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beckett wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:35 pm

I hope you reconsider, Rich. You are one super-talented individual!

Oh, you're such a big creep and biased too; but I love you, man!

beckett wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:35 pm

Just started diving into Bree. I love it. My hat's off to all who worked on it. Thanks again for a great addition to TOR.

+1 to this; I really am enjoying reading it so far.

My apologies for contributing to the snarl.

Kirppu wrote: ↑And I agree with you about the 'conversation around the table' scenario totally

I'd bet a table and a round of beers at The Pony would make it all better.

zedturtle wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:47 pm

My apologies for contributing to the snarl.

Kirppu wrote: ↑And I agree with you about the 'conversation around the table' scenario totally

I'd bet a table and a round of beers at The Pony would make it all better.

God if that actually could be arranged I might even buy a round! We might even get to throw apples over Ferny's hedge?

Rich H wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:38 pm

beckett wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:35 pm

I hope you reconsider, Rich. You are one super-talented individual!

Oh, you're such a big creep and biased too; but I love you, man!

beckett wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:35 pm

Just started diving into Bree. I love it. My hat's off to all who worked on it. Thanks again for a great addition to TOR.

+1 to this; I really am enjoying reading it so far.

Biased, yes. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong! Love you back!

Stormcrow wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:59 pm

OHNOMUSTRATIONALIZE!!!

They certainly know where the name Bree comes from; they correctly say it means hill. And they clearly know what a combe is. So maayyyyyybeee they knew that Archet has nothing to do with archers but wanted to have a joke, but that sounds like a post-gotcha rationalization. Jon fell into the trap, and he's one of the writers. AND THERE ARE STILL NO STADDLES IN STADDLE!

As for Bree-landers making games of naming things: those names have apparently been around longer than the Shire. I think Tolkien gave them Celtic-derived names to make them parallel Celtic-derived place names in England, which survived the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions. The Shire's place-names are all newer, Anglo-Saxon and more modern English words stuck together, while Bree-land has some older words. I believe the relative ages of Bree and the Shire were brought up in the very first draft portion of The Lord of the Rings that brought the hobbits to the Bree, so the question of ancient versus modern was in Tolkien's head when he named these places.

I hear there is a pencil factory in Pennsylvania.

I can't BELIEVE they did that....

I love this book! Just like I thought I would.

I especially like the descriptions of the smaller towns around Bree. I couldn't not stop smiling and chuckling as I read it. It left me with that same good warm feeling as when reading the first chapters of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The adventures intrigue me, but I have not got to read them in detail yet.

I could wish the (lone-)lands around Bree would be embroidered a little more though. Though I get that according to Tolkien lore it is really Lone-lands. But maybe describe a little more of some potential threats, ruins to explore etc.

It's funny that "every" quiet night at the Prancing Pony there is about 2,5% chance of meeting Bilbo Baggins. But I guess it has to be that "high" chance to actually happen sometimes in games. Most adventures don't spend every night of the adventure in the inn looking for people to meet.

SirGalrim wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:26 pm

I love this book! Just like I thought I would.

I especially like the descriptions of the smaller towns around Bree. I couldn't not stop smiling and chuckling as I read it. It left me with that same good warm feeling as when reading the first chapters of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The adventures intrigue me, but I have not got to read them in detail yet.

I could wish the (lone-)lands around Bree would be embroidered a little more though. Though I get that according to Tolkien lore it is really Lone-lands. But maybe describe a little more of some potential threats, ruins to explore etc.

It's funny that "every" quiet night at the Prancing Pony there is about 2,5% chance of meeting Bilbo Baggins. But I guess it has to be that "high" chance to actually happen sometimes in games. Most adventures don't spend every night of the adventure in the inn looking for people to meet.

You should consider 'Ruins of The North'.

SirGalrim wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:26 pm

The adventures intrigue me, but I have not got to read them in detail yet.

I've done it the other way round: first read the adventures, now reading the rest of the book .

I have to say that the adventures are really interesting in their tone. Although they look like "rookie's adventures", for beginners, they have lots of dark and cruel scenes, Shadow points to be gained, and blade-edge situations where the group can screw it all with one bad decission.
They remind me of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit: they look *as if* they were humorous, but people may die if you don't take it seriously.

A side note regarding the adventures is that I like how much the chances of gaining Shadow points have increased. I think one my problems with the game was that heroes usually only gained Shadow points if they behaved badly. The official adventures didn't have many situations where the company was asked for Corruption tests unless they were entering Dol Guldur. My experience is that that's not the Shadow mechanic was intended. By seeing The Marsh Bell, you can notice lots of Corruption tests for a first adventure. But Francesco wanted it that way. That's also probably why it's wise to only have one adventure per year, allowing two Fellowship phases (one of which should almost always be Heal Corruption at a Sanctuary).

The adventures from Bree are grim, despite the appareances, and I think that Gareth uses the Shadow rules better here than in the Tales from Wilderland adventures.

SirGalrim wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:26 pm

I could wish the (lone-)lands around Bree would be embroidered a little more though. Though I get that according to Tolkien lore it is really Lone-lands. But maybe describe a little more of some potential threats, ruins to explore etc.

The nice thing about empty lands known to have ruins is that you can put ruins anywhere and have anything inside them. Just make something up.

It's funny that "every" quiet night at the Prancing Pony there is about 2,5% chance of meeting Bilbo Baggins.

That occurred to me too. (I think the chance is actually more like 1.4%.) After the first encounter with "Inigo Grubb-Took," I would consider just counting a 6 on the Success Die as the number of common Shire-hobbits visiting the inn, unless I wanted to entertain the possibility that Bilbo was, for some reason, visiting Bree every couple of years, which doesn't seem likely. And remember that you may have to come up with the backstory: who is the friend, and why has Bilbo traveled for weeks, all the way to Bree, to meet him?

SirGalrim wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:26 pm

I could wish the (lone-)lands around Bree would be embroidered a little more though. Though I get that according to Tolkien lore it is really Lone-lands. But maybe describe a little more of some potential threats, ruins to explore etc.

Both Ruins of the North and especially Rivendell include some info about the Lone-lands near Bree-land. The maps of Eriador from Journeys & Maps are also informative. The Lone-lands around Bree consist mostly of trackless wilderness very much like most of Eregion, but dotted with ruins, with rougher country to the south-west near the mines of the Dwarves in the southern Blue Mountains.

I've speculated that the Men of Arnor might have constructed a fortification at the end of the line of hills extending eastward from the Blue Mountains (a ridge that I've come to call the Emyn Romen (Hills of Sunrise), doubtless long fallen into ruin. I've dubbed that easternmost mount as Amon Rûdh (Mount Baldy), a name borrowed from a hill that was in West Beleriand. Just north of where the Emyn Romen branches off of the Blue Mountains, I've placed a dwarven city named Hargrod ('south-delving') that was founded early in the Second Age by survivors of Belegost and Nogrod who decided to not journey east to Khazad-dûm. Hargrod is currently ruled by the Dwarf-lord Draupnir Forkbeard, who is descended primarily from the Dwarves of Nogrod and has a strong antipathy towards Elves going back to the treatment of his ancestors by King Thingol of Doriath.