I was going to bump up the last Lord of the Rings party thread but it is long (starts on 8/13/04). So, in the spirit of the Return of the King Extended Version coming out on video soon, I am trying a new party of 4:

Gimli, fighter dwarf, using axes only but perhaps shield with Beastslayer
Froda, rogue hobbit, female version for stamina
Legolas, ranger elf, building senses
Gandalf, bishop human (he can heal so not just mage)

I have left out Aragorn, Boromir, Sam, the elf queens, etc. But they could be in another 4-party of your choice. Or you can do 5 or 6. (You don't hear much about 5-parties).

They are lev 12 now and are pretty strong. Will probably go for Beastslayer for Gimli since it is one-handed and better than his ranger's axe. The Blades of Aesir may be his final one.

Froda is using thieves dagger and Bloodlust currently. I guess daggers only would be better. The stealth from her invisibility from the Ring is a stretch.

Gandalf, although not human, sure looks like one. I made him bishop instead of mage because he does do some healing. In the books he does blinding light, heal, probably some banish, and others I can't think of.

Let us know if you are currently playing one, or parties based on other books.

Edit: made Froda's sex consistent (that is not to say constant!)

[ 11-29-2004, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

I started one a while ago based on Bartelby the Scrivener. He's still standing on the beach.

How about Peter Pan? There could be Peter as an elf ranger perhaps (but no flying sure will hurt), Tinkerbell as a faerie bishop, that leaves whats her name...is there a profession that has no talents? Not such a good idea... Maybe she could be a bard without instruments or weapons?

More seriously, i did do the film, Conan the Destroyer, with Conan as Fighter on Sword, Malak as Thief on Daggers, Akiro as Bishop (i didn't remember what he cast in the film, so i just went all the way) and Zula as a non-casting Monk with a staff. It was pretty fun, but a lot like a couple other parties i'd run before it, just this time with all Humans.

I've got a LotR party somewhere in the swamps, probably level 12/13 as I remember buying level 4 spellbooks from Crock. Haven't played them in months, always something new to try.

At the moment doing a 'non-magic' party of Mook Fighter, Dracon Rogue, Hobbit Bard and Gnome Gadgeteer. Strictly speaking it's not a non-magic party, perhaps a non-spellcaster party is more accurate.

Anyway, I digress. My LotR party:-

Aragorn Human Lord (probably should have been Ranger.If I ever restarted, he would be) (Sword)

Gimli Dwarf Fighter (went with Axe naturally)

Legolas Elf Ranger (dual Stilettos)

Frodo Hobbit Rogue (dual thieves dagger as there's no shortsword which could do as Sting, or whatever his sword was called)

Boromir Human Fighter (Sword)

Gandalf Human Bishop (Staff)

Some give or take as I don't remember Aragorn or Legolas ever casting spells but two additional Portal spells was too much to give up. Did try to convince myself that Sam could be a Bard or Gadgeteer but couldn't.

Thought about Galadriel and Aerwin but couldn't decide what to make them. Thought Galadreiel may be a Psionic because of that incident in the film with Frodo which may have been mind altering in a sense. What do you all think?

Zig, I would do a foursome if I restarted as I'm finding parties of 6 too much. Last few parties have either been solos, threesomes or foursomes.

Your foursome looks fine to me though. Tempted to try it myself.

[ 11-30-2004, 07:25 AM: Message edited by: Krull ]

I hear you, Krull. I started a 6 a month or two ago and lost interest. Got spoiled by the danger element os small parties. I may still go to six to try out some extremely weak characters, although sometimes you can sneak one in on a four party. I really like alchemists, for example, but they offer minimal protections. One idea I may try is one strong meleer and 3 pure casters.

Yes, foursomes are challenging at the beginning but awesome at the end compared to parties of six. If a party had the same amount of experience I'm unsure what level you would reach if a party of six as opposed to a party of four.

Assuming that you ascend, say, at level 23 for the party of six? I would guess probably three or four more levels for the foursome?

