Firing off my running Campaigns on the Fly, I think something that would be really useful would be to collect a list of Campaign Goals. These aren't detailed stories but simply a large scale motivations or end points which PCs would go on a long term quest. The details of the quest could then be teased on in play between the GM and players.

Examples:

1. To recover the ancestral treasure from a Dragon (sound familiar? )
2. To free Beorn from his enchantment
3. To reestablish Moria
4. To make safe a pass over the Misty Mountains
5. To make the Long Marshes safe
6. To cleanse the taint from Dol Guldur (this sounds like Darkening of Mirkwood campaign)

Anyone else?

Another great idea for a thread! Must sleep but can't resist a few ideas off the cuff:

7. Protect the halls of the Elven King (probably only for Elven characters, I imagine that there must be some threats that the Mirkwood Elves have to deal with from time to time).

8. Rescue someone from the Spiders of the Mountains of Mirkwood.

9. Take a message to Lord Elrond of Rivendell, over the Misty Mountains.

I like 8. In History of the Hobbit, the Spiders are noted as being the one force that didn't fight in the Battle of the Five Armies. I think they make a cool evil faction with their grand plans.

My MERP Campaign features the Spiders in the Mountians of Mirkwood actually!! We are two years out from the War of the Rings

A Woodman Town, Buella less than a weeks walks to the west exists in the shadow of "The Spider Kings" in the western eaves of the Mountains of Mirkwood. Three enigmatic incredibly old and creepy Spiders and their Orc retainers.

Radagast revealed their existence to the woodmen. They do not lust for war or conquest but vie in mad alien bizarre contests that no man's mind can understand with the winner's prize of mating with their Queen Neethra, purported to be one the line of Ungoliant so she may spawn brood-lings of their own kind.

*) Defeat the Spider Kings or specifically kill Neethra before they spawn an indomitable force to contend with during the War of the Rings

*) Dwarves- Escort Gimli and company across the Misty Mountains to attend the Council of Elrond (later on in TOR)

*) Rally isolated Woodmen villages and tribes, settling differences and prepare them for whats coming

I like this, given my other ideas, this will work nicely. Consider the idea stolen

E

ROFL

They say plagiarism is the best form of flattery- consider me flattered!

By the way, I have detailed .jpg maps of the area, including the town of Buella, the major NPC's, the whole nine yards. It is our campaign area. I would be glad to share it

That would be great, I will PM you my email.

E

uiuiui - can i have it too ?

You know what they say: "Good artists borrow, the great ones steal."

/wolf

Sure thing! I will gather my materials and organize them.

I can also post them on the web on my website's ftp for anyone to grab them there.
I will post the address soon as I get it all together

For a while I have had this idea for a painting, a scene which will also feature in a TOR game somewhere, sometime, of a hobbit and a dwarf addressing a kind of parliament of Great Spiders. The spiders are all different shapes and sizes, long thing ones, fat ones, small ones, hairy ones, chitinous ones, white ones, black ones, all arrayed in the trees around a small clearing choked with webs. The dwarf is pulling at the hobbit telling him it's really time to leave.

I love the idea of the spiders being someone you have to go and talk to.

Like that pesky Potter kid having to be dragged away from Aragog's lair by the Ginger Whinger? LOL

Kind of like that but how I am imagining it, rather than how it looked in the Potter film.

Thats a really cool idea. Your description paints a picture in my mind of it

Campaign goal...

The following are synopsis of two scenarios that play into each other and I introduced them over the course of a campaign with several other scenarios between them to allow players to possibly forget about the details of the one that connect to the other (but they never forget)

This one would play well with TOR I think. This is fully fleshed out for my MERP campaign

Skills- Mirkwood Lore, Elvish Lore, Song, Riddles

From "Tales of Middle Earth Journal", by Venger

*) The Faded One-
Deep in the ruins of the fortress Nost Namba Megil the Heros discover a secret chamber bedecked with art, tomes and treasures.
There is a library with texts, maps to now-forgotten places and ruins and other writings and journals depicting life and places of the way things were in the Second Age. (lots of info on adventure sites and some information about the current scenario but it would take years to digest all the material here)

It is the last abode of an ancient nameless Elf Lord who has overstayed his time in Middle Earth who's Fea spirit has consumed his flesh and has become a "The Faded One". He doesn't fully realize he has Faded.

