

Your Own Dark Master
A review of Against the Darkmaster: The Classic Game of Fantasy Adventure published by Open Ended Games, Inc.
https://rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2025/03/your-own-dark-master.html
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Merp
« Saruman Pondering His Palantir », 1988
by Angus McBride (British artist, 1931-2007)
Cover illustration for "A Spy in Isengard", Middle-earth Quest gamebook #1 by Terry K. Amthor, Iron Crown Enterprises, 1988
#vintagefantasyart #fantasyart #fantasyillustration #AngusMcBride #thelordoftherings #jrrtolkien #middleearth #thehobbit #Saruman #Palantir #Isengard #lotr #ttrpg #frpg #merp #MiddleEarthQuest #gamebooks
RPG character?
A somewhat anorexic hobbit mage with little affinity for cooking, merriment, or magic—but an eye for useful magical knickknacks, one that will eventually let her channel lightning with shocking results. She is able to see through the eyes of her Raven familiar, but that compact cost her ring finger. The raven ate it. What hobbit man would marry someone every hobbit calls a witch behind her back anyway? On the road, she uses the elven name Nertë, which means nine, but the spiteful call her Nazgûla, which also means nine but is a reference to The Nine, specifically the nine ringwraiths. She's not very scary in face or expression, and some call her cute since if you ignore her hairy feet, she seems like a short teenage daughter of humans. Her hair is flaming red.
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@kyonshi It also helped that "Iron Crown" is literally a Tolkien reference, and their pre-MERP line was very Tolkieny, including uber-powered 3 flavors of Elf. The One Ring is not just some rando artifact, but the kind of magic item you can and would make in the alchemy system (giant spell adder, with some fixed spells/day).
I prefer their Loremaster/Iron Wind and Shadow World settings, and full RoleMaster rules, but the off-map MERP stuff was great.
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