The Mirkwood Campaign (GM Sarah) (Inactive)

Game Master Sarah 'queen' B.

(I have adapted this from the intro to the campaign setting)

When Bilbo Baggins went There and Back Again, the worst he had to contend with at home was the Sackville-Bagginses stealing his spoons. Frodo went to Mordor and returned to find the Shire wounded, but he still left a place of comfort and safety to travel far into danger. In the Mirkwood Campaign, you do not have the same luxury. Danger is not over the Misty Mountains and far away – it is right outside your door. What is threatened by the growing Shadow are your homes and your way of life.

The Mirkwood Campaign is the telling of a long defeat for the Free People of the North. By the time of the War of the Ring, Mirkwood is again a place of horror. The Woodmen are barely mentioned and may be scattered or destroyed, Beorn and Radagast are gone and the Woodland Realm is isolated. The Shadow returns to the forest, and Dol Guldur is restored to become the starting point for large-scale attacks against Lórien and the Woodland Realm.

The Mirkwood Campaign places you in the middle of that coming war, alongside those who fight the shadow that threatens to engulf the forest and subjugate all those who live near and inside it. Can you change what has been written? Will you succeed in weakening the power in Dol Guldur and protecting the folks that live in the forest? Even if the forest is lost, can you save your own families and friends from slavery and death? Can you preserve the treasures kept by the Woodmen? Can you salvage something from the ruin? Your characters may not live to see the downfall of the Enemy, but they can give hope to the future.

The emphasis of the Mirkwood Campaign is on personal tragedy. The campaign works best if your characters have a stake in Mirkwood. Ideally, most of your characters will come from the Free Folk who live in or around the forest – either Wood(wo)men, Beornings, perhaps even a Silvan Elf. Over the course of the campaign, you will be offered the chance to invest in your communities, to establish and tend to Holdings, to make friends and allies, possibly even to become leaders in your communities, marry and have children.

Then, with a kin and a hearth to defend, it will be easy for me to threaten all they stand for.

I don't plan to run this right away - probably aim to start mid to late September - but it's worth discussing what we want out of this game before we start.

Firstly, I'm new to GMing so please make things reasonably easy for me. Don't pick powergame combos (if there are any) and please will you build characters tied to the setting so I don't' have to contrort like a pretzel to explain why someone from Minas Tirith has ended up with the Woodmen. I'm willing to accept characters from in and around the area so you don't all have to be Wood(wo)men, but the more of you there are, the more the party is tied into the setting.

As for the setting, you can expect it to be mainly based in the woods. The Evil woods. You will want to stay away from heavy armour and even if you don't put proficiency into Stealth, you will want some sort of Dex bonus. Trust me when I tlel you that there are some things out there you will NOT want to fight. Sneaking is a valid option, whatever Sam Gamgee might tell you.

I like the way our current ME campaign has house-ruled Inspiration into points, rather than binary yes/no. I've certainly used Inspiration more than I would otherwise and I think that's true for you as well. I'm therefore going to steal the idea unless you tell me that you hate it.

i'm also torn on how to track hit points, shadow points and other things. Would you do this yourselves, reliably? Or are you goint to want me to do it the way our current ME campaign does, where the GM tracks evertying?

I will put more thoughts here (and build a GM alias) as and when. You should also add your own comments and questions.

EDIT: one immediate thought is on posting rates. I work in a lab (at least I do until we go back into lockdown again) so there are some days I can't post. Other days, I will be able to post several times a day. I don't expect daily posting but if you can post reliably several times a week, that should be the requirement.

I have no issue with leaving it to players to track hp. I also do not object to GM taking that on, or for both to do it for redundancy. My one real concern is that whichever responsibility is agreed upon and communicated clearly.

Posting reliably several times a week is quite doable for me. Which is down from my "usually once a day".

As I mentioned in our current campaign discussion, I have a dwarf slayer, Veig Fairmane . His few appearances were in a short-lived run at Mirkwood, with an inauspicious start!

As for "broken", Veig is intended to be very strong in combat, specifically melee, and to be quite hard to kill. That might normally count...except that he's relatively vulnerable to Shadow, a very real concern in a ME5e campaign.

I should expand. Veig is Doomed to Die. My original idea was that he entered Mirkwood seeking a mysterious cloaked figure - the person who had led the orcs that slew the rest of Veig's band.

If this sounds like something you can work with, I'm game. Otherwise, I will go back to the drawing board.

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Hope: "The Shadow must be rid of me because I am strong."

Despair: "I know that those who stand beside me are only fated to die beside me."

