Solo Campaign: Barâz-felak Náli, Part 2

This is the second post of my new solo campaign using Strider Mode for The One Ring™ roleplaying game, published by Free League Publishing. It is unofficial fan-made content and not affiliated with or endorsed by Free League Publishing or Middle-earth Enterprises. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners. Shared freely, not for sale.

You can find a list of all posts pertaining to this campaign on my page The One Ring™ 2nd Edition.  

NAME: BARÂZ-FELAK, THE RED-HEWER

Náli, son of Barzunâk the Hammerer, is one of the Dwarves of Durin's Folk. He is also known as Náli the Red-hewer, a proud cousin of Bofur the Miner (Erebor: The Lonely Mountain 21-22). He earned his name during the years after the return of King Dáin Ironfoot to Erebor, when the hammer-song echoed in the halls once again. 

I needed some inspiration to complete my character's backstory. I already knew (made up) that Náli was a miner who was named the Red-hewer after he split hard rock with his mattock and uncovered a treasure seam filled with rubies and garnet. However, I wanted to tell it in a way that felt Tolkienesque and incorporated a bit of Khuzdul (which I admit I am no expert in), so I asked ChatGPT for some help. Since this was entirely for brainstorming purposes and ideas for my game, I felt that it was completely appropriate. What I got back surprised me, so I used it (some of it word-for-word) to help me write the following to tell the story of his naming. 

Náli was skilled in hard rock and set to work in the old lower deeps, where the rock was black with age. There, his famed uncle Bofur was an overseer, and he had marked a stubborn wall of felak-zahar (axe-stone as the Dwarves called it), for he was sure that richer seams lay beyond.

For three days and nights Náli hammered, the head of his mattock ringing like a bell throughout the tunnels. The sparks leapt in the lamplight, and chips of grey stone flew like shards of ice. On the fourth day, as his pick bit into a stubborn seam, the rock split with a sound like a smith's anvil cracking, and out poured a scatter of barâz—rubies like frozen fire and dark-red garnet glinting like the heart of a smoldering coal.

Bofur, a hardy soul, led a rousing song among the miners that day. 

Barâz felak! Barâz felak!

(Red hewing! Red hewing!) 

And so it is told among the Dwarves of Erebor, that some win honor by the red of battle, and others by the red of the earth; but in both, the mattock writes the name in stone.

CHARACTER SHEET

Here is an image of my character sheet after I have made all the hard...easy choices.

Character sheet designed by Jez Gordon, modified slightly by me.

I decided to use the character sheet by Jez Gordon, rather than the one provided by Free League Publishing mainly because I liked the layout better and it was easier to modify. I am somewhat of an aspiring perfectionist. I like all my Fields to be centered and so on, but I fall short myself at times.

I won't go through every decision about this character as you can see the results for yourself, but I will say that I followed Strider Mode recommendations and gave Náli a set of Target Numbers based on 18 − Ratings rather than 20 and I gave him 15 Skill points for previous experience rather than 10.

My choice to improve his Athletics was due to how strong and agile I imagined him due to his work in the mines. Also, Treasure-hunter seemed to be a good pick for Calling because of his love of exploration and discovery of gems. The Fell mattock and Dark for Dark Business were perfect. I look forward to being inspired often with that Cultural Virtue and on journeys due to the Strider Distinctive Feature.

Eventually, Náli's fate will lead him to go on an expedition with Balin himself, but for now Balin was an obvious choice for Patron since he is “eager to know anything that can be learned regarding Dwarf-­holds fallen to the Enemy” (The One Ring™Core Rules 213).

And that's that. Let me know what you think of my choices. Would you have done something different? Why? I'm open to suggestions.

Solo Campaign: Barâz-felak Náli, Part 1

This is the first post of my new solo campaign using Strider Mode for The One Ring™ roleplaying game, published by Free League Publishing. It is unofficial fan-made content and not affiliated with or endorsed by Free League Publishing or Middle-earth Enterprises. All trademarks and copyrights remain the property of their respective owners. Shared freely, not for sale. 

