The road goes ever on...Palantir Quest

 The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter I: A Long-Expected Party

The Lord of the Rings is a book of endings: the end of the time of Elves in Middle-earth; the end of the reign of the Stewards in Gondor; the end of King Theoden's line, and his life; the end of the tale of the Ringbearers; and, of course, the end of the great Shadow that had darkened the world for millennia, which also ended the third, and very troubled, age of Middle-earth.

Yet, it is also a book of beginnings. The Fourth Age dawns as the book ends. The age of Men begins. Mirkwood is reborn as Greenwood. Elves and Dwarves move into new homes. Throughout Middle-earth a Renaissance starts, with the Peoples of Middle-earth coming together to create a new society. Rebuilding of much that was destroyed is begun. That which was lost is recovered. There is much remembered sorrow, but much hope for the future.

I never felt the need for Tolkien to write more about the Fourth Age. The story, as written, is deeply satisfying, even if also deeply melancholy. His attempt to set a tale in this new Age was soon abandoned by him, and it's understandable why; after the towering achievement of The Lord of the Rings, everything else would have been anticlimactic, and risk undercutting the power of that epic.

However, the needs of a reader and the desires of a roleplaying gamer are two different things. The Fourth Age of Middle-earth is ripe with opportunity for glorious deeds. Many - though not all - roleplaying games are, at their hearts, very optimistic. Adventurers go out to tame the wilds, recover the lost, and rebuild the ruined. For such games, the Fourth Age is a nigh-perfect setting. 

Sauron is gone, but his legacy still lingers. Middle-earth is still a dangerous place. Ancient secrets stand ready to be brought to light. For the first time, Iron Crown Enterprises decided to explore this new Age with a tour-de-force adventure.

I said in the last post that I had finished with the setting sourcebooks for the Middle-earth Roleplaying game. One last book remains that fits within the parameters of this blog. This is not a book about a place, but rather a grand epic journey of exploration and adventure across the entire continent detailed in all those books I've discussed before. This is a search for some of the great treasures of Middle-earth, long thought lost. This is:

Not the most dynamic cover, but one that helps capture an evocative mood and personage of a long-forgotten age.

After years of publishing solid, meticulously-detailed books and adventures for their Middle-earth Roleplaying game, Iron Crown Enterprises began to slow the pace of their production. At least, it seemed that way to me. By the mid-1990s, I rarely saw new MERP books. Occasionally I did see revised and expanded versions of earlier material, ranging from Arnor, which covered the same region as Rangers of the North: the Kingdom of Arthedain, Lost Realm of Cardolan, Bree and the Barrow-downs, and Rhudaur (in the form of Hillmen of the Trollshaws), to Moria, to Mirkwood. There was even, finally, a book dedicated to the Shire itself. Unfortunately for me, though, I decided to pass up these bulked-up books, figuring at the time that I already had the originals, so why would I need these? Given the crazy prices I've seen some of them going for now, and the revised Moria book I did, luckily, find for cheap, I now regret not picking them up when I saw them back then. Regardless, it seemed to me that MERP was slowly fading away as a game; in fact, when I found Palantir Quest for sale as a brand-new product, I was surprised. I'd thought the game had finally given up the ghost before then.

Palantir Quest further surprised me for what it was. Though the bulk of the material ICE published for MERP was set in 1640 of the Third Age of Middle-earth, Palantir Quest finally broke new ground and set the adventure in the Fourth Age. While many of the books and adventures that existed by then had brief notes for the setting at other times, Palantir Quest was the first to be explicitly set after Sauron's fall and the end of the War of the Ring. This was something I'd waited a long time for.

One of the problems with setting a game in Middle-earth is the carefully plotted timeline Tolkien had established. One could ignore the timeline and allow the player characters to do what they wanted, even to the point of changing the entire course of the narrative of The Lord of the Rings. ICE attempted to head-off this potential problem (though some might not see it as a problem at all) by making the time setting for their game material more than 1400 years before Bilbo was born. That era was rife with adventuring possibilities, with little chance of knocking all of Tolkien's story off-track. The downside was that Middle-earth did not much resemble what most potential players would be familiar with going in. There was no Rohan, and there was still a king in Gondor, for two big examples. Still, there was a lot for adventurers to do...but it just never really appealed to me, to be frank.

