LotR1- Fellowship of the Ring

[meepleater]

CKorfmann has let me do some work on an old expansion of his:

Lord of the Rings

Due to the detail of the books (and the movies), this will become three expansions- one for each book.

To get rid of some complexity, there will be no new meeples (yet?). Instead I think there could be 'quest' tiles.

Out of 12 tiles, I think about 8 could be quest tiles. These are tiles with an arrow somewhere on them pointing in a particular direction. Each new 'quest' tile must be placed in line with the arrow from the previous tile. All 12 tiles will have some special features on them.

Some of the quest tiles may not be playable due to sides not matching up in line with the previous tile, in which case they are discarded.

Some ideas for tiles (including some CKorfmann's original ideas) are:

1. RRRR The Shire, first quest tile, including a four way road intersection with a few magic gates around it. This tile would be given to the first player to place a tile?
2. FWWW Lothlorien, a quest tile, a forest with some white houses and a large tree. This could work as a logging camp.
3. FRRR Bree, a quest tile, a three way road with an inn and a well.
4. FRFR a straight road with black riders on it, maybe cancels out the effect of any inns along the road, if no inns, roads are worth nothing when completed. Not a quest tile.
5. MMMM Moria, a quest tile, maybe flames coming from somewhere within the mountains? Maybe the tile could be worth extra points when placed (maybe double points?)
6. WFFF the barrow-downs, a quest tile, a forest ending with a graveyard.
7. FSFS the Argonath, a quest tile, a straight river with statues on either side. This could be like an inn along the river.

If anyone else has any other ideas for another 5 tiles, let me know.

EDIT: two draft quest tiles without the arrow and watermark.


Moria


Lothlorien

Thanks to JPutt927 for the flames. I don't really like the lorien tile but I can always fix that...

EDIT2:


Barrow-downs

[CKorfmann]

Honestly, I've kinda detached myself from this one, but I'd be more than happy to comment on it. 

I like the quest idea, it gives the expansion a sense of purpuse if you're not planning on using the meeples.

Not sure where the flames come in on the Moria tile.  Isn't that the Dwarf city?  I was thinking about an oversized fortress looking thingy in the center of the mountains. 

I had the same thought for Lothlorien... on oversized tree in the middle. 

I don't remember the Barrow downs, so I probably can't comment on that one.

[meepleater]

Moria is series underground mines, and when the dwarves delved there, they unleashed the last remaining balrog; a beast of fire and shadow. In order to trap the fellowship and capture them, the lower levels of Moria were set on fire by the orcs and trolls.

In Lothlorien (which I am not happy with), there is a giant gold tree in the centre.

The Barrow Downs weren't mentioned in the movie, they were only in the book. In the book, the four hobbits get caught there (after leaving the shire, they pass through the old forest, are saved by Tom Bombadil, whom you seem to know about, pass through to the barrows, get captured by a barrow-wight, get saved by Tom B. again and then go on to Bree and meet Aragorn. I think it's a shame none of that made it into the movie.)

[CKorfmann]

Moria is series underground mines, and when the dwarves delved there, they unleashed the last remaining balrog; a beast of fire and shadow. In order to trap the fellowship and capture them, the lower levels of Moria were set on fire by the orcs and trolls.

I remember that now.

In Lothlorien (which I am not happy with), there is a giant gold tree in the centre.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, a big tree in the middle...

The Barrow Downs weren't mentioned in the movie, they were only in the book. In the book, the four hobbits get caught there (after leaving the shire, they pass through the old forest, are saved by Tom Bombadil, whom you seem to know about, pass through to the barrows, get captured by a barrow-wight, get saved by Tom B. again and then go on to Bree and meet Aragorn. I think it's a shame none of that made it into the movie.)

I know about Bombadil because I've talked to several people about him.  Never read it though.  I've heard about the Barrow Downs as well, but didn't know the story.

[meepleater]

Latest tile updates


The Shire


Barrow Downs


Bree


Amon Sul upon Weathertop


Moria


Lothlorien- I tried to fix it up, but I'm not fully satisfied- open to suggestions.


The River Anduin

If anyone has any more ideas for 3 more tiles, I'm all ears...

