Question of Fenbridge and Dol Guldur's surroundings

[Dunkelbrink]

For those of you who have played/planned to play the scenario "Secrets buried" from DoM (some spoilers below) or otherwise thought of taking your players to Dol Guldur or its surroundings - how have you imagined the layout of the fortress and its defences? The fortress is described as being surrounded by foul marshes on three sides and the easiest way to approach the place is over Fenbridge. In Secrets buried the heroes can choose between braving the fens or try to approach Dol Guldur via the fenbridge. But in Heart of the Wild the orc fort Fenbridge Castle is described as being the only way onto the Fenbridge. I can't see the heroes assaulting or sneaking through an orc infested castle just to get onto the bridge, even if the orc force isn't fully rebuilt in the year 2950. The scenario doesn't handle the issue further, so I guess I am just wondering how you have handled your players getting to Dol Guldur.

Thanks for any input!

[Wbweather]

We just ran this a couple of weeks ago. My Characters rolled an athletics test to see if they could slip through a breach in the walls. Dol Guldur in our game was mostly empty. I didn't have them evading orcs every few seconds. I had planned a possible orc combat should a hazard have come up. They had no eyes however all night. I did fit in a couple of the hazards from the book, just for fun. The dead hands grabbing as they crossed the Dead Moat for example.

[Dunkelbrink]

Ok, thanks for the input and good ideas. Yeah, Dol GUldur should be silent and empty during this time, more like a ghost fortress than a place crawling with orcs. May I ask what way your players took to get through the fens? Did they walk through the bog or along the bridge?

[Wbweather]

I believe they went over the bridge.

[zedturtle]

This is good timing, as in my (extremely-)extended-cut version of 2948, the heroes have visited Amon Bauglir and have now decided that they want to visit Dol Guldur and Fenbridge Castle. (They were sent to scout the forest, and learn about the 'bandits' seen in the forest... they've figured out (one of) Mogdred's secret(s) already, but are pressing on.

I'm not sure what they'll do when they get to the fens and see Fenbridge Castle... something that will surprise me, I'm sure.

[Dunkelbrink]

This leads me to another question: to what amount do you guys use maps and detailed despriptions of fortresses and other places? The rules in TOR and descriptions in written adventures seem to lean towards a looser description without details about layouts etc. This is fine and TOR isn't D&D. But sometimes I miss detailed maps over defences, entrances etc. For example Zed, when your players visited Amon Bauglir, did you use som kind of map or did you just go with a description?

[zedturtle]

On the way to Amon Bauglir, the heroes (thanks to a Hazard) were ambushed by Forest Goblins and rescued a hobbit with a mysterious origin. Here's how I introduced Amon Bauglir:

Though she still feels uneasy, she cannot pierce the outer guise of the hobbit to perceive what goes on underneath.



Tinder nods, and motions southward. The journey is difficult, and the land becomes even more uneven. Eventually you perceive that it is going upwards, to one of the last spikes of bare rock in Mirkwood. As you leave the trees behind, you find that you have reached Amon Bauglir, the hill of the tyrant:



The guard that stands at the gateway to the newly reoccupied ruins of the outpost moves toward you. As she approaches, Broyan slowly comes to recognize the body language, remembering long practise sessions long ago with Dagny and... Dagmar.

Indeed, as she grows close, he sees that it is Dagmar... once feared dead. She has a terrible scar across her face, marring what was once a beautiful visage. Her helm hides some of the trauma, but you get the sense that she suffered a terrible blow. She looks at all of you, and speaks.

"So, the one who abandoned us has returned."

Broyan, thinking of the tales of Dagmar and Dagny's search for her, begins to respond when Tinder speaks up.

"It's more complicated than that, Dag. I was caught by the orcs again... fortunately I was rescued and I've brought them here. We want to see Mogdred."

Dagmar does not yet stand aside.

[[ OOC: FYI for our new players, Dagmar was part of a lapsed player's backstory that tied into her connection with Broyan. DoM didn't exist (publicly, at least) at the time, so it is at least happy coincidence that we have a personal connection here.]]

Since then, it's just been vague textual descriptions.

[Mytholder]

For those of you who have played/planned to play the scenario "Secrets buried" from DoM (some spoilers below) or otherwise thought of taking your players to Dol Guldur or its surroundings - how have you imagined the layout of the fortress and its defences? The fortress is described as being surrounded by foul marshes on three sides and the easiest way to approach the place is over Fenbridge. In Secrets buried the heroes can choose between braving the fens or try to approach Dol Guldur via the fenbridge. But in Heart of the Wild the orc fort Fenbridge Castle is described as being the only way onto the Fenbridge. I can't see the heroes assaulting or sneaking through an orc infested castle just to get onto the bridge, even if the orc force isn't fully rebuilt in the year 2950. The scenario doesn't handle the issue further, so I guess I am just wondering how you have handled your players getting to Dol Guldur.

