Tales from Wilderland Reflections

[shipwreck]

We had our final session using Tales from Wilderland last week and I thought it might be nice, if only for my own benefit, to write out some thoughts on these adventures after a year of play (my first year in any kind of LM/DM/GM role). Our group consisted of four players, one with no RPG experience, two with rather a lot of experience, and the fourth with some experience. None of them are Tolkien sticklers (one recently re-read LOTR so was considerably more familiar) and one has no experience with Middle-earth outside the films. I myself am a Tolkien addict and the meeting of our perspectives became an interesting point of reflection.

Obviously there are lots of spoilers ahead.

But, to start with, we began with an adapted version of Rich's wonderful To Journey's End almost inadvertently: the players had unexpectedly good rolls and convinced Oin to take the treasure to the Lord of Eagles himself. We then proceeded through all the adventures except Celduin. Some rolls were spectacular (our Hobbit invoked Tunneling to make a roll that allowed him to catch the goblins before they could run off with Dindy [or was it Dody...]), some were a bust (poor old Irime never stood a chance). All in all we had a great time and it was a fine way for all of us to get to know the game itself.

I chose not to run Celduin for several reasons. Two of them are pragmatic: I wanted to wrap up these adventures in a certain number of game years in order to pick up Darkening in a timely fashion; and we had already had the Gathering of Five Armies, so I did not want to go back and try to come up with some other large festival for everyone to get poisoned. The other was thematic: a huge battle culminating in a band of adventurers defending a bridge seemed too epic for our start and for the time period and that is where my first (and really only) gripe begins.

Of course this is a game of heroing and heroes need big things to do. But if I am to sell the fact that the first few years, shortly after the Battle of Five Armies, are a time of new peace and union it feels a little detrimental to have a fell spirit roaming about Rhovanion stirring up armies of outlaws and orcs. I suppose scale could be relied upon to maneuver the argument: these were small skirmishes that would mostly go unnoticed in the grand scheme of things. I suppose that's possible but Celduin, for me, cannot be sold in that way. Even Raegar is borderline: a lesser drake up in the mountains (he survived our encounter and now holds Zirakinbar) can be kept hush-hush until he starts pillaging, but still.

Those Who Tarry has a lot of problems, apparently, but I must credit Gareth for his skill in looping the more fantastical quest in with a touchpoint, in this case that of Merry's implied dream on the Barrow-downs. I had one player complain about the dream sequence, which I parried with the Barrow-downs parallel.

Even though most all the tales had very strong links to the sources I still, as something of a Tolkien puritan, maintain that some are too far-fetched (Those Who Tarry; Watch on the Heath) or too grand for the time period (all the rest, sparing Stewed Hobbit).

This brings me to the point I mentioned above. After the incident with Irime, when the Sons of Elrond arrived for their rendezvous, the Elves had pity on the Company and allowed them to come to Rivendell. My wife (infected by my nonstop fandom) got excited at the prospect but the rest, half for the disappointment of losing Irime and half because it was getting late in the game session, were a little lackluster. They did a very short Fellowship Phase to open Rivendell as a Sanctuary and then cracked on. Were I LM-ing for a group composed entirely of myself, I would have had Elves serenading them with songs, stories listened to at the feet of Elrond, long walks through the valley and into secret caves. But, I realized, my group really just wanted a gaming experience. They wanted to have fun, not so much take a leisurely stroll through Middle-earth, soaking in every detail with pictures and music and narrative. They wanted to get back to heroing, not spend time unlocking the histories of the past with a great Loremaster.

So it is with Tales (and really every gaming adaptation of Middle-earth): the stroll through Rhovanion, the limitless depth of detail, the subjectivity towards the source material, often (and justly) are nudged aside in order to have a good gaming experience. Tales was just that, a great roleplaying experience adventuring through Middle-earth.

