First Session - Guardians of Gondor

[TheMonarchGamer]

Hi all, I figured I'd post a brief summary of the first session of the TOR game that I'm starting, this adventure being titled 'Guardians of Gondor.' Enjoy, and suggestions welcome!

The adventure began with a flashback - the players received a summons by an old friend nicknamed Pilgrim. Pilgrim is a wandering merchant - he buys whatever he can, and sells the same. He is generally considered to be a friend to many and an enemy to a very few indeed; as such, when each member of the party (who haven't met each other before) separately received a request asking for their aid, they agreed to respond.

The adventure picked up with the players, who have now met each other, on the road, deep inside the territory of Gondor. Four characters compose the party: Arendir, the elven tradesman turned treasure hunter, Hilde Halladora, the Barding blacksmith scholar, Odo Grimfast, the wise Beorning honey-cake chef (wanderer), and Wilfred, the Woodmen hunter (wanderer).

When they arrived at the town in which Pilgrim asked to meet them, they discovered that while Pilgrim asked to meet them at Crown-top Square, there are in fact several squares in the town. While Hilde and Wilfred went up to an old man preaching near the gate, Arendir and Odo decided to ask a beggar where they could find Crown-top square. The beggar gladly agreed to show them the way in exchange for a copper penny, which they paid. Meanwhile, Hilde and Wilfred discovered from the man preaching ("It's the Steward's fault that Dawn Company revolted! Had they a proper king to lead them, they would still be fighting gloriously against the darkness!") that a prestigious cavalry company, Dawn Company, has turned traitor and begun attacking innocents in the countryside.

When they all eventually made their way to the Crown-top Square, they met Pilgrim, who informed them that he has half-hour more of selling goods, but that he has already paid for a set of rooms at the local inn, the Bull and Frog. They were welcome to make their way there directly or to wander the town for a bit, but he wanted to see them there after half an hour.

Arendir, Odo, and Wilfred all wander briefly before going to the inn, while Hilde, on a commission from Wilfred, found some materials and a blacksmith's shop, and began to hammer out a helmet for Wilfred's hound. After getting the basic form of the helmet down, she also arrived at the inn to wait for Pilgrim.

When Pilgrim arrived, he informed them of his plight - a trusted companion of his, a man named Findegil, has gone missing shortly after Dawn Company revolted. He assured them that Findegil has not turned traitor, but expressed his concern that Findegil is either dead or captured. As most of Findegil's belongings were still in one of Pilgrim's wagons (Pilgrim travels with a small group of assistants; Findegil was one of them), this was especially troubling. The players agreed to try to help find Findegil in the morning, and Pilgrim thanked them.

In the morning, Pilgrim informed them that he could not accompany them, as he had been called away on urgent business - an important family matter. However, he gave them a bag of gold pieces to help in finding Findegil, and also gave them the name of the city where his caravan was located when Findegil was last seen.

After the players traveled toward the city for the greater part of the day, they began to hear wailing and crying from over the hill - the sounds of people mourning, not of battle. They came upon the sight of a funeral (they were not yet at the city, but a hamlet about halfway to their destination). The mass burial was for the soldiers of Stork Company, an infantry company slaughtered by Dawn Company's sudden and ruthless attack. The knight in charge of the town's safety invited the players to a memorial feast in honor of Stork Company, and the players gladly accepted the invitation. They heard, however, the knight and soldiers wondering about an extra body to be buried - the knight knew that Stork Company contained precisely thirty men, but there were thirty one bodies, all of which were clad in full armor and were in possession of proper papers. In addition, the last body had not been claimed by any citizen of the town as a relative. They had little time to act on this information, however, before the feast began and they were caught up in the food and drink.

That's about where the session ended, since one of the players had to leave a bit early. Until next session, then!
-The Monarch Gamer

[Rich H]

Really nice to read MG; I love reading peoples' experiences with TOR and it looks like you have a great set a characters for your campaign.

Could provide us with an insight as to why you set the game in the region that you have? Have you already played a Wilderland and/or Eriador campaign and are branching out even further?

[TheMonarchGamer]

Thanks, glad to hear you like it. Yes, my group does produce some pretty unique characters, but they can be a bit of a handful sometimes ^_^. Aren't all groups like that though?

**EDIT**

To clarify, this is actually my first TOR game I've ever run/played in.

**END EDIT**

As far as the setting, that's an interesting question. There are really any number of possible answers, but I'll give the most likely few:
1) I love to homebrew and modify. Since these rules were made almost to my idea of perfection, I think my outlet for modification came in the form of the setting.
2) I suddenly had an idea for this adventure, and while it's not apparent now, the overall plot worked by far best in Gondor.
3) The overall geographical direction of the long term campaign is going to be moving northwest across the Misty Mountains, and I like the idea of Central Gondor being a sort of haven where trade and rest are readily available.

