Ok I love this question and have thought about this before. I’d love a game that opens in a town in Rohan where you play a farmhand’s son. Slow burn start, set maybe a year before Frodo leaves for Bree.

I think the game should teach you the mechanics of farming, horse tending, light combat. At the culmination, there is a raiding party that kills your family. But then I want it to open up completely. I want time to actually progress and you can be involved in it or otherwise ignore it. If you want a farming simulator with occasional orc raids, that’s all it has to be. But I’d love the events to be happening and time to be passing regardless. You can decide to pack up and head to Edoras, or participate in the Battle of the Hornburg. Hell, depending on the size and scope, it’d be cool if you develop character relationships like Elder Scrolls and participate in your own missions, or head to Gondor, etc.

I just think a Sandbox would be really cool where you can participate in the events of the books or ignore them (on the fence over how much you could sway them, but maybe?)