[Someone here PM'd me suggesting that I post this here as well as on RPGnet so I'm going to be posting a number posts just to bring things up to date].

Lame title, I know, but I thought I'd have a stab at this Actual Play malarkey. I'm not one for fanfic so this actual play will be more about the game and I'm guessing will therefore read like a crazed combination of a scenario write-up along with what actually happened in the game. I'll be working from memory/notes so it will probably be found wanting in areas where other APs shine, but I'm going to give it a go anyway! Encouragement will therefore be more than welcome along with any tips as well!



So, deep breathe and onwards we go!

The Gaming Group
We have a regular gaming group that gets together once per week (preferably Friday evening) round at my place of 4 players + 1 GM. We pretty much take it in turns to run games but we do play a game for a significant amount of time before we move onto the next and often go back to games we've previously played in order to return to campaigns that we've left at a good stopping point. We usually start at around 7 in the evening and finish at around 10; so get 3 hours gaming per week. Not much, but pretty good considering the commitments of adult life!

We have me (Rich) and 4 other players: Neil, Rick, Colin, and Vinny. We're all in our mid-30s to early 40s and have been role-playing for decades - that doesn't necessarily mean we are any good, but we enjoy our gaming!

I presented the group with two games that I wanted to run - The One Ring and The Laundry, and I proposed that we'd spend a couple of sessions generating characters and then decide which one the guys wanted me to run. Interestingly, there was in general more enthusiasm for The Laundry beforehand but after being introduced to the two systems and character generation that was completely turned on its head! So, The One Ring was picked; which I was happy with as I really wanted to run it being so enamoured with the system and the game in general.

Of the players, Neil's a big Tolkien fan as am I (but not as much as Neil). Rick has never read the books and dislikes much of the films (happily the bits that deviate from the books). Colin is reading LotR for the first time (as we speak he's about halfway through). Finally Vinny is a bit of a dark horse - he's read more than I have regarding the novels but I probably claw that knowledge back from reading many of the ICE books as a kid.

Campaign Outline
I'm pretty much going with the standard setting as laid out in The One Ring rulebook. So, in other words, set 5 years after the Battle of Five Armies (TA 1946) and dealing with the brief peace and then the further Darkening of Mirkwood. I was therefore open to pretty much any character race and background although I would prefer more characters of Men (ie, Barding, Beorning, and/or Woodman) than other races to make them feel more prominent. That was only a loose preference though as the struggle against the Shadow would bind all races together.

House Rules
I have made slight modifications to the RAW and I'm using additional house rules created by others and myself, but rather than list them here I will outline them when they first become significant (ie, are used).

Character Generation
I pretty much always generate characters as a group/at the same time. For me, it helps in discussing themes, character blends, background relationships of characters, and so on and so forth. Character generation took place in one session where I also gave the players an overview of the rules and the campaign.

The guys created the following PCs for their Fellowship:

Iwgar, the Woodman (Player: Colin)
Iwgar is of lean build, not powerful, but strong enough to survive the rigours of life in the wild. His straw coloured hair is worn shoulder length and a trimmed beard adorns his face. He has a ready smile and tends to a relaxed expression, though he is not comfortable when in social situations. His clothing is hard wearing, comfortable and usually rather worn and patched as well as wearing leather armour, round shield, and cap with nose-guard for protection. He arms himself with long-hafted axe, dagger, and spear. His hound companion, Wulf, is never far from his side and though only 28 summers of age, his skin, like that of many Woodmen is showing signs of the many days spent in the Wilderland – ruddy, tanned, and weather beaten.

Equipment worn: leather shirt, cap of leather, medium round shield, long-hafted axe, spear, and dagger.

Preferred pose*: I really like the woodman pictures on p66 of the AB and p110 of the LB, so was thinking of something along the lines of crouching by the side of his hound, looking off into the distance, axe lying on the ground before him while he rested an arm upon the shield at his side.

Thogrim Stonehammer, Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain (Player: Vinny)
Thogrim is a sturdy young dwarf dressed in his dead father’s mail hauberk, full helm, and the rich well made clothing usual for his race. Lordly of appearance, his beard is brown with hints of red and blonde in it. He has a fine white scar running down his cheek from near the corner of his left eye (a trophy from the battle of five armies). He has a few other scars on his body from odd skirmishes, but nothing significant. Thogrim has forged his own long-hafted axe and wields it with pride. He is in the process of engraving the axe head with his family history and an account of his exploits. The part of the axe head near the haft is engraved with its name in Khuzdul; “Felakrakhas” (Hewer of Orcs).

