Starting a PBeM...any ideas???

Do I recall Frodo in FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING sitting on the Seat of Seeing where he viewed smoke rising from war on the borders of Lothlorien?

Was this from Orcs assembled from Dol Goldur? Perhaps bands from Moria might also have been assembled by flying Nazgul. One remained as a captain of that assault, no doubt. By bringing in contingents from Moria, cave trolls, would be included... Fortunately, by this time, the Balrog had been defeated by Gandalf.

The Elves of Mirkwood, along with Men of Dale and Dwarves of the Kingdom under the Lonely Mountain fought against Easterlings, I think. Perhaps more orcs from the Misty Mountains and Mount Gundabad. Doubtless, another Nazgul was in charge here as well, perhaps the one who was emissary to King Dain seeking for Bilbo.

It may be that up until the battle before the gates of Minas Tirith, the dark clouds that blotted out the light of day will have covered most all of Middle-earth east of the Misty Mountains. That cloud will have lifted after the battle, but the war in the North would continue until the Ring falls into the Cracks of Doom.

You may have to work from a chronology to develop a timetable for these events, which would have to take place shortly after the Fellowship left Lothlorien.

1. The Fellowship departs.

2. Gandalf returns.

3. The Fellowship is broken. (At this point the attacks on Lothlorien & Dale must have begun.)

4. Gandalf is borne to Lothlorien by Gwaihir. (Which means he arrives as the war against the Galadrim is underway. This is not much discussed.)

5. War gathers in Isengard.

6. Merry & Pippin meet Treebeard.

7. The Hunters meet Eomer and then Gandalf.

8. Isengard falls.

9. Gandalf & Pippin speed to Minas Tirith.

10. Aragorn takes the Paths of the Dead.

11. Rohan musters.

12. The siege of Minas Tirith.

13. The Battle at the Fields of the Pellanor.

14. March to Mordor.

15. The Ring is destroyed.

16. The enemies are routed.

I'm also away from my book shelves and I can't remember anything in any more detail than that right now. But that is pretty close to the sequence of events, I think. The war in the North, is hardly mentioned and might be fertile ground for adventure.


SOME EXTRA THOUGHTS:

With the Balrog gone, and if the Orcs from Moria are summoned to the siege of Lothlorien, might not Galadriel recall some great weapon or talisman of power locked away in the lower treasuries of Khazad-dum? Could there be something that might help them against Dol Goldur? Perhaps something from the past of this particular Nazgul. Perhaps something forged by Narvi and enchanted by Celebrimbor, something which evil cannot abide. Something they for some reason, perhaps caught unawares, did not use against the Balrog. (Which would account for the Balrog leaving it alone where it lay and for why it was unused and unrecovered.) Gandalf said that these treasuries were not likely to have been plundered by the Orcs. Of course, there are many old and terrible things down at the roots of the Mountains, not to mention renegade Orcs who might also think of the (hopefully) now unguarded treasuries...