On first encounter he resembles a ghost and the players may perceive him as one. In turn he perceives the Heros as if they are like in a dream to him. He may answer questions but they will be vague, like riddles. His main dialog is rambling and undirected and is that of someone who has now forgotten all who he is and was, even his own name for nobody speaks it, and he goes on about Lost Love and how weary the world has made him and recites sad poetry, and laments of this lost love.

Yet he remains in Middle Earth searching for his lost love whom he feels is still in Middle Earth but cannot find her and will not leave without her. He has pretty much given up hope of ever finding her, though he ventures out from time to time to seek her regardless.

The Chamber has numerous interesting minor enchanted items, possessions of the Faded One and if taken the Faded One doesn't even notice. But the main artifact In this chamber is The Fountain of Vala which sports two small trees similar to bonsai, one gold and one silver and they cast gold and silver light in the chamber.

All about the fountain are a dozen very unusual pale, vaguely luminescent cream colored flowers growing in special pots.

Later, through a mentor, or one of the tomes in the Chamber Heros find out that they are all that remain of "Numenorian White Roses" and are potted in Numenorian soil, flowers and soil rescued in the last days before Numenor was lost.
The light of the two trees keeps them invigorated and the water from the fountain keep them refreshed. (Each Rose has the power to resurrect the recently slain.) If resurrect in TOR is impossible then something equally as potent

(This chamber has become a blessing and a curse to my players as it is an asset and a liability which must be protected since the Roses cannot be moved for they will die without the light of the two trees nor can the Fountain be dismantled without destroying it.)

One of the minor enchanted items is a box which has enough room in it to hold one item the size of a flower, and within it is a single red rose, preserved as if it had been fresh cut.

The red rose is a memento the Faded One has been keeping, one of the last reminders of his Lost Love and the one thing that restores his Hope and that that keeps him from falling into Shadow, possibly becoming a worse apparition.

This presents the Players a conundrum. My players chose to leave things as they were and re-seal the chamber. What will your players do?

Sit back for a few scenarios and let the conundrum you have set before your players vex them thoroughly. Try not to get them killed, so they are not tempted to put the conundrum to the test.

Then...

*) The Midnight Maiden-
The Heros learn of a secret grove set in a valley between the crests of two peaks. Each month at a certain time during the full moon light from the moon illuminates the grove between the peaks and through the boughs of the forest can be seen an elvish maid who appears in the beams of the moonlight who sings a beautiful but very sad song. Naturally the Heros will want to witness this wonder themselves.

She is lovely, and appears ghost-like but she is not a ghost but has faded. She sings a sad song about her lost love and never leaving Middle Earth until their promise of leaving togeher is fulfilled. (The players may make the connection between the Faded One and the Midnight Maiden )

In the words of her song are clues, and that should these clues get back to the ears of the faded one will enable the Faded One to find her.

If the Players return to the Faded Ones chamber and sing the song of the Midnight Maiden the Faded One will know where to find his maiden.

They will be rejoined and the Faded One will bequeath all of his possessions to the Hero's company and together The Faded One and the Midnight Maiden will depart Middle Earth and find their way to their ultimate destination to dwell together until the end of the world.

*wipes tears from eyes*
LOL j/k

What about something like "The secret protectors of the Shire". Where the heroes end up foiling plots to corrupt and ruin the shire. They may not even know who is really behind the request to do this or fully understand why they are doing it.

Mitch

Might work better with the next set ("Errantries of the King"), which will likely cover the Shire and the rest of Eriador.

John

I was thinking of spoiling plots and such that originate in the current area before they could be launched toward the Shire.

Mitch

As promised here is a link for the Spider Kings campaign area.

Grab the Nost_Namba_Megil_SpiderKings.zip file

These maps also include the Nost Namba Megil (Namba Megilar) tactical maps and a map of Buella area.

In an ancient vast forgotten ruin lost in the second age, Three great spiders vie in strange, alien contests which no man's mind can comprehend, all for the prize of mating with their Queen Neethra, an ancient hideous spider purported to be of the line of Ungoliant.

ftp://www.motherpluckerrecords.com

username: freepeoples
password: Mellon1

Venger - the 2 episodes about the withering elves are absolutely brilliant! Thank you for this inspiration.