You can find a list of all posts pertaining to this campaign on my page The One Ring™ 2nd Edition. 

In this post, I introduce my character and his background. When I am speaking or talking to the reader in game terms, I will use regular type, but when my character is telling his story, I will use italics for his journal entries.

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

Image by Julius H from Pixabay.com,
modified by James R. Brown

Náli, son of Barzunâk (the Hammerer), from Erebor was the friend of Frár II, son of Felgrom the Stonecutter, and grandson of Frár I the Beardless, son of Fráen (see The Heart of the Wild 22). Their friendship began at Lake-town, when Frár the Beardless came to address the Council of the North (November 25-29, 2956, The Darkening of Mirkwood 42-43) requesting an army to reclaim the Greydelve.

When reading the award winning supplement Moria™: Through the Doors of Durin, I couldn't wait to try out the expanded solo rules and start my adventure there as a member of Balin's company. That led me down a path of research and the name Náli caught my attention as one the Dwarves who died in Moria as read by Gandalf from the Book of Mazarbul, but there was no other mention of him anywhere in The Lord of the Rings, nor anything about him. Tolkien only tells us his fate. In that same passage, he mentions Frár. This rang a bell. I remembered a Dwarf of the same name written about in The Darkening of Mirkwood and The Heart of the Wild. He petitioned for many years to raise an army and retake the Greydelve, his ancestral home in the Grey Mountains. I got the idea then, that perhaps Náli of Erebor crossed paths with Frár and maybe Náli's first great expedition, after the restoration of Erebor, was to join the mercenaries in retaking the Greydelve. This would give him the history and experience enough to catch the eye of Balin.

However, I didn't want it to be Frár the Beardless that went to Moria. If he survived the Greydelve, he would still be there enjoying it and protecting it. I wanted it to be another Frár, so I gave him a grandson. This Frár would be the one to join Balin's expedition because of his companionship and experiences with Náli. I will make Frár a member of Náli's band.

From the journal of Náli, titled Barâz-felak Náli or The Sacred Expeditions (or Delvings) of Náli...

______________________________________________________________

“It was November 27, 2956, on the third day of the second Council of the North in Esgaroth, that I, Náli the Red-hewer, accompanied King Dáin in the Great Hall to hear a petition from Frár I, son of Fráen, a mad Dwarf of the Narrows of the Grey Mountains. While he was speaking, I caught sight of his grandson, who seemed to be a downcast figure; lonely and uncomfortable, even for a houseless Dwarf, and I wondered what it must be like for him to listen to his grandfather demand help from the King Under the Mountain only to be turned away and dismissed as a dotard and told to have patience. An army is what he asked for, to take back his ancestral home—the Greydelve, a once magnificent citadel that produced the finest steel in the North. But the King could not be persuaded, for the Dwarf-hold had been long overrun by trolls and goblins, and the House of Durin had not yet the strength to reclaim it, nor did it possess the will, having counted it as lost without hope of ever returning.

When the final answer was given, the countenance of Frár II, son of Felgrom the Stonecutter, darkened even more and the last bit of light in his eyes faded as he perceived that his grandfather’s dreams were nothing more than that.

And then I knew what had to be done. A fire awakened in me and I determined in my heart that I should go unhindered to kindle a friendship with young Frár. I was a Longbeard, the favored nephew of Bofur, the famous Dwarf of Thorin’s Company. I knew what it was like to re-enter the rich Halls of a lost house. In those days, I wrought much to my honor when leading excavations into the Lower Halls and the Deeps of the Lonely Mountain. Each night, I enjoyed warm pillows and a comfortable bed in my lavish house in Stángard. Why should these exiled Dwarves be deprived of the same enjoyments?

That day, I pledged to Frár I, son of Fráen, my mattock and promised to speak up as often as I could, in favor of the expedition, no matter how many years it would take. 

