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I'm planning on running The Marsh-bell next month, and I've started prepping. I'm not sure how to answer these questions (or if they'll come up, but I like be prepared) and would love to hear from anyone who's run it before on their experience.

Why don't the dwarves send their own to look for Balin and Óin? They're important dwarves after all, seems like they could spare a a handful of soldiers, rather than send out a call for adventurers?

In fact, why didn't Balin and Óin travel more than the two of them to begin with? It seems more than a little foolhardy, since they were going to pass through Mirkwood, and one of their stated purposes was to 'investigate the conditions of the old forest road'. Fair enough that the goblins have been reduced, but plenty of other foul and fell things lurk under the cover of the treetops.

How do you sell the troll? Why is he in the water? Is he holding his breath? It seems weird, and it doesn't really connect with the rest of the story.

Glóin's foresight of Óin's drowning at Khazad-dûm 48 years later, if it comes up, will surely be mistaken for the troll. I wonder if that was intentional? It doesn't have an impact if it does, but nevertheless it's a little odd.

How do you sell the dwarves having been waylaid? A pair of seasoned travelers like that?

I'm not a big fan of that adventure, mostly because, as you noted, it feels forced.

- if there is a dwarf in your party, then have Gloin ask him personally for some reason. Ask him, in his background, how he knows Gloin.

- you can decide that Balin and Oin didn't go alone, but that some of their men (dwarves?) were killed by the troll, and others were killed by the marsh-dwellers.

- I don't remember the troll being underwater, I just thought he was hidden in the bushes and trees. I described it as a big rock that suddenly moved. He does connect with the story if you make it clear that the reason he's wounded is that he attacked Balin and Oin a bit earlier.

Basically it is an intro adventure: a "how to" travel, fight big thing, fight small things in horde. Not much more than that.

I would also go for the original dwarf party being larger. 5 dwarves all in all (an adventurer's group). The players can find a pair of them near the place where the troll was killed after they finish off the troll (or at least find some of them) and maybe a third one is down in the room with the alive dwarves, having succumbed to wounds a day or so earlier. Makes more sense and is more dramatic if there have been caIt also adds a level of complexity if they want to bring them back to Erebor for a proper burial.

Why the adventurers can easily be that Gloin already knows that they are not returning, and they were 5 competent dwarves, so he is sending "people with other skills than those of dwarves" (read: expendable cannon fodder) to investigate the matter and see if they succeed where the dwarves do not seem to be having much success. or maybe he already sent a trio of other dwarves and they did not return so he relies is brute force now.

Glad to hear someone else is getting to run this one as well. I am running it this Sunday over roll20. I haven't really though about "why the fellowship?" However, I am making quite a few changes to the scenario:

1.) The pre-text for the group in Lake Town is Dragontide, so I'm moving the timeline from Spring to October

2.) We're going to go through the three days of celebrating and competition before the quest begins (thinking maybe Gloin will be an officiant of some sort, so maybe he can get to know the fellowship that way?)

3.) Going full-on "Mewlips" - Nerulf is going to recite the poem to them instead of the rhyme about hanging trees (actually going to play Tolkien reading it for the players while they read the lyrics themselves)

4.) Changing weakened Stone Troll to weakened Marsh Ogre

5.) Probably will make some other last minute changes - not sure yet

How did you all change the Marsh Bell to suit your needs?

... Shameless plug, but I only used bits from the Marsh Bell and added to them to create "To Journey's End and the Eagles' Eyrie": https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/795 ... 0Eyrie.pdf

I felt this involved the PCs in the actual quest to the Eagles' and created plot threads directly involving the PCs for re-opening the Men-i-Naugrim, etc.

My group should be starting Marsh Bell tomorrow. I intend to use it to kick off a TFW/DOM campaign. Hopefully their will be some good loose ends left after the adventure... One of my PCs is a Dwarf so that will help with motivation.

Hope to hear a summary.

This is cool that some of you are running The Marsh Bell.

I posted the link to this film adaptation of The Mewlips as inspiration on the previous Forums, but if you haven't had a chance to see it I'm posting it again. It's a fun interpretation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6ntMbUEjf0

We are pretty much through the first two sections. I read them the whole Mewlips poem becUse they all rolled really well on appropriate lords to understand the gallows weed rhyme. I didn't give them any further explanation though.

They decided to investigate the corpse candles in the troll's pool. Troll attack saw the dwarf choose knock back over taking 12 stamina, and the hobbit doing 38 stamina to the troll with a single called shot! He rolled really well.

The groupiked it and will be back for more.

DavetheLost wrote:the hobbit doing 38 stamina to the troll with a single called shot! He rolled really well.

That's a strong hobbit! How is that even possible?