Elen sila lumenn’ omentielvo!

So I’m gearing up to run my first AiME (and first 5E) game. I plan on making liberal use of the printed material but I also want my own spin on stuff.

Here is what I am envisioning; the players will sort of be the last great heroes, with the exception of the Fellowship. Sauron knows that the day of his return to power and renewed assault on Middle-Earth is imminent... and also he knows that the Valar will not contest him directly, fearing to further mar Arda in another war of the Great Powers. Thus he puts forth one of his most vile schemes; to raise some of ruined Beleriand from the sea.

Sauron would have several purposes in doing this; despite the sack of Nargothrond there may yet be hidden vaults devised by cunning Felagund, that withstood even the waters, and concealed treasures brought even out of the Blessed Realm. He may also look to earn truly the name of Necromancer, and set out to locate and use the bones of Ancalagon the Black or the hames of Draugluin or Thuringwethil or the corpse of Carcharoth to resurrect (in lesser fashion, for his might is less than Morgoth Bauglir) these horrors of the Ancient World, and break the Children of Ilúvatar forever.

What I’m looking for are suggestions!

In my head, I can make this a sandbox, open world style series of adventures. I’d love to hear ideas for Tolkien-setting-appropriate enemies, ideas for encounters and plots and epic story (perhaps even finding the graves or Beren and Lúthien?), as well as fell servants of the Enemy that may be encountered.

I have some basic ideas, such as Sauron launching an assault on the Grey Havens to distract from his forces finding where some of the legendary places of Beleriand lay, and the magic of Sauron interacting with echoes of the might of the Valar to create a sort of “mist”, one that in some places makes it seem that the heroes have stepped into the past... perhaps into fabled Gondolin, to watch and participate in it’s fall and the saving of a remnant of it’s people.

I’d love input and ideas! Especially on how best to match up what I want to run with some of the lore from the Legendarium.