TFW then DOM?

[Rieno]

So we've run through the 1st Tales from Wilderland adventure and I'm thinking of just going straight through the book, then going straight though Darkening of Mirkwood, but I've seen the early timetable someone posted that mixes the two. I've also seen that people think this messes with the plot having the two big villains (?).

Can I just run through TFW then DOM successfully?

thanks

[arthyn]

As LM, you can do whatever you like!

But seriously, I've been trying to run them in chronological order. Timb created this awesome graphic:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m309 ... 3ffdec.jpg

There's also quite a bit of great information on this topic in this thread!

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=957&hilit=timeline

Cheers!

~Arthyn

[Corvo]

Spoilers ahead, players keep away!

As said above, you can do whatever you want.
That said, I'm the one who raised an issue about the two Big Bad. I abandoned the idea of running the two campaigns straight one after the other, and now I'm mixing the two.

I ran Don't Leave the Path, Of Leaves and..., Kinstrife. I'm going to salvage the one about the castle in the swamps (don't have the book at hand, forgot the name). In my game the chain of Thangorodrim is being prepared to capture the Forest D, not Raenar. The Gibbet King is going to fall under the thumb of the Nazguls once they return to Mirkwood, and they continue his plan.

I'm binding together the story of Geirbald the Slayer, Mogdred (Ingold son of Ingomer) and the Hermit from Don't Leave the Path. His real name was Leudast, and was a renowned hero of the Woodmen.
Geirbald and Ingold were young and brave, and choose to hunt the Werewolf (as for Geirbald backstory), yet they knew they needed help. They talked to the older Leudast, already a famed hunter, and he agreed to join them. [insert epic tale of bravery and failure] when the trio was ambushed by the Werewolf, Ingold charged bravely and to no avail and was wounded. Leudast swung the famous wolf-biter axe at the beast, and the monster recoiled in pain: yet he bite at the hero's arm, and dragged him in the woods. Geirbald shoot arrow after arrow, till fell from exhaustion. When he recovered he was alone (and later discovered about the sister).
What happened is that the Wolf dragged unconscious Leudast for a while, then dropped him and came back to fetch Ingold. But Leudast recovered, picked up the axe with the left arm and confronted the returning beast.
In his last, gretest fight, Leudast killed the Werewolf, the axe broken as he killed the monster. But the spirit of the beast hid into him (as for the rules in DoM). The orcs captured the two wounded men and dragged them to Dol Guldur, where they faced different fates.
Ingold became Mogdred, Leudast was freed as to wrack misery on his own people. But Leudast, starving and mad from torture didn't returned home. He fled to the north, away from his own people to protect them from the beast in him. Till the Elven Trail, where the heroes found him. After many years fighting to contain the monster he hated his spirit was exhausted. He gave the broken axe to the travelers and fled away. Now the monster is back.

When the fellowship brought back the axe-head they discovered the tale, yet they asked themselves: "was that poor soul Ingold or Leudast?" They traveled back to him yet they found his home deserted, and the elves warned them: the Werewolf is back, and attacked some dwarves not far from here...

[Falenthal]

Thanks to Corvo and to The Raven Axe of Arnor from the Rivendell supplement, this is a first draft of how I envision Wolfbiter's story:

THE LEGEND OF WOLBITER
Twenty years ago, Ingold son of Ingomer and Geirbald were two young, brave and bold woodmen. Wishing to inscribe their names in the Great Hall, they decided to hunt the Werewolf of Mirkwood. For this task, they managed to persuade Leudast, the greatest hero among them, killer of uncountable wolves. With them came some of their friends and even relatives, all seeking glory in the hunt. When they first saw the Werewolf, fear stroke in the hearts of all. Geirbald, his reason blinded, shoot arrow after arrow at the beast, ignoring friend from foe. Unbeknownst to him, one of his arrows stroke his sister, who was among the scouts of the group. Most of the friends fled the place, but Leudast, Ingold and Geirbald somehow managed to follow the beast. In the following battle Ingold was heavely wounded trying to confront the beast. Leudast, with his legendary axe, managed to hit it deeply, burying the head of the axe in its flesh like a fang. But the hit was so strong that the handle broke. Unarmed, the Werewolf subdued him and disappeared with both Ingold and Leudast into the utter darkness of the forest. Geirbald, still shaking from the horror, managed to take the handle of Wolfbiter from the ground and runned for days until he reached Woodmen-Hall. There, Ingomer heard his story, and full of rage for the loss of his son, broke the handle of Wolfbiter with his knee. The scouts sent to look for any survivors found the body of Geirbald’s sister, with one of his brother’s arrows protuding from her back. Ashamed by his act, Geribald fled Woodlmen-Hall and lived as an Outlaw in the woods thereafter, hunting wolves, orcs and spiders.
When some years later some heroes came from the depths of Mirwood, bringing the head of Wolfbiter back to Ingomer, his first thought was that either Ingold or Leudast was alive. If the first, his son could return home to his father. If the second, he might have information about what happened to his heir.

ITEM: Wolfbiter
Type: Long-hafted Axe
Craftsmanship: Númenórean
Banes: Wolves, Goblins
Qualities:
1. Raging
A weapon graced by this Quality deals an extra loss of Endurance to an attacked Bane creature equal to your Valour even on a missed attack roll.
2. Superior Fell
Its Injury rating gains a bonus equal to the bearer’s Valour only when used against a Bane creature. Otherwise the weapon’s Injury rating is raised by two, as the normal Fell bonus.
3. Keen
The weapon’s Edge rating is reduced by one (note that an Edge rating of A becomes a rating of 10).

Notes: An axe of Númenórean craftsmanship, its broad head engraved with images of wolves and warg-riding goblins. Its age suggests it was crafted during the time that Arnor’s successor kingdoms struggled against the armies of the Witch-king of Angmar, and it is wound with spells to drive the evil forces back to the mountains.

[Andrew]

You might find you want to delve into the early part of DoM sooner, and run it concurrently with TfW. The first few years of DoM feature fairly brief adventures, so you could well run one of them and a TfW adventure in the same year. It's what I've been doing, and seems to be working out so far.

[shipwreck]

In lieu of a 'Like' button this is me liking this thread.

[pestigor]

Thanks for the links and the info, this will help with the game I'm starting in a few weeks!

[Corvo]

@Falenthal

Glad you liked that story enough to incorporate it in your adventures