Nightmares of Angmar

[jamesrbrown]

Has anyone out there been able to play through Nightmares of Angmar in Ruins of the North? I'm anxious to hear about it.

[PaulButler]

It's actually next for my group.
We're still firmly in Darkening of Mirkwood (about eight years in), but I'm using Nightmares as a lead in to some of the Beorning/Viglunding material. Beorn will ask the players to travel north in an effort to muster the Hillmen as allies before Viglund gets his crazy ideas into their heads.
I hope to get to it sometime in December. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Falenthal]

Beorn will ask the players to travel north in an effort to muster the Hillmen as allies before Viglund gets his crazy ideas into their heads.

Borrowing this idea right now...

[Artaxastra]

My group has, and it worked well. We played it about 2/3 of the way through Darkening of Mirkwood. One of the characters, Mirdan the Dunedain smith, wound up married to Essylt thanks to the challenge, and she did choose to resist her father at the end -- some very satisfactory roleplaying! There were some serious shadow points for characters at various points, and two of them gained a permanent shadow point in the course of the adventure. But they got a lot out of it in terms of story, a very well written episode all around and a pleasure to run. They wound up with a lasting alliance between the Woodmen of the west bank of the Anduin and the Hillmen, and one of the players is now running one of the rescued children as a secondary character, her original character now getting on in years and shadow points.

[Andrew]

I'd not considered using it during the course of Darkening - I was planning on saving Ruins till afterwards - but I think I might steal this idea also.

[Earendil]

I haven't run it yet, but am planning to in the near future. I have another couple of adventures to run first though, so with the various disruptions my group has had and will have at this time of year, it'll probably be January by the time we get to it, and possibly February by the time we finish it.

I'm actually setting it during Tales From Wilderland. They've done the first five scenarios, and are now setting out on a quest to remove the curse from one of their magic weapons. The next thing on their list is Concerning Archers (also from Ruins of the North, of course) as I felt that seemed the easier adventure in some ways. After that, Nightmares of Angmar and maybe one other, and then the final two adventures of Tales From Wilderland.

I know Nightmares is meant to be set after 2951, but I have a plan. It seemed to me that it might make sense if it instead happened while Sauron was secretly rebuilding in Mordor -- his plan being that he would declare himself in Mordor, three Nazgul would retake Dol Guldur and the Witch-King would return to Angmar simultaneously. If that happened things could be dire indeed for the Free Peoples.

So my idea is that Radagast has a foreboding of Very Bad Things, consults with Beorn, and sends the heroes to try and make peace with the Hill-Men on behalf of both the Woodmen and the Beornings.

I had a few issues with the scenario as written; it seemed to me that the heroes are essentially set up to fail with Forgall. Some people strongly disliked with the heroes getting automatic Shadow points for killing him (treating it as a misdeed), and I had to agree. I guess the idea is that he's a noncombatant, but he's spurring Wargs on to attack the heroes, and not only that but he's actually helping with his Strike Fear ability. What's more, the players may know or suspect he can become a Spirit-Warg, and for all they know he may have other magical abilities. If they perceive his actions as an attack and respond by attacking back, I don't think they deserve Shadow points. It also seems that it would be near impossible to persuade the Hill-Men to do anything after killing their chief's father, so the entire adventure may be jeopardised before it really starts.

So one thing I'm going to do is have Radagast warn them that the Hill-Men may see them as enemies and even provoke them, and emphasise the importance of establishing peace with them.

I'm not terribly keen on Glorfindel only meeting the heroes if they recovered the Elf-Stone; I'm just going to have him meet them regardless, and sense that these are people with a tale to tell. I also was a bit unhappy with the goblins of Carn Dum being "suddenly called away" in the middle of a fight with the heroes, with no explanation. I'll come up with some justification, probably the Steward of Angmar summoning them in case the heroes head in his direction, and maybe give the players a hint about something dark and sinister lurking in the depths...

Despite these criticisms, I do think it's a good scenario with a lot of interesting ideas; that's why I'm keen to run it!

[PaulButler]

Beorn will ask the players to travel north in an effort to muster the Hillmen as allies before Viglund gets his crazy ideas into their heads.

Borrowing this idea right now...

I'd not considered using it during the course of Darkening - I was planning on saving Ruins till afterwards - but I think I might steal this idea also.

Excellent.
Glad to have planted some seeds out there.

[Falenthal]

A quick thought also lead me to reuse the adventure and the motif for the southern part of the Valleys:
Radagast sends the heroes to ally with the Leofrings, whose mounts/kids/women have been kidnapped by Moria orcs. Travel through Dimrill Dale and descent into Moria upper levels follows. Maybe with an escape where Haldir leads the group to the Gardens of the Lady?

Years later, during the Council of Elrond, it is suspected (or feared) that the rohirrim might be paying in horses to Mordor. Maybe the Mordor horses are descendants of horses stolen to the Leofrings. Therefore people think they are a rohir breed.

Also, if the Leofrings are gained as allies, that can be used in-game to allow the players choosing the Rohir/Leofring culture for their characters (now that Horse-lords is about to arrive).

[Majestic]

Beorn will ask the players to travel north in an effort to muster the Hillmen as allies before Viglund gets his crazy ideas into their heads.

Borrowing this idea right now...

I'd not considered using it during the course of Darkening - I was planning on saving Ruins till afterwards - but I think I might steal this idea also.

Excellent.
Glad to have planted some seeds out there.

It definitely is a great idea, Paul, and I may steal it as well. My players have been considering heading north to deal with the Viglundings, but have not quite pulled the trigger on doing so yet. But they continue to mention that at some point they're going to have to step in.

[jamesrbrown]

So one thing I'm going to do is have Radagast warn them that the Hill-Men may see them as enemies and even provoke them, and emphasise the importance of establishing peace with them.

This is a great idea! The backstory as to why the company is in the Black Hills is important to the story. This is the kind of scene that would be beneficial to them, especially in regards to understanding why peace is so important. They have an uphill struggle in this area.