Monday, September 20, 2021

Meet Me in Middle-earth: A Party Game

Want to hang out with me in Middle-earth for a day or two?  Wouldn't that be an absolute dream?  Well, we can imagine we're doing just that, using the following to determine where we'll meet and what we'll do.  Share your adventure in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Location

Where do you and I meet up?  Your favorite warm beverage determines our adventure's location:

  • Coffee = Minas Tirith
  • Tea = Hobbiton
  • Hot Chocolate = Rivendell
  • Hot Apple Cider = Edoras
  • Chai = Lothlorien
  • Mulled wine = Moria
  • Other = The Lonely Mountain

Companions

Who else comes on this adventure with us?  The first initial of your best friend's first name determines our companions:

  • A-E = Frodo and Samwise
  • F-J = Merry and Pippin
  • K-O = Bilbo and Gandalf
  • P-T = Legolas and Gimli
  • U-Z = Eomer and Eowyn

Quest

What are we setting off to achieve today?  Your favorite movie genre determines our quest:

  • Action/adventure = Stop your half-brother from taking over the world with his creepy army
  • Comedy = Find the perfect location for a birthday party
  • Drama = Escort three weary warriors home and reunite them with their families
  • Fantasy = Rescue your intended spouse from the clutches of your rival
  • Mystery = Recover a priceless relic covered in fabulous jewels
  • Period Drama = Stop a greedy landlord from turning your parents out of their house
  • Romantic Comedy = Deliver a decades-old love note that got lost in the post office
  • Sci-Fi = Reunite you with your father and free your allies from an evil tyrant with his help
  • Thriller = Convince the authorities you are not an enemy spy
  • Western = Find the low-down, dirty skunk that shot your pa
(If your favorite movie genre isn't listed, just pick the one you like best from those options.)


Complications 

Naturally, our adventure has to have some complications and setbacks!  How many siblings you have (not counting yourself) determines how complicated things get:
  • 0 = We are attacked by giant spiders, but successfully beat them off.
  • 1 = We are pursued by a band of Uruk-hai for three whole days, until they get bored.
  • 2 = We lose all our food while trying to cross a fast river.
  • 3 = We almost get eaten by trolls, but are rescued by a friend at the last minute.
  • 4 = We get lost and wander around a swamp for two days before finding the road again.
  • 5 or more = We get sidetracked by hunting for treasure, which we find.

Resolution

How does it all turn out?  The time you went to bed last night determines whether we succeed or fail:

  • Before 9 pm: We succeed, and everyone lives happily ever after.
  • Between 9 and 10 pm: We succeed, but not all of us are happy about it.
  • Between 10 and 11 pm: We succeed, but we wish we hadn't.
  • Between 11 pm and midnight: We succeed, but you take an arrow to the knee.
  • Between midnight and 1 am: We fail, and you and I both get thrown in a dungeon.
  • After 1 am: We fail, and everyone dies.


Now just put that all together!  

For instance, I would meet up with you at Rivendell, along with Frodo and Samwise, and we would all set off to find the low-down, dirty skunk that shot my pa.  We are pursued by a band of Uruk-hai for three whole days, but they get bored and go home, so we eventually succeed, though I take an arrow to the knee and limp for the rest of my life.  Sigh.  Oh well, it could be worse!

Your turn! 

27 comments:

  1. I meet up with Gandalf and Bilbo and you in Rivendell and we ride off to find the low-down dirty skunk that shot my pa (the nerve of him, right?), but along the way we lose all our food in a river. We succeed, but not all of us are happy about it (especially not said low-down dirty skunk, since he is presumably dead, and not Bilbo, because we lost all our food and HOBBITS NEED FOOD).

    This brought images to mind of Gandalf in a cowboy hat, which cracked me up.

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    1. Sam, haha! You're right, Bilbo would not be happy about losing the food.

      Gandalf in a cowboy hat is definitely a funny image :-D

      Delete
  2. This is so creative and clever! Brava!

    You and I meet Frodo and Sam in Lothlorien. I don't know what exactly we're going to do, because you mightily overestimate my ability to decide on a favorite movie genre. (Although, I have to say, "Find the low-down, dirty skunk who shot your pa" cracked me up.) Whatever we end up doing, we get sidetracked by looking for treasure, and ultimately we succeed, but I take an arrow to the knee. C'est, they say, la vie.

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    1. Thank you, Olivia! It was great fun to create :-D

      Perhaps we have a combination adventure? Something like "Rescue your intended spouse from the clutches of your rival, a greedy landlord trying to turn your parents out of their house."