I've detailed elsewhere how the Fourth Age of Middle-earth is full of gaming potential, without the baggage of books and movies detailing everything about it. The downside to that, of course, is that players, being what they are, and most likely Lord of the Rings fans to boot, will also likely miss being able to interact with some of the setting's most famous characters. Another complaint I've heard about the Fourth Age is that there is "nothing to do." The One Ring is gone, Sauron has fallen, and even his greatest servants have been vanquished. It's an understandable reaction, of course; who wouldn't want the chance to at least help overthrow Sauron? Conversely, many roleplaying game settings don't have such a narrative focus around which they revolve, making the Fourth Age of Middle-earth much more reminiscent of them. It's a wide-open time, with plenty still left to do, and an incredibly long and detailed backstory for it all.

This isn't really related to the adventure at hand, but shows a pretty spectacular moment in Middle-earth history.

Palantir Quest cuts right to the heart of the matter by centering around one of the great remaining mysteries of Middle-earth. The seeing-stones of the folk who founded Arnor and Gondor were powerful and coveted artifacts, desired by everyone from the kings of Gondor to the Dark Lord himself. Few in number in the first place, their numbers dwindled as the centuries went by, lost to war and betrayal. Yet they weren't truly lost; palantiri are nearly indestructible. One was taken to the Uttermost West by the Elves who left Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. Some may have been rendered unusable: the one in Minas Tirith would only show flames and Denethor's burning hands after that doom-haunted Steward of Gondor took it to his funeral pyre, though someone as strong-willed as Aragorn likely could have used it if he exerted himself greatly; while even if recovered, the one Sauron held at Barad-dur is likely too tainted by evil to ever be usable again by mortals. The Orthanc stone, used by Saruman, is the last known working palantir in Middle-earth, held and used by King Elessar (aka Aragorn) in Minas Tirith. However, three stones still remain unaccounted for, though still in Middle-earth. Locating and recovering them would be a great step in helping the Reunited Kingdom rebuild.

I would have thought they'd make the pedestal taller for the palantiri...

The three remaining palantiri were lost to the depths; the one in Osgiliath fell into the mighty Anduin River, while the other two, one that had been in the tower at Weathertop, the other from the long-ruined city of Annuminas, were lost together in a shipwreck in the far northern sea. These latter two are the focus of the titular quest of the book discussed here.

Polar bears?

Woolly oliphaunts?

Yes, please.

Palantir Quest is a true tour-de-force adventure. It ranges across Middle-earth, from Minas Tirith to the far north, and many familiar sites in-between. It even moves into territory only hinted at by Tolkien, including a hazardous sea-passage to an incredibly ancient ruin on the last bit of land remaining from the great continent of Numenor, which was drowned beneath the sea due to the hubris of its folk. If that last reminds you of Atlantis, it should; the tale of the Numenoreans, Aragorn's ancestors, is, indeed, Tolkien's take on the Atlantean legends. It's not an exaggeration to say that this quest is for lost artifacts of Atlantis, to help rebuild an ancient civilization that fell to its own folly and the anger of the gods.

This is what is called an "event-based" adventure, as opposed to a "site-based" adventure. However, many of the events take place in certain sites, so, in effect, this book is a pretty decent balance of the two. "Event-based" adventures have a negative connotation to some, since such adventures acquired the reputation of having things happen beyond the will or ability of the player's characters to change them. In effect, the players and their characters would become spectators to a story, not forging their own destiny. At their worst, these kinds of adventures are likened to amusement park rides through "haunted houses" or "jungles," where the riders are in no real danger, but also cannot truly interact with what's going on. They're also called "railroads," since they only go in one predetermined route (video games that are like this are said to be "on rails").  

