Ghost Warriors is an adventure published by Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) in 1990 for the fantasy role-playing game Middle-earth Role Playing , which is itself based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
In the Middle-earth Role Playing game, a people called the Daen Coentis ruled a kingdom on either side of the White Mountains at the end of the Second Age. [1] They swore an oath of allegiance to Elendil and Isildur, but when called upon to join the Last Alliance against Sauron, they refused. The oath-breakers were cursed for their treachery, their spirits unable to depart from Middle Earth until they fulfilled their oath to the True King. As that generation died and became undead spirits, those still alive sought to escape the curse by moving away, into the southern reaches of the Misty Mountains, an area that became known as Dunland. [2] Over the ages, the Dunlendings became implacable enemies of the Rohirrim, and in the time of The Lord of the Rings , were allies of the evil wizard Saruman.
In The Lord of the Rings, the Dunlendings join Saruman's army of orcs in an invasion of Rohan, but are defeated at the Battle of Helm's Deep. [3]
In the 3,000 years of the Third Age between the first defeat of the Dark Lord Sauron by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the destruction of the One Ring, this book is set about the halfway point, in T.A. 1700, a few decades after a plague devastated all lands in this part of Middle Earth. A shaman of the Dunlendings has found a way to control the undead spirits of the Oathbreakers. Her plan is to build up her army of undead by kidnapping lone travellers, killing them and then raising them as wraiths.
Ghost Warriors is a set of three connected scenarios that are set in Dunland. [4]
I.C.E. published the licensed game Middle Earth Role-Playing in 1982, and then released many supplements for it over the next 17 years, until the Tolkien Estate withdrew their license in 1999. Ghost Warriors was the 16th supplement to be published by I.C.E., a 48-page softcover book written by John M. Ferrone, with a cover by Angus McBride and illustrations by Liz Danforth. [4]
Herb Petro reviewed the product in the February–March 1991 issue of White Wolf. [5] He stated that "Though this is by no means an original plot, these simple adventures are much better for being placed in Middle-Earth. The riddles are actually kind of clever and I do love the random passage generator." [5] He rated it overall 3 out of a possible 5 points. [5]
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" (Dvergatal) in the Völuspá.
A palantír is one of several indestructible crystal balls from J. R. R. Tolkien's epic-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The word comes from Quenya palan 'far', and tir 'watch over'. The palantírs were used for communication and to see events in other parts of Arda, or in the past.
The Return of the King is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. It was published in 1955. The story begins in the kingdom of Gondor, which is soon to be attacked by the Dark Lord Sauron.
The Battle of Helm's Deep, also called the Battle of the Hornburg, is a fictional battle in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings that saw the total destruction of the forces of the Wizard Saruman by the army of Rohan, assisted by a forest of tree-like Huorns.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Isengard is a large fortress in Nan Curunír, the Wizard's Vale, in the western part of Middle-earth. In the fantasy world, the name of the fortress is described as a translation of Angrenost, a word in Tolkien's elvish language, Sindarin, a compound of two Old English words: īsen and ġeard, meaning "enclosure of iron".
The fictional races and peoples that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth include the seven listed in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls, as well as spirits such as the Valar and Maiar. Other beings of Middle-earth are of unclear nature such as Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry.
Magic in Middle-earth is the use of supernatural power in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth. Tolkien distinguishes ordinary magic from witchcraft, the latter always deceptive, stating that either type could be used for good or evil.
Saruman, also called Saruman the White, later Saruman of Many Colours, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is the leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the novel. He comes to desire Sauron's power for himself, so he betrays the Istari and tries to take over Middle-earth by force from his base at Isengard. His schemes feature prominently in the second volume, The Two Towers; he appears briefly at the end of the third volume, The Return of the King. His earlier history is summarised in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.
