[Role Playing Game] Need LOTR alternate history ideas for RP game

[Connacht]

Howdy!

I'm not entirely sure this is an appropriate post for this site, but I have an idea for a role playing LOTR game that takes place anywhere between the second and fourth ages and I was hoping I could get some alternate history and general game ideas from y'all to fill in the choices and enhance the role play. I've been searching across the Internet for alternate history ideas as well. The game is going to be a mixture between the strategy and mechanics of Total War and Civ 5 Rhye's and Fall of Civilization, with the immersion and customization of D&D. It's based in large part on Europe at War.

Each player will control a faction in Middle Earth depending on the scenario chosen. These factions will each have unique paths they can follow that lead in several different directions. There will be certain, unavoidable events that occur as well as random ones throughout the timeline and events from events that advance the plot. How one reacts to these events will decide the fate of one's nation. I want to have a web of events players can get lost in. It's ambitious given my skill level, but I have lots of time on my hands.

Just for background info, here are some of the game's concepts I have so far:

Game Concepts

Stability

Central to the game. Determines whether a kingdom is thriving or collapsing. Affected by government; favor with kingdom's population; relations with other countries;

Politics

Politics will be a major element of this game. They'll be based in large part on Civ 5. Large nations can gain favor over city-states and have them become their vassals if favor reaches a certain threshold.

Super-Realism

I want as close to total immersion as I can get. That means weather, natural disasters, random events, civil unrest, trade, refugees, etc...

Battle Tactics

I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to implement it, but there will be a counter system involving: axemen, swordsmen, spearmen, cavalry, and archers, countering each other in that order. I'm also considering going Total War style and only having a few units on the map denoting armies. This would reduce lag a lot. The battles would be fought in designated areas, each suited to certain terrain and weather.

Player Choice

The only heroes a player will be able to control is the king/sovereign. This will allow much of the events of Middle Earth to occur, but also add some variability to the timeline events. Choices set before the king would be prompted from certain events. Each choice has a different outcome and a chance die associated with it. If a player is destroyed completely, he can take control of an NPC country, or try to stick it out as a government in exile.
Also, if I can get the AI to work well enough, as a new country arises (Rohan, for instance), a player can have the option to take control of it (thank you Rhye's and Fall).

AI

I hope to create a functioning AI. The AI would be capable of limited, simple actions, such as forming alliances or trading. The AI will also be able to fight adequately in battle, knowing all the counters. Of course, I have no idea how to do this; I saw a tutorial on it, but I'll probably need help regardless.

Modes (will update as I figure them out)

2nd Age - Starts right before Ar-Pharazon attacks Valinor
3rd Age - Begins at the beginning of the 3rd Age after Isildur claims the One Ring
Shadow of Angmar - Starts with the break up of Arnor
Hobbit - Set right before the events of the Hobbit.
War of the Ring - Set right before the events of the first movie.
4th Age (sounds boring compared to the others, but what the hell) - Takes place after the War of the Ring. Freestyle RP.

Civilizations

These are by no means set in stone, but there will be something like 9 that are predetermined, and 3 that can be chosen in game. The predetermined ones depend on the mode chosen.

1. Gondor/Numenor
2. Arnor/Rohan
3. Umbar and Harad
4. Mordor/Angmar/Dol Guldur
5. Mirkwood elves
6. Lindon/Lorien
7. Durin's Folk/Iron Hills/Blue Mountains

Ideas

I have a long list of ideas already, here are a few:

• chance to prevent sinking of Numenor
• (uncharacteristic) Elrond can (try to) kill Isildur to (try to) destroy the ring, setting off a war between men and elves
  - pretty much any character that takes the ring will be corrupted
• Khazad-Dum dwarves can choose to dig deeper and risk unearthing Durin's Bane or pursue other avenues of profit and experience an economic depression.
• Bilbo can decide to stay in the Shire and not give the ring to Frodo, allowing it to instead slowly corrupt him further
• Lindon elves can choose whom to give Narya to, or not to give it at all, causing important consequences

Pretty much anywhere an important decision is made, I want at least one other alternate history path. If you have any comments or anything to add, please don't hesitate to do so. I understand this can get very complicated and convoluted, and that's precisely what I intend.

