I had a level idea for the recently announced ROTK campaign. One of the levels from FOTR that always stood out to me was the council of Elrond, interacting with some of the great tales from Middle Earth was pretty cool and my idea is basically a kind of sequel to that concept.
Story wise it would take place just after Gandalf and Pippin arrive in Minas Tirith and before their audience with Denethor. While waiting for an audience with the steward Pippin would despair of being on the edge of an unescapable battle and Gandalf would send him to the library of Minas Tirith to learn of the great deeds of various heroes to boost his courage.
Now we get into the tales themselves.
First and probably the most interesting of the encounters Pippin can have would be with Gandalf, who would relate a tidbit of his battle with the Balrog. The player would take control of Gandalf as he tracks the Balrogs footprints from the foundations of stone into the lower levels of Moria fighting hordes of Nameless creatures along the way before concluding when Gandalf reaches the stair of Durin. As an aside I'd make the Nameless creatures more akin to their LOTRO counterparts. Also to keep Gandalf's boss battle in Durins tower unique to that mission the player would not actually fight the Balrog. The level aesthetics would range from flaming Mustafar-esque lava chambers to rundown dwarven passages.
Secondly I thought an amazing story to tell would be that of Helm Hammerhand, recounted by a librarian of Gondor. The player would take control of Helm in his famous last battle. Using either Helms hammer or a fear inducing ability the player would have to clear Helms Dike of Dunnish and Corsair enemies. Since the battle took place in a brutal winter I would make Helms health slowly decrease due to frostbite. The idea would be to clear Helms Dike of enemies before Helm dies, with a bonus objective being to clear all enemies. Either way the segment would end with Helm freezing to death.
Which brings us to the third tale. During which we would take control of a much younger Aragorn, disguised as Thorongil, as he leads an attack on the port of Umbar. The objective would be to use flame archers to burn ships and clear the docks of enemies. Once that's done you would have to kill Kathuphazgan and an Umbarian honor guard to end the tale.
Now I know that the council of Elrond only had three tale segments. Yet I still have one last idea that could be done without using much map space. A short boss battle between King Earnur and his guards and the Nazgul during his ill fated duel. The characters would walk into Minas Morgul before the front gates shut trapping the party. You would be able to defeat a Nazgul or two before the rest gang up and kill you. All in all a cautionary tale about being too brave.
And there you have it. Regardless if you use this or not I'm sure the campaign is going to be dope.
Edited by Bofurs Cheese Knife, 18 May 2023 - 05:58 AM.
