How to Make Adventures

[Summerhawk]

I've been using a mix of published stuff and my own. I agree that making a story 'fit' can be a challenge. My own suggestions would be about source material. Professor Tolkien wasn't creating Middle Earth in a vacuum, he drew on the existing cultural mythology of Northern Europe. So in my own creations I've done the same. For example:

Beowulf: This story already figures heavily in parts of Tolkien's mythos (especially in Rohan). For TOR, I attached it to the obscure creature Manbane. The company found themselves chasing evidence of a strange creature that was attacking the villages between Mountain Hall and the Anduin. Eventually the creature begins attacking Mountain Hall at night. So the party wait in the great Hall for the creatures attack... I worked quite a lot of story into this both before and after the pivotal confrontation, but I relied on Beowulf for the structure of my story. As a bonus, my Beorning player realized what I was doing and finished the fight with Manbane by using a called shot (and my permission) to try and sever the creature's arm.

The Mabinogion: Less well known that Beowufl, this collection of Welsh stories features plenty of odd locations and magical occurrences that could fit will in a TOR game. I've sprinkled some of the strange locations from these myths as random encounters and hazzards throughout Mirkwood any time the party ventures in. I think it gives the forest a more alien feel (we have no elves in the party) in addition to its brooding atmosphere.

And there are a lot of other works of Norse, Germanic, and Celtic myth and legend. I have found that adapting elements of these for TOR keeps my homemade adventures more thematically in line with Tolkien. So anyway that's my two cents.

[Falenthal]

I can't say any better than Glorelendil. His points are exactly what I struggle to do with my adventures, and what I'd like to play as a player.

1) I agree with "interaction with canon" but I don't think it needs to specifically be with the canonical characters.

One fun way to do this is to make forward historical references. That is, drop hints of things to come, that the players only know because they've read LoTR.

I'd add that sometimes I like more to play with secondary characters from the books than with the Big Stars. As a player, I know what to expect from Gandalf, and as a LM I feel a bit strained with what he can and can't do. But using Radagast or Saruman before his treason to the White Council, that makes it all the more interesting. Everybody knows what happened and what will happen with Gandalf, but that's not the case with the other Istar.

Also, characters like Haldir (who speaks Westron because he travels to the lands of the Anduin to gather information, as he states in LotR), Fatty Bolger, Hama,... can link the players to the canon. Playing along Aragorn or Frodo might drive the players to think that their adventure is just something "minor" compared to the real adventure this canon characters will live in the future.

2) Next is continuity, or the sense that heroes exist at one point in a continuous story that spans millenia. This goes beyond sprinkling Middle Earth with ancient ruins (not that there's anything wrong with ancient ruins.)

Like all of you here, I've read lots of epic fantasy books. Up to now, I've only found two books (or series) that have been worth reading: LotR and Song of Ice And Fire. The rest could be fun and whatever, but to me they all lacked something. I think that what other books usually do is talk about how "things where different in the old times", but there's no real link between what happened in the past and what the actors encounter in the actual story. They say the world is old, but it doesn't feel old. I can't analyze it better, because I lack the skills to do so, but I guess you all know what I mean.

4) BBEG. This was alluded to in previous posts, but there is a trade-off between having every RPG campaign culminate in a world-saving fight against the Big Bad Evil Guy, versus having a campaign that just feels like a collection of generic RPG quests.

The Mouse Guard comics have a very nice quote that can be reinterpreted here:
'It matters not what you fight, but what you fight for."
The ultimate goal of the heroes should not be "beat the big dragon", but "recover our home and save our people". Killing the dragon could be a way, but not the goal. And there should probably be other ways.
Of course, this requires a certain group of players that aren't obsessed with XP and Magical Artifacts, which might not suit everyone.

Well, I think I didn't say anything any better than Glor, but wanted to chime in a bit.

[cuthalion]

This is a good discussion. Not for the first time, my sentiments align with yours zed--I worry about things getting too generic often.

