forums.cubicle7.co.uk
archive

This was requested in another thread. This was our first session of ToR.

Any comments or feedback is greatly appreciated.


Cúthalion, Elf of Mirkwood, Warden
Dimple Gamwich, Wild Hobbit of the Valley of Anduin, Treasure-Seeker
Thurgar Goblinstikker, Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, Slayer
Páchnuce Rybie Muž, Man of the Lake, Wanderer

It is the summer of 2947. Muz is fishing in the lake, Dimple and Thurgar are looking for orcs, Cuthalion is patrolling old parts of Lake Town due to rumors of evil. All have heard rumors that gems from Smaug's belly wash onto shore.

A boy emerges from the reeds and says his Pa is in trouble. The elf responds, followed by the fisherman, hobbit, and grumbling slayer. A man with his back to a tree is accosted by three ruffians. The fisherman recognizes them as local toughs, formerly in service to the old Master of Laketown and the elf grazes the sideburns of one with an arrow. The heroes run off the ruffians.

The man, Baldor, is a merchant hoping to take his wares to the western side of Mirkwood to the Woodmen. Once a well-off merchant of Laketown, he lost it all(including his wife) when Laketown was destroyed. He has had ill-fortune and has not been able to recapture his previous success.

His son's name is Belgo. The party agrees to act as guides and protection.

The party follows a path along the river until they meet three raft Elves. The merchants ponies, wares, and the adventurers board the raft. The dwarf has some seasickness, probably worsened by the elves' intentional poor steering.

Arriving at the Elf King's hall, the party is allowed to sleep in the storage cellars for the night. The Company is able to convince Lindar, Master of the Cellars, to allow them(even the Dwarf) to stay in the nicer accommodations in the upper-cellars. Cuthalion hears that spiders are becoming more bold along the forest path.
 
The next day the party heads west. Cuthalion, acting as scout, spots several spiders making webbing across the road. The elf is able to divert the party along a gully thus avoiding them.
That evening the party discovers the Great King's open banquet hall (not sure if this is right) and they bed down for the night. During Dimple's watch, Baldor sleep-walks and drinks from the stream the Company has camped near. Some effect of the water appears to cause some memory loss and seems to relive the tragedy of Smaug's attack on Lake Town. Belgo is devastated that his father does not recognize him

Baldor, believing he has been kidnapped by ruffians, bolts into the forest. The party pursues, leaving Belgo to watch the ponies. The trail is easily followed deep into the wood until the track disappears. Looking up the party sees that the body of Baldor hangs from branches amid a ruins. The fisherman attempts to climb a wall but falls and is hurt. The dwarf attempts to climb but becomes stuck and the elf cuts him free. The dwarf then takes some dilapidated stairs but then must cross a web bridge to cut down Baldor. 

Several small spiders attack but are hewn by the dwarf's axe, the fisherman's sword, and the elf's bow. The party attempts to flee back to the Elf Path, and the awaiting ponies. It is unknown if the spiders are still in pursuit.

Note - One of the players(Jay), forced anyone who made a Lore or Song roll to recite a passage from the Simarillion. 

Good summary.

The lakeman fell from the side of the tower and suffered 9 fatigue. He's been badly limping since.

Nice Sounds like you are more heroic than we were. We almost left poor Baldor hanging there and left with the merchandise Finally decided not to, but the discussion was serious

I have in the past used counter/tokens 25mm/1inch in size for indicating Hope and Hate/Shadow points. Once players start to thinking about things like robbery and abandoning fellow travellers then opening up the containers of black tokens and fondling them goes a long way to ensuring that players make the 'correct' decision

I `prefer the poker face and award the corresponding prizes if the party earns them

But I'm the b******* that introduced a new player in my FTF game last Sunday afternoon and cruelly murdered his sister about an hour into the game. Plus I made him test for Corruption at the sight of her body and gave him two Shadow for failing (and one each to the rest of the company who failed the test).

Foreshadowing the players doom is always a good plot driver for moving things along.

Not always. I prefer that people uses their brains. I might give them a warning like "are you sure about that?" (I might say that even when they make the right choice so they are edgier ) but will not put a neon advertisement saying "this will be bad for you". Otherwise I feel I am railroading them, forcing certain decisions on them even if they would prefer to do otherwise. Not completely, but I strongly influence their decision process. And I do not like that, nor do they.

Thanks for posting this Edward! Sounds like you're having a great game so far - you've reached the same point we have too (although our company insulted Lindar and were not allowed into Thranduil's Halls at all).

Andrew

@Elmoth, sometimes it depends upon the players. With some you can let them proceed with the occasional admonition 'Are your sure about that?' and sometimes when their inclination is to murder hobo-ism based on what actions other games reward (XP for killing things and taking their stuff) there is the need to be a little more blunt in guiding them to the style of play that is preferred/suggested. This is a game based on the Professor's Edwardian outlook when England was a green and pleasant land and the 'orcs' of industrialisation hadn't yet fully impinged on the Shire of the West Midlands and the horrors of the Western Front are relegated to Mordor's stinking, ruined, fields.

Andrew wrote:Thanks for posting this Edward! Sounds like you're having a great game so far - you've reached the same point we have too (although our company insulted Lindar and were not allowed into Thranduil's Halls at all).

Andrew

C'mon he was pretty rude!

That was a great moment though. I was really anticipating getting to see the Elf King's halls, and we just didn't get to do it. It was a strangely enjoyable moment, seeing the elves as so many of the mannish peoples see them. Or rather don't see them.