and many other visitors it was formerly a place of magnificence and even beauty.

[Glorelendil]

C'mon, team. This is only the coolest thing to happen to TOR since it was originally published. And we're stalling out at 10 pages? This should be WAY more interesting than Deadly Archery.

[DavetheLost]

Do balrogs get Deadly Archery? If so, can they use it while flying?

[Glorelendil]

It's amazing the amount of discussion the wings (or not) of the Balrog suscite. In fact, I don't expect or even want the Balrog to appear at any moment during any adventure or even campaign in Moria. If I were to develop a RPG supplement about Moria, the Balorg would be designed as a Presence, as a sort of Eye of Sauron, that might make everything more dangerous for the heroes, but never showing up himself.

I agree with this except for the "never" part. I could imagine the Balrog as being a kind of restraining factor: you can adventure in Moria, but you have to keep a low profile because if you are too overt the Big Bad is going to show up. It would be a restraining factor on the whole thing becoming a murderhobo loothaul. But if you play your cards right you can accomplish your quest(s) and never see it.

Of course, you know a good proportion of players would intentionally go looking for him, I would imagine especially on the AiMe side.

[Otaku-sempai]

Do balrogs get Deadly Archery? If so, can they use it while flying?

Balrogs only get Deadly Archery if they are using missile weapons (yes, even if airborne); however, they definitely have Dual Wielding.

[Rich H]

C'mon, team. This is only the coolest thing to happen to TOR since it was originally published. And we're stalling out at 10 pages? This should be WAY more interesting than Deadly Archery.

Do not mention the Unnameable Thread!

Now we know its a boxed set what do we all think will be included in it?

Obviously, there's going to be lots of setting elements but do we think there are going to be some additions to the TOR system? A delving mechanic perhaps? This would explain Glorelendil going quiet on his; perhaps he's been working in secret on an official system, hmmmmmmmmmmm?

What about maps and the like? Do you think we'll get a gorgeous map of Moria? Perhaps a set of cards, that can interlock randomly, producing variations of hallways etc? Would this card set tie in with any delving rules?

How about the campaign? Will it be fleshed out like the adventures in TfW? More broadly oulined like DoM? Or just a set of loose ideas for experienced LMs to develop further?

[DavetheLost]

Balrogs only get Deadly Archery if they are using missile weapons (yes, even if airborne); however, they definitely have Dual Wielding.

Dual Wielding was a Moria tease right from the beginning and we missed it! Sword + Whip of many tails = Dual Wielding.

Oh, they are clever fiends at C7.