I actually don't want to try and run a game until I've got at least Tales either. In my case, it's because I don't feel confident that I can run a One Ring campaign of any length without some more material to work from.

Which is not usual for me - I don't normally go to sourcebooks/scenario books as a first resort - I generally feel pretty good about my ability to come up with interesting session and campaign ideas.

In my case, I think it's that I really want to keep the spirit and tone of Tolkien, and I don't feel like my Lore is quite up to speed on my own to do it.

No don't get me wrong, I think it's a great game, I think it truly embraces the setting.

The problem is I really want my adventures to also capture this feel, so I guess I am looking for a little more guidance and some ideas.

I just don't want it to be another bloody souless D&D dungeon bash.

Ditto

I am looking forward to the new releases also. But I don't understand why people are holding off buying or running games whilst waiting for more materiel to come out.

What's stopping you making up your own adventure, as LMs it's your job to come up with the story, yes it helps a lot if there is a framework in place to go from, and I will definitely run the Darkening campaign, but as with most games the players will want to do unexpected things and you will have to make stuff up on the fly. But the books that are out now, as well as Tolkien's works provide plenty of flavour and thematic scenes for you to draw from to keep that Middle-Earth feel.

I am still within the first 'game year' of play, my group ran the Marsh Bell and defeated the Troll. Then, after a short Fellowship Phase in Lake Town where they have become minor celebrities, they were tasked by Gloin to take Beorn's invitation to the Gathering of the Five Armies celebration. On the way the had a few distractions, attacked by a small band of Orcs and had a little side adventure where one of them nearly died. Just this evening during their newest game they arrived at Beorn's house and did very well in introducing themselves. Beorn put on a small feast for them, where they partook in a boasting contest, which resulted in the Elf Miriel making an impression talking about her marksmanship and getting involved in a little archery competition the following day.

She was up against a Beorning called Olaf the Bowmaster, and the Dwarf in the party had such a lack of confidence in her that he placed a wager against her. It was a little fun as Olaf ended up splitting her arrow in two on the first shot and then as a test of skill managed to fire through a lot of axes propped up against one another, as with Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. She failed but it was still a nice little distraction.

They then had to go and get one of Beorn's advisers who lives near the mountain pass, as he will go back with the party with Beorn's reply and set things up for him attending the Gathering. On the way there they saw a village which had been attacked by Orcs, where they butchered the civilians. So now they are going to assault the Orc's hideout at the base of the mountains with the help of the Adviser and a few guards. Then they will have to make the journey back to Dale and have an interesting time during the Gathering and then a well deserved longer Fellowship Phase over the winter.

And by that point, I will run the Words of the Wise adventure and then when that finishes, hopefully, the campaign will be out and the party will have a bit of experience under their belt and be ready for the fight against the shadow.

So a lack of official adventures shouldn't hinder you from having a great time in Middle Earth. But I am itching to get my hands on all the great new things that will be coming out soon, and my players are excited too.

Actually, my job is taking care of my family, running a company and a host of other important things.

Having good canned material, even if only as a framework on which to build, is helpful.

I would like to make a suggestion.

Through several topics within the forum there are various bits of product information. Users, finding these bits and pieces, are finding it difficult to stay informed due to the lack of a centralized, and updated, dissemination point. So why not create a new, locked and pinned topic called "Official Product Schedule"? It would be a fairly simple, continuously updated listing of all officially released TOR products. It would not document any fan released material.

Something like the following might be sufficient - without giving too much away.
### Warning: The following list contains COMPLETELY FALSE information! Only the Product Names are real. ###
Core Items

1. LM Screen & Laketown - April 2012 $8.95
   A stiff cardboard four-panel screen containing all of the critical tables that a Loremaster needs to administer a game. Source material for Lake-town is included as well as a short introductory adventure.
2. TOR Game Dice (Germany) - Released: Jan 2012 €12.95
3. TOR Game Dice (UK) - Pending £5.80
4. TOR Game Dice (USA) - Pending Indefinitely $Pending
   Sorry folks, talks with distributors are dependent on the manufacturing schedule, which is still being worked on.
5. Tales from Wilderland - Feb 2012, Delayed
   Adventure book containing several separate adventures set through out Rhovanion.