 

[Ardenian]

Saruman's choice to become 'evil', if he were not corrupted the whole story would have turned out very differently.

The Blue Wizards coming from East battling against Sauron or for other events.

Possibility/ option for dwarves to decide over sieging Moria ( if they did not, the Durin family would be a very strong force in middle earth, as they were pretty much extinct after they lost the siege of Moria)

More action and options with the dragons. Sauron tried in the third age to convince them to join his site, only Eredar was in the way and as he did not succeed in conquering it his messengers were not able to efficiently get into contact with the northern dragons. Don't ask me why not, that's what Tolkien's notes say.

I am not sure, the destruction of the Two Lamps (?) in Valinor was before the second age ?

 

[Connacht]

Oh my God, I had half a freaking book typed then I accidentally pressed the back button on my mouse. Dammit. Thanks for responding. I had all but given up hope. I think my question was too ambiguous and info too scarce, so I'll fix that. Sorry it took me so long to notice your comment; I've been working on my map's terrain almost non-stop for 3 weeks. Please excuse my language, I'm kind of pedantic.

Anyway, here's the gist of what I typed:

1. Saruman:

   Saruman was probably predisposed towards corruption in the first place. Cirdan giving Gandalf Narya angered him greatly (he was the leader of the Istari). He was super jealous of Gandalf; he even tried imitating him. These things probably wouldn't have caused him to turn evil if he hadn't seen the technology and strength of Mordor. This captivated him and he gradually became more and more corrupt (especially after finding the palantir at Isengard), until he turned against the Light and attacked Rohan.
   
   

   Now time for some conjecture and event ideas:

   if Cirdan hadn't given the ring to Gandalf, but Saruman, he probably would have felt self-satisfied and taken it as a sign of his importance. Where this would have led, I don't know; it might have empowered him to do good, it may have made him more insecure and caused him to seek more power, or it may have had no effect. There's no sure thing, in my opinion.
   Now the procurement of Isengard (if Narya were Gandalf's) definitely sped up his corruption, so if the kings of Gondor and Rohan refused to give it to him or he wasn't able to beat out the Dunlendings that took it, it would have slowed his corruption; but if he had Narya and was given Isengard, it could have gone in any direction; same goes for if Cirdan hadn't given the ring to any of them.
   

   
   
   
   
2. Dwarven Siege of Moria:

   The war with the Dwarves and Goblins was due to the (somewhat justified) murder of Thror. It lasted 12 years, with the Goblins being sorely beaten outside of Moria and underground. However, the victory over the Goblins was not so overwhelming that Moria itself would have been easy to take. Now, I'm not exactly sure how Goblins get their food, but there are tons of them, so it must be at least in part from sources inside the mountain. It's also known that they have an underground lake. This makes a siege look like it would be very ineffective, therefore they would have to muscle their way into Moria. If they manage to drive off or kill all the Goblins, the Dwarves would then have to deal with the Balrog. I'm not sure, but I think only a dozen or so have been recorded as being killed, all by great heroes. That's not to say that they're the freaking huge, demonic terrors that would given even Chuck Norris a hard time. I believe Tolkien flip-flopped on the strength of Balrogs, so we just don't know for sure...
   
   

   Conjecture/Event Ideas:

   
   

   
   
   
   
3. The Blue Wizards

   
   
   

   Conjecture/Event Ideas:

   
   

   
   
   
   
4. Dragons

   
   
   
   

   Conjecture/Event Ideas:

   
   

   
   

 

[Ardenian]

Alright, my opinion to 1 and 2:

1. Yes, that is a good idea. I could imagine Saruman would have become even more power-corrupted, we have seen Galadriel tempted, a being of light, then Saruman, being weak and tempted all the time, would surely been corrupted and seeking for more power and aiming to make himself the ruler of the world.