Finally, at Yuletide in 2963, the King agreed to help and in early 2064, I joined Frár I and II as we traveled the breadth of Wilderland to hire adventurers and warriors to build an army. After months of recruiting, we marched to the Greydelve to finally reclaim it. Here follows a record of those times.”

______________________________________________________________

ᛒᚨᚱᚨᛉ ᚠᛖᛚᚨᚴ ᚾᚨᛚᛁ

Tell me what you think so far. In my next post, I will walk through my choices during character creation and upload a picture of my character sheet.

Solo Campaign: Barâz-felak Náli, Part 2

The Overture of Creation

Ainulindalë by ralphdamianiart.com https://artstn.co/pp/KelZX

“There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made. And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music; and they sang before him, and he was glad. But for a long while they sang only each alone, or but few together, while the rest hearkened; for each comprehended only that part of the mind of Ilúvatar from which he came, and in the understanding of their brethren they grew but slowly. Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1992.

I decided it was time to start reading the Silmarillion again, so I cracked open my beautiful hardbound copy of The Silmarillion Illustrated By the Author edition that I received for Christmas a couple of years back. The opening, titled the Ainulindalë: The Music of the Ainur is always so beautiful and intriguing. The following are some of my observations. 

First, anyone familiar with the Bible would have a difficult time not seeing Silmalarities...I mean similarities with the book of Genesis, an account of how God created the heavens and the earth. Tolkien named the Creator—Eru, the One. On earth, he is called Ilúvatar by the Elves, a word that means “All-Father” or “Father of All” in Quenya.

So, how are they similar? Well, here are a few of my unpolished ramblings. Feel free to post a few of your own.

It is traditionally accepted that Genesis was written in ancient Hebrew by Moses, somewhere between the 15th and 13th century B.C. The very first verse is translated, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Moses uses the word אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) for God. Interestingly, it is the plural form of El, which means God or mighty one. Of course, this does not mean Moses meant “Gods” or “Mighty Ones.” Rather, his grammatical use of the plural form with singular meaning was meant to intensify and emphasize the majesty and supreme power of God as Creator. Moses absolutely believed there was only One True God. He wrote in Deuteronomy 6:4 (English Standard Version—ESV): “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” By using Elohim, he was pluralizing God's majesty, if you will.

So, both The Silmarillion and the Bible begin with a Creator who is powerful and singular (One). 

Eru makes the Ainur from his thought, thinking them into existence, while Elohim makes the angels by his command. Psalm 148:2, 5 (ESV), “Praise him, all his angels... Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.”

Both the biblical account of creation and Tolkien's story tell about a Creator who places his will and purpose into his creation. For the Ainur, we see a calling for them to understand who they are and their place among other created beings. Ultimately, they were called to be in harmony with Eru and with the other Ainur. They were to sing the same music. Some—the Valar—were even to become sub-creators, creating and embellishing on what already exists.

The angels of the Bible have one calling: to praise their Creator and serve him as messengers to mankind.

Tolkien's story is not an allegory of the Bible, but it sings the same music by starting off with ‘the One’ Creator and the words ‘Holy Ones’ for his Ainur, or angels. And this is just the beginning...

Proverbs and Prophecies

Bilbo Baggins, according to Tolkien, was “mighty book-learned” and “he wrote poetry.” One of the great poems he wrote was about the Dúnadan, Aragorn. In a moment of annoyance at the doubts of Boromir concerning Aragorn's lineage, Bilbo bursts out the poem in support of Aragorn as the returning king and the one to wield the Sword of Elendil. His words included eight lines of poetry: four proverbs and four prophecies.

All that is gold does not glitter

Not all those who wander are lost; 

The old that is strong does not wither, 

Deep roots are not reached by the frost. 

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, 

A light from the shadows shall spring; 

Renewed shall be blade that was broken: 

The crownless again shall be king.

