Bree is available in PDF

[SirGalrim]

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.

Ah I really like that. Although I like to run a long campaign with some serious threat at the end. To me the beginnings are what I love the most. When things are still fresh and seen with the eyes of a "young" adventurer. That's doesn't mean it should not be serious or deadly. I really liked the Leaves and Stewed Hobbit. Possible one of the best adventures we had in the Wilderland campaign.

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.

You raise some very interesting points here. I have noticed, though not thought that much about, the lack of corruption tests in TfW. And hence I didn't include it much in my own adventures either. It's only occasionally come up. Mostly regarding treasure. That's why I found I had to implement Rich's rules for Hope regaining only at key points in the story, not by session. But doing that created another problem. They heroes are mostly low on Hope, but they are low on Shadow to. Rarely has the Heal Corruption undertaking been used. Because the problem has seldom been the number of shadow points, it's been the "lack" of Hope points. Now that we are at the very end of TfW they players where caught of guard by the drastically increased Corruption rolls. I guess this could be a thread by itself. I am curious if this is changed in RotN to from TfW. How will it be in OotR?

[SirGalrim]

You should consider 'Ruins of The North'.

Yes. I will get it for my hopefully upcoming Eriador campaign.

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.

Yes. Rivendell has some. I have some beefs with that book that I raised before. So I won't repeat that. But yes I see it gives more information about many of the areas a bit further of from Bree. I will use it. J&M are good but generic. Witty writing like for Bree, Staddle, Comb is what I would desire for some of the rest of the Bree-land. That's stuff I have a harder time coming up by myself. Using J&M and my own imagination demands a lot of work to stand out and shine. But my all means the book is still 5-stars so far. It's just a small thing I would have wished different.

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 [...]

Interesting. Nice.

[SirGalrim]

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, [...]

Yes about 1,4% on each roll. But if you roll two times on a quiet night the chance nearly doubles. So somewhere in between.

If this would actually happen in a campaign of mine I would switch out Bilbo with some other notable character after the first time Bilbo was encountered. It seems very unlikely to me that he went to Bree more than once or twice. Maybe Master Of Buckland, a Prodfoot or Sackville. Something the players recognize even if they don't know that particular character.

[Falenthal]

Farmer Maggot all the way!

[Otaku-sempai]

Farmer Maggot all the way!

One notable shout-out I spotted is that the Dúnadan Hallas is the father of Halbarad (here aged 20) who leads the Grey Company to find Aragorn in Rohan. Halbarad becomes Aragorn's standard-bearer at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where he perishes.

[Magogue]

Can anyone give a short overview of the adventures? 20$ may be a little steep for me this month, but I DO have an Eriador game going on and I wonder if them are to my taste.

[Kirppu]

Can anyone give a short overview of the adventures? 20$ may be a little steep for me this month, but I DO have an Eriador game going on and I wonder if them are to my taste.

I am really taking my time reading the whole thing, reading a bit here and there so I haven't quite got to them yet and cant tell you anything except one thing. They take up a lot of the book, just shy of two thirds from pages 44 - 108. Thats a good chunk of adventures.

The quality of the rest of the book is really very good and leaves me in hope they will be good too, even if there are clearly some areas that have stirred up a tiny bit of contention, those kind of details are easily ignored by any GM and are really a matter of personal taste. To me thats not unusual either in any product. They have done some really good work at evoking the mood of the area, and the section about how to do that yourself as a GM I found really delicately handled. I'm sure others here can give you more idea right now on what the adventures are like though, but based on what I have read so far its hard resisting the urge to uproot my company and find a reason to cross the Misty Mountains to adventure in Eriador now, as I suspected it would be when I first heard they were releasing this.

[Otaku-sempai]

Can anyone give a short overview of the adventures? 20$ may be a little steep for me this month, but I DO have an Eriador game going on and I wonder if them are to my taste.

Here are the descriptions of the three adventures from the Introduction:

Old Bones and Skin: Something’s breaking into the graveyard of Bree and stealing corpses. The folk of Bree assume it’s the undead, but it’s actually a hungry Old Troll digging up old bones to eat. The company must stake out the graveyard and find the real culprit, then track him to his lair in an old tomb and drive him away, but in doing so discover a far more insidious threat.

Strange Men, Strange Roads: The company set out to meet a Ranger at the Forsaken Inn, but they find him gone, murdered. A company of traders at the inn are the most likely suspects, but who amongst the travellers is guilty? The company must track these travellers on the Road to Bree and spy on them, uncovering a nefarious scheme afoot that threatens all of the Bree-land

Holed up in Staddle: The company join a Ranger hunting for a villain fleeing justice, following him into the Old Forest before they lose him. But the villain has snuck into the Bree-land and holed up with a Hobbit family, taking them hostage and forcing them to help him bring his evil plans to fruition under the Harvest Moon.

[Stormcrow]

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned the passage on page 35 that clarifies what counts as a Sanctuary:

Not every town or village is necessarily a potential sanctuary. To qualify as such, there must be something in a place that makes it a bulwark against the Shadow, some protection above and beyond the rest of Middle-earth. In some cases, the protection is obvious and material: Dale has its walls and armies, Esgaroth is guarded by the Long Lake. In other cases, the sanctuary has a powerful guardian whom the Enemy dares not assail, at least not yet. Beorn’s house has Beorn, for example.
Other sanctuaries are hidden, or blessed with some supernatural power. Rivendell or Lórien are triple-girdled against the Enemy: by secrecy, by the Elven-lords who dwell there, and by the power of the masters of those places.

This answers numerous questions about what is allowed. A lone inn in the middle of Wilderland isn't a Sanctuary, for instance. Neither is a player-hero's Holding unless it is well guarded.

[Otaku-sempai]

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned the passage on page 35 that clarifies what counts as a Sanctuary...

This answers numerous questions about what is allowed. A lone inn in the middle of Wilderland isn't a Sanctuary, for instance. Neither is a player-hero's Holding unless it is well guarded.

Yes, I did note that, though I had not commented until now. The text goes on to specify how to open Bree as a Sanctuary:

In order to open Bree as a sanctuary a company of heroes must have accomplished the following:
• Found out about the watch of the Rangers, and earned their trust.
• Gained the trust of at least one important Bree personality (Innkeeper, Reeve, Forester).
• Have become regulars at the Prancing Pony (see page 37), having spent enough to appear decent enough individuals in the eyes of the Bree-folk.

Similar criteria might allow the Shire to become a Sanctuary.