Thanks for any input!

The Fens are intended to be a serious barrier to an approaching army - you can't march hundreds of foot troops, plus baggage, plus the sort of siege engines you'd need to assault Dol Guldur across the marsh. A bunch of PCs can plausibly cross the Fens. It's dangerous, but you're in Southern Mirkwood within sight of Dol Guldur, "dangerous" is not unexpected. (The safest option might be "skirt around Fenbridge through the marsh, then climb onto the causeway and walk along that until you get to Dol Guldur, but again, you left safe a long way behind you when you said "hey, let's go to the former stronghold of the Enemy and poke it")

[Majestic]

When we played through "Secrets Buried", my players definitely took the sneaky/stealthy approach. They had Radagast with them as well, but the fortress was mostly empty. Only our exceptionally-curious Hobbit decided to break off from the group and sneak around in the lower dungeons, but that led to some scary moments for him (he might have even gained some Shadow).

So far I've kept things very "theater of the mind" and not got all detailed, even though I really enjoy doing that sort of thing. The only time (with TOR) that I did that (actually use counters and a detailed map) was in the finale of Tales ("Watch on the Heath").

[tomfish]

I also run recently the Fenbridge / Dol Guldur scenario recently. For some reason, I did not want Radagast to join the company –impersonating him all night long was too much for me I guess, and I felt that he would railroad the players too much.

So I somehow weaved the story of the Lake Town hired hand (Halvar, I called him) with the backstory of one of my PC. The idea was that due to some revelation, they would feel compelled to follow him into Dol Guldur, and find the dark secrets he was trying to erase. Halvar had hired some of the company members to bring him to Fenbridge Castle (which he knew was the quickest way to Dol Guldur, and also thought it would be empty), and parted ways with the company just before reaching the castle. The company however decided to follow him silently (they’re good at that).

The tricky bit for the players was the decision at Fenbridge. The castle was reoccupied by many Orcs, who seemed to detain some of Radagast’s scouts (the one who escaped is the one on the very first scene of DoM, and I had Radagast request the adventurers to investigate the matter). It was quite a dilemma for the players to decide whether they should infiltrate the castle (quite a daunting task), free the scouts if they were still alive (an even more daunting one) and / or try to find a way to follow Halvar. Halvar, being a skilled adventurer, managed to get on the Fenbridge unnoticed and was already moving towards Dol Guldur as the company was still hesitating.

What did not help the players is that I drew a map of Fenbridge Castle, so it probably led them to anticipate some tactical action there (my mistake probably).

Here is the map in case you're interested.


As characters were temporarily separated, it took a while for them to decide : one adventurer made a very brief intrusion into the Fenbridge castle to obtain some information from the imprisoned scouts, but it was clear they could not be saved. Then the company managed to get onto the Fenbridge without raising the alarm (climbing on the steep side of the hill where the Fenbridge joins the castle, concealed by fog), and they followed the same road as Halvar towards Dol Guldur.


I then had them enter Dol Guldur by an underground hidden entrance, and after one day searching their way in dark tunnels, they heard screams (Halvar being killed by an Orc). I tried to summon as much somber mood as I could (I used some terrifying visions and corruption tests to quite a good effect) and I had them witness (or rather hear) the freeing of the Werewolf from the depth of Dol Guldur as a cliffhanger ending – as you see I was not necessarily following everything “by the book”.


As it all happened in the same 6 hour session I’d say that my tactical approach of Fenbridge and the dilemma took a lot longer than expected, and so the Dol Guldur part was a bit too late to fully install the proper mood. It was good, but not as good as I expected (should be a life-altering moment for the adventurers). They also felt too much that Dol Guldur was a “must see” in the adventure and had to overcome the natural cautiousness of their characters (except one) to actually decide to go there, so it felt a bit forced maybe.


Overall this adventure was enjoyable, but not so easy to manage – partly because of my choice for tailoring it. If I had to do it again I would probably either break it into two sessions (one for Fenbridge, one for Dol Guldur), leave a bit more options to actually intervene in Fenbridge (less orcs maybe), or skip the Fenbridge bit completely and focus on Dol Guldur investigation, which has a great potential for a dark atmospheric session.

In any case managing to sneak past Fenbridge castle, and either go through the Fens or use the Fenbridge should prove a nice challenge but not an impossible one.