Of course, we read this poem and cherish it as one of the greatest written by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, but he writes that Bilbo himself didn't think it to be very good, but to the point. 

These days, I think that we could all use a few proverbs and prophecies that are to the point, to guide the way. Some of my favorites are from the Jewish King Solomon, the son of David.

He writes in Proverbs 1:20-21 (CSB), “20 Wisdom calls out in the street; she makes her voice heard in the public squares. 21 She cries out above the commotion; she speaks at the entrance of the city gates:”

Wisdom is public, it is not hidden or secret. Apparently, Bilbo got his wisdom from being “mighty book-learned.” Books are everywhere. If you can read or listen, you can find wisdom. And, for goodness sake, don't be so quick to judge a book by its cover! You never know what you'll find. If you can read the Silmarillion, you can read the Bible even easier. The genealogies are simple compared to Tolkien's giving of multiple names. Believe me.

Wherever men are, you will find the wisdom of men. Wherever God's Words are, you will find the wisdom of God. 

The city gates in biblical times were the busy places. The markets were conveniently located at the gates and all commerce flowed through them. Even the government leaders had their meetings at the gates. The teaching of the proverb is very clear: Be where the people are. Observe and listen. At the gates, you can see wise decisions and wise business dealings; but you can also see the actions of fools.

Even so, how to do we cut through all the commotion and confusion of fools to find true wisdom? Solomon gives us the answer to this at the outset of the Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:7 (CSB), “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

If we honor God's words first, and treat them as our standard for belief and conduct, it will help us to see past the mess of foolish ideas and behaviors we witness every day.

Wander on the paths of wisdom. Though it may seem to others you are lost, you are not. Your feet are sure and your time is coming. Let there be no doubt.

 

Note: CSB = Christian Standard Bible

 

The Sacred Duty of Being Creative

I haven't posted anything here for months. To those who have been paying attention, please accept my sincerest apologies. In fact, I haven't posted anything on this site since June, 2020. According to the stats, however, I think most of you come to this blog because of your interest in The One Ring roleplaying game, which is a good thing or I might not have any visitors at all!

Given that a vast majority of you are J.R.R. Tolkien fans, I try to keep most of my posts related to him in some way. This post will be no different.

Let me begin by asking you a couple of questions. When was the last time you really worked on improving your creativity? Did you know you have a sacred duty to be creative?

A couple of years ago I picked up a book called Caffeine for the Creative Mind by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield. It was during a time that I was re-discovering drawing again after a long absence. I wanted to start my creative juices flowing again and I needed some practical exercises to kickstart the process. The book did not disappoint. Not only was it filled with practical and creative exercises, it was filled with teaching about creativity in general. Very inspirational.

Here is a sample of the kinds of things taught in this book:

• Everyone on the planet is creative.
• The only difference between you and those you think are truly creative is execution.
• Creativity is a muscle.
• Creativity is producing something original which has value to others because it makes them laugh, cry, or think.

I named this Blogger site Advancement Points because my goal is to provide thoughtful content to anyone desiring to improve their life. One sure way of advancing your life is to exercise your creativity. Tolkien believed that we are all sub-creators; that we are a reflection of our Creator.  

In his book The Proverbs of Middle-earth (1981), Author David Rowe provides this take on the subject: 

"Tolkien’s original hope, to provide a mythology for his beloved but generally legend-free England, was far more than a quest for exciting stories. He believed that the creative process of myth-making is nothing short of a sacred task; that humans have a special responsibility to reflect their Creator by becoming sub-creators. As a result, Tolkien sought to bring into being an internally cohesive sub-creation, credible in every way; having the air of being well-worn and lived in, not fresh from the oven. When sub-creation is successful, the inner consistency of wholly fictional environments is so convincing, so real, that the imagination is enchanted and the reader under the storyteller’s spell. But this ambition (in Tolkien’s estimation, at least) could only be fully realised by the handcrafting of an entire world—from the minutiae of geology and regional flora to the dealings of characters and cultures over the course of millennia. Each intricately detailed leaf on Tolkien’s Tree demonstrates this tireless pursuit of depth and a convincing ‘inner reality.’ The Council of Elrond, for example, begins with an extended history lesson before showcasing a range of cross-cultural disagreements, all packed with authentic-feeling historical and anthropological detail (and not a few proverbs). Likewise, when Pippin corrects King Théoden’s Holbytlan to Hobbits the narrative is not advanced, but the exchange has an underlying etymological integrity that serves to provide (what Tom Shippey calls) the ‘illusion of historical truth.’"

