Welcome to Middle Earth!
I present to you, the Lord of the Rings in a mid-Third Age bookmark - the MERP Edition (Middle Earth Roleplaying Game).
This mod/bookmark is a pet project of mine, I am actually also part of/working with another modding team - Sauron's Will (https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...of-the-rings-saurons-will-second-age.1173022/) - together with several others, including @Indyclone77 and @Zarathustra_the. In particular, I am using @Shade2's excellent map which he has been doing a superhuman effort on getting ready And of course, the 3D art of @rewinged and @MattAlexi . But we, and hopefully other future Lord of the Rings bookmarks if they want to be under this "umbrella", are committed to sharing resources whenever possible and help each other out.
Behold the north of Middle-Earth:
And the south:
And a close-up view of Minas Tirith:
I'll be posting dev diaries and updates as new content is added, that'll help keep me productive
Oh, and I am NOT one of those modders who wait for everything to be perfect before releasing something - my goal is to release this as soon as it is fun to play, even if it has issues, and that should be possible by the time 1.1 comes out in June and I integrate the new changes.
And the setting:
It is the year 1300 of the Third Age. In the North, the fractured lands of Arnor are mostly under the sway of Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan, three successor kingdoms who split from Arnor some 500 years ago. The elves of Imladris and Lindon remain, though much diminished, and the Dwarves are still frequently seen crossing between their holdings in the Blue Mountains and the Misty Mountains, the greatest of which are the halls of Khazad-Dum, or Moria in the elven tongue.
In the south, the realm of Gondor is in the noontide of its power. The glories of the Dunedain of the south seem to rival that of sunken Numenor, and they have pushed their borders far east and north and south, even taking the great Haven of Umbar. Yet the east and south are stirring once more, as strong Easterling tribes such as the Balchoth encroach upon Gondor’s allies in Rhovanion and threaten Dorwinion, and Gondor may have over-extended itself… its vast frontiers are hard to properly defend, and there is always the fear of treason from within – the Dunedain of Gondor are a minority, after all, and not everyone is happy with the Dunedain monopoly on power.
In Mirkwood the southern areas of the forests have darkened and become infested with evil beasts, and rumours speak of a terrible sorcerer living at Dol Guldur. Yet most worryingly of all, in the high north, in the cold lands of Angmar, a tyrant styling himself The Witch King has arisen and has begun gathering to him all the tribes of orcs and evil men to his fortress at Carn Dum.
Darkness stirs in Middle Earth once more – the old alliances are broken, the Dunedain, though at the height of their power, are divided and the elves are leaving these shores. It is up to a new generation of heroes to ensure that the sacrifices made in the Wars of the Last Alliance were not in vain, and that evil will not be allowed to return.
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