Began "Don't Leave the Path" last night. Went quite well, although we didn't get quite as far as we would have liked, as we were interrupted by a minor family emergency.

hopefully only very minor

Yes, quite minor, but when your group includes your brother as LM and your nephew as fellow player, any family emergency can shut down the whole thing.

Starting Stewed Hobbits this week and I'm really grateful for Tales of Wilderland!

I usually write all my own adventures as most prewritten are too much work to modify to my campaign, but Tales is easy to adapt.

That means I don't have to spend most of my free time prepping for games night...

And as I pre-ordered Guild Wars 2 and have been taking part in the beta this weekend, most of that free time has vanished... but in a good way.

Beta ends tomorrow though, but when the game hits final release, I'll be very busy.

Spent well over a thousand hours playing Guild Wars and suspect I will spend even more in GW2, so every scrap of spare time I can salvage is good for me.

Hopefully Tales will keep us busy until August and more TOR supplements arrive.

Getting Tales from Wilderland is like purchasing seven separate adventures that are about 20 pages each. In this particular roleplaying game, 20 pages goes a long way! They are not short adventures by any stretch. That amount of material should last me a very long time; thank you so much!

This brings us to a total of nine published adventures so far (counting The Marsh-Bell in the Loremaster's Book and the freebee Words of the Wise).

I really like the idea of adventure collections like Tales from Wilderland. I hope we can get more stuff just like it in the future.

Here is my suggested Tale of Years for published adventures so far:

Year 2946, early spring, The Marsh-Bell
Year 2947, early spring, Words of the Wise
Year 2947, autumn, Don't Leave the Path
Year 2948, summer, Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit
Year 2949, early spring, Kinstrife & Dark Tidings
Year 2949, autumn, Those Who Tarry No Longer
Year 2950, summer, A Darkness in the Marshes
Year 2951, last days of November, The Crossings of Celduin
Year 2952, late winter, The Watch on the Heath

In this sequence, The Gathering of Five Armies spoken of in The Crossings of Celduin, is the 10th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Five Armies.

The only issue I have with that order is that Words of the Wise sees the PC east of Mirkwood, but Marsh Bell is west of Mirkwood and Don't Leave the Path is a west to east journey through Mirkwood.

I would personally place Words of the Wise after Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit at the start of 2949 and follow it up with Kinstrife & Dark Tidings.

Am I missing something or are your directions exactly opposite of the actual ones? Marsh-Bell sees the player heroes east of Mirkwood, Words of the Wise sees them west of Mirkwood, and Don't Leave the Path is an east to west adventure.

Either way, your point is still valid and you make an excellent suggestion for an alternate Tale of Years that could look like this:

Year 2946, early spring, The Marsh-Bell (Esgaroth to Esgaroth)
Year 2946, autumn, Don't Leave the Path (Esgaroth to Woodland Hall)
Year 2947, summer, Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit (Easterly Inn to Easterly Inn)
Year 2948, early spring, Words of the Wise (Rhosgobel to Woodland Hall)
Year 2948, autumn, Kinstrife & Dark Tidings (Great River to Beorn's House)
Year 2949, autumn, Those Who Tarry No Longer (Northern Mirkwood to Rhosgobel)
Year 2950, summer, A Darkness in the Marshes (Rhosgobel to Rhosgobel)
Year 2951, last days of November, The Crossings of Celduin (Dale to Crossings of Celduin)
Year 2952, late winter, The Watch on the Heath (Dale to Dale)

I still think my Tale of Years could work too, however. Here's my explanation:

Year 2946, early spring, The Marsh-Bell (Esgaroth to Esgaroth for the Gathering of Five Armies in late November; travel to Rhosgobel for winter)
Year 2947, early spring, Words of the Wise (Rhosgobel to Woodland Hall; travel to Esgaroth for summer)
Year 2947, autumn, Don't Leave the Path (Esgaroth to Woodland Hall)
Year 2948, summer, Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit (Easterly Inn to Easterly Inn)
Year 2949, early spring, Kinstrife & Dark Tidings (Great River to Beorn's House)
Year 2949, autumn, Those Who Tarry No Longer (Northern Mirkwood to Rhosgobel)
Year 2950, summer, A Darkness in the Marshes (Rhosgobel to Rhosgobel)
Year 2951, last days of November, The Crossings of Celduin (travel to Dale for the 10th anniversary of The Battle of Five Armies; Dale to the Crossings of Celduin)
Year 2952, late winter, The Watch on the Heath (Dale to Dale)

I just finished The Marsh-Bell and was planning on this very thing. I set The Marsh-Bell in the spring, and asked them if they wanted to find another adventure in the fall, or wait until the following year. They decided to go out in the fall, so my plan is thus:


Year 2946, spring, The Marsh Bell
Year 2946, autumn, Don't Leave the Path
Year 2947, spring, Words of the Wise

From there, I'll have to see if they want to wait another year to do Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit.