Darkening of Mirkwood

1. Darkening of Mirkwood - 3rd Quarter 2012 $Pending
   Smaug is no more. Erebor is once again home to dwarves. Dale has a new king. Lake-town prospers with trade. Yet, somehow, all of this good news cannot disguise the disquiet lying within your heart ever time your glance takes in Mirkwood.
2. NDA - 2013
   NDA.

I've taken some effort to provide different types of information so that the various possibilities can be handled without later alteration. No products would ever be deleted from the list. This would allow for a complete product listing (including materials Out of Print, etc). While this might not seem critical, consider the longevity of Middle-earth gaming related materials.

ETA Note: Just to clarify, once an item is released it's date is set to Released: <date> so users know that it is available for sale and when. Once Out of Print, the entry becomes Released: <date>, OOP <date> so users know when Cubicle7 (and distributors) run out of units of a particular product for sale.

Here is the bulletin board code I used to create the layout used:

I hope this is of some help.

Crazy-talk! It's like you're speaking some sort of Moon language.

That's no moon, it's a space station!

Couldn't resist...

It's too big to be a space station!


Seriously - I don't think it's the LMs "Job" - poor choice of wording I think - to create stories and adventures; It's his 'hobby' to do this!

Just as someone who goes fishing (non-commercially) does so as hobby. One which is made far easier if he has a pole and bait, and even more so when he knows a good deal about the topography, migration habits, indigenous fish to be encountered in a particular area, and a preference of their eating habits to use as bait.

Just as having published material by professional writers helps a LM in his hobby of designing an adventure and campaign. As someone who is quite skilled and veteran at playing/running PRG, I am sadly rather new to Tolkien's world - only the past 16 months really - I firmly believe that I need more published material before I am comfortable spreading my wings running the game completely off the cuff. Even when I first began my D&Ding days, I didn't run out and start making my own adventures - few do. Instead i stuck to the old modules and used those: Keep on the Borderlands, Isle of Dread, Tomb of the Lizard King, the Slave Pits series, Against the Giants, the Spider Queen series, Temple of Elemental Evil, all of them before truly deciding to create my own campaigns.

The trick of it is - knowing the rules system inside and out so as to make sure your story can be told without truly destroying the rules set in place. But w/ TOR or anything M-e, the added difficulty is the flavor and setting is so vivid and delicate that it's doubly hard to make a story that fits the rules and the setting's flavor, until at least people are comfortable with both. As a newbie to both, I personally and others who have expressed this, are hoping for more source material to sink our teeth into so that we get it right from the get-go. Otherwise when the setting materials and products do begin to be released we'll wind up being too far down the wrong path - and likely playing out much like D&D modules and their style. Which is something I gravely concern myself over not allowing it to happen - it's not something I want at all.


Sure I, and others COULD very well spend some time making some things for the game - but personally I am hesitant to do a lot until I know I'm comfortable with doing it right.

I think Garn's idea is a good one, but until product is actually being run out on a continual basis I understand the reasons why we can't be given precise details of releases etc. But having something about. 'X' month's releases at the beginning or end of a month and then a bit of a teaser or sneak peak about what is due would be great, and having it in a set thread for all to see.

Also in my previous post when I said it's the LMs 'job' to create the games, I didn't mean that you should cut off all contact with your friends and family, quit whatever you do to make money and spend every waking moment making adventures for your hobby. I meant that within any RPG the GMs job, within the game, is to create the world and adventures, be all the NPCs, an architect and historian. The players then enjoy all of your work. And yes people have their own lives outside of that, I only meant purely within the aspect of the hobby of gaming.

And I can't wait to actually have printed adventures and campaigns to work from, it's a great time saver, and there will be things in those pages that I wouldn't have been able to come up with myself.

However I still stand by the fact that a lack of such things doesn't mean you can't run a game, the books out now give you all the rules you need, and all it takes is a little imagination to come up with a memorable adventure that will still sit comfortably within Middle Earth, even if you don't know a lot about the world.