Equipment worn: mail hauberk (dwarf-wrought hauberk), full helm, long-hafted axe, throwing axe, and dagger.

Preferred pose*: make him look as Dwarvish as possible! He should be holding his full helm rather than wearing it though, that way we get to see his features – and scar!

Brand, Man of Dale (Player: Rick)
Brand is a Northman of noble origin and envoy of King Bard. Tall and strong-limbed with black hair not usually encountered among his folk and unlike others of his kind he wears a beard and wears his hair slightly longer than usual but still shorted than the Woodmen of Wilderland. Brand wears the livery of his king with pride over his chain shirt. Skilled with words as well as sword and bow, Brand is fair spoken and adventurous.

Equipment worn: mail shirt, longsword, great bow with quiver of 12 arrows, and dagger

Preferred pose*: Standing slightly side-on but at an angle so you can still see most of him, hands resting on the pommel of his longsword which stands point down before him, he looks intently towards the viewer.

A note on the name: Yep, Brand is the grandson of Bard. I said earlier that Rick hasn't read LotR and he picked the name as a bit of an in-joke between us as I GM'd Amber years ago with him and others (Brand was the main antagonist in the Amber books). I have an idea of making his character somewhat important and eventually a man of high standing with Bard and his son (Bain) - who eventually names his son after Rick's PC. I think that'll be a nice surprise for him should the idea work out in play.

Gilbrannon, Wood Elf (Player: Neil)
Gilbrannon is of the Woodland Realm ageless in his looks, he stands tall (approximately 6’1”) and is slim and lithe of build. He has piercing blue eyes, long white-blonde hair, fine features, and often appears glum and quiet of aspect. He dresses in the woodland greens and greys of his people – his clothing is well maintained and presented but is of an elegant simple cut rather than rich in apparel.

Equipment worn: mail shirt, sword, bow with 2 quivers of 12 arrows, and dagger

Preferred pose*: facing the viewer, staring directly towards them, his bow held in front and across him with arrow notched and string ready to be drawn.

*As a little bit of interest, I've commissioned Jon Hodgson to do some colour art of the four characters so these "preferred pose" descriptions are a bit of a guide for him as to how the players want their characters to look.

House Rules Used
Used some house rules with regard to the base spread of Common Skills for some of the races the players picked. Specifically:

• Dwarves - changed Riddle from 2 to 1, Battle from 1 to 2
• Elves - changed Athletics from 3 to 2, Travel from 0 to 1, Hunting from 1 to 2

GMs Thoughts on Starting the Campaign
Having read through the scenario included within the Loremaster's Book, The Marsh Bell, I felt that the bigger and more interesting story was the background as to why Balin was travelling the Wilderland - ie, who was taking a message from King Dain to the Eagles inviting them to attend the festivities marking the victory in the Battle of Five Armies later in the year. I felt that based upon the Cultural Background's, Traits, and so forth that the players had chosen for their characters it would be more appropriate that they were involved in such a mission. I still wanted to test the rules though and give the players an opportunity to make mistakes without killing their PCs so I came up with the idea of them accompanying Balin on his journey along the Old Forest Road to the Eagles' Eyrie rather than going the Marsh Bell in isolation. I'd be able to crib from that scenario for the initial part of the journey and build from there on.

Adventure 1: To Journey's End and the Eagles' Eyrie

• When: The Company undertake this adventure in Early Spring of 2946 before November’s upcoming Gathering of Five Armies
• Where: Esgaroth. Travelling along the Old Road, through Mirkwood, the Vale of Anduin, and to the Eagles’ Eyrie
• What: King Dain and King Bard seek adventurers to aid Balin in taking a message to the Lord of the Eagles inviting him to attend the Gathering of Five Armies
• Why: Balin has been asked by King Dain to deliver the invitation to the Lord of the Eagles and under advice from Gandalf the Grey he also has requested that representatives of the free peoples accompany the Dwarf
• Who: Gloin (representing King Dain and King Bard) is the quest-giver, Balin is a travelling companion, and Gwaihir, the Lord of Eagles

A Note on Attendance
Colin was away for the first 3 or 4 sessions so his character would not be present at the beginning.

