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Hi All,

I'm after a bit of advice but maybe just opinions on what you'd do is a more accurate description though.

As I mentioned in this thread (http://cubicle7.clicdev.com/f/index.php?trk=cubicle7&showtopic=3520#) my current TOR campaign is on-hold due to the personal problems of one of the players. As I don't like running games when people are missing we've decided to start up a Hobbit-only campaign for the other 3 players (plus LM, me) set around Bree and the Shire, called "Three's Company".

Now, I was going to set it at the same time as my main campaign (ie, 2946 TA onwards) so that it ran parallel to it but I'm not too sure... I'm now wondering if there's a better time frame than this - later in the Third Age.

I like the idea of the campaign running parallel but if I set it later then there's potential for the characters from LotR to be alive and old enough to allow for interaction. For instance at 2946 neither Merry, Pippin, Frodo, Sam, Barliman, Aragorn, etc are born or at an age to potentially interact with. But depending on your point of view that could be a good or bad thing!

One of the players character's is a Brandybuck so the hobbits from "Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit" are probably his brothers. If I set it in 2946 then they are running the inn but if I set it later, after the Darkening of Mirkwood, I could put some sinister foreshadowing in this side campaign for the main one, with rumours of trouble at the inn and terrible things happening over the mountains.

So, what are peoples' opinions? What would you do? When would you run it? Any random thoughts? Any and all opnions greatly received!

Ta,
Rich

Have you considered a post Lord of the Rings game?

You could start it when Saruman arrives in the Shire with Wormtongue and takes over.

Rumours of his arrival will take a little time to reach Bree.

Eventually, Frodo and company will arrive, leading to the Scouring of the Shire.

And when the Scouring is over, there will be clean to deal with and a few groups of 'Ruffians' to hunt down.

That's only a short campaign of course, but hopefully your normal campaign will be on hold for only a little while.

The three Hobbit player-heroes, are they the same characters in the campaign on hold while you wait the return of your missing player?

The reason I ask is this. If they are the same characters, then it might be interesting to set your Hobbit campaign slightly before the current, on-hold campaign. This campaign, then, offers the opportunity to tell the exploits of three intrepid Hobbits who accidentally or providentially find their way over the Edge of the Wild. In essence, i would make this a prelude campaign. Starting at Bree is brilliant. The first Fellowship Phase, that is the kick-off of the campaign might an opportunity for your players to narrate how they left the Shire and arrived at Bree. Maybe, the Hobbits for "Of Leaves" might have sent a letter to their brothe urging him to join the in this new land of opportunity. The other two Hobbits, needing a holiday joined the adventure.

In Bree, what should have been a simple stopping point to provision for the Journey east sets in play some intrigue so that the expected holiday becomes something more...

The Hobbits that arrive in Wilderland presumably at the beginning of the on-hold campaign are a little wiser for the prelude.

Just a general idea that would need detailing out, but...

Regards,
E

I thought about it and that was one of the reasons why I'm considering setting it later in the timeline. My only concern with it is with regards to the PCs being overshadowed by the returning hobbits and also that I have no idea how long I'm going to need to run this for so would rather go with a period of time without such well known key events locked into the timeline.

No, completely different characters.

... Considering the comments I wonder if there's mileage in setting it around 17 years before the beginning of the War of the Ring - the time between Bilbo's farewell party and Frodo leaving the Shire? I could set it just before the party and go from there. At such a time all the NPCs are established and have clear objectives and also it would allow me to eventually start developing the plotline of Lotho Sackville-Baggins getting caught up with Sharkey's ruffians, etc.

Rich H,
I think setting it pre-LotR is best. It allows the game to be both social (meals and conversation go together and Hobbits do love their meals) and adventurous (as the area experiences a "Darkening" as Saruman's forces start trickling in, Angmarim expand, various creatures start infiltrating at the Bounds, etc).

It would be a much lighter campaign to start, particularly while in the environs of the Shire and, to a lesser extent, Bree. However, it would change drastically once outside of these protected lands (Bounders and the hidden guardianship of the Rangers).