As a result of these beliefs and unwavering dedication to them, we have The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. These are great works of sub-creation.

What sort of beliefs do you have about your own creativity and responsibility to create? What will you create next? Are you willing to work hard at it and dedicate yourself to it? 

I will end this post with a final comment about Tolkien. I have read many times that Tolkien struggled to finish The Lord of the Rings, "the new Hobbit." He began writing it in late 1937 and wrote in stages until he finished in 1949. Twelve years is a long time, but he didn't give up. With the encouragement of C.S. Lewis, he kept going. And even after he finished writing, he failed negotiations with Collins to publish it in 1952. Tolkien would have to wait until July 1954 before The Fellowship of the Ring was finally published by Allen & Unwin.

The lesson? Never give up on being a sub-creator and make sure you surround yourself with encouraging friends. You will need them!

Snapdragons!

Tonight, I am sitting up thinking about the future of The One Ring Roleplaying Game now that a new partnership has been formed between Sophisticated Games and Free League Games (Fria Ligan). I was highly involved with Cubicle7 Games, helping them at GenCon for many years, and just being a devoted fan, commenting on their forum until it came down, but then on BoardGameGeek for awhile. Now, I'm happy to report that Free League has started a forum for the game. It feels like going back home after a long while. In fact, the forum setup is very much like the old C7 one.

Enough catching up! Let me get to the point of this particular blog entry. It has to do with a word that Tolkien used in the opening chapter of The Hobbit, and that word is snapdragons.

"They used to go up like great lilies and snapdragons...and hang in the twilight all evening!"

Funny thing, for many years I have used the term "Snapdragons!" as an exclamation like one would say the word, "Shoot!" But, I never remembered where I got it from or what it meant...until now.

There's a great book I'd like to recommend to you by Oliver Loo called A Tolkien English Glossary: A Guide to Old Uncommon and Archaic Words Used in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. You can download it on Kindle for free here.


Here is the the definition of snapdragons:

A plant of the scrophulariaceous genus Antirrhinum, esp. A. Majus, an herb long cultivated for its spikes of showy flowers, of various colors, with a corolla that has been supposed to look like the mouth of a dragon.

That sounds like a pretty cool looking plant to me!

Tolkien's attention to geography and flora, especially, has always impressed and intimidated me. I'm no botanist and I feel very uneducated when it comes to the science of geography and ecosystems, etc. When I write, I have to study so much about flora and fauna and recently I found a website to help with this called iNaturalist.org. I highly recommend it to anyone writing adventures for The One Ring or Adventures In Middle-earth roleplaying games and you want to add some interesting descriptions to give your gaming sessions a more authentic Tolkienian feel. If anyone finds a geography site with land and water descriptions, please let me know!

Oh, look here! I found a picture of snapdragons. Beautiful.

The Terrible Battle of Five Armies

As many of my friends and readers know, I am a huge fan and contributor to The One Ring Roleplaying Game (see my page on this blog dedicated to unofficial materials I've created for the game). In my view, it is the greatest roleplaying game ever produced for a number of reasons that I won't jump into in this post, except to say that one of its greatest strengths is how it was designed around the source material: the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Cover art for The Battle of Five Armies board game published by Ares Games.