My middle earth campaign was about the fellowship being invited to a council held by an Istari which I made up by myself. This campaign ran for three years and was one of my best campaigns. The Istari knows that his tower is going to be attacked during the council. He secretly meets with the fellowship and gives them a Palantir. He tells them that they are supposed to bring the Palantir to the only person he can trust - Saruman. Then he let's escape the fellowship through a secret tunnel. Once the fellowship returns to the surface, somewhere in the
middle of Mirkwood, they see smoke rising in the far distance where the tower of the Istari was located.
During their journey, I gave them clues that Saruman is not the nice guy anymore but has a great lust for power. So in the end, they have to decide what to do with the Palantir.

I put into very few words what turned out to be a great campaign. Of course one of the characters looked into the Palantir, they went to Esgaroth to find out more about it, one of the characters (a dwarf) started to see visions of Yavanna warning him about the dark days to come....

Hope you like some of this.

P.S.: in the end, the Dwarf turned into a beautiful, old tree. ;-)

Other ideas which spring to mind for games,

* Expedition to the Iron Hills

* Exploration of the The Running River for a potential reopening of trade with Dorwinion (maybe showing myself up here. I know Dorwinion wines are mentioned in the Hobbit, but the value of the wine would make some wealthy Barding merchant want to send an expedition).

* Diplomatic overtures to the remnants of the Wainriders in the east (you could have great fun here with the PC's trying to work out who's pulling the strings of the chieftains).

* Mirkwood's Spiders have loads of scope as has been said upthread.

* Cult of Sauron. nuff said really...

In the centre of the cavern is a pile of silver and gold coins on which rests the skeletal remains of a dwarf in rotted leather armour.
He is curled up as if sleeping with his hands clasped to his chest.
Through the skeletal fingers you can see the light of your torch reflecting off metal.

It's a disturbing image... a dwarf atop a pile of treasure like some dragon atop his horde!

The dwarf succumbed to Dragon Sickness and died guarding his wealth.

Amongst his personal effects is a journal of his exploits... along with a mention of a horde in the Withered Heath that is guarded by a lesser drake!

Camps near Woodmen Town are being attacked by unusual wolves. Dogs and children are dragged into the forest. Heroes launch rescue missions and realize they need help when they encounter a werewolf (a Hound of Sauron). While the Woodmen build defenses, the heroes must journey to the Elven King's Halls to find help...will they return in time?

On one of their rescue missions, they discover the tooth or claw of a werewolf that still carries an evil presence. If they take it for research, it carries the power of Corruption and draws evil to them along their journey. If they wish to get rid of it, they must burn it. But if they leave it behind, they will have a harder time convincing the Elves to help.

If Thranduil does help, he sends "wolf-hunting" warriors to go with them. The Loremaster should develop these characters to be unique. These could be player-heroes with more experience as well. Otherwise, the only help he gives is information about the lair of the Werewolf of Mirkwood in the mountains.

This is part of the Darkening of Mirkwood Campaign (as described in the LB) and begins in 2952.

Tide of Darkness, A Shadow Rising
(Part of my ongoing MERP campaign)

A Shadow is rising in Southern Mirkwood, in early-fall before the harvest, bands of orc and troll begin razing villages and destroying crops and resources in a scorched earth policy.

Fleeing before the onslaught, Starving, Hopeless and facing a bitter winter, the people of southern Mirkwood (the Gramuz) have but one choice.

Woodmen Towns along the interior fringes of Mirkwood in the vicinity of Dol Guldur begin to become inundated with these refugees from as far as Buhr Widu

The Woodmen call these refugees the "Widu" (pronounced Vee-doo) from an expression the Widu themselves use to speak of themselves, and Woodmen being a noble and compassionate people allow them to winter in their towns

(Widu speak like this... "Da Widu much die, an da cow and chicken orc all kill, an da crop too. Widu much hungry an cold. Widu needs da help... pliss let Widu sleep safe at woodmaan place and Widu werks for da for food. Widu no want take woodmaan tings and Widu want frends wit da woodmaan"

In their broken common tongue, The Widu speak of a dread and a darkness that precedes these attacks and warriors are sapped of their will to fight and flee in fear before the onslaught.

The Woodman town's own resources are stretched to the limits and over time culture clashes arise. It is a growing problem.

Then, come late spring Galadrim scouts from Lorien arrive in the Hero's town and have met with Rhadagast and inform him that this is no random raiding and pillaging of Widu villages but a systematic genocide.

Rhadagast confirms this systematic genocide is lead by one of the Nazgul operating from Dol Guldur and appears to be cutting a swath of destruction across southern Mirkwood.