I feel setup now for Darkening and the amazing things that are going to happen (unless my players sandbag me and decide it's time to go to Eriador, in which case I pull out the red dice and go for TPK). I feel like the setting is established, the fact that mundane things (like Kings and Headmen holding court) and amazing things (like the appearance of dragons or talking heads) are ready to happen at every turn. I'm excited to see how dark the greatest of forests is going to become.

tl;dr, great gaming experience with some nit-picky things for a Tolkien puritan

[TheMonarchGamer]

Interesting. I don't currently own TfW, mostly because I don't like running pre-made adventures, but actually because of the $$$

I'm having a little bit of a hard time indeed with setting up the ideas of some mundane things, but as my adventure is set in Gondor, its a pretty good lead-in point since it is in a way similar to the cliched fantasy empire setting. The next adventure I'm leading them toward is going West/North; any advice on setting the stage in the Wilderland?
-TMG

[Finrod Felagund]

[quote="I'm having a little bit of a hard time indeed with setting up the ideas of some mundane things, but as my adventure is set in Gondor, its a pretty good lead-in point since it is in a way similar to the cliched fantasy empire setting. The next adventure I'm leading them toward is going West/North; any advice on setting the stage in the Wilderland?-TMG[/quote]

Do you mean that you need an excuse for your adventurers to head north? If so, how about escorting a Gondorian merchant to the land of the Beornings so he/she can purchase finest honey for resale (at a truly humungous profit) in the southern cities. Once in Wilderland, any number of things might happen so that the adventurers are then "cut loose". For example the merchant might be killed or simply disappear. The merchant may decide to take advantage of Beorn wanting to send an ambassador with guards back to the south with him, which means that he (the merchant) no longer needs the adventurers. The adventurers could be hired by Beorn or one of his Jarls (perhaps in lowly role to begin with) and thus the first adventure starts.

Is that helpful?

[TheMonarchGamer]

[quote="I'm having a little bit of a hard time indeed with setting up the ideas of some mundane things, but as my adventure is set in Gondor, its a pretty good lead-in point since it is in a way similar to the cliched fantasy empire setting. The next adventure I'm leading them toward is going West/North; any advice on setting the stage in the Wilderland?-TMG

Do you mean that you need an excuse for your adventurers to head north? If so, how about escorting a Gondorian merchant to the land of the Beornings so he/she can purchase finest honey for resale (at a truly humungous profit) in the southern cities. Once in Wilderland, any number of things might happen so that the adventurers are then "cut loose". For example the merchant might be killed or simply disappear. The merchant may decide to take advantage of Beorn wanting to send an ambassador with guards back to the south with him, which means that he (the merchant) no longer needs the adventurers. The adventurers could be hired by Beorn or one of his Jarls (perhaps in lowly role to begin with) and thus the first adventure starts.

Is that helpful?[/quote]

Not specifically what I meant, but AMAZING ideas. I'll probably end up using these, or at least some of these since I now know that at least one of my players has an account on the forum.

What I meant should have been stated thusly: having run a game in the Wilderland for a while, do you have any advice on how to portray to your players the fantastical nature and awe - and sometimes horror - the Wilderland inspires to those who travel it?
-TMG

[Finrod Felagund]

[/quote]
What I meant should have been stated thusly: having run a game in the Wilderland for a while, do you have any advice on how to portray to your players the fantastical nature and awe - and sometimes horror - the Wilderland inspires to those who travel it?
-TMG[/quote]

I had a look at the Hobbit, and what Tolkien does is to drip-feed the "feel" of the Wilderland to the readers. He also assumes that Bilbo and the Dwarves are already aware that its a place of loneliness, awe and terror. You could try that approach with bits of description and atmosphere inserted at various points in order to build tension. I once read a guide to DM-ing which suggested that descriptions should involve at least 3 senses. There's some stuff in the Hobbit at around page 52. I also liked Tolkien's description of Eregion at around p275 of LOTR where the weather turns cold, and the wind howls in the bleak and barren lands. If you haven't got it, also invest in C7's Heart of the Wild - I can't over-emphasise what a fantastic resource that is.