Session 1 – Summary
The content for this first session was pretty much lifted from TOR’s introductory scenario, The Marsh Bell, with a few tweaks here and there to tailor to our gaming group and the slight change in focus – ie, accompanying Balin rather than searching for him. Generally the session related to:

• Summarising the game system for the players
• Getting the PCs together and entrusting them with the mission
• Setting off on their journey

I’m going to divide this session into two parts due to size!

Session 1 (Part 1) – Many Meetings
It is the Third Age of Middle Earth the year 2946 – five years after the defeat of Smaug the Golden and the victory of the free peoples of Wilderland in the Battle of Five Armies. It is now early spring and Wilderland and its people are again waking from their winter slumber.

Gathering the PCs
The player characters find themselves in two groups:

• Gilbrannon is fishing in a stream under the eaves of Mirkwood close to his home
• Thogrim and Brand are spending some time together in Dale, walking through the spring market, Brand amuses himself looking at the many toys created by the skilled hands of the Dwarves

It is sometime during the day when each of them is contacted by one of the feathered messengers of the Dwarves of Erebor:

• A raven alights upon a tree branch and informs Gilbrannon that he is requested to attend an audience in Esgaroth with Glóin son of Gróin who speaks on behalf of the King Under the Mountain, Dain II
  
• Thogrim and Brand are informed similarly by just one raven (they are clever enough to see they are together), the other flying off to spend some free time fighting crows!

From TOR, Loremaster’s Book:

Lake-town is a free city, where adventurers hailing from different places come in search of opportunities to make their name. In addition to Northmen of all extractions, Elves and Dwarves are a common sight, as both the Woodland Realm and the Kingdom under the Mountain have interests in the city. Even Hobbits may come to Lake-town without raising too much of a commotion, as strange sights are becoming the norm, with merchants from the south and east bringing their wares into town with increasing regularity.

A Meeting with Glóin
Gilbrannon, Brand, and Thogrim arrive in Lake town and make their way to the residences of Glóin, who is often in Esgaroth on the king’s business for several weeks every year. His home is a rich mansion close to the town-hall.

Glóin’s servant welcomes the PCs to his master’s hall and bids them wait within one of the mansion’s reception halls. There, the characters meet again, with the players describing their character’s appearance, demeanour, and so forth.

After the PCs have greeted each other and asked about their recent exploits they are joined by Glóin in the reception room.

From TOR, Loremaster’s Book:

Glóin emerges from his private quarters, wiping ink from his fingers with barely contained impatience (his duties in Esgaroth keep him busy with a lot of paperwork). Glóin is 163 years old, an accomplished veteran who likes to consider that his adventuring days aren’t over yet. He usually wears rich white clothes, or clothes of different colours with white trimming, matching the hue of the two points of his forked beard.

Although somewhat hurried, Glóin is courteous to his guests and enquires as to their health and news from their travels. Thogrim gives an account of his Orc hunts, Brand his errand in the name of his king, whereas Gilbrannon wisely avoids discussion of Thranduil and his halls and focuses on the trade and rebuilding of Esgaroth. After the characters share their experiences, Glóin informs them of the following:

“My cousin Balin son of Fundin has left the Lonely Mountain with two companions. He is to personally deliver a letter, a formal invitation from King Dáin Ironfoot to the Lord of the Eagles for the coming Gathering of Five Armies, an important meeting to be held later this year. He plans to go south along the Running River, on order of the King Dain and King Bard to investigate the conditions of the Old Forest Road, traverse it with the possibility of establishing it again as a trade route now that the threat of Goblins has been greatly reduced.”

Glóin hands them a piece of parchment with the route that the King requires them to take – ie, along the Old Forest Road.

“You must have important friends, for you have been requested to accompany my cousin as envoys representing the Free Peoples. But beware; the lands through which you will be travelling are perilous. Not much is now known about the Men-i-Naugrim and even with the departure of the Necromancer from Dol Guldur in the south of Mirkwood many dangerous and foul creatures may still stalk these lands.”

As the heroes have won Glóin’s trust, or more accurately have not committed any grievous transgressions/faux pas, they are officially tasked to accompany Balin and represent each of their free peoples. Glóin also states that they should look to visit the Woodmen and Beornings in order to give them an opportunity of representation when meeting the Eagles’ of the Misty Mountains. Glóin provides them with papers permitting them to purchase boats from the Lake-men. He also gives to Thogrim enough money to purchase enough Cram for 2 weeks travel for 6 people.

