Placing Huorns

[cuthalion]

I'm just reading through more of Horse Lords and realizing how much is in there. Another super well done supplement!

Anyway, just wondering if there's any consensus on where it's valid to use Huorns. The text has this to say

They are not easily encountered in the fringes of the forest, but hundreds, if not thousands of them lurk in the darkest vales.

p.79

But doesn't mention whether or not they might be encountered outside of Fangorn. Obviously we know they can move, though the exodus to Helm's Deep was obviously a pretty rare occurrence. But what about Old Man Willow--would the Old Forest have actually been connected to Fangorn in the First Age? I don't know that geography well enough. Would that then make sense why we see a Huorn like creature there?

So would potentially historic connection to Fangorn be the qualifier? Or would a woods/forest just need to be old enough? Or large enough?

Anyone used Huorns successfully in their campaigns yet?

Many thanks for any advice!

[zedturtle]

Fangorn and The Old Forest were definitely connected (Treebeard says something to the effect of a squirrel could go from tree to tree, never touching the ground between).

I used my own stats for a Huorn in The Old Forest* before the official ones came out, my players did not object. (If they did feel it was off, maybe they will post here).



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* My phone first made this 'The Ood Forest' which would be an interesting blending of the properties.

[Wbweather]

Nope. I thought the Old Forest huorn was just fine. I don't see a problem with placing them there. I figure Tom Bombadil tends to those dwelling there, singing them into submission when they need it.

[mirdanis]

Actually, yes, I just recently finished off my party's adventure into Rohan with a hilarious (to us) unplanned excursion into Fangorn at night, after the Hobbit Treasure-Hunter found some mushrooms that he, quite naturally, couldn't resist sampling. Our Hobbit, Alistair Brandybuck, was reasonably sure that the mushrooms were both delicious and hallucinogenic, and after sampling them, he happened upon some Wild Men of Fangorn who seized Alistair and took him to their Evil Huorn master. The rest of his party had to figure out he had disappeared, track him down, fight the Wild Men and the Huorn to get Alistair back, and then figure out what had happened to him. The scenario was a great success, especially in the cheering up of Alistair's player, who had had a really bad day.

I would highlight that the Huorn could move, but was mostly disinclined to do so, so it had enslaved a small band of the Wild Men (Wild Men of Mirkwood with the serial numbers filed off) to fetch and carry for it. Here are the stats I worked up for it:

Wicked Huorn
Att Lvl: 6 Endurance: 45 Hate: 4 Parry: 7 Armor: 3d
Special:
Seize Victim - On a successful hit, victim cannot change stance, reduced to half Parry (round up) - To get free, victim must forfeit attack, roll Athletics 13
Fear of Fire - Lose 1 Hate at beginning of every round facing adversary wielding fire
Hideous Toughness - Spend 1 Hate to reduce Endurance loss on a successful hit by Attribute Level.
Savage Assault - On successful attack, spend 1 Hate to immediately roll second attack
Great Size - If reduced to 0 End or Wounded, creature is Weary but not knocked out - must be Wounded twice or reduced to 0 End and Wounded.
Weapons:
Club - 4 Damage 5 Edge 10 Injury 14 Called Shot - victim is Wounded
Strangling Claws 3 Damage 5 Edge EYE Injury 16 Called Shot - victim is Seized

Skills: Personality 1 Movement 2 Perception 3 Survival 3 Custom 0 Vocation 0

[cuthalion]

That's funny--good homage to LOTR it sounds like. And I your huorn seems not too dissimilar from those in Horse Lords. Nice catch on the Fear or Fire.

So consensus is say, no huorns in Mirkwood (Greenwood the Great and all) say? Whereas the various pockets of forest in Eriador might all be fair game?

. . . too bad there couldn't be a huorn in Mirkwood though . . .

Funny also, now I think about it, that Mirkwood is generally described as coniferous (minus some beeches in the Woodland Realm and I'm sure others I'm not thinking of), and Fangorn as more broad leafed, or at least more varied---yet Fangorn is supposed to be older whereas, evolutionarily, conifers come first.

Anyway, I'm probably thinking too hard about it. And definitely too tired to make much sense.

[Finrod Felagund]

I for one see no reason why any of the ancient woods of Middle Earth couldn't have a few Huorns in them. This includes The Old Forest, Mirkwood and the woods in Lindon. There are probably just fewer of them, tens rather than hundreds.

Why couldn't you also have some Huorns like Fir trees?

[Valarian]

Huorns in Mirkwood? What about the Sentinal Oak? (HotW pg. 78-79). The tree sounds like it could be a Huorn, or even rather Entish - if one that has retreated and become tree-like. Who's to say that the tree wasn't planted by Thranduil's father, but instead welcomed to dwell there. Any Huorns outside the Woodland Realm are likely to have become dark and twisted, influenced by the Shadow in the South during the reign of the Necromancer.

[cuthalion]

I for one see no reason why any of the ancient woods of Middle Earth couldn't have a few Huorns in them. This includes The Old Forest, Mirkwood and the woods in Lindon. There are probably just fewer of them, tens rather than hundreds.

Why couldn't you also have some Huorns like Fir trees?

Well the problem isn't the species--it's the history of the region. I think the Greenwood is actually the younger forest if I'm remembering rightly, and, either way, doesn't have huorns/ents attributed to it in any of Tolkien's works. Happy to stand corrected here.

Assuming that's true, there's also something to be said generally for keeping some wonders to their own region, so everywhere doesn't begin to become the same.

Valarian, thanks for that--I'd forgotten about the Sentinal Oak. I'm not sure it's really huorn-ish (ok, huorn-y, you know you were all thinking of it), but you're right that it could be read that way. There's also the "matching tree" near the Naked Hill, which could be the beginnings of an adventure for anybody reading who's into it.

As for me, for the time being, I think I'm leaning to keeping Mirkwood huorn free. Thinking it over, I think they'd be more part of the folk-lore there if they existed. I guess the place to put them, if they go anywhere, would be somewhere deep in southern Mirkwood.

[Otaku-sempai]

Well the problem isn't the species--it's the history of the region. I think the Greenwood is actually the younger forest if I'm remembering rightly, and, either way, doesn't have huorns/ents attributed to it in any of Tolkien's works. Happy to stand corrected here.

No, I think that both the Greenwood and the Old Forest are just as ancient as Fangorn. They are all remnants of the great, ancient forest that stretched from Rhovanion to the Blue Mountains.

I agree that Old Man Willow in the Old Forest was probably a Huorn. And there could be Huorns deep in parts of Mirkwood especially in the south and around the Mountains of Mirkwood. The forest of Eryn Vorn near the mouth of the Brandywine might also have a few Huorns.

[Valarian]

The forest of Eryn Vorn near the mouth of the Brandywine might also have a few Huorns.

Not to mention the North Farthing, where Sam's cousin Halfast Gamgee saw a walking tree-giant. As discussed in the Green Dragon (The Shadow of the Past).