Of course there will be times when many of us, including myself, just don't have time to make up adventures, I have plenty of campaign and adventure books for previous RPGs I have run and The One Ring will be no exception. I'm sure they will be amazing and I hope my friends will be adventuring within Middle Earth for many years.

Don't worry about right or wrong and don't worry about the "style" or the "feel".

If you and your players are having fun, then you are playing the game right.

It might not be exactly like the LOTR, but that's what makes it uniquely yours.

ETA:

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the published adventures, sourcebooks splatbooks and whatnot. I'm just saying to play for fun and not to force yourself into a mold.

that makes sense thanks. But by the same token I dont want to force myself into a corner that requires a bunch of ret-con later.

Yeah I do understand how you feel. I suppose since I have been GMing and gaming for many years it might seem a bit easier for me. I do remember feeling a similar way, when I was starting out, not really knowing where to go or what to do with a game and wanting to have a published adventure. Especially with something that has a large established world, stories, and characters.

Campaign books are a great way to get started, and knowing that the players will be adventuring in the world for 70+ years based on future releases there's so much more you will be able to do when you have gotten used to the One Ring themes and settings.

But even if you were to start out on your own, just don't have them kill any major established NPCs, which would be difficult. Or don't let them go anywhere they are not meant to. One great thing about starting the game in the Mirkwood area and at the time it is set, is that there is very little written about those times and places, so it does give you a huge amount of leeway when running games.

Don't let the 70+ plus years timeline throw you. It doesn't all have to unfold exactly as it did in Tolkien. Even if it does there is a lot of space. Tolkien mentions briefly the Second Battle of Dale which sees the kings of Dale and Erabor all in combat but saves Lothlorien from Sauron. But that s all we are told. We hear about the Rangers of the North protecting Bree and the Shire from fearsome foes, but that is all we hear.

In Gondor we hear of the slow fighting withdrawl from Osgiliath. We learn of Balin's ill-fated attempt at recolonizing Moria. We hear that the goblins in the Misty Mountains slowly rebuild their strength, and that ASaur on call the Easterlings to his banner.

None of this is given much more space than I have given it here.

If your Middle Earth ends up different to Tolkien's or ToR's Middle Earth, that is ok. Tolkien himself was continually revising and rewriting and some portions of Middle Earth still remained unknown to him. The other thing to keep in mind is that the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are told from the point of view of five Hobbits, Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippen. They "wrote" about what they had heard and seen, and Tolkien "translated" it. The Dwarves or the Elves, or the Men of Rohan might tell very different versions of the tale.

Cubicle 7 have released "Word from the Wise" as a free adventure. This should help get you started for what an adventure might look like. I hope to write up a couple of short adventiures to share with the community and I am certain others will do the same.

I had run a ghost story type adventure featuring a Barrow Wight as the main villain. It was not possible to kill or drive him off with normal weapons, so the players had to look and hunt for his motivation. He was haunting a village because one of the villagers had stolen from his barrow. The stolen property had to be returned and a last deed accomplished so the undead spirit coulod rest. Standard ghost story stuff with a Middle Eath twist.

Movies, books, and TV shows can be great places to crib plots from. I have seen the Wicker Man used very effectively as a plot.

Same feeling here.

I'm a WFRP master at heart, and always wondered how to convey the feeling of Middle-earth.
Because the soul and flavor of Middle-earth is different, and really delicate, to steal SirKickley words. While I usually steer clear of published adventures, I'm really interested to see if the C7 team can capture this elusive chimera in an adventure. Surely they managed a superb job in the core books.

Indeed. It's the delicate and immerse feel of the setting that makes it so unique. Like Ravenloft was to D&D.

Without finding that sweet-spot and being able to truly deliver that upon gaming, it winds up just feeling like another Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk adventure.


I will say that the MIDNIGHT Setting by Fantasy Flight Games is VERY Tolkienish for a D20 RPG. I have all of their products, and DMed a Midnight Campaign for 3 years before finding Pathfinder.


Albeit the flavor of Midnight is that The One Ring was recovered by Sauron. The Dark Lord in facts wins the war for Middle-earth, and he and his orcs now rule the world; magic and fey are outlawed. The heroes are merely part of a small resistance movement that is doomed to fail.