I did a LoTR a while back. I consider it a LoTR movie party, as it was based on what the characters were like in the movies, whether or not that was the same as the books (which I haven't read in some time).

Gimli. Dwarf Fighter, Burly Scottish voice. Switched between dual axes and one two-handed axe. I think he ended up with the Ripper.

Boromir. Human Fighter. Chaotic or Aggresive voice, the one that says, "What do ya want? If it moves...I can change that." Since he was slighted whacked in the head. Started out using sword and shield like in the movie, but after a trip to the depths of Mt Gigas he got the Sword of 4 Winds, my favorite Sword from Wiz 7 (I didn't say the best, just my favorite). He had Demonsting and Dragon Kite as back up weapons. And he "did the deed" with Al-Sedexus.

Aragorn. Human Lord. The "By my honor" voice. I can't remember what weapons he used, but I'm sure it was some sword plus Diamond Eyes. The way he was portrayed in the movies was a lot more Lord than Ranger, afa W8 classes are concerned. He did show some healing and undead commanding abilities too.

Legolas. Elf Ranger. Laidback voice that talks about making the muddied waters clear. Used whatever the best bow available was, and I think backed up by a sword/wand or sword/dagger combo which he hardly ever used.

Frodo. Hobbit Rogue. Eccentric voice that has a theory about something unseen in all things seen. Maybe not the most appropriate but it was amusing. Mainly used dual thieves daggers.

Gandalf. Mook Monk/Bishop/Samurai. Intellectual voice that boasts about his superior intellect. Someone else on this or the VN board pointed out that G wasn't human, he was an Istari(?) that could reasonably be represented by a Mook. I also didn't want him to start off as a wimpy bishop, and eventually wanted him to be able to use swords like he did in the movies and books. I did about 5 levels of Monk concentrating on the Stealth (so he'd be better of than a wimpy bishop), Staff (no martial arts), and crit, then on some psionic spells (he was represented as doing a lot of mind control and mind healing in the movies). Then he became a bishop and branched out into divinity and a little bit of wizardry (hey, he does say he is the keeper of the sacred flame.) Finally, after about 10 levels of bishopry, he became a samurai. He used staff of doom, giant's sword, and finally bushido blade and wand of frost.

This incarnation lasted longer than the first 2 (the first were killed when I tried to take them into the Mtn wilds to soon. I thought I could outrun the monster but the firebreathers do too much dmg and you CAN'T OUTRUN FAERIES and there are ALWAYS fairies on the Mtn Trail when you try to go back up. Ahem. The 2nd danced on the bar at Heli's, fell behind the bar, and couldn't get out without attacking Heli--#$*& unforgiving IronMan.), but I think switching Gandalf to a Samurai was what did them in since it dampened his spell-casting ab ilities. I knew it probably wouldn't work but I wanted to try anyway. They were killed on Ascension Peak by the Rapax Princes' horde, with assistance from 3 of those uber-elementals, Tempest, Tsunami, whatever. I actually thought that more of those appeared due to something I did, but I think now they were just a random encounter that appear as the same time as the Prince.

I used to back up all my games due to the bug that can cause you to delete when you're trying to save, so I still have a save of them about to go into the Wilderness Chapel/Temple. It's fun to review them but I don't think I'll go back and complete the game. I have to say though that it is the most fun game I have that ended in tragedy!

The LoTR party I ran some time ago consited of:

Aragorn - Human Lord (he can heal hence the Lord choice)

Gimli - Dwarf Fighter (axes of course)

Legolas - Elf Ranger

Samwise - Hobbit Rogue (short sword, he wound up with Fang)

Gandalf - Human mage. I hadn't really finished all the books so was unaware of his healing capabilities until later. Chose the Gnome Graphic of the white haired fellow smoking a pipe naturally.

