Post-Modern Fellowship, Part II

A while back, I posited running the parties from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings through a standard D&D setup.  I had more thoughts on the subject, but evidently never shared them here.

Shortly after that thought, I had a better one: run each party through the opposite scenario.  So 4 halflings, 1 magic-user, 2 fighters (one of whom may be a ranger if the rules support it), 1 dwarf, and 1 elf go traipsing to the Lonely Mountain to slay a red dragon.  In the sequel, 1 halfling, 1 magic-user, and 13 dwarves head off to Mordor to destroy the Dark Lord's soul jar.

Admittedly, a baker's dozen of dwarves singing songs and generally being burly badasses while delivering the Ring to Mordor sounds like the much more entertaining setup.

Over on Google+, I evidently came up with two other variations.  The first: The Hobbit party is going to reclaim the lost dwarven homeland, but it turns out the lost dwarf homeland is the Mine of the Elephant in Qelong.  The second: The Hobbit party is headed toward the Lonely Mountain, but it was no dragon that expelled the dwarfs.  Instead, it was an evil cult, and apparently, the men of Laketown arose and slew the cult about fifty years ago.  No one climbs that cursed mountain, known to the locals as Mount Deathfrost, although one Bard Dalecaster lives about halfway up the summit.