The Widu have no homes, no food, no employment and no means to support themselves and are at the mercy of the Woodmen.

Woodmen, who themselves have been pressed at their borders, are reluctant to give up prime hunting grounds and lands.

The Hero's must find solutions between the Woodmen and the Widu to prevent infighting.

The Hero's might like finding alternative settlements for the Widu or some way of setting the growing disputes.

The Hero's might arrange employment to keep the Widu busy and some form of income to trade with Woodmen or to somehow try to get them on their feet and self sufficient.

The Hero's can try to rally and muster the Widu to take back their closest villages (only to find strong resistance), or find other lands for the Widu to settle.

The Hero's must try to convince the Woodmen to begin training and preparing for war.

The Hero's can try to convince the Woodmen to adopt the Widu and their sometimes strange customs and bolster Woodmen ranks.

The Hero's might try to muster the Widu into an auxiliary army and finance their training and equipment for the coming war.

All sorts of campaign stuff can come from this scenario.

There's some really meaty material in there, and scope for player heroes to become really significant individuals in woodmen culture (or Widu if they remain a viable culture).

If this scenario was to be used in TOR, would you write up the Widu culture, or just use the Woodman one? It could be fun drawing up the Widu as an exercise ...

Thank you Apocryphile.

I would definitely consider drawing up the Widu as a new culture.

They are actually a sub-culture of Woodmen though they have long ago lost their identification with them.

They did not advance in technology or culture and remained tribal, more similar to early Celts or Picts with a mostly hunter-gatherer society that is in the dawn of their Agricultural development.

They would be considered as Poor compared to other cultures.

Their smithing skills are limited to simple bronze age type weapons but mostly they use blacksmithing for daily use items.

Any advanced armor or weapons they own are is limited and typically owned by individuals of significant combat skills which they acquired from either trade with other cultures or picked up in the wild and generally handed down as heirlooms. So their warbands can look like a mish-mash of cultural types.

The Widu are a little superstitious and tend to keep to themselves ergo their lack of rapid development.
Warbands are limited in scope and generally consist of several warriors up to a dozen or so gathered from local tribal villages assembled in times of need to meet some threat.
There is no war between the villages so their wartime skills are also limited and when met with seasoned trained forces or are faced with sorcery of any kind will generally melt away after a few losses.

They favor spears and bows over other weapon types and leather armors and shields tend to be wicker type.

The Widu trade with the Woodmen for foodstuffs so they are not complete strangers and the Widu are very handy with wicker work, pottery and trapping so there has been some interaction between them regarding trade of these kinds of items

(appended) The Widu are a hardy folk, and their ancestry allowed them a high degree of Survival instinct and can survive for long periods of time off the land, a skill which has been declining among the younger Widu who favor agricultural advancements in recent years.

So a cultural blessing and traits would be along those lines, Survivalists in the wilderland

(addendum)
What the Widu High Cheiftan says about the Woodmen

"Woodmaan very strong an most time Woodmaan good to Widu. But if Woodmaan make angry at Widu den Woodmaan come Widu village and cut Widu down. Widu no go Woodmaan town but by Chief say so and only wit trade for Woodmaan. IF woodmaan in woods and need Widu help go help den leave Woodmaan go wit good words"

Thank you hirobumi if you use it I hope it plays well in your campaign.

I see your campaign as a great run-up in the War of the Rings as to how Sauruman came by a Palantir.

It would be regretful if Saruman were to take it by force!

I'm glad your group is having fun in Middle Earth!

More Campaign Stuff that might be useful for TOR campaigns

Rhadagast the Brown has been spending time organizing the Woodmen and other free peoples with whom they have been associating and trading with.

Buella- Woodman Town. The name means "A Good Place" in Woodman Speech
It is a crossroads town where representatives and adventurers from the free peoples can gather and find resources and sanctuary.
It is home base for my campaign.

In Buella, Rhadagast has managed to help establish special Councils that meets every month to discuss and disseminate information.

The Coucil of Elms and The Council of Oaks.

The Council of Elms-
Three days before the full moon The Council of Elms convenes.
This Council is made up of the communities and individuals of the races represented in Buella.
Each community meets and discusses their own issues and settle disputes or discuss any kind of other happenings within their own communities. The goal is to weed through all the mundane issues and bring any larger issues before the Council of Oaks.