Not used the Marsh Bell yet as my players wanted an adventure where they first met, so wrote that and a sequel that introduced them to the elves.

They needed advice from Radagast, so they travelled to see him, arriving as the first snows fell.

That ended the first year.

Year two began with Words To The Wise and a spring adventure, followed by Don't Leave The Path (as they had earlier chosen the Elven Halls as a sanctuary, the early stages went a lot smoother) in summer, ending with a fellowship phase at the Easterly Inn.

This week they begin Of Leaves & Stewed Hobbits in the autumn, ending year 2.

Kin Strife and Those Who Tarry will make up year three.

The last three adventures will take place in year four.

interspersed amongst this will be encounters and interludes to do with my own plot seeds started in year one and year five will likely involve that unfolding.

it's quite possible that a few years will pass before the next adventure begins, but that may depend on what Darkness In Mirkwood contains.

Ha. Yes, I was wrong, but consistent

Has there been any updates on an actual release date for the printed version of this that I've ordered. PDFs are readable, but I prefer reading in book form.

I also ordered a set of dice - suggested to release APRIL/MAY. I'm assuming now it's MAY. Any official date on that as well?

Thanks a bunch.

I'm nearly finished with the campaign arc storyline that they've been working on for the past three games. And afterwards they'll be ready to cross Mirkwood via the Elf-Path so I'm going to run the first scenario from Tales of the Wild to go along with their own reasons for going.

That will be in early June when that kicks off. I would love to have my "book" by then.

Well, the press release they did earlier said that both the book and dice are expected May/June.

Either way, that was groundbreaking news then - on March 27th.

Fast forward 5 weeks, and now I was more interested to hear if there was a narrowing down on a more specific date as we near the finish line.


For the record THIS is the site i was looking at earlier today and the dice say April/May

The book does indeed say May/June. I'm hoping that five weeks after the announcement there would be more info to share to narrow that down.


Thanks.

I am starting a Tales from Wilderland campaign on Saturday. I am expecting to do each adventure in 1 weekend session per month. I am doing some changes to Don't Leave the Path to beef it up and to Words from the Wise, which I am placing as Chapter 3.

So, are you running all the adventures in Tales from Wilderland in order and just inserting Words of the Wise as adventure #3, between Of Leaves & Stewed Hobbit and Kinstrife & Dark Tidings?

Also, what exactly are you doing to beef up Don't Leave the Path and Words of the Wise?

How long are your gaming sessions normally? Sorry for all the questions.

In order

Yes.

For Don't Leave the Path I am adding the following (stealing liberally from Trolls of Carrock scenario). The idea will to mirror the Gibbet King's desire to possess the thing he uses in the finale with actions of other evil things.

- starts with a celebration feast held by Gloin (following Marsh Dwellers). Elstan from chapter 6 will be present.
- word reaches Master of Laketown of unusual Troll attacks at Carrock and he asks PCs to help.
- Elves are considerably more nervous about people using the Forest Path. Comments about taking no evil on it as evil calls to evil. I am likely to introduce galia from Chapter 6 here too.
- Spiders who take father inhabit Sarn Goriwing (a place of great evil during the time of Necormancer from MERP supplement) suggesting some fell thing must be forcing them from their normal (which is what is forcing Trolls to wander far abroad).
- When father goes, he relives attack of Smaug and reveals son's lucky charm was part of Smaug's coat. Son hears the Watcher's call in second half of scenario.
- hermit drawn to woods due to his madness and what he carries. Whispering of evil looking for evil. He carries the ill fated shard of the Beorning's axe and gives it to PCs.
- on arriving at Carrock, they find signs of Troll attacks.
- the PCs comes across an injured giant eagle taking message from Radagast to Beornings warning them that something evil resides in Mirkwood forcing out the Trolls. It attracts coveted items of ill favour. This will help introduce the giant eagles in chapter 4.
- PCs find that Gerold from chapter 6 has already led a Beorning force into Mirkwood, wielding a heirloom weapon of some repute.
- PCs can use son or hermit's axe shard to find evil in Mirkwood, being the Watcher in the Well, in time to save Gerold.

