Hobbits returning to Shire

[Ecorce]

During the Fellowship phase, the characters can travel back home.

For every culture, it means returning somewhere in Wilderland. This means for some of them crossing the Forest, hard but it's ok. Every culture... apart from the Hobbits from Shire. They need to pass the Misty Mountains, wild places of Eriador, before reaching their home. It sounds like a big journey, that you can't do every year and alone. How do you feel about that? As LM, do you allow Hobbits players to come back to Shire every Fellowship phase?

Writing this, I think I've found a good solution... The hobbit inn in Tales From Wilderland.
They need to make the travel back to Shire to get at least regional products (every year?). A Hobbit player could go with the "cart" (don't know if it's the appropriate term sorry). That means more security, more equipment, ponies... everything you could wish for that kind of journey.

But I can't see a single Hobbit going back to Shire...
Well, at least 2 Hobbits, but only if their names are Frodo and Sam.

Maybe players and LM should think about the way they come back home (if they don't want to stay in a sanctuary in the area). Do they travel alone? With somebody? Why? How?

Maybe they already think about it and I'm the only stupid LM (but Galadriel said : "Even the stupidiest personn can change the course of the RPG", no?).

[zedturtle]

Another way to provide a plausible hand-waved explanation is Tholin the Trader. Since he (and his group) are always on the way to or from the Blue Mountains and he explicitly has Hobbits travel with him sometimes that could also help explain away any suspension of disbelief issues.

[Stormcrow]

Hobbits adventuring in Wilderland was obviously the designers thinking, Wilderland is where the most stuff is happening, so that's our setting, but you can't have a Tolkien RPG without hobbits! Letting hobbits journey back to the Shire for a Fellowship phase is a compromise with a few elements that ask you to look the other way when they come up.

Remember Bilbo's journey "back again." It's glossed over in a couple of paragraphs, because it was more or less uneventful. There were some adventures, we are told, but they had no lasting impact. This is what it is like to travel for a Fellowship phase.

Provided he's got some Treasure to send home to maintain his Standing (if he wants), there's no reason a hobbit can't stay in a sanctuary every year. You can make the inn into a sanctuary. But most hobbits probably find themselves yearning for more sensible folk like those at home. They don't think, I'm going home for a little while before going off on another adventure; they think, I'm feeling weary of the company of men and would like to go back home to rest and be with my friends and family. Sure, they'll be feeling restless again next year, but for right now there's no place like home.

All the more reason to make a big deal of your business in the Shire during the Fellowship phase. And the best way to make a big deal of it is to earn Treasure and raise your Standing. Of course, the only way to get Treasure is to go off on an adventure...

P.S.: There's no reason why you can't make the journey home during the Fellowship phase part of your Fellowship phase narration. Describe any traveling companions you like, with the Loremaster's approval.

[Otaku-sempai]

Well, first I think it should be pointed out that a Hero who has to reach the other side of Mirkwood to return home does not need to travel through the Forest, but can circle around Mirkwood either north along the Grey Mountains or south along the eaves of Mirkwood. Neither route is particularly hazardous in the years immediately following the Battle of Five Armies, though that would change as the time approaches for the Darkening of Mirkwood. Finding a larger group to travel with would minimize such hazards.

I would think that a Hobbit returning to the Shire or Bree at the end of the year would try to find a caravan or other such party to travel with, if possible. Dwarven merchants making for the Blue Mountains would seem to be a likely prospect. A similar group heading for Erebor in the Spring might allow a Hobbit to accompany them as well. Or maybe one or more companions include a Hobbit, a Ranger or a Bree-lander also returning home at year's end.

A Hobbit-hero remaining in Wilderland at the end of the year (say, to open a sanctuary) can spend a number of Treasure Points equal to his current Standing in order to maintain that Standing with his people back home. The Hero does not need to return home nor to spend time at a place such as the Easterly Inn. The same rules apply to any other Hero from Eriador or any other place beyond where they are spending the Winter.

[Lifstan]

A Hobbit-hero remaining in Wilderland at the end of the year (say, to open a sanctuary) can spend a number of Treasure Points equal to his current Standing in order to maintain that Standing with his people back home. The Hero does not need to return home nor to spend time at a place such as the Easterly Inn. The same rules apply to any other Hero from Eriador or any other place beyond where they are spending the Winter.

And if doesn't have any standing, he definitely doesn't need to go back...

[Glorelendil]

This is also a great opportunity to allow player narration. Instead of asking the LM how the Hobbit gets all the way home (and back again in time for the next Adventure), let the player describe how this unfolds.

[Ecorce]

Ok, thanks everybody for the answers.

[Enevhar Aldarion]

After spending time at home, the next adventure could always start with the other player characters visiting the Shire to collect the Hobbit characters. Their journey together could start from there.

[Glorelendil]

After spending time at home, the next adventure could always start with the other player characters visiting the Shire to collect the Hobbit characters. Their journey together could start from there.

Which in itself could make for a great story, what with all those outlandish visitors traipsing through the Shire. The neighborhood has really gone downhill ever since Mad Baggins reappeared.