The Council of Oaks-
Then on the night of the full moon the Council of Oaks convenes and representatives and leaders from the individual races air their concerns which might bear consideration for the Township as a whole. The Council consists of Woodman Leaders, and one leader from each of the major influential races.
Equal weight is given to all voices and concerns are heard and considered, and acted on for the good of Buella's citizens.

In this way peace and understanding is maintained as well as brisk trade and Buella has prospered from it.

Hey Venger,

Just had an interesting idea..

What if the Widu were Druedain instead of "normal" woodsmen?

Any thoughts?

Good idea.

The woses are an interesting culture.

Live down on the border with Rohan I think.

Well lets see, I had no knowledge of them, I appreciate you bringing them up, here is something I found on a WIKI

Púkel-men-
Interesting race.

And Garbar mentioned Woses


I chose Gramuz because of the ICE Southern Mirkwood module places them in the area I was interested in and then I renamed them the Widu because I thought the name given in the same module of the settlement Burh Widu at the East Bight of Mirkwood was cool and identified the people and their , it was a tie-in at first and as my campaign grew so did the role of the Widu.

For my campaign scenario Pukel-men don't quite fit right in, I would think the Woodmen being a suspicious lot might have racial issues with such a strange race? but thats just my opinion.

but I don't see any reason if you wanted to use this race in the same setting it would be interesting to see how you would play them

Woses are Druedain!

They are in Lord of the Rings (book, not film) and hunted by the Rohirrim iirc.

What little I remember is along the lines of primitive, forest dwelling, wild men. But that's it... guess I have to google it? :-)

/wolf

You pretty much nailed them in that description!

Using Druedain would make any reaction by the woodmen more certain, given the very different appearance.

Another idea I had was that you could have great fun with 5th columnists spread in the 'refugee' Widu. So among the genuine dispossessed, you have cultists of Dol Guldur arriving too, pretending to be refugees and spying, and doing other culty stuff.. Makes the inevitable backlash against the refugees even more tragic..

Garbar, Wolf Thanks for the replies guys. You bring to light thoughts about a race I had not considered that might be in the mix. Woses might fit in after all especially if they occupy southern Mirkwood area. I have relatively little knowledge of them. Any further info/link is appreciated!

Apocryphile That's a great idea. I think I can use that as an unexpected twist. A 5th column of cultists sort of thing fits well in my campaign.
Thanks!

Found this and hope the link works:

Woses according to LOTR Wiki

/wolf

Here's so more ideas:

Commissioned by King’s Brand and Dain or Radagast, re-open the Old Forest Road and establish way-stations and semi-permanent, defensible campsites for caravans and wayfarers

Under the direction of Radagst and Gandalf, establish a communication network between the Free Peoples of the North that involves regular couriers, watches, and ambassadors in the various courts and holdfasts

According to the Tale of Years in 2949 Gandalf and Balin visit Bilbo in the Shire. It might be interesting to tie a campaign into this event. The adventures of the player-heroes bring to light infomration that troubles both Gandalf and Balin, and brings about their journey to the Shire. This event could be the culmination of one campaign, and jump start a second that ends in time for the release of the Darkening of Mirkwood. In a sense create a two-stage build up to the return of the Shadow to Dol Guldur. The first campaign can deal with the theme of a growing disquiet and subtle dread insinuating itself into the otherwise hopeful times. The follow-up campaign could see the player-heroes responding through a series of seemingly unconnected adventures to what is in fact the Shadow's preparation for its return to Dol Guldur. If they help put together the connection, then the outcome of the second campaign might determine whether the return of the Shadow takes the Free Peoples of the North by surprise or not.

The Mines Of Mirkwood
Pursuing a band of goblins, the companions find them hiding in some caves.

As they are dealing with the goblin infestation, they find a door hidden by a Rune of Secrecy (easier to find if they have a dwarf in the party, but the rune could be damaged if need be).

The door is much like the gate of Moria and requires a password to open! Perhaps the password is the name of a dwarf who did something so bad that his name was stricken from history, making finding his name all the more difficult!

Leaving the caves, they head to the Lonely Mountain (or Iron Hills perhaps) to conduct research and find a way to open the door. This could involve several adventures.

When they eventually find a way to open the door, they find a vast complex of caverns that run under the Mountains of Mirkwood.

(I would treat the exploration of the mines as a journey, with selected highlights for them to explore.)

Do they awaken something that should have been left buried?

Do they find a lost treasure horde?

Do they find a lost clan of dwarves?