Frodo - Hobbit Samurai. Mainly to get the Light Sword to similate his glowing sword and so he could wear a Gown of Divinemail (U) to simulate his mithril shirt. He was allowed only to learn the portal spell (simulation of putting the ring on and moving about invisibly) and Shadow Hound since he seemed to have an uncanny knack for detecting approaching trouble.

I got them to a point where they could have gone for the Destinae Domnius but couldn't bring myself to don scuba gear since it was so out of context with the story. Now if they'd had a water breathing spell or something like then maybe. But scuba gear is just too modern for this group. [img]smile.gif[/img]

The LotR party I used was:

Aragorn--Human Lord--Loner voice "Great"
Gimli--Dwarf Fighter--Scottish voice
Legolas--Elf Ranger--Laidback voice
Frodo--Hobbit Thief--"By my honor" voice
Gandalf--Gnome Wizard--Eccentric voice. I made Gandalf a gnome since their portraits look the most like Gandalf.
Galadriel--Elf Psionic. I added her because I wanted a female and she had telepathic abilities in the book and movies. By being a Psionic, all four schools of magic would be covered.

"Chose the Gnome Graphic of the white haired fellow smoking a pipe naturally." Yeah, that's of course what I used for my Mookie Gandalf.

Well, my newest party just got 86'ed, so let's (i.e., please let me) talk about some of my parties who haven't been (or haven't yet) been killed.

The only actual party that I imported from W7 (apart from the parties that I created and partially ran in W Gold just to import them--yes, you can import a lvl1 party and they get to level up to 5; nevertheless, they're not as good as a genuine imported party), was the last party that I had run on my parent's computer. It took a lot for this party to get imported; it took me a couple of tries to import them by disk, and when I did import them they didn't show up in my import screen!

I was perplexed, I figured I must have messed something up when I installed an editor, until I realized that I had downloaded all the new files into my backup save folder.

Anyway, here is the story of my import party of hybrids and elites (with some exceptions).

#1 Likme, after whom the IM game was named, the Lizardman Fighter. "Me Fight." In W7, this guy had been a Ninja, a Lord, and probably several other things before reverting to a fighter, which is what he was throughout W8. He used a Bipennis, until I got the Staff of Doom. Normally this goes to a magic user, but this was a party of hybrids and non-m.u.s. I looked at the dmg bp did and sod did, and suddenly Likme became a staff master. Planted in the middle of the party, he was able to attack anywhere, doing about a 100+ dmg per strike, with multiple status effects. That formed the later party setup. Likme died twice, once from a death cloud.

Moomoo was my Faerie Ninja. "Ze great 'unter." Not bad til he got the CoC, then, well you guys know how that goes.

Holly was my Ranger (Human, wi' th' awrite mate, I know wut's wut). Despite being in the rear, she had the max deaths, 8-10. She might also have had the max crits, and she was the one kidnapped by Crock. (Usually my Samurais get kidnapped, so I considered this a mark of honor for her.)

Pherra was my Felpurr Samurai. "I am allergic to blindness!" In her middle career she wielded s St. Batard and after the Likme Enlightenment 2nded a Bo (then Hayai Bo, then Flame Staff). She was part of the central staff-bashing group.

Fenris was my Rawulf Lord. He played around with an imported Bec de Corbin, which he surrendered to Vi when he took up Bloodlust. He became the foremost spellcaster in the group.

Last, #a##ie, his name is a curse and can not decently be printed, he started out as a Faerie Monk, but since I never had used the Faerie armor, he became a Rogue and then a Samurai. This was one case where triple role-change worked out pretty well; however, he had the 2nd greatest number of deaths.

There were two highlights about this party. The first was trying to take the elevator from the Rattkin tree to the Trynnie forest and having it fail. 5 out of 8 party members dead. Ouch.

The second was forming the Extended death center. More on this later.

--

One of my extant parties that I haven't played in a while is the "Weapon Club," 6 Dracon Fighters each specializing in a weapon proficiency. I did this because I wanted to have someone who would use every class of cool weapon.