2. Hm, yes indeed, though there are multiple ways to kill a Balrog. In the Silmarillion, there it was shown that an elf could kill Balrogs.
In the first book, there an elf appeared, shortly before they reached Rivendell, of whom it was hinted to have great power, but not to help Frodo with his mission.
It was Fingolfin, if I recall right, an elf who killed a/multiple Balrogs in the Second War and who was reincarnated to stop the Witchking in the war of Angmar. If I did not mess up it was the same elf, you could make him a major character being able to deal with the Balrog in Moria or you could make Gandalf help them, who is a friend of the dwarves.


New ideas:

5. Saying Galadriel, this could be a major event turn, what if she accepted the One Ring ? This would have turned the whole story differently

6. Faramir deciding to bring the One Ring to his father and not letting Frodo and his fellow go on.

7. The Battle of the Five Armies can be lost, leading to a crisis in the northern lands and corrupt it, making the Eredar a den of evil.

 

[Connacht]

My opinion to your opinion of my opinion on 1 and 2:

1. I don't really have an opinion on this part; I'm just adding this for flow reasons.

2. My point exactly; the killer(s) of the Balrog would either have to be a powerful hero, like Fingolfin, or a small army.

New ideas comments:

5. Interesting thought. I think she would have had to be somewhat corrupted before hand. I'm going to add a morality meter, so if she's close to the evil mark, she'll have the option to accept. I'm just going to go off what she said at the Mirror for how it would all turn out; Dark queen and what not. Very nice.

6. This is also good. Again, it would tie into the morality of Gondor. If the Gondorians are wicked, Faramir has a higher chance of doing this. If they're not, there's still a chance, but it's quite a bit smaller. How would this turn out? Not good for Gondor, I'm assuming. Denethor, thought intelligent, is too weak minded to know how to use the Ring. He'd only be able to use it for its invisibility and ability to grant longer life. The cost would be tremendous, though. First off, it would attract orcs or evil beings wherever he went. Secondly, he'd obsess over it; he'd end up like Gollum, or if he has it long enough, a Nazgul. All of this will lead to corruption and instability in Gondor. I'd imagine vassals of Gondor cutting ties and seeking new allies as Gondor descends into subservience to Sauron. Eventually, Sauron would reclaim the ring from Denethor, then shit would get real.

7. Another great idea. You're good. This would probably require increased controversy between the forces of Good. If they had actually attacked one another, they'd pretty much be screwed. This would have happened if Bilbo weren't present (I'm going to make another event where it's possible for Bilbo to either miss the Dwarves or decide against the journey entirely). Corruption would indeed follow in the wake of such a loss, depending on how severe it is. I can imagine Dol Guldur being reclaimed and expanded, some northmen changing sides to Evil, and a serious threat to Thranduil's kingdom.

Here are some new ideas I had:

• Dwarves can reclaim the Gray Mountains if the forces of Good have captured/destroyed Withered Heath and Angmar.
• Bilbo can refuse to give the ring to Frodo and abscond with it, thus delaying or even preventing the events of the Fellowship to take place. Bilbo would also become more like Gollum.
• Arnor can not split up. Had Eärendur left his kingdom more stable on his death, perhaps Arnor would have survived to be able withstand or destroy Angmar.
• If things get really bad in Middle Earth (Sauron defeats Gondor and captures Minas Tirith, for instance) maybe a relief force from Valinor could show up and join Lindon or something.
• Sauron, instead of Smeagol, could find the Ring of Power. I think Sauron was actively searching for artifacts in Middle Earth to secure more power. He got Isengard the same year Smeagol found the ring, I believe. So, if he forsakes Isengard altogether, Dunland of course would still have it, but he'd have a chance to find the Ring. If he found the One Ring at this point, it's uncertain what would have happened. If had been given Narya by Cirdan, he may have tried to use it for Good, though he'd probably be corrupted. If he hadn't received Narya, he'd almost certainly be corrupted.

 

[Ardenian]

New ideas:

1. Hm, you could also add the Blue Mountains, too, as another reclaim. There is a dragon claiming their previous halls, could be a quest, too.
2. Not really a comment to that. It is a bit vague what would happen then.
3. Interesting, yes.
4. Hm, this is a point one can discuss a lot about.
5. You mean Saruman, not Sauron ?

 

[Chaosy]

In theory, I like the concept. It sounds fairly difficult to execute though.