Really, though, it's basically the first two with the emphasis on the first one; the other reasons are just there to justify my decision to myself.
I'd be happy to answer any other questions that don't give away too many extra spoilers, just let me know ^_^

[Rich H]

Thanks MG, that makes a lot of sense. Personally, there's so much awesome published material that my campaign is still in Wilderland and I don't see that changing for some time.

[Glorelendil]

Thanks MG, that makes a lot of sense. Personally, there's so much awesome published material that my campaign is still in Wilderland and I don't see that changing for some time.

That was my thought, too. And I assume that when Gondor eventually gets published it will be just as awesome...I wouldn't personally want to miss out on that. Would be a shame to discover that my homebrew stuff contradicted so much of the official material that I couldn't even really use it.

[Rich H]

That was my thought, too. And I assume that when Gondor eventually gets published it will be just as awesome...I wouldn't personally want to miss out on that. Would be a shame to discover that my homebrew stuff contradicted so much of the official material that I couldn't even really use it.

That's a significant point for setting stuff *and* rules. I only add to my game when there's an absolute need from a campaign perspective (eg, Dale supplement). I doubt I'd pick an area that is as yet untouched by the official material but, on the other hand, I enjoy seeing other people do just that and sharing their experiences. It's great to see other gamers enthusiastically diving into TOR-uncharted territory!

[TheMonarchGamer]

Thanks MG, that makes a lot of sense. Personally, there's so much awesome published material that my campaign is still in Wilderland and I don't see that changing for some time.

That was my thought, too. And I assume that when Gondor eventually gets published it will be just as awesome...I wouldn't personally want to miss out on that. Would be a shame to discover that my homebrew stuff contradicted so much of the official material that I couldn't even really use it.

That's certainly a very valid point, and one that I frankly didn't consider too much. To be fair, the area in which the game is set borders around northeast Gondor, northwest of the dead marshes. I don't think that area will be too heavily covered in future setting books (obviously, I might be dreadfully wrong), so I have a small buffer of safety there.

Certainly, if there is something that comes out that is fascinating, I'll do my best to incorporate it into the existing setting I've developed.

A little more on why I chose the setting, though. Apart from the above reasons, I mean. I think it rather has to do with the fact that its also a rather unexplored area in the movies and (to the best of my knowledge) the books, similarly on the frontier between civilization and wilderness. Sort of like why a lot of 'Traveller' games are set in the Spinward Marches. In addition, I hate using prepublished adventures (at least, right out of the box. I might use them with heavy modification), and nothing really spoke to me from the Wilderland in terms of creating an epic story worthy of lord of the rings - obviously, there are things such as "Nemdarl wants you to fetch three pales of water for his feast," but those sound more like MMORPG quests than a Tolkienesque story. So I suppose its also a matter inspiration as well!

Thanks for the comments, I'm really enjoying seeing people's thoughts about my adventure. By the way, predictions are welcome as well - they make for a great source of ideas ^_^
Thanks all,
The Monarch Gamer

[Glorelendil]

Warg Spleens. Fetch me 10 Warg Spleens, peon.

[zedturtle]

In addition, I hate using prepublished adventures (at least, right out of the box. I might use them with heavy modification), and nothing really spoke to me from the Wilderland in terms of creating an epic story worthy of lord of the rings - obviously, there are things such as "Nemdarl wants you to fetch three pales of water for his feast," but those sound more like MMORPG quests than a Tolkienesque story. So I suppose its also a matter inspiration as well!

Huh. I found both the Tales adventure and Darkening of Mirkwood to be suitably epic and I modify things to better suit my opinions on things. Saving the North from a dragon, a fell spirit, Ringwraiths and the Children of Shelob? Seems epic to me.

[TheMonarchGamer]

In addition, I hate using prepublished adventures (at least, right out of the box. I might use them with heavy modification), and nothing really spoke to me from the Wilderland in terms of creating an epic story worthy of lord of the rings - obviously, there are things such as "Nemdarl wants you to fetch three pales of water for his feast," but those sound more like MMORPG quests than a Tolkienesque story. So I suppose its also a matter inspiration as well!

Huh. I found both the Tales adventure and Darkening of Mirkwood to be suitably epic and I modify things to better suit my opinions on things. Saving the North from a dragon, a fell spirit, Ringwraiths and the Children of Shelob? Seems epic to me.

I'm sure they were - more importantly, in that case, was the matter of funding and budgeting ^_^