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In the last adventure, Shadows Over Tyrn Gorthad, Gandalf offers the company to wait for them at the camp of the Rangers.
My concern is that in page 119 Gandalf says:
"If you have
not returned in a matter of weeks, I shall deem that you
are not returning at all."

A few pages before, in 115, it is said that Gandalf will wait for three weeks, unless they impress him very greatly.

But the fact is, the journey from the camp of the Rangers to Nan Gorthrim will take the company 25 days, according to the same adventure (p.119). Returning will take another 25 days, of course.
That is, Gandalf would need to wait nearly two months in the best of cases.

Why then does he offer a meager "three weeks"? That's a clearly insufficient time to complete the quest.
And, on the other hand... would Gandalf wait for two months in the same spot? He's not known for being an idle man.

Anyone has any explanation for this?

I haven't checked your calculations, but I assume if correct it's just a minor error on the part of the writers.

I agree that Gandalf has too many cares simply to hang around for a couple of months. If you know what the next adventure is you are holding after the ruins cycle, you could have him check out the rough area where the Adventurers will be travelling to. Then when they've completed Shadows over Tyrn Gorthad he can turn up, give them his best wizardly hand-shake, and then tell them that he has another 'little' job for them to do!

If that doesn't work for you, how about news has reached Gandalf that there is increased Goblin activity in the Vales of Gundabad and, as much as he would love to join the Adventurers, he needs to check out the Hill of Skulls as something ancient and evil may be stirring once again...

Does that help?

FF

Thanks, Finrod!

In fact, I was more trying to ask if the times provided were a mistake by the writer(s) of the adventure, or if there was some logic that escaped my understanding. Regarding the calculations for the journey, the adventure itself gives them to you.

The idea of Gandalf going on some errand and returning "precisely when he means to" is what I had also thought to do with him for this adventure.

Yeah, it amuses me a bit that Gandalf is essentially saying... "In three weeks time, you'll be getting there. If you haven't given up and turned back, that would mean you're actually going to go through with it. In which case, you're dead meat."

— • —

I rather imagine (fairly strongly ) that this was an error that slipped through due to journey calculations being done after the dialog was written and was caught in one place but not the other.