Finally have a group! Need some advice.

[Pen242]

Hi all,

First off, I'm new to the game and new to the forums. You all have been extremely nice and very helpful. The creative designer at Cubicle 7 has even chimed in on one of my posts.

You all have created a very welcoming atmosphere. A sincere Thank You.

To my questions!

I have a group of four, possibly five to play, while I LM the game. Our group wants to meet at least every month. This isn't a one shot group. I'm really excited.

Question 1: are five players too much for a new LM? I feel like one might eventually drop out, but I'm not sure.

Question 2: What adventure?

I have the revised core book and the book of maps (love it).

What adventure should we start at? The core has some and then I found an introductory adventure called the Moonblade (?) that people seem to like.

Should I buy Tales of the Wilderland, Heart of the Wild, The Darkening of Mirkwood?? I would like our sessions to sort of build off each other or at least have some type of continuity. I want a story/shared world rather than a one shot, however a series of one shots that can be tied together is fine.

I'm trying to not dump too much money to begin with and to not overload myself with lots of information, so buying all three might not be the best option right now.

Thanks in advance!

Pen

[Halbarad]

Personally, i’d say that it has to be Tales from Wilderland. The whole thing is self contained and doesn’t require any other purchase apart from the core rules.

[thewisewizard]

If anything I would get Tales from Wilderland, Heart of the Wild, Erebor, and The laketown guide/screen. You'll have have a nice amount of stuff to play between the Marsh Bell and Tales. Plus you'll have Wilderland fleshed out and scenario seeds for years to come with the sourcebooks!

[Farath]

I’d also say Tales from Wilderland is a good start. That’s the way I did it. A group of 4-5 is perfect.
Alternatively I’d consider Horse Lords of Rohan and Oaths of Riddermark. Oaths is a terrific set of adventures and my group liked them more than TfW. You need the additional Horse Lords book to run the adventures of Oaths though.

[Valarian]

I agree with the other posts, Tales of the Wilderland is the best place to start. I'd then go with Heart of the Wild to expand the detail of the Rhovanion region. Then the GM Screen/Laketown sourcebook to expand Esgaroth and to get the GM screen. Then Erebor, to get additional detail for the Lonely Mountain and Dale.

[Geomtje]

There a nice introductory adventure posted by Zedturtle called Theft of the Moon on this forum, which introduces different mechanics in an easy to understand manner. Which is nice, especially if everyone is new.

[Indur Dawndeath]

I would chose:
Tales of Wilderland - Excellent adventure
Heart of the Wild - Must have region guide
Darkening of Mirkwood - The best long term campaign backbone ever created.

And then:
Rivendel - Magic items, region guide and powerful adversaries
Ruins of the North - More great adventures
Bree - More great adventures and setting

And then all the rest... you’ll want it all!

[Falenthal]

I’d also say Tales from Wilderland is a good start. That’s the way I did it. A group of 4-5 is perfect.
Alternatively I’d consider Horse Lords of Rohan and Oaths of Riddermark. Oaths is a terrific set of adventures and my group liked them more than TfW. You need the additional Horse Lords book to run the adventures of Oaths though.

I'd go with what Farath says.
If your group is just meeting once a mont (or even twice a mont, I'd say), a looooong-term campaign like Darkening might be too much. Or, at least, not as enjoyable as it should be.

On the other hand, more focused campaigns might allow the group to be more involved in the plot, as there aren't so many branches that might get confused over the passing of the weeks.

I'd start with the Core Book and Tales from Wilderland. Simple and easy.
If your group likes the game, and you feel the frequency of meetings was right, buy Horse-lords of Rohan (setting) AND Oaths of the Riddermark (mini-campaign).

All other books are amazing and very recommendable, but not necessary. Maybe Rivendell would be a great addition, if only for the Magical Treasure rules that might come handy both in Tales and in Oaths.

And the LM-screen. Every LM needs one.
And the dice set from Q-Workshop. Every LM needs two of them.

[Pen242]

I’d also say Tales from Wilderland is a good start. That’s the way I did it. A group of 4-5 is perfect.
Alternatively I’d consider Horse Lords of Rohan and Oaths of Riddermark. Oaths is a terrific set of adventures and my group liked them more than TfW. You need the additional Horse Lords book to run the adventures of Oaths though.

I'd go with what Farath says.
If your group is just meeting once a mont (or even twice a mont, I'd say), a looooong-term campaign like Darkening might be too much. Or, at least, not as enjoyable as it should be.

On the other hand, more focused campaigns might allow the group to be more involved in the plot, as there aren't so many branches that might get confused over the passing of the weeks.

I'd start with the Core Book and Tales from Wilderland. Simple and easy.
If your group likes the game, and you feel the frequency of meetings was right, buy Horse-lords of Rohan (setting) AND Oaths of the Riddermark (mini-campaign).

All other books are amazing and very recommendable, but not necessary. Maybe Rivendell would be a great addition, if only for the Magical Treasure rules that might come handy both in Tales and in Oaths.

And the LM-screen. Every LM needs one.
And the dice set from Q-Workshop. Every LM needs two of them.

Thanks. Good advice.

I'm going to order Tales and the LM screen.