DoM Catch Up (Spoilers)

[farinal]

It will be interesting to see how different our campaigns will go. Caewin getting in league with even the Nazgul in later years is for sure very interesting development. I feel bad for the people of the Sunstead but... I guess now they can be right if they get angry over the western Woodmen for abandoning them to the wights, ghosts and whatnot. It will be an interesting conflict.

[Majestic]

You're right, farinal. I very much look forward to seeing how our campaigns diverge from this pivotal occurrence. Which is really cool, as it really shows how the PC choices can influence the direction of a campaign.

[Ernst-Jan]

And an update from me. My group has reached the Year 2958, and have been through The Beast of the Forest, which included them killing the beast many times over due to being at their developmental apex, more or less. It was the first true encounter they had with Thranduil, more interesting due to the fact that one of the players plays an Elf exiled as a result of his lurking too much around Amon Lanc (can't remember the exact detail of the Background).

Then followed an adventure in the Hidden House, which they traveled to with Frar the Beardless, who hoped on finding a treasure to finance his expedition to the Greydelve. Their encounter with the Casket of Hate went badly and even though they all survived, Frar's spirit was crushed to such an extent that I don't think I'll ever be running a Greydelve adventure.

That was followed up with the Withered Heath adventure from Tales from Wilderland, which I adapted as standalone and integrated some NPCs from earlier adventures, meant as a sort of series finale as that would eb the last game we'd be able to play for a few months. It did turn out so, causing two of the four characters to more or less exhaust their remaining hope points. They did manage to kill the Dragon, who planned on doublecrossing them. I had already started preparing an adventure in which the dragon turned hostile and killed the party, and presented a new threat to the North, but that turned out to be unnecessary. A shadow-plagued Eleven warden left to haunt Mirkwood for the remainder of his days while the Dwarven scholar returned to Erebor to tend to the Room of Mazarbul, and two new characters were added.

After the Council of the North in which I involved the characters heavily, telling of their experiences on the Dwimmerhorn and other dark portents. They failed to prevent the assassination even though they picked up on it.

After that, the Siege of Black Tarn Hall followed, which I altered by having Mogdred charge in to rescue them as a ruse to gain the trust of the Woodmen, a deception which they saw through. The defense of the Hall went badly and though they managed to fetch Saruman and drive away the Nazgul, Black Tarn Hall was beyond saving.

Next week, they'll head for the Parliament of Spiders.

[Majestic]

You're at the exact same place we're at in your campaign, Ernst-Jan. It's fun to read about the differences and the similarities.

[thorr-kan]

Has anyone finished DoM using the Woodsmen attack on Dol Guldur? I've been reading through DoM, and this forlorn last attack has kinda captured my fancy.

[Ernst-Jan]

You're at the exact same place we're at in your campaign, Ernst-Jan. It's fun to read about the differences and the similarities.

I agree, it's a testament to the campaign's robust intricacies. 'Robust intricacies'? Robust intricacies.

Has anyone finished DoM using the Woodsmen attack on Dol Guldur? I've been reading through DoM, and this forlorn last attack has kinda captured my fancy.

Been working towards that for two years now, suspect it may take another year or so. I haven't heard of anyone on the forum reaching that point yet, though I'm happy to be corrected.

[thorr-kan]

Has anyone finished DoM using the Woodsmen attack on Dol Guldur? I've been reading through DoM, and this forlorn last attack has kinda captured my fancy.

Been working towards that for two years now, suspect it may take another year or so. I haven't heard of anyone on the forum reaching that point yet, though I'm happy to be corrected.

Reading over DoM, it seems to me that a company who's been skilled and very, very lucky could do a lot to blunt the darkening. (I'm away from books at the momemt, so I'm paraphrasing.)

Reestablish Greydelve.
Save the Beardless.
Establish Sunstead, Tyrant's Hill, and Black Tarn.
Put down the Werewolf.
Slay the dragon.
Save the Elfking.
Successfully navigate the political scene.

With all these victory condition in place, the Lamp in hand, and some very, very good planning and lucky rolling, is it possible to actually win at Dol Guldur? Nazgul are fearsome foes, but they can be faced. It's probably MAD, but there's a chance...

Of course, even with the best possible outcomes, it's likely a company will end up devastated. But that would give you a chance to play *both* endgames. Broken and battered, a ragtag company flees the battlefield of Dol Guldur, with possession of the Lamp, their destinantion: a shining beacon known as Rivendell.

[Ernst-Jan]

With all these victory condition in place, the Lamp in hand, and some very, very good planning and lucky rolling, is it possible to actually win at Dol Guldur? Nazgul are fearsome foes, but they can be faced. It's probably MAD, but there's a chance...

Of course, even with the best possible outcomes, it's likely a company will end up devastated. But that would give you a chance to play *both* endgames. Broken and battered, a ragtag company flees the battlefield of Dol Guldur, with possession of the Lamp, their destinantion: a shining beacon known as Rivendell.

I suppose you're right. I did consider this myself, or at least thought of building in an option where they can flee the batlefield with some sort of appropriate penalty. There should be more things in there that can either blunt or exacerbate the darkening. There was a bit in my group, I believe I documented it earlier, where the Staff of the Roadwarden was stolen by the Men of the Tyrant's Hill, as well as kidnapping Bofri. This become a whole contained adventure where they went and infiltrated the Tyrant's Hill under diplomatic guise, and managed to convince a lot of Woodmen to tag along. Most of those died, thinning out the able-bodied Woodmen and making them mistrustful of adventurers. All this means that the point where they are forced to make a desperate march on Dol Guldur will probably happen sooner than the book proscribes.

[Ernst-Jan]

The Parliament of Spiders adventure was pretty brutal. They managed the Parliament itself quite alright but things went wrong after that. All Companions fell prey to illusions which they failed to remove inside Tyulqin's lair, and they crossed the Eye of Mordor threshold at the exact moment the group's impatient Dwarf decided to cut the magic girdle, which I decided to interpret as Tauler double-crossing them after all and not showing up to fight his sister. They were severely pummeled by Tyulqin after that so I went the way of Radagast breaking his Staff to save them, and disappearing after the adventure.

The disappearance of Radagast plus the earlier misfortunes that have befallen the Woodmen in my Campaign (some largely the Companions' fault) all compounds into the growing suspicion that the end may be nearer than the campaign book suggests...