The adventure supplements, while excellent, have a difficult job to do in this respect, because they have to tell/set up stories without characters to base them on. In a couple of places, I feel as if the balance gets lost, or what should be sacred or special gets a bit tokenized . . . but, here's the rub---you as a LM have to figure out how to make adventures/locations/journeys meaningful, instead of just props for any old RPG, AND TOR goes to lengths to provide mechanisms to support this.

Traits and specialities are good for short term characterization, but I think LMs can remember to make use of Callings, Backgrounds and Curses/Shadow Weaknesses. I'm hoping the Adventurer's Companion will expand on, not how to make your characters epic, but how to make them tragic, or flawed, or Tolkienesque, but here are a couple of ideas . . .

So I worry that terms/concepts like 'fellowship' or 'company' get cheapened when they're used so often and can be arrived at so early. A 'fellowship' starts up in Lake-town and receives a quest from Gandalf to 'investigate' ruins to the south . . . etc. But, to be fair, the Hobbit, with a little exposition, starts Bilbo on a quest that would seem fairly staged played out around a table too. You might argue that *some* of the difference comes from the characterization that is allowed to develop:

• Bilbo isn't just a generic Treasure Hunter, he's one with no practical experience, and the LM deftly deals him a 'treasure' early on that balances play while also exposing him to all that is unknown about Middle Earth to him in the most dramatic/symbolic way and giving him a continuous set of challenges unique to his character (ie, in addition to the main quest).
• Thorin has a Bitter Exile background, and his roll is fairly generic for a while, you might say, but that bitterness that displays throughout is used to great effect later in the quest when his Shadow Weakness gets played/preyed on.

You can think of Turin, or Boromir, or Frodo, and think about they ways they were given internal conflictm or challenged to grow as characters. So, LMs make careful use of Callings and Shadow Weaknesses (and Magical Treasures) to force players into a position where there choices have to be more authentic, I guess that's my small addition here.

Additionally, I haven't had the game experience to try this out yet, and it sounds like it's what you're working to achieve Zed, but anything that combats the feeling of rinse and repeat adventures ('Oh, it's spring, here comes another LM character to send us on a quest') will also help with this. Spot the moment where Frodo gets sent on another quest--ok, Council of Elrond you might say, and it's almost as cliched as it gets ('I will come with you!' 'And so will I!'), but we tolerate it (enjoy it!) because the characterization is there. Frodo has realized already over the journey to Rivendell that the ring is bound to him and he to it, that the world of men is full of corruption--we know his decision before he makes it (or insert countless other interpretations, because the characters are believable . . . ). Whoever is playing him does a great job of sticking by his traits/character, but the LM has has also been devilish in putting him in a situation where his calling (Wanderer/Scholar?) and his quest are put into conflict. Whatever adventure that grows out of this kind of situation can't help but feel meaningful to the player.

So make sure to grow quests/plots based on characters and their decisions as much as the ongoings in the world around them. If you're playing a published adventure, and a certain twist seems forced, you don't need to stick with it. You can use the adventures as frameworks and depart when needs be, or just as inspiration for something that fits your characters more closely.

Anyway, this isn't very well thought out, and hopefully isn't too obvious, but in addition to the good pointers on the setting it's my 2 cents. If you're striving to get the feel of PCs who are swept out from their doorstep, who are embroiled in a Middle Earth that is larger, and more fantastical, than they are, I think giving them backstories that play significantly into the quests you run and uses the game's inbuilt mechanics of calling on and challenging these backstories is part of making the world seem real.

[Arthadan]

I'm ejoying this thread and you have made very good points. Let me add the obvious requirement, at least for me: the adventure must respect the canon. With this I mean respecting the way things are and the way the world works, things like altering the known story can be fun.

Some LM felt tied up with so many restraints and information, but I think is essential. Nothing puts me of more than inconsistencies with the canon.