      Hooray for the treasure and success, but boo for the arrow. Well, we can't all be adventurers forever, I guess.

      Delete
    2. (Olivia -- that line is basically from The Sons of Katie Elder, only there, Dean Martin says, "Who do you think was the low-down, dirty skunk that shot our pa." I had to use it!)

      Delete
  3. On a cloudy day, you and I met up with Eomer and Eowyn in Rivendell so we can stop my half-brother from taking over the world with his creepy army.

    No thanks to my directions, we got lost and wandered around a swamp for two days before finding the road again. I said I traded the map from Samwise with my best berry pie recipe but the siblings merely raised their eyebrows at me but you petted my arm and grinned.

    At the end, we succeed but not all of us are happy - Eomer had a bruise in the middle of his forehead which I had told him twice, I'm only half clairvoyant. How would I know a tree would come and smack him in the head just because he stepped on some twig? And Eowyn got a twisted ankle when she tried to save my head from being chopped off. And you, my dear friend, almost lost an eye. I must apologized again for forgetting to call your name before throwing a sword at you.

    Suffice to say, I would really like it if my half-brother would stop trying to take over the world and get some therapy. His power-hungry tendency is getting out of hand!

    ~~~~~

    I sort of added a few things, if you don't mind. I really appreciate the effort in coming up with all the choices. This was a fun! Thank you.

    Have a lovely day.

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    1. Lissa, I LOVE IT! This is totally just a storytelling scaffold on which you can build a story, and that's exactly what you did. So fun.

      Silly half-brother! Maybe we need to find him a new hobby or a girlfriend or something?

      Delete
  4. We meet in Rivendell and are joined by Bilbo and Gandalf. We're trying to stop your half-brother from taking over the world with his creepy army.
    We get sidetracked by hunting for treasure, which we find.
    But we fail, and you and I both get thrown in a dungeon.

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    1. Bea, sigh. Maybe we can use some of that treasure to bribe guards and escape?

      Delete
  5. Such fun!

    You and I meet in Minas Tirith (yay!), where we are joined by Éomer and Éowyn (I just picked the characters I wanted because I've yet to find that elusive bff). We are tasked by Aragorn with escorting three weary warriors home to reunite with their families (probably Gondorian reinforcements who came to help Minas Tirith during the war). Along the way, we take a detour to search for buried treasure, and we find it! We divide it up among the three warriors because their families are going to need it after their husbands/fathers have been away from home for so long. We eventually return the warriors to their families, but secretly some of us are sad that we have to break up the team. We bonded so much looking for that treasure! 😁

    Sounds like a blast.

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  6. Ooh fun!

    It would appear that we meet up in Hobbiton with Bilbo and Gandalf to stop a greedy landlord from turning my parents out of the house. SOMEHOW *glares at my 7 siblings* this deceptively modest quest turns into a hunt for treasure, which we... find... but not all of us are happy about it??

    Moral of the story: I should have gone to bed before 9pm last night for the sake of plot cohesion xD

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    1. Katie, those must be some very... talented siblings? to turn a rescue-the-parents jaunt into a quest for treasure. Hee! Some of these can get very odd if you combine them...

      Delete
  7. ALL RIGHT. Fourth (or fifth?) time's the charm! (I hope.)

    You and I meet in Minas Tirith (yay!), where we are joined by Éomer and Éowyn (I just picked the characters I wanted because I've yet to find that elusive bff). We are tasked by Aragorn with escorting three weary warriors home to reunite with their families (probably Gondorian reinforcements who came to help Minas Tirith during the war). Along the way, we take a detour to search for buried treasure, and we find it! We divide it up among the three warriors because their families are going to need it after their husbands/fathers have been away from home for so long. We eventually return the warriors to their families, but secretly some of us are sad that we have to break up the team. We bonded so much looking for that treasure! 😁

    Sounds like a blast!

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    1. Eva, I'm so glad it FINALLY worked!

      I love this. Giving the treasure to the warriors and their families. So perfect.

      Delete
  8. Okay let's adventure!

    We meet up at Rivendell with Merry and Pippin in tow, because, hello! No adventure without them. We're looking for my long lost dad because my friends and I are having some serious beef with these tyrants that just can't take a clue. Because we have Merry and Pip along, we totally lose sight of what we're doing and end up looking for some buried treasure (no dragons involved in this one) and we get lucky and rich. We eventually get back to the original business of disposing of the tyrants, which goes better than expected, except I end up with a knee injury from a stray arrow, but that really doesn't matter too much since my knee already gives me issues from time to time.

    This needs to happen for real (minus the arrow)!

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    1. Far Side, that does sound rather fun! Aside from the knee injury, but hey, treasure!

