The Shadow and the Flame | Forge an Orcish Nation Under the Whip

Creating your character

Characters will be created as a collaborative process between all players during Session Zero, which is provided free of charge (I don't like the idea of charging for a session zero). Character creation in The One Ring can be quite swift if all players have a good idea of what they want to play, so there's the potential to actually play a scene or two as your character during the session zero.

Preparing for the session

Players should be prepared to join my GMing discord server where I provide all the useful information I can think of, as well as have the actual voice communications for the game. Foundry is the virtual tabletop I use, and it does not require players to have anything other than an internet browser and the link I provide to each game session. Be prepared to use Edge in the event that your chosen internet browser experiences technical difficulties with Foundry. I do expect my players to familiarise themselves at least in part with the fiction of the game universe and the basic mechanics of the game rules. If you've never played Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor or its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, I'd strongly recommend watching a playthrough of these games to get an idea of what life in Mordor is like.

What Roy brings to the table

First and foremost, I provide a living, breathing world that reacts and adapts to the players' decisions. There are no rails to follow; this is a sandbox where your actions matter and can change the fate of the universe. There are no throwaway or "silly" characters who exist just to serve a humorous bit; every character is brought up in the fiction of the game universe. Players that join my games can expect the rules as written to be followed, setting a clear baseline for how everyone's player characters can interact with their world. Over and above that baseline, they can expect me to try my best to fairly interpret the mechanics or consequences of any imaginative action they can think to attempt--just because there's no rules for swinging on a chandelier doesn't mean you can't try! I'll do my best to ensure my players have the best experience possible. I provide voices for all my characters and draw on my long gaming history to sample appropriate immersive background music for my games (in this case, the Lord of the Rings soundtrack is particularly apt).

Homebrew rules

After much analysis of the core rulebook and months poring over community homebrew, I have devised rules which allow you to reprise the role of so-called wicked men (Easterlings, Haradrim, Nurnlanders and folks from Umbar) as well as, of course, orcs, goblins and uruk-hai. These rules are balanced against the original cultures in the rulebook to provide a positive game experience no matter what you choose to play.

How Roy creates a safe table

My players will receive links to safety tools, in particular a consent checklist. I will review these checklists before a session 0, and then discuss how the content in the game might relate to or be altered by the consent of the players. Furthermore, session 0 will begin with a general consent check for players to indicate anything they forgot to mention or wanted to ask other players. In the case of safety tools, I will encourage my players to message me privately (using a whisper in chat or a discord message) in order to indicate when they are uncomfortable. When this occurs, I will alert the group that I need to take a quick break to handle a consent check, then private message with the uncomfortable player (I will do this without asking anyone to leave the group call, so as not to single out anyone).