Hello, since some users were missing the good old bandits from the Loremaster's book, and I like to experiment with such thing, please read my very first attempt to create a few opponents for the PC's. Comments are welcome!

Bandits of the Wild

The Boss

Probably and ex-soldier, bitter, cruel and slightly paranoid. He has the best equipment, and can use it well.

Attribute level: 4
Endurance: 15 Hate: 5
Parry: 4 + 2 (shield), Armour: 2d + 4(helmet)

Personality: 3, Movement: 3, Perception: 2, Survival: 3, Custom: 1, Vocation: 3
Sword: 3, Dagger: 3, Bow: 2

Special abilities: Commanding Voice, Expert Ambusher, Dirty Fighting

Expert Ambusher: If the brigands are led by the boss, and they’ve set up a trap for the travelers, raise the difficulty level of the PC’s Awareness/Battle tests to avoid being ambushed by one.

Dirty fighting: If the bandit hits with a melee attack, he can immediately spend a hate point to send the target to the ground, as if the target was knocked back (but still suffering the full effect of the attack). Prevents the hero’s usage of voluntary knockback.

The strong man

Every boss needs a strong man, to keep the lesser brigands in fear. Big, strong like and ox. With his huge axe, he can cut a horse in half with one swing.

Attribute level: 4
Endurance 19, Hate: 3
Parry: 3, Armour: 2d

Personality: 1, Movement: 3, Perception: 2, Survival: 3, Custom: 1, Vocation: 1
Two-handed axe: 3, Dagger: 2

Special abilities: Horrible strength, Dirty fighting

The bandits

Ragtag band of brigands, with old wooden shields, rusty axes and creaking shortbows. They wear a poor mix of armour items.

Attribute level: 2
Endurance: 9, Hate: 1
Parry: 2 + 2 (shield), Armour: 2d

Personality: 1, Movement: 2, Perception: 2, Survival: 3, Custom: 1, Vocation: 1
Axe: 2, Spear: 2, Bow: 2, Dagger: 1

Special abilities: Dirty Fighting, Craven

Just discovered this post. I like these bandits and intend to use them in my upcoming game. I reckon that the regular bandits should have their attribute levels boosted to 3 and their hate boosted to 2 points though.
I like the craven idea but don't want them to slink off as quickly as goblin archers or Orc soldiers would. I know that the leader has commanding voice but they seem a little too brittle for my purposes.
They will be river/ marsh pirates living in the Long Marshes and preying on occasional boats that pass on their way to and from Esgaroth. They have formed a villains alliance with a group of Orc survivors of the Five Armies and live in the area of Mirkwood that lies east of the marshes in a small settlement called 'Hidey Hole'.
The Orcs have been unable to return to Gundabad as they foolishly fled to the southeast in their panic. The pirates do not have the numbers to drive them away and the Orcs fear losing too many of their band if they attack Hidey Hole.
The bandits are not irredeemable. If the strongman and the boss can be dealt with, the others can be coerced into breaking their alliance. In truth, many are unhappy about it in the first place.
Enter our heroes........

Halbarad,

You've compiled a couple of great plots rolled into one - this works well!

Merging the escape of the Orcs into the Ruffians (Bandits - or whatever you end up calling them) & their depredations along the river fits.

The added bonus for Tolkien flavor is the moral dilemma.

Nicely done.

I agree in making them a little better than orcs with Hate 2 and Attribute 3, but if I can make a suggestion then I will remove the shields fom "the bandits", it's an annoying thing to carry if not engaged in battle, and as I see bandits they prefer to move freely and have a free hand.

im nicking them too!

Im having them dwelling just at the edge of the forest, due east of the mountians of Mirkwood.

It is a daunting place to live, but a good place to hide in some old settlement ruins....and the trade on that side of the forest is just starting to pick up

I am trying to imagine what Mirkwood is like on the east bank of the River Running. I imagine that it s nowhere near as imposing as the vast woods on the western bank. In fact, except that I have decided to have my bandit hideout located there and a smallish orc lair, the place might be almost quite tranquil. I'm fairly certain there are no great spiders.
I am imagining that, east of the long marshes, the ground rises sharply to a low wooded ridge. It is perhaps this that has prevented the long marshes from becoming the 'wide marshes' as the vast plain of Rhovanion drops toward the inland sea. I envisage that the ridge has a number of ravines, crags and gullies and that it is one of these ravines that the bandits have fortified and named 'Hidey Hole'.
I also imagine that there are a number of small areas of higher ground in the long marshes where boats can be drawn ashore for the night and it is usually in these places that the bandits attack their victims, approaching under cover of dark in dug out canoes or on rafts.
Larger settlements further along the river occasionally raise their militias and sweep through the woods but the bandits(and the Orcs) simply flee into the marshes where their Pursuers cannot, or will not, follow.
I also imagine that the ground falls away quite steeply to he south of the long marshes and the river current picks up quite a bit of speed as it sweeps south and then east. I am considering a settlement there to provide portage for boats on the northbound trading route. They may perhaps be in cahoots with the bandits or perhaps, without their knowing, there is a bandit spy at work?