Glóin informs the company that Balin is staying at the Red Dragon Inn.

Balin and the Red Dragon Inn
The Red Dragon Inn is found close by to Glóin’s residence, the company finds it easily – all of them knowing Lake Town at least fairly well; especially the more well to do parts. Upon arriving they are met by the proprietor and ask after Balin, introducing themselves and that they are expected. They are escorted to the dwarf’s private chambers (a sitting room with a bedroom off of it). Expecting them, Balin warmly greets the PCs pouring them wine after they make their introductions.

Balin is an old looking dwarf with white hair and beard and after their introductions he discussed at length with the characters plans for the journey ahead, the dangers, and the invitation to the Eagles. Its here that Brand mentions Glóin’s (hidden) worries – Balin dismisses it with a wave of his hand; “He’s worried about me – thinks I’m too old to still be running around adventuring with youngsters like you!”

During the conversation, Balin’s travelling companions, two young Dwarven brothers (Barrak and Torrun) return from purchasing provisions for the journey ahead. Member’s of the Dwarven Iron Guard, Insight tests quickly show that Barrack is somewhat aggressive in his demeanour showing a barely concealed dislike (hate?) of Gilbrannon and his kind, whereas Torrun seems to be more considered and restrained in his interactions.

During their discussions Balin agrees to act as the company’s guide (with a Travel rating of 4), with Barrak and Torrun volunteering as look-outs (Awareness ratings of 3).

After initial discussions and planning of the journey were concluded, the PCs excused themselves in order to procure their own supplies from the market place of Esgaroth. While there, they acquired:

• Cram – 2 weeks supply for 6 people, using the money given to Thogrim by Glóin
  
• Using the letter of notice given to them by Glóin, they purchase a boat with swan head prow for the journey ahead
  
• General travel supplies
  
• Gilbrannon (with great foresight) purchased an extra quiver of 12 arrows for the journey
  
• Brand showing some inspired thinking purchases items that could potentially be given as gifts to those they may meet on their journey… For Beorn he purchased 3 pots of honey of differing flavours brought by merchants from far-off Dorwinion. In addition he acquired two sets of hunting/skinning knives as gifts for Beornings or Woodmen they may meet along the way

On returning to the Red Dragon, the company hire rooms for the night before meeting the other dwarves in Balin’s quarters where they eat a late dinner and retire early in order to rise before dawn. During the dinner, Barrack (under his breathe) makes one or two thinly veiled insults towards Gilbrannon and elves in general. Noticing this, Thogrim waits until later when only he, Barrack, and Torrun remain before challenging the young dwarf about his behaviour. Thogrim makes it clear that insulting Gilbrannon is the same as insulting him!

Next: Session 1 (Part 2) – Along the River Running

Session 1 (Part 2) – Along the River Running
Note: This part of the journey is pretty much as it was within The Marsh Bell.

The company rise in the early hours of the morning to begin their journey south. It is a fine crisp spring morning with the chill of winter still hanging in the air as the dwarves, man, and elf head towards one of the jetties in southern Lake Town where their boat is moored. The boat is a wooden, round-bottomed skiff allowing for up to eight rear-facing oarsmen, led by a coxswain (Balin in this case) coordinating their efforts and steering the boat with a side rudder.

The companions have decided to follow Balin’s intended route so they will enter the Long Marshes, trying to reach the point where the Old Forest Road exits Mirkwood and encounters the Running River, taking them through or near swamps and bogs.

From Esgaroth to the Stairs of Girion
A mist hangs across the great lake as the company begins their journey.

It takes a day to cover the fifteen miles that separate Lake town from the southern end of the lake, close to where its waters pour out over high waterfalls (their loud roar can be heard slowly increasing in volume as the adventurers get nearer to the falls). The company decide to disembark on the western shore of the lake, where several wooden piers jut out from the shingles. There, a number of huts huddle close to the lake and fires can be seen twinkling in dusky evening.

These are the homes of the Lake-men that sometimes serve as porters for the Stairs of Girion.

From TOR, Loremaster’s Book:

The Stair of Girion is a paved portage trackway, built long ago by the Lake-men with the help of Dwarven masons, allowing for the swift transport of boats and their contents from the lake down to where the Running River resumes its course beyond the falls (or up to the lake from the river, for boats coming from the south). Entire boats can be loaded on wheeled carts that are then pulled along grooves dug into the paved trackway.