I am not sure how I am going to bolster Words from the Wise, though I think I will put Thranduil in Southern Mirkwood investigating Dol Guldur and assisting Radagast. I will probably add Ceber Fanuin (from MERP supplement) to foreshadow Darkening of Mirkwood and the darkness the Elves see coming. I will also put Rodwen from chapter 4 in there as an Elf fallen into deep melancholy for the added link and show what the touch of the Necromancer can do.

My sessions tend to be 5 hours long but I run fast.

I got to hold the print copy of this at EXPO this past weekend

they had delayed cos they want to make it of best quality

it smelt all factory fresh.

they had dice sets for sale

I ran one of my home mods there, and two people went straight out and bought the rules!!

So jealous! I can't wait to have my copy. If my pdf was a paper book, I would have worn it out by now.

By the way, I hooked up my laptop to an HD television last night with an HDMI cable and mirrored the screen. I opened up The One Ring rulebooks and they look fabulous on the television. The artwork is superb!

When is this actually estimated to hit the shelves? I pre-ordered via amazon (don't suppose that means i'm eligible for a pdf copy, does it?), and it says may 30th... not sure thats true though, as they don't even have the cover image up yet.

The books are likely to hit in 4 to 6 weeks. Add 2 weeks for stores. That means its likely a July release.

If it was Friday Nights Game it was great fun

yes it was. And yes it was!!

Amazon just changed the release date to December 31, 2012. Is there any potential release date?

Amazon does not have the correct release dates.

(for example a song of ice and fire rpg a game of thrones edition is listed as June 12th, when in fact it is out now. Just check with Green Ronin)

The only dates that matter are the ones that come from Cubicle 7. Cubicle 7 have stated May/June as the release date. It is June 1. So it should be soon.

When a previous release date for a product is postponed without a new firm date, the book industry tends to use a "filler date" for their databases. Generally in the mathematical formula of (Today + (3, 6, 9 or 12 additional months)).

This is quite normal for the book industry and, once upon a time, was actually valid. However, in these days of licensed product lines requiring prior review, extensive graphic usage, paper vs electronic media, directly competing product released at the same time, etc so release dates are frequently missed.

An interesting thread so far - especially the order to run things in. I'm hosting a gaming weekend at the end of June and have scheduled a 4-5 hour slot of TOR. I've got all of the books but am wondering which adventure to run to best showcase the game in such a short time? Hopefully this will see the start of a campaign where I get to run all of the published adventures (hence my interest in running order).

As an aside I received a mail from C7 yesterday telling me my book has just been posted to me. I've got Tales and the Laundry Mythos Dossiers on order so am looking forward to seeing which book it turns out to be!

I think a copy of TfW is waiting at the post office for me to pick it up... the postman was too lazy to bring it to my door, and just left a card. Tomorrow morning I'll go get it, I can't wait to see if it's actually the book!

Francesco

It's probably Mythos Dossiers - print copies of TfW are still a few weeks away (unless, it seems, you're Francesco!)

I would hope the license holder has got dibs before they hit the street! It's a last chance to correct horribly egregious typesetting.

Things happen.
Sometimes, on purpose.

Don't pierce his carefully crafted handle to uncover his secret identity!

I'd due to start this in a couple of weeks. The players are playing the the Beorning, Hobbit, Elven and Woodmen characters from the book, and have just emerged from the ruins in the Marsh Bell.

Below is how I think I'm going to adapt it, with some inspiration from Skywalker's thoughts in this thread and an adaptation of the Decipher fan scenario Shadows over Dale.

My players, Dan, Martin, Rob and Ian/Phoe, KEEP OUT - SPOILERS AHOY

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Year 2946, early spring, The Marsh-Bell (Esgaroth to Esgaroth)

The dwarves retrieve the jewel that the company hadn't found. They act very secretive and jealous about it and gorecrows follow the company until they leave the marshes.

