Bree

[Otaku-sempai]

If this is confimed, I for one am quite happy that we get a fully usable module (background + adventures) centered on a specific area...

Since the solicitation would have had to have come from the C7 offices, I consider this to be confirmed. And I can see the usefulness of this format to cover smaller areas or regions that are normally very peaceful (such as the Grey Havens and Lindon).

[lucacherstich]

I do not Know....a regional book with no new rules, no new goodies but just Adventures is not very tempting for me.
I'm only mildly interested in Adventures while I love all the small new things they gave us with other books.

[atgxtg]

I think the Shire is probably going to be covered in it's own supplement. It's one of the areas that is well covered in the books, and would easily fill up a book. If C7 wanted to, they could even get into the various families of the Shire or the differences between Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohydes.

[JoeCrow9]

True, the Shire's well covered in text, but from my POV, it's also super hobbit-specific. The Shire's culturally isolated in a way that very few of the other areas that've been covered are. You see the hobbits mention seeing "big folk" on the edges of the Shire, and occasional dwarf traders passing through, but you pretty much never see them interacting with them on anything other than a "Hi, how are you; keep moving, twiceling, or we'll set the bounders on you" basis. So unless you've got a crew that's mostly hobbits, it's really not gonna be that useful of a place for most adventurers. Also, the more time players spend around Bilbo, the greater the temptation is gonna be for them to start messing with the core narrative of the Ring. And I dunno if the Cubicle folks are gonna want to facilitate that, really.

[Otaku-sempai]

True, the Shire's well covered in text, but from my POV, it's also super hobbit-specific. The Shire's culturally isolated in a way that very few of the other areas that've been covered are.

You raise some good points, Joe. Elves wander through the Shire, but at night under the stars. The Dwarves are either just passing through or pausing to sell or deliver their wares (unless they are visiting Bilbo). And Men seldom have business that takes them there. Even Dúnedain who might be traveling to Mithlond or the Tower Hills seem to prefer to bypass the Shire rather than be seen passing through it.

If the Shire is not included in Bree then it makes more sense having it be part of a book covering a larger area including:
- the Hills of Evendim
- East (should be West?) Lune
- the Blue Mountains (those Blue Mountain Dwarves still haven't appeared outside of the AC)
- the Tower Hills
- the Grey Havens (High Elves of the Grey Havens as an Advanced Culture?)
- Minhiriath
- and maybe Lindon

Those expanded rules for holdings, dropped from the AC, could be included as well.

[atgxtg]

I think the Shire is "super Hobbit Specific" from anyone's POV. It is virtually about Hobbits and only Hobbits. It's why it's sort of limited in terms of adventures. In previous LOTR games I've ran, the closest I think I came to actual adventures was when a wounded bear wandered into the area. It reaklly has to remain a sleepy, peaceful area throughout the time to be true to the sources. But it can be a good area for other things besides high adventure.

And considering the nature of the Shire's inhabitants, anything that would be "too exciting" for the Shire of the books would probably be hushed up by the locals, if it could be. So you have a bit of a safety net there.

As far as messing with the core narrative goes, that pretty much holds true when the player interact with anybody important to the story. They could accidentally shoot and kill Gandalf with an arrow or some other blunder that could unravel everything. It's a hazard of gaming in a established setting with a timeline and well known characters.

[Falenthal]

I'd like The Shire supplement to include an Appendix with simple rules to play TOR with kids (5 to 10 years old), along with a few example adventures:

"The Ghost of Scary"
"Post Office: A package for Mr. Baggins"
"Climb the White Towers. See the Blue Sea"
"The Frogmorton Prince"
"Metal Gear Solid: Mushrooms from Maggot"

[Rue]

I'd like The Shire supplement to include an Appendix with simple rules to play TOR with kids (5 to 10 years old), along with a few example adventures:

"The Ghost of Scary"
"Post Office: A package for Mr. Baggins"
"Climb the White Towers. See the Blue Sea"
"The Frogmorton Prince"
"Metal Gear Solid: Mushrooms from Maggot"

That is a brilliant idea. My kids will be the perfect age soon (although let's be honest: I would enjoy such a book just as much as them. Maybe more.)

I can't wait to learn more about Bree (and all future supplements).

[Glorelendil]

I'm all for it, but I think TOR Jr. should be a standalone product.

[JoeCrow9]

As far as messing with the core narrative goes, that pretty much holds true when the player interact with anybody important to the story. They could accidentally shoot and kill Gandalf with an arrow or some other blunder that could unravel everything. It's a hazard of gaming in a established setting with a timeline and well known characters.

Yeah, but most of the other plot specific folks are pretty good at taking care of themselves. As cool a fellow as Bilbo is, he's still a middle-aged hobbit scholar, and the Ring is pretty much designed to be the essence of temptation. I can see why the Cubicle folks might want to de-emphasize that particular option.

On the other hand, I've been running an occasional AiME game for a friend of mine, currently based out of Rivendell, and he's been giving a young Dunedain called Estel spear-fighting lessons while Elladan and Elrohir are off gallivanting about. The last session involved Estel getting lured out of Rivendell by evil dreams sent by a Barrow-wight carrying a brooch that once belonged to a fellow called Arathorn, and my friend's High Elf warrior ended up having to chase him down in the foothills of the Misty Mountains and rescue him from the Barrow-wight's attempt to corrupt the lad. Good times.