As they disembark from their boat they are greeted by two young porters who introduce themselves and tell them to leave their boat there for the evening and join the men at their camp. It is evident that they are excited by the sight of adventurers daring to go south on a boat.

The company introduce themselves and are quickly accepted by the Lakemen.

During the evening, one of the Lakemen called Nerulf, an older man who apprentices the younger ones speaks in a low voice:

“If you go south in the marshes take heed: tread lightly and fear the gallows-weed...”

The camp grows quiet but the silence is soon broken by Balin who recites the following while smoking from his long clay pipe:

The Shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink,
And slow and softly rings their bell,
As in the slime you sink.

You sink into the slime, who dare
To knock upon their door,
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.

Beside the rotting river-strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the Gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.

Over the Merlock Mountains a long and weary way,
In a mouldy valley where the trees are grey,
By a dark pool´s borders without wind or tide,
Moonless and sunless, the Mewlips hide.

The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With single sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold.

Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip;
Their feet upon the floor
Go softly with a squish-flap-flip,
As they sidle to the door.

They peep out slyly; through a crack
Their feeling fingers creep,
And when they´ve finished, in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.

Beyond the Merlock Mountains,
a long and lonely road,
Through the spider-shadows,
and the marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of
hanging trees and gallows-weed,
You go to find the Mewlips
and the Mewlips feed.

After reciting the poem, Balin smokes and talks at length of his adventures and his old friend Bilbo to anyone who will listen, musing that he really should pay him a visit sooner rather than later.

We finished the first session on the quiet musings of the old dwarf as he talked to the PCs long into the cold spring night...

Next: Session 2 (Part One) – Into the Long Marshes...

Session 2 (Part One) – Into the Long Marshes
At early morning the company wakes and the porters help them carry their boat down the Stairs of Girion and to the stone jetty beyond the waterfall. Water vapour rises into the air from the fall making the air wet and all around them a sheen of water covers the stone of the stairs.

Beyond the Stairs of Girion, the company row south into the Long Marshes.

The terrain along the river vale is flat and fenny, and a dense fog hangs across the land and the river. They make good progress, Balin expertly guides them along the winding course for the river waters are fast in spring due to the winter snows and ice melting in the distant mountains and flowing into the river.

During the journey, Gilbrannon attempts to catch fish in his small net but does’t succeed – a combination of the fast current, their moving boat, and cold day accounting for his failure.

Entering Mirkwood
As the company are making better progress than usual on their second day of travel since leaving Esgaroth they enter Mirkwood as the river curves back on itself under the eastern eaves of the forest. The shadowy canopy of the wood seems to silence the sounds of nature, from the buzzing of insects to the chirping of birds and a feeling of disquiet falls upon the whole company.

Torrun mutters and moans stating that they should never have come this way and Brand cannot help but agree with the Dwarf!

The boating becomes more difficult, as dangling branches and submerged roots make for unexpected obstacles but they expertly traverse the river and its hazards.

Torrun points out to Thogrim that he has seen movement near the western bank of the river and thinks they are being followed.

The company travel for a couple more hours before they spot higher ground on their right and decide to finish travelling the river for the day and make camp.

Balin’s Camp
The camp is a patch of dry land rising to the west of the river course, a few miles north of where a stream descends from the Mountains of Mirkwood to join the River Running.

Balin asks Torrun and Barrack and Gilbrannon and Brand to scout out each side of the camp and make sure there is nothing untoward. While the two groups go about their scouting, Thogrim prepares camp, preparing a fire while Balin wanders off to see if he can catch some fisheses.

Scouting the Land
As Gilbrannon and Brand make their way through the forest, patrolling the perimeter of the camp and beyond they come across a pool of still, stagnant, water. Dancing across the surface could be seen ghostly wisps of flame...

Brand is fascinated by the magical dancing lights, and he tries to get closer. Gilbrannon on the other hand, somewhat away from Brand, spots his companion approaching the pool and dashes towards him. Dragging him away it is as if Brand is pulled from a light slumber. Gilbrannon quickly tells Brand that the ghost lights are dangerous Corpse Candles and they should leave this place.