Another is the "Loser Crew." I started this before I saw the contest on Lanastashia's site; basically I wanted to run a crew of characters who were really unsuited to their jobs. I have a Faerie Lord, Dracon Monk, Dwarf Ninja and Lizardman Bishop. So far they are doing OK, but somebody dies in almost every fight. I also chose the voice for them which I would never use normally. Annoying, but when I hear, "This'll be rough. BRING IT ON!" it makes me smile.

Hi folks, this is my first message to this great forum. I am actually still awaiting the arrival of my Wiz8 copy so I haven't played it yet, but the more I read here the more excited I get about finally receiving it! Anyway, I wonder whether any of you people has actually tried a Lord of the Rings party as it shown in the second movie, i.e. a party consisting of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (whatever classes you end up giving them). No Gandalf in there! Any chance that this party would make it?

If it's your first time through the game, I would strongly suggest a full party rather than a small one, both because it's difficult the first time through, and because you'll want to experience as many of the different class/race combinations as you can early on... but your trio idea would definitely make it! I know Krull thought that in his party, Aragorn should have been a ranger, but I actually think making him lord is closer to his character in both the books and the films, even if it's not technically the correct title for him. I also think Krull had the right idea making Gimli a dwarf fighter and Legolas of course an elf ranger! This would be an extremely difficult party to ascend your first game, because with your casters being hybrids you'll be very slow to gain healing spells and magic protections, so you'd definitely be better off imagining that it's a bit later in the story when Gandalf arrives at Helm's Deep. Although Gandalf appears in human form, he's really an Istari, but I guess you can still make him human anyway, and probably a bishop would be most appropriate. I might try this myself!!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I know this is heresy but I thought Lord of the Rings turgid. Read it while I was at school and again when I heard it was being filmed, but still didn't enjoy it.

Couple of years ago, in the UK, it was voted the greatest book of the 20th Century so what do I know?

Anyway, the Istari were, I believe, immortal wizards? So they weren't men as we know men? Checked a LotR website but it isn't clear what they are.

From the same website, under the subject heading of Strider (Aragorn): "A nickname given to Aragorn II Elessar by the people of northern Middle-earth (as for example at Bree) during his time as a Ranger."

Mind you he did become: "King of the Reunited Kingdom from 1 May III 3019" so he could be a Lord.

Anyway, how are people's LotR parties going?

Back when The Two Towers came out in theatres, Salman Rushdie published an article describing Tolkien's language as "stilted... with deliberate archaisms..." so you're in good company with that opinion, Krull, though Rushdie does remain a fan of the books, and the films as well nonetheless... Most definitely, I wouldn't vote it best book of the 20th Century (that honour should probably go to either Joyce's Ulysses or Nabokov's Pale Fire, if you ask me).

Anyway, The Silmarillion gives only a limited account of the origins of the Istari, so I would imagine you'd have to go pretty deep into the histories that Tolkien wrote to find the kind of detail that's provided in the online Encyclopedia of Arda:

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/g/gandalf.html

Here, you'll see that Gandalf is one of the ancient Ainur race, and is very, very old (he arrived in Middle Earth in the year 1000, and didn't even meet up with Bilbo until the year 2941!!!). Probably a good thing the Gandalf you'll play in Wiz 8 won't suffer from the old Wiz 7 aging system, eh? I'm sure this is more than anyone needs to know about this stuff, but couldn't resist... Cheers all!

[ 02-08-2005, 02:35 AM: Message edited by: Sinteuil ]

Thanks Sinteuil

That's the same website I used. Yes, I enjoyed the films and have both the videos and extended versions of the films. As for the Silmarillon I found it unreadable becuase of the style it was written in.

Here's the link to the 'Big Read' where people voted their Greatest Books of the 20th Century.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

Ulysses in 78th place? I think not.

Here's an alternative list with Ulysses in 4th place, much better.

http://www.hylandmadrid.com/libros/en/20th_Century.htm

(Edit: typos)

[ 02-08-2005, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Krull ]