Palantir Quest doesn't fall prey to much of these problems, though I'd suggest a careful reading of the book by the person who is going to run it for the other players. I suggest this so that the gamemaster (the person running the adventure) can grasp some of the possible side adventures, and add to them when and where appropriate. As an example of what I'm getting at, a brief interlude in the Barrow-downs could end up becoming a much more involved adventure of its own; also, the trek from Bree to Annuminas is glossed over, but the players, if they're like most gamers, will likely want to veer off the road or explore the wilderness. Thankfully, ICE's practices of old remain intact in Palantir Quest: there are detailed charts of random encounters possible for most of the regions passed through on the quest. I highly recommend their use, as, too, the climate tables. I'd also recommend the use of the regional sourcebooks in tandem with this book, as many of them contain information easily usable or adapted for the Fourth Age of Middle-earth.

The art is especially good in this book. While it doesn't contain the full-color Peter Fenlon maps of so many MERP books, it does have snippets of them, apparently reused from other books in the series. There are a number of other maps, of specific locations, that help detail the constituent adventures of the larger campaign, and which are pretty nice in themselves. I do have to mention the art of Kent Burles, which makes up much of the character and creature illustrations. I'm particularly enamored of his art, and it's too bad that I haven't seen more of it, either in other MERP books (besides in the expanded Moria sourcebook I mentioned and linked to above) or any other game books I've run across. Still, I greatly appreciate what there is.

I'm avoiding spoilers in this overview. I know it's an almost-twenty-year-old book, but adventures for roleplaying games are, by their nature, evergreen. I'll quote some of the text from the back cover of the book to give an idea of what the quest is all about:

Strange portents in the great Seeing-stone of Minas Tirith give promise that one of the lost palantiri of the North has returned to the lands of Men. Can the adventurers find this legendary treasure and bring it to King Elessar? Rogues of the wilds, blizzards out of the Forodwaith, and the greed in Men's hearts all conspire against them.

Plus, the player's characters get to hobnob with Aragorn and impress him. That's cool in itself.

I really like this depiction of Aragorn, or King Elessar, all decked out in his royal armor.

Being given this quest should come after the player's characters have established a name for themselves. You could start the campaign out cold, with the players using new characters generated to be powerful enough to take care of themselves in a dangerous quest, but it would be way more satisfying for them to be given this quest after several accomplishments under their belts from earlier adventures. Successfully completing it not only results in some great rewards, but also in gaining the trust of the King of Gondor. Of course, such trust means even more quests assigned...there is the issue of the still-missing palantir, washed down mighty Anduin and, likely, into the sea. Who knows where it now rests, or if someone has already recovered it and holds it, ignorant of its power, far to the South? Plus, Aragorn and King Eomer of Rohan will be striking into the East and South to vanquish the armies of Sauron's erstwhile allies, and seasoned, trustworthy lieutenants are always needed...

These places aren't going to explore themselves, after all.

This adventure has a lot of potential for fun. It's a well-thought-out campaign, taking the characters into interesting places in Middle-earth, some they will almost certainly recognize, others merely hinted at in the books and movies. It illustrates really clearly how the Fourth Age of Middle-earth was an untapped reservoir of adventure possibilities, and how disappointing it is that this reservoir was only tapped to this much depth the one time.

In my last post, I noted that it was the last of my essays and reviews of Iron Crown Enterprise's regional sourcebooks for their Middle-earth Roleplaying game. This post is the last on this blog for any MERP books. This book was unique in being a whole complex series of linked adventures, a campaign, rather than detailing a region and including adventure ideas, or an adventure of lesser scope and impact. It might interest the non-gamer who wonders what might have happened after Sauron was defeated; game adventures like this aren't necessarily the best reads for those unacquainted with roleplaying games, but this one is clearly-written enough to be worth a page-through. As such, it seemed fitting to end this series of posts with this book.