Fish for Supper
Upon their return, Balin and Thogrim are already preparing a couple of trout to supplement their trail rations. They are not exactly plump, somewhat lean to be truthful, but Balin states they can be stewed and drunk as a soup that will warm them during the night.

As they all sit about the fire, Gilbrannon tells of the encounter with the Corpse Candles and it is then that the quiet of the woods is broken as a great creature charges through the forest towards the camp.

Next: Session 2 (Part Two) – The Stone Troll...

Session 2 (Part Two) – The Stone Troll
Breaking through the line of trees stumbles a large misshapen Troll; its hulking figure covered in welts, lichen, mud and reeds while it swings a club above its head and moans in delight as it lays eyes on the many dwarves before it.

The company turn to face the Troll, quickly organising themselves and drawing axe, sword, and bow!

As the Troll closes slavering at the thought of fresh meat, the company throws axe and looses arrow...

Thogrim lets fly his throwing axe, missing, while Gilbrannon looses an arrow from his Elven bow but it bounces harmlessly off the creature’s tough hide. Brand holds steady, aiming with his Great Bow at the Troll. The arrow flies straight and true, thudding deeply into the brute’s torso.

A great roar goes up among the Dwarves, “Baruk Khazad”. Battle is joined!

Thogrim give a great shout, charging towards the Troll. Balin flanked by his two companions Barrack and Torrun warily avoid the Troll’s large club as they look for an opening. Brand draws his longsword, striking at the creature, while Gilbrannon readies another arrow.

The Troll roars in pain and swings his club towards Thogrim landing a fierce blow!

Thogrim reels from the blow as the Troll’s club strikes him square in his armoured chest. Rolling away, the dwarf attempts to lessen the blow.

Thogrim rises to his feet, bruised and muddied, but very much alive!

Brand charges forward, standing between the Troll and his battered companion.

Brand shouts a cry of denial and thrusts his longsword upwards and between two ribs, it is a deep and deadly blow and sees the Troll reel and fall, crashing to the ground.

Victory to the Free!

Next: Session 2 (Part Three) – The Elf Patrol...

Caught up now, folks. Feel free to post comments and questions if you want - this is still a discussion thread of sorts even if the majority of postings will be by me.

Would be possible to get a copy of the Stance sheet you have pictured above? I'd like to present that to my LM; it would help to eliminate confusion.

Its on the resource page put together by Jon Hodgson: http://www.voidstate.com/rpg/voidstate_one...ance_mat_v1.pdf

The one that I use is slightly different as it includes extra manouevres from, I believe, some guys' houserules on here. Forget who... James Brown or maybe someone else.

A very interesting read!

Cheers guys. I'm going to post some more over the weekend - assuming I get time.

Can I come and play at your house?

LOL. That *would* be *@#{\'~ awesome! All my players (and me) can't wait for the pictures by the way... And you're more than welcome if you wanted to come round and game - maybe a guest appearance one Friday night! I doubt we'd get any gaming done - Rick alone would talk to you about drawing all night!

Thanks! I think this will be really handy in our games.

Does TOR actually have stats for The Wind Lord in your Adventure #1 or did you cobble them together?

"Reduce the length of the journey by one day (to a minimum of one)

• Allow one character to automatically pass one Fatigue test.

•Reduce the TN of all Travel rolls made by one character by one level, (eg. from moderate to easy)"

Where are the above points in the books?

Reading the first posts now and I wish I had my Cave Troll painted before I played the Marsh Bell with my players! Great idea to use them!

Didn't really need them - you'll have to wait to see why...

P154, AB.

Ta! Have lots of gorgeous figures to use...

I got some 40k ready but I think it would be a weird environment with them lol.

I'll make my players travel to the Eyrie too tomorrow and wondering how would you play out the Gwaihir part? Will you introduce him or will some other NPC welcome them? How will you play Gwaihir? Any ideas for his social encounter?

Okay, here's part eleven of my adventure: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/79541775/The%20Eag...%27%20Eyrie.pdf

It was geared up to the party introducing themselves to Landroval and then Balin being carried off to meet Gwaihir but it may have things you can use.

Wow very cool stuff with pdf and pictures with TOR style. I loved it!

In my campaign we don't have Balin with us and players are delivering the gift themselves after they saved Balin in Marsh Bell. So suppose they failed in the social encounter with Landroval what do you suggest I do? Heroes return to Balin and he is angry with them or something else?

