Running "Tales" with 3 players

[Majestic]

Those Who Tarry No Longer

[ There are some among us who would say, do not run this at all. I would say that it is your choice, but tread carefully, for the paths are treacherous and 'it was all a dream' is rarely well-received. ]

I introduced Irimë in the Elven-King's halls back in the first adventure... you might do the same. It helps explain why she might be willing to put her (incredibly incomprehensibly long) life in the hands of these adventurers. I might adjust the table on page 68 to be a total of all three adventurers, but I'm a big softie.

I would have the Orc attack drive them to the Ruins (this is the GK's plan) and skip the Eagles entirely. This also removes one of the two hopeless fights... or at least redirects it into a plan of action from the PCs ("quick, let's run into this spooky abandoned place, they'll never follow us!").

Have Irimë invite them into the dream, and ask for their aid as the GK assaults her. Make sure the players know that it's a dream sequence, use fast cuts to imply lots of time passing... this is one time where the intention of the adventure is to make the heroes feel doomed. Hopefully your players will be strong enough into the game that they will not deny her and mayhap she will gain a victory.

I'm honestly not sure why so many groups have problems with this adventure. I introduced Irime early in the campaign the first time they visited Thranduil's halls. They were familiar with her and at least one of the companions had a crush on her. Later, we usually have music playing in the background while we play and I subtlety made the eagle rescue match up to Horner's ROTK soundtrack of when the eagles appear for the rescue at the end of the movie. You could have cut the tension with a knife. Finally, I made it obvious to the players that they were in a dream sequence by speeding up the narrative. The hobbit alone avoided capture by the easterlings and the story shaped to him being solely responsible for their survival buy smuggling food and water into the slave train.

Of the entire Tales of Wilderland campaign we played, this adventure was what made my players buy in. When we wrapped up the adventure they were exhausted but also determined to seek out this new danger and protect Wilderland.

Yeah, I think it's been a really good adventure, too. My players have greatly enjoyed it, I think, though I think most of them know they're in some sort of dream-state (I've given a number of hints). I wish I'd introduced Irime earlier like you guys did.

Nice use of music, Bram. But Howard Shore did the music, not James Horner.

On Friday night we'll be concluding it, so we'll see how they react at that point.

[Bram Corolev]

Nice use of music, Bram. But Howard Shore did the music, not James Horner.

Ah! Of course you are right. I knew that. I've only seen Shore's name on the cover a million times. Don't know how I made that goof.

[Majestic]

No worries! I have to admit I had no idea who Howard Shore was before the LotR movies, but now I absolutely love all of his work for Middle-earth. It makes great background setting music for the game, too!

[Corvo]

(...)
And another option is to make entirely different adventures with each pair sometimes. In Darkening, there are adventures in the Valleys of the Anduin, and other concerning Dale, Bard and his heir. Maybe there can be a Beorning, a Woodman and a Hobbit who prefer to run the Anduin Vales adventures, while a Barding, a Dwarf and a Lake-towner are more suited to the ones around Long-Lake.

A bit off topic, but that is what I'm doing with my Darkening campaign: the same players got The King's Men fellowship in Dale, and The Hunters fellowship on the Anduin.

Back on topic, I think this idea isn't really fitting for Tales: when you reach The Watch on the Heath you need your heroes to be really experienced.
Though, if Glorelendil is going through this way, I would suggest to give experience and advancement after every single adventure to both fellowships (even if only one played in it), representing further adventures the other group experienced "off screen".

[zedturtle]

Lots of great advice here. I'm going to press on (though I doubt you've caught up to me, Glorelendil ).

A Darkness in the Marshes

As suggested in my original post, Banna makes an excellent NPC. You just need to allow Radagast to give her a big further ranging mission and she can be there from start to finish. Another possibility (that I used) is to make Magric innocent... I made him fall unconscious after delivering a warning to Mountain Hall, but you could make him willing to show the PCs back to the Dwimmerhorn.

Something I know a few of us have done is make there be additional slaves that can be rescued from the Dwimmerhorn. I recommend this... it not only might give you ablative NPCs to take hits and keep the PCs alive, it's also a way to resolve issues of the infodump if they didn't sneak into the temple.

I also had Hartfast march south (since one of the PCs had a raven that could warn Hartfast of the orc army), so he was able to appear in the nick of time.

[zedturtle]

The Crossings of Celduin

By now, your games are super-popular and you're turning away players because you can't fit any more at the table... right? Just in case...

When I ran this, I got the heroes to Dale early and tried to run a city investigation mega-session. It only worked a little; I wouldn't necessarily recommend going this route. Get the heroes to the contests, and let them learn a bit more about their competition. I played Gerald up to be a bully, but made him do right in the end. Maybe one of their competitors can go with them to the south {or maybe a Ranger will show up in town and decide to accompany them }.

If not, one of Erik's sons and Beoric can help hold the line with the PCs, assuming they are successful in convincing the Master to fight. The Troll will be tricky, but good planning will hopefully make it so that they've got some margin in the combat. Everything else is scaled, so things should be pretty okay. No matter what, this should be a tough fight, and the heroes should really feel it.

[shipwreck]

Something I know a few of us have done is make there be additional slaves that can be rescued from the Dwimmerhorn.

We haven't gotten this far yet but, to throw in my two pence because I think I actually had a cool idea for once, I replaced Shanker with a Dunedain who is going to turn up as a slave in the Dwimmerhorn (probably replacing Walar). Shanker seemed so random and unpleasant and I wanted to take that opportunity to introduce a character who could/would turn up later in a more positive capacity, so I created a Ranger who (secretly) is searching the Gladden Fields. I haven't fleshed him out yet but I'm pretty sure he's on errand for Saruman if I can make the timeline work.

Anyways, I mostly just wanted to play a Ranger and create a contact should the heroes ever cross over the Misty Mountains cold.