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zedturtle wrote:The only thing I would say is don't be afraid of utilizing time skips. I.E. narrate "after rescuing the hobbit, you are welcome company at the Inn during the autumn and winter. Occasionally you accompany Dody on trading trips to Beorn's hall and it is at one such trip early in the spring of 2947 that you find..."

I think it's important to convey that there is a different pace of life and modern transportation and communication are just not present.

Yep, what zedturtle said. I'd highly encourage the players to hunker down for the Winter. If they don't, the game itself has some naturally built-in consequences for travelling in the Fall and Winter, that makes it tougher to endure.

So for TOR, our pacing has worked out to the recommended one to two adventures a year. My Star Wars game, on the other hand, is run at a frenetic pace, and my band of Rebels (we're still about a year before the events in 'A New Hope') have literally dozens of adventures in a year, racing at breakneck pace from one thrilling adventure to another.

But - as zed said - there's a tremendous difference between the two fanstasy worlds. In Star Wars, they're cruising through space in faster than light starships and communicating across vast distances. In Middle-earth, things move at a much slower pace.

I've found when I just tell the players that they've wintered wherever, and in the Spring they found... the players go along with it without any issues. This helps to slow down the pacing (as opposed to just saying "What do you want to do next?").

Majestic wrote:

zedturtle wrote:The only thing I would say is don't be afraid of utilizing time skips. I.E. narrate "after rescuing the hobbit, you are welcome company at the Inn during the autumn and winter. Occasionally you accompany Dody on trading trips to Beorn's hall and it is at one such trip early in the spring of 2947 that you find..."

I've found when I just tell the players that they've wintered wherever, and in the Spring they found... the players go along with it without any issues. This helps to slow down the pacing (as opposed to just saying "What do you want to do next?").

That's helpful. I've still got the specter of the RAW rattling in my head, so it's like: "One does not simply sit out the winter without a proper Fellowship Phase and they just had one what do I do?!" Having the freedom to just say that the seasons have changed will help smooth out the timeline.

I'm just going for it and I will adjust the timeline accordingly.

SPOILERS AHOY!
This week we are doing Kinstrife and I think I am going to place Beran in the outlaw camp as he is Radagast's spy and surely some bird or other would have heard about a notable group of evil men moving up the river and told the brown wizard. This will introduce him for when we see him again in Darkening and provide a little plot device for me to work with my Woodman Scholar. I will also throw in Ennalda when they go by Beorn's.

If they make it back in time (it will be a crunch as they are starting this at the beginning of October) for the Gathering of Five Armies then I will introduce Halbrech there.

I've thrown in the spoiler towel and I'm just going to read all/most of the stuff for Darkening so I can keep fleshing out the world as we go.

Unfortunately my group has already completed Tales from Wilderland. However if I were starting over I would skim through both books and create a spreadsheet organizing NPCs by area and affiliation for my own LM reference. I think it would make a more complete and immersive experience for the players.

Bram Corolev wrote:Unfortunately my group has already completed Tales from Wilderland. However if I were starting over I would skim through both books and create a spreadsheet organizing NPCs by area and affiliation for my own LM rerference. I think it would make a more complete and immersive experience for the players.

That's a good idea with some legwork that I won't be able to put in until later. It's too bad that they're not all listed the way they are in HotW. Should I complete this quest I will share it with all!

That would be awesome (if anyone is willing to compile a list). That way those of us just starting out in one of the adventures can start to seed characters from the others as we go.