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One huge benefit - as long as you stay on the path, you can't get lost in Mirkwood. You may be delayed, injured, attacked by spiders, enchanted, eaten or whatever, but you won't get lost.

Robin Smallburrow wrote:I thought Peter Jackson captured this well in the film

What, paved? Nah, not right at all. The elf-path should be easy to follow, even if not easy to traverse, but not paved.

All the arguments about why the elf path isn't a comfy road may be true, but the OP still has a point: however hard & dangerous the elf path is, it still can't possibly be as hard and dangerous as NOT using it (otherwise why have a path) so it is indeed odd that, according to RAW, there's no difference between using a road and bushwacking through the woods a hundred yards away.

Elfcrusher wrote:All the arguments about why the elf path isn't a comfy road may be true, but the OP still has a point: however hard & dangerous the elf path is, it still can't possibly be as hard and dangerous as NOT using it (otherwise why have a path) so it is indeed odd that, according to RAW, there's no difference between using a road and bushwacking through the woods a hundred yards away.

Agreed. I also found it weird that traversing the terrain cross country is exactly the same as using the path. Why leave (or not leave) something that has no use at all? No corruption modifiers, no speed up for the journey, no easier TN for the travel rolls, no larger number of users (so safety in numbers) ... even if you are a group of pure elves, the road offers no advantages to you. Sounds weird to us as well, as one of my players pointed out when I explained the rules for journeys to them.

LM p107, under Northern Mirkwood.

For a while now, the only viable way across Mirkwood is found here, where the Forest Gate gives entrance to the Elf-path. This is a trail made by the Silvan Elves, and it is protected by the Elvenking’s magic from being overgrown or blocked by cobwebs.

Soooo.

That's easy enough. Just houserule the difficulty of the road is TN 14 instead of 18...

But that's IF the elves let you use it in the first place. They are under no obligation to let the PCs or anyone else use their paths.

Of course, any elven PCs are always welcome to take the elf road, but if Thranduil's in one of those moods, he has to leave his fellowship behind when he does.

In Don’t Leave the Path (TfW), it is mentioned that in the Mirkwood, heroes have to pass a Corruption check for every week (TN 14). While on the Elf-Path the TN is only 12.

In the additional rules supplement I used the following rule which I think James R Brown originally came up with:

Magical Path
When negotiating a magical path, heroes can travel
an extra n miles per day and never get lost. Ignore all
Hazard episodes targeting the Guide.

The strength of the enchantment determines the
number of extra miles per day. So, a Magical Path
+10 would mean an extra 10 miles per day.

I'd class the Elf Path as such, perhaps with a +5 bonus. It seemed to work well for my gaming group - making travel along the path feel different but still extremely challenging.

Hello to all,


This is my very first post here, I have been following discussions for some time now and appreciating the level of sharing and courtesy on this forum. I have been running a One Ring campaign (in French) as a LM since a few months and I do enjoy the game immensely.

This discussion regarding the Elf Path triggered some ideas that I'd like to share, since this is how I intend to use it in my next Adventure (a slightly reworked "Don't Leave the Path").

In my view, the Elf Path is not just a path protected by ancient magic. The way I see it, the magic is inherent to the Path, which makes it somehow a "living" Path that will either lead or lose the Travellers crossing the Forest.

When I say "living", I somehow envisage that there is not only one single Path between the Western Gate of Mirkwood and the Halls of Thranduil. There is a multitude of possible Paths, but the Travellers will only see a main one, the rest of the Paths being hidden behind vegetation, darkness, rocks due to Elven magic. Sometimes crossroads may appear, but never are all possible Paths revealed.

The Elf Path should usually lead Enemies and the Unwise to danger, Friends of the Elves to a safe place, Strangers far from the Elven Realm.

But somehow Fate and Wisdom also plays its role here. For instance I personnally like the idea that because Bilbo had a role to play in the greater scheme of things, the Elf path may have led him and his company towards the Elven Realm (more than it would normally have with, say, only the Dwarves), so that Elves would in the end become involved in the matters of Men and Dwarves in the Battle of the Five Armies. I still need to think this through more, but I like the idea, and it also somehow makes the reaction of Wood Elves even more understandable since no Strangers would be supposed to come close to their celebrations glades, protected for centuries by their magic.

How to play this in game terms ? For all travellers "planning" their travel through the Elf Path I will not ask for Lore skill checks but instead for Wisdom skill checks, with successes granting the usual bonus dice for subsequent Travel checks. Bonus will be provided to Elves and Elf-friends, and to a lesser extent to those who obtained permission to travel the Elf Path. The TN for Travelling will be the same as the rest of Northern Mirkwood so basically if you do not have bonus dice (or very good travel skills) things will get ugly for you as the path leads you into danger.

Successful Travel Checks (Gandalf runes for instance) may lead to significant discoveries linked to the Fate of the Adventurers, whereas failed rolls ... well we know what to do in Mirkwood with failed travel rolls, right ?

The game mechanics are not yet 100% defined in my head, so any comment or suggestion is of course most welcome, and hopefully these explanations make a bit of sense.


Tom

Great idea! I already have it that orcs avoid the path as 'bad things happen to them'. I would also suggest that PCs with Shadow pts (say equal to Heart) would also want to avoid it

Robin S