      Delete
  9. We meet up in Rivendell for a nice spot of tea before our adventure. Then meet up with Frodo and Sam, what fun traveling companions! We set off seeking my long lost father, and find him trapped in prison. Upon freeing him, we become lost in the swamp and wonder around for days. Eventually we escape and overthrow the tyrant. Although not all of us are happy about this.
    What a fun game!

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    1. Pages to Remember, sounds like a successful adventure! Even if some of us aren't happy about it... maybe some of us liked the swamp?

      Delete
  10. I meet up with Merry and Pippin in Hobbiton to stop a greedy landlord from turning my parents outside of their house. We get sidetracked by hunting for treasure, which we find. We succeed, but we wish we hadn't.

    That was so much fun! It makes good writing prompts too, in a way you get a general storyline and then go back and flesh out the story with your own ideas.

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    1. Ivy Miranda, my goodness, Middle-earth certainly has gotten cluttered up with greedy landlords of late. I'm glad a lot of treasure is getting found, though! I wonder why we wish we hadn't managed to stop your parents from getting turned out? Maybe we found a better place for them afterward, but then they couldn't break their new lease...

      I do like coming up with these, and seeing how all the different combos go in different directions. Kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure, but with less choosing.

      Delete
  11. So fun!

    Mine is Edoras with Frodo and Samwise, a result I love!

    What if I don't have a favorite movie genre? I like several of these, but only one or two of my favorites belong to each genre. :) So, I shall pick my favorite adventure.

    I choose to escort the three weary warriors home to their families. </3 My kind of thing.

    Oh no, the Midgewater Marshes! Why are adventures always miserable in reality, while you're having them? "Get off the road" was only the right thing that ONE time.

    I guess it's a dungeon for me, and I deserve it, cause I'm trying to go to bed earlier, and haven't gotten to bed early enough. SIGH. I'll take my just punishment.

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    1. Mary H., Midgewater Marshes and a dungeon? Yikes!

      Picking your favorite adventure instead does work. Or I suggested to someone above that they could combine two adventures for two genres they really like.

      Delete
  12. So fun! And very creative as well!

    We meet up in Lothlorien with Eomer and Eowyn, to stop my half-brother from taking over the world with his creepy army. (I didn't know I had a half-brother! I obviously haven't been paying attention. XD) We get lost and wander around a swamp for two days before finding the road again. (Luckily, no one gets lured into the bog by weird lights. This time.) We ultimately succeed, but wish we hadn't. (What does that even mean? Would it've been a good thing for my half-brother to take over? I have so many questions. XD)

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  13. This is awesome. I love these style games.

    We meet in Rivendell with pretty much most of the Fellowship: Frodo, Samwise, Bilbo, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli to deliver a decades-old love note that got lost in the post office. We get sidetracked by hunting for treasure, which we find. We succeed, but we wish we hadn't because it turns out the love letter belonged to the Sackville Bagginses.

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  14. Okay, here we go:

    We meet in Hobbiton after a terrible detour through Edoras (don't ask me how this happened), with Frodo and Samwise to stop a greedy landlord from turning out the parents. Due to terrible navigation skills, we get lost in the swamp for two days until we find the road again. Unfortunately, we failed and everyone died of starvation as we attempted to find our way back. Whomever was the navigator deserved to be fired, lol.

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  15. All of these stories are so fun. Let's see what mine is like:

    We meet in Hobbiton and join Frodo and Samwise (yeeesss!). We set out to rescue my intended spouse from the clutches of my rival (wait, what?). Unfortunately, we lose all our food while trying to cross a fast river (at least we are not attacked or get lost). Eventually, we succeed but we wish we hadn't because I changed my mind and decided I don't want to marry him anymore (I'd rather marry Frodo to be quite honest).

    Nice enough. 😄

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  16. (I filled this out a few days ago, but forgot to post it. If I had waited until I had time the quest would've turned out very differently...but then again, since then we would've all been dead.)

    My favorite friends, Bilbo and Gandalf meet me in Lothlorien, where I have been enjoying a fall summer day. That refreshed me enough for us to be ready for the epic quest we have been assigned: Escort three weary warriors home and reunite them with their families. They have been with me at Lothlorien and I hope the peace of the elves and strengthen them for the remaining sojourn. We get sidetracked by hunting for treasure, which we find. It gives our companions the needed boost of confidence to get home, as we succeed, but I take an arrow to the knee. Which should hurt me to the core, but I have a morbid interest in seeing a real live arrow that they all know I've gone off my rocker.

    (I love all the references in the movie genre thing!).

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