The Last Alliance has an article on making Mallorn Trees — those huge trees amongst which the elves live in The Lord of The Rings. The idea is that the trees are so large — and their branches so high that only the trunks come into play in a game.
Now, I don’t have much use for Mallorn Trees, but it occurs to me that the same technique also could be used to make the trunks of trees in, say, the Brazilian rain forest. You could use some of those Copplestone pygmies and Amazon explorers.
Wendy’s — yes, the fast food chain — has released an RPG free for the downloading: Feast of Legends. From the description:
You are adventurers in the realm of Beef ’s Keep, where the nations have been splintered over major disagreements in how to treat the realm’s people. Creepingvale and the United Clown Nations have led their people into a collective darkness known as The Deep Freeze. While the world currently feels like a cold and desolate place, you reside in the one nation that remains a true beacon of hope: Freshtovia.
Creepingvale has a creepy king with a paper crown …
The Savage Worlds role playing system has attracted the attention of a lot of miniature wargamers becuase it is so easily usable as a miniatures game. There’s even a free subset of the role playing rules called Savage Worlds Showdown, designed specifically for miniatures skirmish.
Here’s a free expansion for Savage Worlds for playing Lord of the Rings Skirmish Games.
Here’s a downloadable playsheet for Games Workshop’s Lord of the Rings game.