Woodmen Settlement Error in Words of the Wise

[Majestic]

When we played on Friday our PCs spent some time in the Woodmen settlements on the Western eaves of Mirkwood. One of our PCs - Malaric - a young Woodsman who has really been heroic over our campaign, is now beginning to settle down. He's now got a Holding, raised his Standing (from 4 to 5!) and has interest in a young maiden as well (setting the stage for an eventual retirement of the character).

As we explored the three towns, I referenced our PCs first adventure, "Words of the Wise", reminding the players how most of the PCs had - seven years earlier - heroically saved the Woodsmen from an Orc attack. I looked into which of the three would make the most sense for Malaric to have his holding, and I stumbled upon a mistake, I believe.

Words of the Wise has the PCs plug gaps in the line as an army of Orcs attack Woodland Hall, and talks about the palisade that surrounds the town. Problem is, when you look at the fine details in Heart of the Wild, Woodmen-town is the only settlement that has a palisade. Woodland Hall has a hedge and stockade that surrounds it instead.

In light of this, my players and I have decided to retcon that the town they saved (years ago) was Woodmen-town instead of Woodland Hall, as my players felt that the palisade was a pretty important element of that story.

Does that seem correct? (that an error was made here?) I realize Words of the Wise was never publically released, and as such it might not have gone through as many editorial steps. Or am I missing something?

[Deadmanwalking]

The details of the movements and geography only really make sense if it's Woodland Hall. For example, you travel from Rhosgobel through Woodmen Town to get there.

But yeah, there's clearly a slight error in stating that Woodland Hall has a palisade. Indeed, Rhosgobel is also incorrectly stated to have one. That said, both Rhosgobel and Woodland Hall certainly have 'walls' and gates and the adventure works perfectly well with the PCs defending the gate at Woodland Hall. Frankly, I think changing which town was saved over a single wrong word choice to be a bit silly. The writers clearly intended it to be Woodland Hall, they just assumed all Woodmen settlements had palisades, something that was likely even true when the adventure was written and only changed later. And changing that single word is way lower impact, as changes go, than changing what settlement was saved.

Not that it's a huge deal whichever way you want to do it, but changing that one word seems easier than changing geography and surrounding events.

[Majestic]

Thanks, Deadmanwalking. And I wasn't considering changing geography or anything, just thinking that perhaps they saved one town (Woodmen-town) instead of the other (Woodland Hall). I'm pretty sure the travel (from Rhosgobel, with other Woodsmen) was just handwaved away at that point, as the armies prepared for the Orc invasion.

But I suppose you're right; there's still enough of a barrier around each community that the heroes could have still plugged an important "gap in the line".

[Deadmanwalking]

Thanks, Deadmanwalking. And I wasn't considering changing geography or anything, just thinking that perhaps they saved one town (Woodmen-town) instead of the other (Woodland Hall). I'm pretty sure the travel (from Rhosgobel, with other Woodsmen) was just handwaved away at that point, as the armies prepared for the Orc invasion.

Oh, sure, I was more referencing that for anyone considering actually running the adventure. Like I said, it matters little in this situation.

But I suppose you're right; there's still enough of a barrier around each community that the heroes could have still plugged an important "gap in the line".

Yeah, that was my main point.

[Majestic]

You know, on retrospect, I could just change the word "palisade" to "stockade" in my summary, as HotW defines Woodland Hall as having a stockade for defense.