Because it was just Christmas, and most years I watch at least one Lord of the Rings movie around Christmas, I’ve been jonesing for TOR for a few weeks now. I also grabbed a Bundle of Holding a few months back, so I have so much delicious Middle-Earth goodness that I’d love to get to the table. This is helping.

Based on conversations here, I’m strongly considering giving the players in my next TOR game a player-facing map on BIG paper, with only the routes they would have taken to their starting location marked. I’d let them draw on the map in pencil so they could mark locations where they might have heard rumours, and then between sessions, I’d update the map in pen with stuff they definitely know.

Integration between the volumes and volumes of setting material and the game the way she is actually played is such a vital element, eh? Even though I don’t play much Burning Wheel, it’s one of the things I absolutely LOVE there. Nothing is wasted, as the character creation tells you everything you need to know about your history and also your culture. “I’m playing an elf and I took all these nautical lifepaths, so I guess elves are serious sailors in this world!”