New Loremaster looking for some tips

[Havinor]

Hi folks,

I'm an old RPGer, just about to sink my teeth into TOR. I haven't bought the book(s) yet, but I've been reading the forums and you guys make the game sound incredible!! I'm going to get my hands on the game and have a campaign idea already fairly well plotted, but I have a few questions which I'm sure you can help me with.

1) Are the adventure supplements good? From experience in other RPG's in the past, some are a bit ropey.
2) Other than the core rulebook, which supplements are recommended for a campaign in and around Mirkwood.
3) Obv from the books and from what I've read on here, journeying is an important part of the game which I think is simply brilliant!! But how good is the system dealing with difficult terrain, manouever tests, combat on/in terrain etc during the adventuring phase?

Thanks in advance for your advice folks.

[bluejay]

Hi Havinor and a big welcome!

I will try and give a quick answer, I'm sure others will flesh these out in more detail. I'm a huge fan and have Loremastered about 90% of the published adventures.

1) Are the adventure supplements good? From experience in other RPG's in the past, some are a bit ropey.
The supplements are excellent. I was very impressed with Tales of the Wilderland and Darkening of Mirkwood is an incredible multi-generational 30 year campaign set around Mirkwood.

2) Other than the core rulebook, which supplements are recommended for a campaign in and around Mirkwood.
Heart of the Wild is the gazetteer style sourcebook for Mirkwood. The Laketown Sourcebook (and Loremaster's Screen) includes some excellent info on Laketown (and how to run markets in general). Personally I would also suggest Rivendell as well because it includes rules for magic items and more dangerous opponents.

3) Obv from the books and from what I've read on here, journeying is an important part of the game which I think is simply brilliant!! But how good is the system dealing with difficult terrain, manouever tests, combat on/in terrain etc during the adventuring phase?
The journey rules are excellent and deal with different terrains (and the oppressive nature of blighted lands) however these are more 'long term' effects. Combat is relatively abstract however terrain and environment can be represented well with bonus dice and modifiers.

[Terisonen]

Heart of the Wild and Darkening of Mirkwood are must have.

[Glorelendil]

1) Are the adventure supplements good? From experience in other RPG's in the past, some are a bit ropey.

Not sure what you mean by "ropey" (local idiom?), but...
Tales from Wilderland is a great romp, although many LMs weave in some fan content, and others drop one or two of the chapters.
Darkening of Mirkwood is really a campaign setting, and to run it for the full 30 years you'll need to insert a lot of concrete adventure content. Some people interleave it with TfW. DoM is very well-regarded and is often included in lists of "best RPG supplements ever".
Ruins of the North is 6 stand-alone adventures, but they take place in Eriador so they're not relevant if you're staying in and around Mirkwood.

2) Other than the core rulebook, which supplements are recommended for a campaign in and around Mirkwood.

Laketown has useful campaign information, and contains a new culture ("Man of the Lake").
Heart of the Wild is rumored to have been intended to be part of Darkening of Mirkwood, but got spun off as a separate supplement. It's an encyclopedia of places and people around Mirkwood.
Rivendell, in addition to information about Easter Eriador and two new cultures from Eriador, also has new optional rules, including those for magical items and how to incorporate them into the game, as well as new adversaries and a list of juicy new adversary abilities. So I'd say it's useful for any campaign, not just in Eriador. (And you could allow a Ranger or Rivendell elf hero to have wandered across the mountains.)
Horse-lords of Rohan probably has less useful material than Rivendell, for a Mirkwood campaign, unless you want to allow heroes from those two cultures. Unlike Dunedain and Noldor, Riders of Rohand and Dunlendings are normal (not "heroic") cultures, and thus might be more suited to a new campaign. This supplement does have rules for riding horses, including in combat, which doesn't work so well in Mirkwood but might play a role in the Anduin vales.

3) Obv from the books and from what I've read on here, journeying is an important part of the game which I think is simply brilliant!! But how good is the system dealing with difficult terrain, manouever tests, combat on/in terrain etc during the adventuring phase?

Not sure exactly what you're looking for here, or what you mean by "manouever tests", but TOR isn't a game for tactical miniatures. In general TOR abstracts a lot of mechanics, including things like "Difficult Terrain". To wit:
- When Traveling, difficult terrain simply forces more Fatigue checks, which in turn can trigger more Hazards.
- In Combat, the LM can impose a Hindered condition on heroes and/or adversaries in difficult terrain, which simply gives them penalties to hit and to be hit.

[zedturtle]

Yep,Heart of the Wild is probably your number 1 supplement to get. But the entire line is excellent and I agree with all the advice given above.

If you're game, I'd love to hear about ideas for your campaign... hearing other folks ideas is always fun and it might also help us point you at other resources.

[Havinor]

Thanks for the advice guys, I had a look at the reviews for the supplements and Heart of the Wild definitely seems a good buy. I was wondering about the Laketown book because if I'm right it was released before the revised corebook, which may have had some rule ammendments?

Zedturtle the basic concept of my campaign was for the players to be helping to defend the free peoples of Wilderland during the rise of Khamul and the Nazgul in Mirkwood. With the mechanics of fellowship phases and the way TOR seems to use time so well (from what I've read) my plan was to do a campaign covering 60 or 70 years, from around TA 2946 up to and possibly including the great battles and siege of Dale and Erebor during the War of the Ring. The characters would begin with fairly simple adventures, dealing with seemingly random events, over time discovering the return of Khamul and the Ringwraiths to Dol Guldur, then realising that these 'random' events are in fact part of Khamul's plots to retake Mirkwood and secure the Wilderland for Sauron. As the chars get better, the plots get darker. The fall of Beorn (as this was never described by Tolkien to the best of my knowledge but in my opinion after Beorn essentially single handedly turned the tide of the Battle of the 5 Armies and killed Bolg, he'd be a major target for revenge), the eventual disappearance of Radagast (another untold story). Eventually the characters whether original (only really Dwarves or Elves) or second generation or replaced, are heroes in their own right and by TA 3018 are either directly involved in the battles at Dale and Erebor, or are doing something vital to turn the tide of those battles. If I were to get the adventure supplements, I'd either use them as they are, or use them as source material. I have ideas for various evil doers and henchmen, evil creatures etc but I haven't seen the books, so I don't know if Cubicle 7 has created what I'm looking for.
For me and this group of players, the fun is in the story and the characters and less about rolling dice and getting a +5 sword of blah blah if you know what I mean.

[zedturtle]

Cool. Your ideas sound very in-line with Darkening of Mirkwood, which covers 2947-2977 and is focused on the same themes.

[Havinor]

Thanks Zedturtle, I'll definitely get my hands on that too then.

More than happy to post the sessions when we get started. I can see that other folk are doing this and I think it's a great idea, to see what ideas other LM's are coming up with and there seems to be a real 'fellowship' among the posters on these forums.

[Havinor]

Ok, I have to say something. You lot are EVIL!!!

I've read through the blurb on the supplements and for each one I said to myself 'ooooo I could really use that!!' And now a Journey's and Maps supplement on the way too!!

I have ordered the corebook and Heart of the Wild as per your suggestions. I'll pour over these first, but Darkening of Mirkwood looks like another certainty. The Werewolf of Mirkwood grabbed my attention as this was an idea which I had, based on Carchoroth and Draulguin of old.

I am now like that small child who has written his letter to Santa and is eagerly awaiting xmas.....

[zedturtle]

Fantastic! If you ordered through C7 or your FLGS, you should be eligible to get the PDFs post-haste.