As I was thinking about how characters develop in a roleplaying game versus how characters develop in a novel, my thoughts turned to The Hobbit and imagined if Professor Tolkien were a Loremaster running a game of The One Ring based on that adventure story. Particularly, I imagined how he would handle the climactic battle at The Lonely Mountain. What would be his true focus and why? Would he set up hours and hours of rolling dice and testing the prowess of his players' weapon skills? In the end, would everyone go away exhausted, yet thrilled with the glory of battle?

Looking at The Hobbit critically, The Battle of Five Armies is perhaps the second most important event in the story, second only to Bilbo's finding of the One Ring; the defeat of Smaug is probably third. Yet, in a game of The One Ring, this battle would probably be handled best as a prolonged event in narrative time, rather than as an episode of combat round by round. This seems to be the way Tolkien treats the battle in his book as well. Rather than long and detailed reports of the action, he only gives us broad and general descriptions, leaving much more to the imagination of the reader.

Let's pretend the game is underway. Tolkien, the Loremaster, calls the battle "terrible" and then gives an overview of the situation: the history, the geography, and the importance of the unity between Elves, Men, and Dwarves against a common enemy.

Bilbo is a player-hero and his player grabs storytelling initiative to tell everyone his thoughts. He says that the battle is the most dreadful of all his experiences and he hates it more than anything else. Tolkien allows Bilbo's Merciful trait to keep him off to the side, where he remains "quite unimportant" in the battle at the moment and out of harms way.

Tolkien then retakes the narrative and describes the rocks as being "stained black with goblin blood" and that "many of their own [the goblins'] wolves were turning on them and rending the dead and the wounded." Their bodies "were piled in heaps till Dale was dark and hideous with their corpses." In general, he describes the Battle of Five Armies as being filled with blood, betrayal, and death.

Because of such anguish, Tolkien requires a Corruption test. Bilbo's player fails the roll and gains 1 point of Shadow. He says, "Misery me! I have heard songs of many battles, and I have always understood that defeat may be glorious. It seems very uncomfortable, not to say distressing. I wish I was well out of it." Because he plays his character's qualities well, Loremaster Tolkien thinks of a way to let him out.

Tolkien tells Bilbo he can see Eagles approaching. "The Eagles!" Bilbo cries, informing his allies. The player suddenly has hope that the end is near. Maybe the glory of victory will remove his misery. 

But that is not how Loremaster Tolkien decides to end it. Instead, a stone hurtling from above smashes into Bilbo's helm, he falls to the ground, and is knocked unconscious. When he finally wakes up, he is all alone lying on the flat stones of Ravenhill; no one is nearby. It is obvious that the battle is over and the victory has been won, but he missed it all. Tolkien says, "A cloudless day, but cold, is broad above you. You are shaking, and chilled as stone, but your head burns with fire..." 

Bilbo's player reveals his thoughts. "Victory after all, I suppose!" But the Loremaster reminds him that his head is aching. "Well, it seems a very gloomy business."

At this moment, the second most important event in The Hobbit is upstaged by an even more significant development: Bilbo's growth as a hero! 

You see, war is a terrible and gloomy affair, and the Battle of Five Armies teaches him that there is not much glory in either defeat or victory. Yet, long afterwards, Bilbo would recall the battle with fondness; he was proud to say that he took part in it. Certainly not because he enjoyed violence, but for the unity of the Free Peoples.

I'm not going to lie. I enjoy combat in roleplaying games. I like defending the good, the innocent, and righteous while vanquishing evil enemies. This is heroic to me. I see it as a form of compassion toward the weak and helpless. Tolkien, however, was a bit more familiar with warfare than I. If it were always so clearly good versus evil, he might agree with me. But, he saw corruption at various stages. He also saw that God could even use evil to bring about good. Therefore, we should not be so quick to kill, but to show pity. Look at how he treated Gollum.

All of this teaches me that roleplaying games do not have to glorify violence in order to be entertaining or satisfying. A change of focus to the heroic development of the characters and the overall advancement of good makes for a much deeper game than spending hours rolling dice and killing the bad guys.