[Whaleyland]

Here's some ideas for you. Hope they help. You will have to look up names yourself since I can't remember half of them.
The Old Oak
Tom Bombadil's House
The Wild
The Stone Trolls
The river where Arwen comes and rescues Frodo (book)/Arwen takes Frodo to safety
The snowy mountain that the Fellowship tries to cross before deciding on Moria (name forgotten)
Those two huge statues along Anduin (sheesh, I need to reread these books for the twentieth time!)
The waterfalls (where they stop and camp the last night, before Frodo and Sam leave)

Something with Ring Wraiths I feel is also a must, but that probably isn't tile-related.

[meepleater]

Here's some ideas for you. Hope they help. You will have to look up names yourself since I can't remember half of them.
The Old Oak
Tom Bombadil's House
The Wild
The Stone Trolls
The river where Arwen comes and rescues Frodo (book)/Arwen takes Frodo to safety
The snowy mountain that the Fellowship tries to cross before deciding on Moria (name forgotten)
Those two huge statues along Anduin (sheesh, I need to reread these books for the twentieth time!)
The waterfalls (where they stop and camp the last night, before Frodo and Sam leave)

Something with Ring Wraiths I feel is also a must, but that probably isn't tile-related.

I don't have to look up the names, I'm a massive fan and remember the books and movies by heart.

I've already done the two statues, I think they're known as the Argonath. I've called the tile Anduin. The snowy mountain must be Caradhras- which I never thought of. I had considered the falls of Rauros, but I've already got one river tile.

I've decided to add Rivendell, the last quest tile:


I'm having 8 quest tiles and 4 other tiles each in the LotR expansions, I have the quest tiles done now, so I just need to come up with 3 other ideas non-place related (I've already got one if you see my list above).

Thanks for all the tips though  

[meepleater]

Finished all 12 tiles: added in three black rider tiles (with 3 riders each to make 9) which have a penalising effect on roads, and 1 mirror of galadriel tile (fortune teller)



I'll get to work on the rules shortly.

[CKorfmann]

Wow, great job buddy!  I think the quest symbol is great!  Very simple, but it sticks out and really looks good.  All of the tiles look really nice.  I don't think anything you've made needs to be changed, but here are some suggestions:

I thought the fortune tell tile was Bombadils house at first.  Maybe it would be better if it were.  While the "mirror" concept is a good one, I'm not sure it works as a tile.  But, I could be mistaken
 
As for Lothlorien, I would make the tree either double or triple in size if not redrawn all together.  Under the circumstances, I don't think it would be a bad thing if this tree took up half the tile. 

Snow topped mountains would be cool!

The Weathertop tile is a great idea, hadn't thought of it.

I never thought about Rivendel being a cloister.  I envisioned a tile that was half city and half forest, but I guess it works pretty well as is.

Bree is great, the river tile is super, and the wraiths are BAD (the good kind)! 

[meepleater]

I thought the fortune tell tile was Bombadils house at first.  Maybe it would be better if it were.  While the "mirror" concept is a good one, I'm not sure it works as a tile.  But, I could be mistaken

For the non-quest tiles, I wanted to do things that were person or object related- not places. In the mirror of Galadriel it is possible to get glimpses of the future, hence the fortune teller.

As for Lothlorien, I would make the tree either double or triple in size if not redrawn all together.  Under the circumstances, I don't think it would be a bad thing if this tree took up half the tile.  

I'll have a go fixing that tile, I've never been satisfied with that one.

Snow topped mountains would be cool!

Since I don't know how many people use mountains, I don't want to include too many mountain tiles in each expansion.

I never thought about Rivendel being a cloister.  I envisioned a tile that was half city and half forest, but I guess it works pretty well as is.

I already had enough forest tiles, and Rivendell isn't really a city, so that's why I went cloister.

Rules are coming soon.

Rules: http://www.mediafire.com/?mof01zh5myw
They're not very good, I can tell that there will be a few rewrites...


Tiles are here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mz1inlndyut

[CKorfmann]

It looks good.  The only question I have is regarding the inability to use tiles.  I'm not a fan of discarding tiles.  I think they should be put back in the bag (or whatever) IMO.

[meepleater]

That can be a house rule. In the base game, unplayable tiles are discarded for good. But I agree with you, I'd use that as a house rule too.

[Scott]

This could easily grow into it's own fan-made spin-off - Carcassonne: Middle Earth

[meepleater]

I think I'm satisfied with just making an expansion...

[CKorfmann]

This could easily grow into it's own fan-made spin-off - Carcassonne: Middle Earth

That sounds funny, but kinda cool...