Roleplaying game in Gondor - looking for advice

[johniemi]

I'm the Dungeon Master (one who "writes" the plot, designs the encounters & quests, storyteller etc.) for our Dungeons & Dragons game that takes place in Gondor. First of all, english is not my native language so some terms might be a bit off but rest assured, I am trying to use the correct Finnish terms in our game

I would like some help from the people who are familiar with Tolkien's works, so I wouldn't spoil the Middle-Earth experience. After all, why play Middle-Earth if it looks and feels just like a vanilla D&D campaign...

We started playing some days after Sauron was defeated. The players started out as adventurers who had been recruited as troops to defend Minas Tirith from Sauron and now their assistance is no longer needed as Sauron is gone... to make a long story short, they are now free to do what they want.

They have already traveled to Pelargir and confronted a local villain in the harbor but now I'd like to know would it be possible that someone tries to rebuild the Tower of Sauron in Mordor? It would be a great adventure for our group - maybe hire them as coach escorts to rebuild Mordor for men... only to find out that the cargo is going to orcs in Mordor who are grouping up again.

Also, would it be ok to assume that Moria is still inhabited by goblins? If yes, that's one new quest as well: help the dwarves clean up Moria. (The players have befrendied Gimli already).

What other monsters could I make up in Middle-Earth? I already have Uruk-Hai, Trolls, Goblins, Orcs and Wargs. Also planning to add some ghosts & wraiths as soon as the players level up enough to cope with them.

Just please give me some ideas what I could do and what not, while keeping the Tolkien world pretty much Tolkien-like. I have already made spellcasting rare compared to the standard D&D game, but that's about all so far.

I have read LOTR when I was a child and I have seen the movies so my knowledge is pretty limited.

What about dragons? Not that they would be ready for one yet but still... rumours could already be thrown at them of a great treasure and a huge dragon.

Also, I haven't decided about the Shire yet. Is it intact or has it been pillaged... Maybe the latter would be better to get an adventure hook in but... well, that's as far as my imagination has gone.

So please, any ideas or comments, even just one-line suggestions like "Maybe they could try to find Sting" or something like that would be great! The more ideas, the better, as then the players feel like they are in a "real" world with more choices than just "go east" or "go west"

-John