Bree works better if you want to run a more adventurous campaign. The Shire if you want to start slow and make things more social / role-playing. Either way you can eventually move to Bree as a central adventuring hub. It is probably the best local hub in Eriador for multi-cultural campaigning and should work excellently. Particularly if you then start branching out into other Eriadoran Sanctuaries (Rivendell, Blue Mountain Dwarves, Gray Havens, etc - maybe even a semi-Sanctuary in Tharbad). It all depends on where you are focusing your game.

I don't know if you've played LotRO, but their approach to Hobbit characters seems about right. Starting in the Shire, these characters begin with a bunch of relatively harmless quests with little or no real reward (Treasure wise), but they do earn various bits and pieces of adventuring gear along the way. They help with broken wagons, lost shipments, wolves, capturing chickens, harvesting crops, shooing off giant flies, decreasing the neeker-breeker population, etc. Which is about as difficult as the Shire can get - if you want to comply with canon. In the process though you could do a lot of social stuff. Meeting the inhabitants, maybe gathering skill & trait related knowledge, etc.

It won't take long for the characters to want more dangerous fare and this allows the changeover to Bree. At this point you begin running more of a normal setting tone (ie, not as happy/bright as the Shire, but maybe not quite as dark as a Wilderland campaign). Again, this is mostly to comply with canon as even Bree wasn't a threatened until after the first skirmishes (Amon Hen and later?) of the War of the Ring was underway.

The only thing that gets awkward is that you have to limit the use and knowledge of the Rangers. Otherwise the characters might reveal that Rangers are good folk; something that Barliman (and therefore Bree) doesn't know and I doubt the Shire does either. Maybe using encounters with the odd individual, but not a concerted effort by Rangers or any reliance upon them as saviors (as per Gandalf in the Hobbit).

I postulate in some older topics the Rangers might have their own para-military settlements separate from the rest of the Dunedain. Mainly to prevent Angmar/Sauron from throwing a huge force against them to kill them off (genocide). Located in The Angle, the Dunedain might still be successfully decimated if a swift, decisive stroke occurs. Even if Elrond and Rivendell are nearby and provide assistance.

Ultimately though I would think this campaign has to move outward just as everyone else is moving inward. So the Company is in "far off lands" (for Hobbits), like any of the mentioned possible Sanctuaries, once Gandalf tells Frodo to leave the Shire.

This way the Hobbit Company cannot help - even if they wanted to - directly. They are doing their bit farther afield though. Maybe they're distracting Dunlendings from attacking the Shire. Or inconveniencing Angmarim scouts, delaying these forces from gaining necessary war intelligence. They could be holed up in a critical fortification along the river, preventing troops from being brought up-river, behind the front lines. Or helping the Blue Mountain Dwarves against a horde of goblins (goblins, not orcs; negate the small trait advantage) by keeping open a critical communication line to the Elves of the Havens.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

Those are some excellent thoughts Garn and really well reasoned/explained. I pretty much agree with you, as my last post was leaning towards pre-LotR, but just close enough in years to develop into it in the ways that you've described.

I have played the online game. My first character was a hobbit, Tolwen Northtook, and I loved the game when I was running round the Shire and later into Bree. Beyond that though I lost heart and faith with it, but I know exactly what you mean about how they presented those early quests.

I was thinking that the first scenario could be something to do with a four farthing cricket tournament, some cake baking and prize turnip contests, and very likely some skullduggery taking place by the Sackville-Bagginses or some such. So, lots of opportunity for RPing, fun, and maybe a little adventure!

That sounds just about right. I think, particularly with the Shire, their is a certain need to engage the characters and elicit a strong vested interest in the community. While this should be true of all the cultures, I think only Hobbits capture enough of a player's interest to bring the idea into fruition. Somehow Hobbits are so lovingly crafted by Tolkien that most readers automatically "get it" and adhere to it.

Feel free to comment or question as the need arises.

While you could get involved in the early machinations of Saruman in the region, you could also explore the possibilities of the ruins at Deadman's Dike. Are they really haunted or have the Rangers spread rumours to keep treasure seekers away and maintain the secrecy of a Ranger stronghold there?