But the setting material and source handbooks are very heavy in the flavor of Tolkien.



EDIT: Btw, was is WFRP? Sounds like a TV/radio station.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

A british game of the 80', with very distinct flavour

WFRP remains a huge favourite of mine. A Grim World of Perilous Adventure was the tagline IIRC.
It was mostly set in The Empire, a land modelled on the Holy Roman Empire in the Renaissance Era assailed by enemies, human or otherwise from without, riven by political intrigues and religious tensions from within as well as assorted 'fifth columnist' style cultists of forbidden gods.
The Rat catcher with his small but vicious dog remains the stereotypical starting career even to this day...lol.

Anyway, enough about that. This is a TOR site.

And mine as well. I've been GMing RPGs for three decades and that's still probably my favorite original game campaign setting.

WFRP is actually a great example to bring up in this discussion. WFRP was really defined by The Enemy Within Campaign.

"Mistaken Identity", "Shadows over Bogenhafen" and "Death on the Reik" set the tone for the whole system in a way that the rulebook alone couldn't really convey. It also provided very clear examples of how to communicate that tone and imagery to the players.

What TOR needs - and I hope Tales from Wilderland fulfills - is its own "The Enemy Within" that will set the tone in a practical and more robust fashion than "The Marsh Bell."

What TOR needs - and I hope Tales from Wilderland fulfills - is its own "The Enemy Within" that will set the tone in a practical and more robust fashion than "The Marsh Bell."

I wonder will the "Darkening of Mirkwood" actually fill that niche. The title seems like it might.

HN

Tales of the Wilderlands will be like One Shots for Unknown Armies or Plundered Vaults for WFRP2e. It will be designed to get you playing quickly and show the breadth of possibility in the game.

Darkening of Mirkwood will like The Enemy Within for WFRP1e or the Boy King for Pendragon and provide the model of what long term TOR game looks like.

I just saw on the C7 store that the release date for Tales from Wilderland is now Winter 2012.


That's sad enough to make a hobbit cry.

Seriously, I understand. RPG publishing is pretty rough these days, and WB/MEE is wanting to keep a lot of licensed material "under wraps" prior to The Hobbit Pt. 1 movie's release. (See also GW's LotR miniatures for another example of control of release info.) So I will endure and generate stories on my own until this is released. Rest assured, when this comes out you will have my money.

You do know that winter 2012 is now, right? Until march 21st, specifically.

Depends on your interpretation, I suppose. I logically presumed Winter 2012 meant the above.

I, too, feared it would mean December 2012, but the "Winter 2012" thing has been on there since 2011 and was clarified (somewhere) to mean "first part of 2012".

Amazon US is now showing May 16, but who knows where they get their info.

My bad. Maybe that is why businesses tend to use quarters instead of seasons. But then you have to interpret if the company means Fiscal Year or Calendar Year. If the release date said Q2 FY2012, I wouldn't have panicked.

As for Amazon's release dates, it is surprising how some are spot on and others are wild guesses. I blame the Liberal Media [which is controlled by Orbital Mind-Control Lasers, which are controlled by the Girl Sprouts of America, which is controlled by the UFOs].

Hold fast, Sam. We're very close now.

What does very close mean? Two weeks? One Month? Gulp, Two Months?

This Loremaster / The One Ring RPG fan is dying to know. :-)

That's as good a notice as one is likely to get.

Well, for me the winter of the year would be the one with more than 11 days in it

The last Cubicle newsletter said the next issue is going to have an update on TOR releases.

And that arrives not this week but next week, so we still have a week to wait before any news.

My desk looks exactly like Butterburr's To Do list -- that is, completely bereft of hope -- someone will be kind and post more detailed information somewhere in this Forum. Please? I read the whole thing so anywhere is fine for me.

So, what are the chances that we will be seeing the pre-order + pdf this week? I'm one of those GMs who must rely on pre-written adventures, as I don't have time to write them up myself, so I'm eagerly awaiting this one.

Cheers,

Eriik

Sounds like big news is due for TOR this week. Signs point to it being TfW but I wouldn't get too excited just yet, just in case.