New Game

[bigsteveuk]

Hi Guys,

I have had a few one off sessions of TOR and played in a PBP, but due to waiting to finish a few longtime games we are yet to play TOR in earnest, but around Dec/Jan me and my players schedule should be free to start a proper campaign.

How would you go about prepping a new and extended game, I have all the releases to date, but I am not sure if I should integrate (read) all the books. I know someone did a order list of how all the adventures could be integrated and ran. Would it be best to read all the below and then integrate them all, so in effect Tales is merged into Darkening, rather than as separate entities?

Potential sources content (adventures) for my campaign:-

• The core book
  Tales from the Wilderland
  The Darkening of Mirkwood
  Lake Town
  Rivendell

Just wondering what would be a sensible strategy to this?

Regards,

Steve

[Hermes Serpent]

I'd start with rereading the core rules to refresh your memory. If you are going to include Lakemen as an option I'd read the culture section in the Lake-town book, same for Rivendell although personally I'd skip Rangers and Rivendell Elves for a first game (the mechanics are slightly different for them).

Read over the scenario you intend to start with and then read it a couple of times more and make notes. Now reread the rules to make sure you've got everything down pat. The new rules or the Index for the slip case rules are your friend here together with sticky notes.

You might want to do a combat and an Encounter with the pregens to allow the players to see how things work before they do their own characters.

The scenarios in Tales can certainly be interwoven with Darkening but you might want to grab a calendar and map out the start and end points plus identify places to overwinter and where take Fellowship Phases during the campaign.

[nazgul_2000]

My group started playing through Tales a few months ago, and we are now transitioning into Darkening of Mirkwood. If I could start over, I would begin with Darkening, and use Tales for filler, since some of the adventures in Mirkwood need fleshing out . . . or, your party may go off in a different direction altogether ("I've always wanted to see the eastern slopes of the Misty Mountains!" No problem - run Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit). I'd also have Heart of the Wild nearby for miscellaneous adventure hooks, NPC's, terrain details, etc.