On the way back, the party meets Lockmand who is on his way to Erebor to sell the shield. Balin and Oin will, of course, recognise the shield and Lockmand will refuse to sell it to them directly. Balin or Oin will start to act irrationally and the company will have to defend Lockmand against the dwarf.


Year 2947, summer, Shadow Over Dale

Balin and Oin set out again for the Misty Mountains to deliver the invite to the Lord of the Eagles. Meanwhile, the PCs are hired (via Elstan) as messengers to deliver similar invites to the headmen of the villages of the Eastern Marches. On the way, they encounter a destroyed trading caravan. The remnants of the barrels or crates have a stylised 'B' monogram engraved into them. (They belong to Baldor, from Don't Leave the Path.)

I'll run a couple of Encounters with headmen. Depending on how they go, the PCs might then decide to visit them again on their way to Celduin in the later adventure – they'd take more time, but could collect a small warband to help them.

The PCs discover Lunn Doring destroyed. It's near Celduin, and warriors from there, led by Beoric from The Crossings of Celduin, replace the Abrelinds. The PCs are taken to Celduin and meet with coldness from the Master. The area has been suffering Orc raids recently, but he insists his warriors can handle it (he doesn't want to recognise King Bard). How the PCs play this will have an impact on their return later on. If they report the trouble back to Elstan, he'll set out with warriors next spring: when the PCs return later, the iron gate will have been repaired and the warriors trained, but the Master will try to surrender the town (the Orc chieftain won't kill the Master's son, and the PCs will have to scramble to stage a coup against the Master). If the PCs don't report back to Elstan, then the scenario plays out as written.

There's no mass battle – the PCs have done their job and return.

Once at Esgaroth, the PCs may seek out the merchant with the B monogram. If they do, Baldor will hire them straight away for Don't Leave the Path in the next year. And visiting his house will give them info about his tragic past. In any case, the loss of the eastern caravan makes his journey to the west that much more urgent.


Year 2946, November, First Gathering of the Five Armies

As successful messengers of the king, the PCs are invited to the Great Feast. They're not seated anywhere near the High Table, but they do get to see Gandalf, and the Lord of the Eagles and will be aware that both these notice them, as they seem to notice everything. (Possible Hope regain?) They will be able to meet Gloin, Balin and Oin again, and probably Bombur. They discover that the Lord of the Eagles accepted the invitation, but rejected the jewel – something Balin and Oin are rather gleeful about (“It belongs to the Dwarves!”).

Depending on their roleplaying, they could use this meeting to do various things for the Fellowship phase.


Year 2947, spring, Don't Leave the Path (Esgaroth to The Easterly Inn)

I might re-introduce Galion as a reluctant subordinate of Lindar here. Also take note of how they do for when they return here in Words of the Wise – Lindar will be the one to meet them at the Forest Gate.

I'm also going to steal bits from Skywalker's ideas, with some modifications:

Elves are considerably more nervous about people using the Forest Path. Comments about taking no evil on it as evil calls to evil.

Spiders who take father are caught just before they get to Sarn Goriwing – PCs sense presence of Shadow hanging over it.

When father goes, he relives attack of Smaug and reveals son's lucky charm was part of Smaug's coat. Son hears the Watcher's call in second half of scenario.

Hermit drawn to woods due to his madness and what he carries. Whispering of evil looking for evil.

He carries the ill fated shard of the Beorning's axe and gives it to PCs. Hermit also may rescue PCs from Watcher if they need it – Watcher shows people what they want most, but hermit deep-down most wants revenge. They destroy each other and the PCs witness his epic sacrifice.

Balor leaves the party at the Easterly Inn instead of the Forest Gate.


Year 2947, summer, Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit (Easterly Inn to Easterly Inn)

As written, although I might make the Wight look like one of the corrupted warriors who arrives in the dream during 'Tarry', so the PCs have a bit of warning.


Year 2948, early spring, Words of the Wise (Rhosgobel to Rhosgobel)

The PCs are invited to Rhosgobel by Woodmen after word of the hermit got out (via Baldor). The messenger will be Amalric.

The attack is by goblins and spiders, rather than orcs and goblins. The spiders have similar markings to those who kidnapped Baldor.