Depends on if you want your game to allow for the potential of failure or not, but yes, a refusal by the Eagles' wouldn't be out of the ordinary. Maybe its a question for a new thread though and not this one though, if you want to discuss it with others and in more detail? I'll add more thoughts to such a thread when I get time.

Sounds like an epic TOR experience! I would join Jon Hodgson on the Friday guest appearance, if I'm allowed


Amado A.

Thank you for sharing all this! That's a bunch of work in itself, but very helpful to everyone that takes the time to read.

Thanks for the support chaps, its very much appreciated. I haven't forgotten about updating this but the last couple of weeks or so have been a bit mental with regard to work so I've not had time to post here, nevermind add to this AP. I'm going to try to do so over the weekend.

Hi Rich H

Enjoying the AP. Keep it coming. I'm running The One Ring at the Furnace convention soon and it's helping me get back into the spirit of the game.

Cheers

voidstate

Hi, Rich H!

Great stuff and a great read! BTW, the quoted link is dead, at present.

Too, didn't this thread originally contain a photo of your using terrain and miniatures, too? I came looking again today and now can't seem to find it. If it's in another thread, would you direct me to that thread?

Do you have any feedback on using terrain and minis that you might share? When I ran a d20 Middle-earth campaign, I used an extensive amount of terrain and miniatures (hundreds of GW LotR minis ... most, unpainted ... 2 GW Helms Deep sets, a GW Minas Tirith set, a GW Castle, ruins, rocks, hills, trees (I use HeroScape trees), ponds and rivers, Legos (I've the new LotR stuff I want to try), WizKidz LotR minis, and rebased Sabertooth LotR minis. Although I love TOR, I sometimes miss using the terrain, et al ... my players seem to as well as they asked at the end of my latest session (last Saturday) if I could try incorporating them back into the game. They want the terrain and stuff but don't want d20 ... they like TOR too much! That's a request I can live with! So, if you can give any sage advice/insight, it'd be appreciated.

Yeah, I'm afraid I deleted it once the original poster asking about it had read it/taken a copy, due to space limitations.

This one: http://cubicle7.clicdev.com/f/index.php?tr...&showtopic=3520

I tend to use such a thing as a visual aid to easily explain the overall situation of the encounter rather than using it to resolve any individual tactical elements, that way I maintain the 'abstract' element of TOR's combat rules which I really like. The miniatures and terrain are really there to support this rather than replace it with a more tactical representation, so the players use it to understand the overall lay of the land and the disposition of opponents etc but don't use it to 'bean count' movement, or who gets to flank attack who, etc.

Just wanted to mention that I cannot help with the Eagle's Eyrie, I don't have a copy of that one. Maybe someone else has access to a copy and can post a link?

I, too, would love a copy of the adventure. As it sounds a bit more interesting than The Marsh Bell.

If you're worried about space you could upload it to Mediafire or another of those document storage sites.

The Eagle's Eyrie bit that I linked earlier was just part of the adventure - its much larger than that. I could post it but there's a lot of information/scenes that I lifted from the Marsh Bell and the first adventure in TfW, Don't Leave the Path as neither of those were particularly suitable for my campaign as a whole but I particularly liked some of the scenes. So, if I posted the adventure I'd have to remove such bits and then is it worth it because there would be sections missing from it, etc.

I'll have a look and see what it comes out like.

I understand.

Would you be willing to e-mail it as opposed to posting it? If not I understand.

... Not in the current format (ie, with bits from the Marsh Bell and TfW), as that would still be impacting on C7's copyright. Like I say, I'll have a look at producing an edited version and posting it here - it will page reference elements of the adventures I've used within it but should make sense to those who have copies of them.

Rock on. That would be super helpful.

I'm getting ready to run my first game and I didn't really feel either The Marsh Bell or Don't Leave the Path were quite Meaty enough.

So I'll probably start with Words of the Wise to introduce them to some of the characters and the concepts.

But I really like the idea of the trip to the Eagles.

So you said you incorporated some of Don't Leave The Path, how does your adventure tie in with the rest of TfW?

It uses the encounter with the Mad Hermit - I just placed it off the Old Forest Road and had it as part of an encounter with a Huorn.

When the PCs are finished at the Eagle's Eyrie they have a number of options to go with regarding the other adventures within TfW as they are within the Vales of Anduin so could easily run Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit afterwards, for instance.