Using Heart of the Wild in your campaigns ?

[tomfish]

Hello,


I see a lot of discussions referring to Tales from Wilderland and Darkening of Mirkwood, but it seems Heart of the Wild is less often mentionned, mostly I suppose because it contains no formal adventures.

I was however wandering if some of you were using some of its specific contents for your campaigns ? I feel there are a lot of plot hooks, requiring a bit of work to be brought to life, and would be interested to see what some you may have come up with.

For instance, have any of you involved the Elf-lady Ash, the Kingfisher Lord, or Wild Hobbits in your campaigns, and how ?

I know that some elements fit nicely with Darkening of Mirkwood, but I'm also interested to know if you have been inspired to run specific adventures based on HoTW contents.

Tom

[zedturtle]

My newest recruit in my PbP game is a Hobbit genealogist hunting for the lost branch of the Stoors. So Wild Hobbits might have to show up in my game; I'm of two minds on them: I've been advocating for many years that people shouldn't have "all hobbits come from the Shire" blinders on; but I'm hesistant to have the wild hobbits have much 'on-screen' time. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I've been tempted to go through Heart/Darkening with an eye to trying to expand out some of those ideas into adventures... haven't got very far, though.

[Dunheved]

I have only incorporated some of the ideas in HotW to get some straightforward adventures in with new PCs. e.g. instead of going through Mirkwood escorting Baldor (Tales of W #1) I sent the group around Mirkwood (with Tholin) through the Narrows to the Easterly Inn. (They missed Farmann though!) They skirted the Viglundings and made a contact with Aestid; getting involved with her love story a tiny bit. (Ultimately I see her as a safe haven if the fellowship return & get into trouble in that area - that's sure to happen!) They returned through Mirkwood and met a Hunter Spider, then rescued some Wild Elves and experienced the Wild Hunt. [This added some unique little bonusses to the PCs - e.g. an elf bowstring]

So I am trying to blend HotW into the world of 'Tales' really. I planned most of this before I got DoM, and I am holding out for the hardcopy of DoM before I plan new adventures.

I still have outlines for some Viglunding skirmishes and have planned to link The Easterly Inn (Tales of W #2) to the River Folk as they both involve hobbits. There is plenty of room in HotW for all this and I'm glad you've asked about exploring this more, thanks.

[aramis]

HotW is mostly an Atlas, not an adventure collection. It's got some stubs, but really, it's not that discussable.

Yes, I've made use of it. I don't know the Tolkien canon as well as others, so having the new ethnic groups and regional details is a big help.

I love the new PC cultures: Woodmen of the Mountain and River Hobbits.
I wish the River Folk had been done similarly.

[Lugija]

The Elf Ash is totally the Elf Rodwen from Those Who Tarry No Longer. I have not yet GM'd the adventure but I will have the players meet Ash some time after it and recognize her. She won't know them, though, either because the players weren't really there when she was captured or because she doesn't remember even herself anymore.

And I will play the Steed of the Moon adventure at some point when the PC:s get to the Vales (one of the players really likes horses so when she heard about the Steed she asked for a chance to find it) and tie Bolg's son and the Wolf Leader into the plot somehow.

[Celebril]

I use it a lot. It just needs to be expanded upon by the LM. So I take the information in the book and flesh it out. For example, the community/village that is made up of freed slaves of Dol Guldur and is a day's ride west of Woodmen-town doesn't have a name. So I called it Laingobel (village of the freed) and populated it with all kind of people. Also I gave Ash, who's real name I made Astwen (ash maiden), a whole back story that involved the Elf tower. The Fellowship that I am LM for just finished up a whole adventure phase involving the Elf Tower which they made into an Inn after they finished clearing it out. Those are just a few examples. The book is just a base from which to build stories.

[watley]

Funny you should ask. Last night I ran an improv session in order to get the company to a place where I could begin an adventure from Tales of Wilderland. I was able to use quite a lot of the random background info to fill in the gaps as my players asked questions, and used the Narrows section extensively (since the company was poking about in the grey mountains and withered heath). And still, not a battle to be had! Brilliant.

[alien270]

Personally Heart of the Wild has exactly what I'm looking for in a source book - lots of short, evocative little hooks that I can use as inspiration for creating my own material. I don't really use published adventures much; I'm just not very good at running them. I've already incorporated the Sentinel Oak, the Lampmaker's House, and Wayward Elves into my PbP campaign. I've got big plans for adding more stuff, but seeing as some of my players frequent this forum I can't spill the beans on those

[shipwreck]

So I am trying to blend HotW into the world of 'Tales' really.

I shall be stealing this idea, kthx.

[dsmvites]

I am using it A LOT! All my chronicle is written based on the Vales of Gunbadad area:
1) the characters all belong to a family descendent of Hillmen of Gundabad,
2) the lost watchtower was the last stronghold of their people,
3) Farmman, Tom Black and Hwalda distant relatives,
4) the blade of Azhog in fact is a lost family relic,
5) the Kingfisher is the party's personal local "god" (instead of simply using the Eagles alll the time).

I would love to have the River Folk and the Wandering People fully described as playable cultures. I will probably doing it myself sooner or later.