The PCs may realise that Sarn Goriwing is the centre of the evil. Radagast will organise an expeditionary force of Woodmen, but will send the PCs ahead to Thranduil to get his support. The expeditionary force is to sneak into Sarn Goriwing to take it by surprise – the spiders resist (causing very great loss of life if the PCs have failed to recruit the Elves; if they were successful, I'll introduce Galia), and among the debris is found a shrivelled human corpse in a gibbet set up in a place of honour.

I've changed this from the siege in Words of the Wise because there are already at least two sieges in the scenarios, whereas some experience with sneaking will come in handy later in 'Darkness' and 'Watch'.

The PCs are invited back to Rhosgobel.


Year 2948, autumn, Kinstrife & Dark Tidings (Great River to Beorn's House)

I'll play this more or less as written.


Year 2949, autumn, Those Who Tarry No Longer (Northern Mirkwood to Rhosgobel)

The PCs might take the opportunity of meeting the Lord of the Eagles to ask him why he rejected the jewel. Depending on how much they've impressed him, he answers: corruption makes slaves of us all; drakes may prize freedom, but they are as enslaved as the lowliest goblin to their greed; things of Shadow may offer power, but they always bind.

Instead of Elf-Freind, Irimë tells the PCs to think on her when they are in dark places – they won't have to take Corruption tests during one journey through Shadow lands. This is to prepare them for the last scenario, but they're free to use/waste it whenever they want.


Year 2950, summer, A Darkness in the Marshes (Rhosgobel to Rhosgobel)

Also more or less as written, but instead of Lockmand in the temple, it's one of his henchmen. The PCs will almost certainly want to identify the figure, and I don't want to withhold the chance through GM fiat.


Year 2951, last days of November, Fifth Gathering of the Five Armies, The Crossings of Celduin (Dale to Crossings of Celduin)

The PCs will recognise Gerold from the trial at the Carrock, and depending on how they did, he might have strong feelings about them.

The PCs may see the henchman from 'Darkness' here, during the preparations for the feast. If they follow him, they see him giving the jester his instructions. The PCs have a chance to stop that part of the plan, but only after questioning the jester can they found out who the henchman ultimately worked for.

Rather than making detours to warn people on their way to Celduin, the PCs may do so to gather a small warband from headmen they met in 'Shadows'.


Year 2951, winter, The Watch on the Heath (Dale to Dale)

Obviously, Lockmand brought the shield to Erebor five years ago, not one.

If the PCs find out about how to get past the Trolls from Whitherfinger, they can add their favoured Wits rating to their Stealth score.

If they wake more than one troll up, they might be able to get them to fight each other.

I'm going to let non-Dwarves be able to open the secret door.


Although I want to tie different bits together, I don't want too many coincidences or to make everything revolve around the one plot - both tend to give the impression of a small world. (So, for example, is it a good idea to have the PCs happen to meet the future villain Lockmand on the way back from the 'Marsh Bell'? Or they happen to find Baldor's caravan destroyed in 'Shadows'?)

Also, is it a good idea to have the spiders in Sarn Goriwing be beholden to the Gibbet King, or should they remain independent?

Advice and help would be appreciated!

I finally pre-ordered the item today. However, after I ordered and didn't get a PDF I noticed that the store doesn't list it as a book-pdf combo anymore. Is there anyone I can contact to get the PDF?

You get a second email regarding access to the PDF.
You may have to wait for it to not be the weekend so a member of C7 can generate that email for you with a unique code, unless they do it on their day off. As far as I can see, that email will come from "RPGNow.com".

Oh good! I was afraid that I won't get it because it isn't listed as a bundle anymore.

I'm no expert on these matters since I have only been buying C7 stuff since TOR came out, but I think they are quite keen on the book/pdf combo when they sell their stuff. Maybe it's a typo, but just in case I'd give them an email say by Tuesday if you haven't seen anything, gives them time to reply over Monday.

So no feedback on my plan for Tales from the Wilderland?

Do we know if we can still buy this PDF? When I did a search for "The One Ring" there it came up empty and with the other PDF's being pulled I wondered if this one was still availible.

Nope, no more PDFs available for this series.

Sooooooo ... has this shipped yet?

No, it has not shipped as far as I am aware of.

My ETA for arrival in player's hands will either be around GenCon if C7 is capable of sending them out before heading off to the convention, or just short of September. Just to be fair, this is a complete guess on my part and may be entirely wrong.