Peregrin Took, commonly known simply as Pippin, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is closely tied with his friend and cousin, Merry Brandybuck, and the two are together during most of the story. Pippin and Merry are introduced as a pair of young hobbits of the Shire who become ensnared in their friend Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the One Ring. Pippin joins the Company of the Ring. He and Merry become separated from the rest of the group at the breaking of the Fellowship and spend much of The Two Towers with their own storyline. Impetuous and curious, Pippin enlists as a soldier in the army of Gondor and fights in the Battle of the Morannon. With the other hobbits, he returns home, helps to lead the Scouring of the Shire, and becomes Thain, or hereditary leader of the land.
Théoden is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. The King of Rohan and Lord of the Mark or of the Riddermark, names used by the Rohirrim for their land, he appears as a supporting character in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. When first introduced, Théoden is weak with age and sorrow and the machinations of his top advisor, Gríma Wormtongue, and he does nothing as his kingdom is crumbling. Once roused by the wizard Gandalf, however, he becomes an instrumental ally in the war against Saruman and Sauron, leading the Rohirrim into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
The Maiar are a fictional class of beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy legendarium. Supernatural and angelic, they are "lesser Ainur" who entered the cosmos of Eä in the beginning of time. The name Maiar is in the Quenya tongue from the Elvish root maya- "excellent, admirable".
Middle-earth is the setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the Miðgarðr of Norse mythology and Middangeard in Old English works, including Beowulf. Middle-earth is the oecumene in Tolkien's imagined mythological past. Tolkien's most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are set entirely in Middle-earth. "Middle-earth" has also become a short-hand term for Tolkien's legendarium, his large body of fantasy writings, and for the entirety of his fictional world.
Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Aragorn is a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arnor and Gondor. Aragorn is a confidant of the wizard Gandalf and plays a part in the quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. As a young man, Aragorn falls in love with the immortal elf Arwen, as told in "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen". Arwen's father, Elrond Half-elven, forbids them to marry unless Aragorn becomes King of both Arnor and Gondor.
The Wizards or Istari in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction were powerful angelic beings, Maiar, who took the form of Men to intervene in the affairs of Middle-earth in the Third Age, after catastrophically violent direct interventions by the Valar, and indeed by the one god Eru Ilúvatar, in the earlier ages.
J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan is a computer video game from 1991 based upon the fictional War of the Ring set in the Middle-earth world created by J. R. R. Tolkien, centered in The Lord of the Rings novels. The massive-scale simulation takes part in the realm of Rohan and the player controls the forces of Good during the onslaught of the forces of Evil, namely centered on the conflict with Saruman of Isengard. It was published by Konami and Mirrorsoft.
The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard is the third expansion pack for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, released on 27 September 2011 as a web-based download. The expansion was first announced on 19 November 2010 and made available for pre-order 7 June 2011, when Turbine announced a release date. Various pre-order deals were made available including special in-game titles and items. The Rise of Isengard closed-beta launched on 27 July and closed several weeks before live release.
The Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep is the fifth expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. It was released on November 20, 2013, after it was postponed by two days from the original release date, due to a power outage. The expansion is available for download both on the web and on Steam. The Battle at Helm's Deep is created in-game using refined technologies that Turbine created during the development of the expansion, which allow for a significantly larger amount of action and character models during a session. The new expansion increases the in-games level cap to 95, and one of the main new features is the ability to fight "epic"-scale battles such as the Battle of Helm's Deep. The expansion also adds modified trait trees and five new zones to explore in Western Rohan.
Erech and the Paths of the Dead is a supplement published by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) in 1985 for the fantasy role-playing game Middle-earth Role Playing, which is itself based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Lórien & The Halls of the Elven Smiths is a supplement published by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) in 1986 for the fantasy role-playing game Middle-earth Role Playing, which is itself based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Scholars have seen multiple resemblances between the medieval Christian conception of hell and evil places in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth. These include the industrial hells of Saruman's Isengard with its underground furnaces and labouring Orcs; the dark tunnels of Moria; Sauron's evil land of Mordor; and Morgoth's subterranean fortress of Angband. The gates to some of these realms, like the guarded West Door of Moria, and the Black Gate to Mordor, too, carry echoes of the gates of hell.