So there you have it. A series of articles about MERP books, books that I spent a lot of time poring over long after many a witching hour. In fact, these books were some of the first things I thought of when I first started this Dark Dimension blog. It's satisfying to have taken a close look at all of them, and written about them for those interested. This isn't the end of Dark Dimension, just the end of a project I didn't think I'd have the patience to complete. Stick around, and I'll see what other obscure subjects I can explore that are best perused on the other side of Midnight.

"...the Guarded City, with its seven walls of stone so strong and old that it seemed to have been not builded but carven by giants out of the bones of the earth": Cities of Middle-earth - Minas Tirith

The spiritual heart of Minas Tirith.

This is the last bastion for good in Middle-earth; should it fall, all hope falls with it. A great white stone city, anchored on a mighty mountain, Minas Tirith is the capital and bulwark of Gondor. It is the focal point of Sauron's wrath, the last major obstacle between the Dark Lord and total domination of Middle-earth.

The fate of Middle-earth rested upon the strength of the Great Gate holding just long enough...

As far as I know, this was the only hardback volume in the Middle-earth Roleplaying (MERP) game line by Iron Crown Enterprise (ICE). The Angus McBride cover depicts the climactic scene when the great gate of the city has been breached and Gandalf confronts the Witch-king, the greatest of the Ringwraiths. In many ways, this painting is symbolic of the entire story of the Lord of the Rings, distilling it down to its essence. It's a fitting image for the book and for the MERP line in general.

Minas Tirith was, long before the time of Bilbo and Frodo, one of two tower-crowned fortresses that flanked the greatest city of Gondor, its capital, Osgiliath. At that time, it was known as Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun. Across the mighty Anduin river, nestled near the Ephel Duath, or Mountains of Shadow, was its sister-fortress Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Moon. For centuries the three cities flourished. Then civil war and plague struck Gondor, and Osgiliath began a long decline into ruin. Then Sauron's lieutenant, the Witch-king, struck Minas Ithil and seized it for the Dark Lord, and it became known as Minas Morgul, the Tower of Black Magic. Afterward, Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard, and became the capital and main fortress of Gondor.

The lands immediately surrounding Minas Tirith, including the Pelennor Fields where much blood was shed.

As the centuries wore on, Gondor remained strong, though decline was obvious. King Earnur disappeared into Minas Morgul after foolishly challenging the Witch-king to single combat, leaving no heir. From then on, for nearly a millennium, Gondor was ruled by Stewards who ruled from Minas Tirith. A slow malaise began to take hold of Gondor, a pessimism that poisoned the will of the people there, until by the time Aragorn came to claim his birthright, Minas Tirith was half empty and awaiting the inevitable. Worse by far was the secret that Denethor II, the ruling Steward, had been using the Palantir, the great seeing-stone, to spy on Sauron. The Dark Lord knew this, and manipulated what Denethor saw, poisoning the noble steward's mind with dark images of defeat, until the Steward was driven to near-insanity...and beyond. The corruption of Sauron had finally taken hold directly within Minas Tirith, at the very pinnacle of its power. The great city was teetering on the brink of oblivion.

The Tower of Anarion. This book's interpretation of the city includes a spire on the pinnacle of rock right above the Great Gate.

Cities of Middle-earth: Minas Tirith details the city at a time before Minas Ithil had fallen and a king still sat in the great Tower of Ecthelion. The longevity of the city, and its relative stability, makes the book still usable in any era. Some attention is given to what the city is like in other time periods, and it's easy enough to adjust how the city is described. The culture, architecture, guilds, military, and government remain essentially the same, though, of course, the Stewards take the place of the Kings when Earnur disappears. I've criticized some MERP books for not being very true to the setting Tolkien created, but this book cleaves closely to a Tolkienesque feel. This may not be exactly what Tolkien had in mind, but it evokes the city in a way that seems authentic. As far as I can tell, none of it conflicts with what Tolkien wrote. This is a well-detailed book, and will appeal to those who enjoy reading about Middle-earth, including non-gamers.

