What is a "good road"?

[Otaku-sempai]

I already recanted my earlier opinion. We are agreed that the paths (upper and lower) through the High Pass do not constitute 'good roads' (very easy terrain). I brought up the possibility that the ways through the pass might be characterized as well-trodden tracks or paths; HOWEVER, I see that on the Terrain Difficulty table mountain passes are specifically listed as daunting terrain, so I withdraw my query.

Yet the other part of the question still remains: In general, when using a road, track or path, does one normally disregard the terrain of the surrounding area? When traversing the Great East Road through Eriador, is the duration of my journey directly affected by whether the road cuts through easy, moderate or hard (even severe) terrain? Or do I only use the modifier for the Road? That's one of the issues that was being debated in the previous thread.

[Stormcrow]

Based on the text, I'd say roads through difficult terrain do not combine multipliers. The majority of the journey (or leg) is assigned a single difficulty, and that difficulty's modifier is used. A good road through any terrain is Very Easy difficulty, and so the multiplier is ×0.5. Sparse woods, for instance, without a road or path are Moderate difficulty and ×1.5. A good road through sparse woods is Very Easy difficulty (×0.5); a path through sparse woods is Easy difficulty (×1.5).

Roads or paths in Mirkwood are exceptions, always Severe (×3), because they are not free and clear like other roads or paths. Everything in Mirkwood is overgrown, or the elf-path is just a not-well-trodden track (they didn't meet anybody on it) that doesn't do much more than guide the way and keep out spiders.

The exception is obviously there because the writers knew people would think of the Forest Road or the elf-path as easy highways through Mirkwood, and this would make the agonizing journey in The Hobbit not make sense. So whatever Severe difficulty looks like, that's what the Forest Road and the elf-path look like.

If someone WERE to successfully rebuild and maintain the Forest Road, it would become Very Easy difficulty.

[Otaku-sempai]

Stormcrow, thanks for your input. Such was my original thought, before flawed reasoning led me astray, and I'm swinging back that way again.

[Arthur Fisher]

Did anyone else's company actually manage to rebuild the Old Dwarf Road?

[Stormcrow]

Canonically? I don't think Tolkien ever said. I doubt it was ever repaired through the end of the Third Age.

[Otaku-sempai]

I think that Arthur is asking about others' TOR campaigns, not Tolkien's canon. I'm sure that King Dáin would have at least looked into the possibility of restoring the Old Forest Road; it would have been a perfectly sensible idea.

An alternative would have been to construct a good, secure road through the Grey Mountain Narrows; this might have seemed preferable after the goblin population was so heavily reduced by the Battle of Five Armies.

[Majestic]

My players showed some interest in it, but didn't really follow through as Bofri set about trying. Since they didn't ever really check up on him or provide much more support (and the players know that Mogrdred was rebuffed in his attempts to aid the Dwarves), in my campaign I'm saying that the efforts failed.

[Arthur Fisher]

Yes, I meant in your One Ring campaign.

[Stormcrow]

Rebuilding the Forest Road would be a HUGE project, taking years or even decades and many, many workers. The Shadow returns to Mirkwood long before such a project could be completed.

[Otaku-sempai]

Maybe not decades; industrious Dwarves are industrious! And it might take a while before the return of the Shadow to Mirkwood is keenly felt. Much could be accomplished before work might be forced to halt. An ambitious campaign where much effort is placed into the project could conceivably see it completed. Still, The Darkening of Mirkwood suggests that Bofri's ambitions for the Road are most probably in vain.