Absolutely - there's lots to do and investigate.

I'm certainly going to open with at least a couple of session simply centered around Shire life though.

Thanks for the advice everyone - and feel free to provide suggestions/ideas!

Update...

So, I started to run my side-campaign "Three's Company" last night.

A nice short session to get us back into TOR: created some rules for playing cricket (seems like a very hobbit sport, doesn't it - lots of breaks for food and drink!) and ran the Four Farthings Cricket Tournament.

East & Buckland were beaten by The Three Farthings by 3 runs and 4 wickets, reclaiming the trophy that they had lost the previous year.

Was a lot of fun - lots of good humour and RPing the hobbit way of life.

Am I imagining it, or is there some passing comment in The Hobbit about a goblin dead going down a hole somewhere?

A precursor to golf!

Maybe it's time to invent the Hob-lympics too!

Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took. At the Battle of Greenfields he killed the goblin leader Golfimbul and knocked off his head with a club - which fell into a rabbit hole, I believe, and the invention of golf.

But as Bilbo's been known to say; "Golf. Ruins a good walk".

Yep. That is part of the reason I suggested in one of these Hobbit topics, that Goblins might make an excellent natural enemy vs Hobbits. Particularly if you separate them from Orcs in the sense of giving them a slightly different write up - that is, they are also Small (per the Trait) leveling the opposition between the two critters.

Addendum:
The reason I say to make the Goblins Small is to negate that trait amongst Hobbit defenders to level the playing field a bit. Keep in mind that the Hobbits still have access to their cultural Virtues and Rewards - which are substantial. It's just that taken those into account while also applying Small, the Goblin's only advantage is numbers and the potential use of Hatred (Hobbits).

... This week's game session, they're off to Lake Evendim as part of the larger seasonal hobbit fishing party that goes up there and returns with smoked salmon and trout, and also trades grains and other foodstuffs with the Rangers of the North for pelts and other items.

RichH,

Came across something that might be interesting and useful to your campaign if its setting is later than 2851. Tolkien writes (though the specific details vary) that Saruman began visiting the Shire after the Council of 2851. In secrecy and the utmost stealth, he was following and spying on Gandalf on the one hand; and, in the other, he was mapping every nook and cranny of the Shire. However, Saruman did not go entirely unnoticed by the keen-eyed Halflings [Tolkien's words] and ceased to visit when he learned of this. From then on servants and spies of Saruman began to operate in the Shire.

All kinds of possibilities in this little bit of Tolkien! Thought it might be interesting for inspiring Encounters and run-ins with ruffians, etc.

Regards,
E

I had read things along those lines... Certainly that the Sackville-Bagginses had connections with men who worked for Sharkey and foodstuffs and pipeweed from the Shire found its way to Isengard due to this link. Along with what you suggested above its certainly something I'll be looking at developing should the campaign grow into something major.

Definitely connections with the Sackville-Baggins during Bilbo's time. But, according to Tolkien's reckonings from the Red Book, the beginning of Saruman's interest and involvement in the Shire pre-dates the beginning of the Sackville-Baginns line of the family (that being a branch of the main Baggins tree from about 2910 onwards).

That leaves ripe all kinds of possibilities while upholding Tolkien's vision and, at the same time, without potentially disjoining the original story. If that's important that is...

Regards,
E

... I'm thinking that should the hobbits meet any Rangers of the North they should have sobriquets like Aragorn has so that their Dunedain names aren't referred to in the open and therefore they don't allude to their hidden lineage/purpose. Problem is, I'm struggling to think of such names without them sounding, well, a little daft. Do people have any suggestions?

The only way to name them adequately is to pretty much post the NPC write-up. Somewhere or other in here I've posted a Dunedain named Fisher - he likes... hmm, cannot recall whether he like to fish or likes eating fish. That and another three or four sentences represents the entire character write-up. He becomes Wolf Chow - literally. It's in someone's 'help me with an adventure' type thread.

As to sounding daft... some of the Roayl Epithets are less than kind. So I doubt the Dunedain will have much recourse.