For gamers, though, this is quite a package. The city is meticulously detailed, from the surrounding Pelennor Fields to the White Tower at the city's heart. Numerous characters and organizations are given for the player's characters to interact with as they explore one of the iconic locations of Middle-earth. For a long time, I didn't see how there could be much for players to do here, but as time has gone on and I've gotten (somewhat) more mature, I see a wealth of adventure opportunities within the city's environs. Those looking for a "hive of scum and villainy" to carouse in will, perhaps, be disappointed; this is a city in which the adventures are more about maneuvering within various social strata and finding subtle and deeply-rooted corruption, not barroom brawls and "kick in the door" looting. Libraries full of forgotten lore, nobles with mysterious agendas, rivalries between guilds, and even a thieves guild all provide adventure hooks, and any reasonably curious adventurers will find plentiful ways to get into trouble. Even if players simply want their characters to take a tour of one of the great sites of Middle-earth, the information is here for the gamemaster to provide a textured description of the city. This includes sites made famous in the narrative of the book, such as the resting place for Minas Tirith's venerated dead, the Hallows.

This texture is reinforced with the usual MERP game material. Descriptions of the flora and fauna and weather of the area is given. There are tables of major characters to be found in the city, including a table of random encounters for each level, including the Pelennor Fields and the Harlond, Minas Tirith's ship dockyard. Random encounters range from cutpurses to tax collectors...though it may be tough to tell the difference. Even if renamed and used in another setting, there is plenty of material here to run a large, important city.

The only weak point of the book is its illustrations. Let me be clear: Peter Fenlon's maps are as gorgeous as they always are, and some of the high points of the book. The floorplans of many buildings are also well-done. The other art itself is good, though none of it is very dynamic. There are many portraits of city inhabitants, but most are static headshots. Many of those are by the redoubtable Liz Danforth, so it's impossible to really complain about them.

A mysterious inhabitant of Minas Tirith, with designs known only to her.

The problem is the paucity of pictures showing the city as a lived-in place. Street scenes and buildings views are few and far between, and, as with the character portraits, are not very evocative. The building plans are outstanding, but some perspective shots of them inhabited and in use would have helped bring some life to the city. Published about a decade before the Lord of the Rings movies, there wouldn't have been a lot of visual reference material to bolster the book's relative lack of them. Now, though, I'd recommend supplementing the book with still shots from the movies when using it in a game. Still, though, that Angus McBride cover may be the best image he did for the MERP line, and it makes up quite a bit of the ground not covered by the interior illustrations.

And let's not forget this nifty overhead streetplan of the city.

This is a fine book, one of the best of the MERP line. As true to Tolkien's writing as it can be while filling in a lot of detail, Cities of Middle-earth: Minas Tirith is an impressive work for gamers and non-gamers like. Readers and viewers of the Lord of the Rings see it at some of its worst, most desperate moments, yet it still manages to be remembered as a great, beautiful city. Although shadowed by the threat of Mordor to the east, it still manages to shine brightly to the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. Its greatest potential for adventure is during its darkest times; the city would welcome aid as Sauron's forces pour forth to conquer the city. Even after the Dark Lord falls, there is still much to do within the city; help is needed to rebuild, and the spies and agents of Sauron may still reside within, preparing final spiteful strikes to avenge their fallen master. Even ICE saw potential for Minas Tirith as an adventure site in the Fourth Age.

A splendid yet empty hall in Minas Tirith.

This is the final Middle-earth location sourcebook I'll be dealing with here on Dark Dimension. There is one last book in the line I'll cover here, but that will come later. There are other books in the series, but they are more geared to gamers, and will eventually be discussed in another blog. After that last book, I'll swing Dark Dimension's direction away from game books, at least for a while, and delve into more generally interesting topics. I hope everyone who's been reading has enjoyed these posts and gotten something out of them. I've enjoyed writing them and looking back on 25+ years of gaming. The last few posts have taken quite a bit of time to finish and publish, and I still have yet to convince myself to write smaller posts in the interim to break up the long gaps. I hope to fix that, with a few smaller posts here and there, but we'll see...