Hi Decimus Observet, thanks for your comments. As a player I appreciate not having to track my status! (PbP is good, but keeping track of stuff is a lot more effort than at the tabletop, having to go in, click 'edit profile' and update and then click save. It means that character profiles are almost always out of date so you don't know who is at death's door and who is doing fine.) I will see if I can run the game and keep track of people's status at the same time. If it's too much work, I will put it back on you but then you will all have to keep your profiles up to date.

I have no issue with the slayer (I'm playing one!) and I don't think any of the classes are "broken". My main worry is if there's a combo out there I don't know about that coudl create balance issues.

I'm not sure about palying dwarves in this campaign, though. They arent' that well liked by Woodmen or Elves and I don't want to give too much away but there is a very good chance that the party will end up fighting against dwarves at some point (it makes a change from spiders). I really don't want to be the GM who says "no don't play that character, pick another" - but the theme and tone of this campaign aren't well suited to dwarves. Are you absolutely set on playing one? If so, we can make it work, although your character probably needs something to fight for rather than just something to fight against.

(The above goes for overly-talkative high elves with a love of Shakespear, too: not my preferred option but if you're set on it I will make it work (through gritted teeth))

Thank you for your feedback!

It's more that I had Veig handy tbh. I like dwarves. But I also like other options. So I'll have another read over the player's book and think.

Check it out, I have a GM alias now! This thing is happening.

Hi everyone! I've been doing some thinking about what I'd like to play in this campaign. Right now I'm leaning toward a Silvan Warden with the Harrowed background.

Anyone else got the tenative beginnings of a plan?

Hey, welcome on board! I think you're the first one to put a concept down, so you get dibs :)

I haven't posted because I don't have much yet. I have a concept of a Barding who's tied to the Woodland realm through his mother, who was a Woodperson. For reasons, she left and settled in Laketown, where my character was born. He grew up there and then in Dale once it was built (he may have helped with that in some way).

He's recently decided to go and find his roots (pun most definitely NOT intended) and is either at, or on his way to, Rhosgobel to see if anyone has any records of his mother's family.

That is literally as far as I've got. I may end up being That Guy who waits to see what everyone else is doing before deciding on a class. Of course, that only works if everyone else has a build in mind!

WW, that can defnitely work and I appreciate you tying your character into the local culture. Just FYI, the Woodland Realm is the wood-elves. cofusing, I know.

And I'm sroting this whole "woodmen" thing out right now. Nouns are as follows

Men of Bree = Breelander
Men of the Lake - Esgarothi (Lakers or Gillmen)
Woodmen = Foresters
Men of Minas Tirith = whoops, you're in the wrong campagn

Ideally, at least one and preferably two of you would play Foresters. but as long as you tie your character into the Foresters culture in some way, that should also work.

*kicks self*

Fool of a Wastrel, throw yourself in next time I did know that Woodland Realm = Wood elves. No idea why I wrote that.

Nouns are as follows

Men of Bree = Breelander
Men of the Lake - Esgarothi (Lakers or Gillmen)
Woodmen = Foresters

Stealing this!

From a One Ring game, there is Hartgard the Quiet, an axe-man of the Beorning. I'd be looking at slayer for a ME5e version.

Hartgard the Quiet, Beorning Slayer, Mirkwood campaign notes

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The other idea that is a brewing is a man of the woods, a hunter of fell things. Maracar, or "The Bowman" as the other foresters call him, a relentless and silent foe of any who threaten his people and his home.

Less well-developed yet but the idea is brewing. A forester wanderer, most likely a hunter of shadows.

Decimus: I think Hartgard is a better fit than your dwarf character for sure, although I think he has the same issue I mentioned before. In a normal AP, it doesn't matter so much what the PCs are for or what they believe in, they're against the bad guy and that's what drives the AP. I think one thing that makes LOTR different from normal D&D is that your characters are preordanied NOT to be able to defeat the Big Bad. So it matters having something to be for rather than just against.

This actually applies to all the players: think about what your character is for rather than what just they're against. What can they get that matters to them? Land/Holdings? Relationships/familly/spouse/children? What ties them to their community?

To add to the above. Most of the APs give you a good 'hook' for starting. In RotR, you're at the Swallowtail Festival and goblins attack. In CotCT, you've all got a grudge against the same crime boss. In Carrion Crown, you're all at a friend's funeral. In the other LOTR game, king Bard has issued a call for adventurers.

The Mirkwood campaign doesn't start like that. There's no clear reaons for the PCs to be in Mirkwood if they aren't Foresters, so you kind of have to make it up. I'm still starting out as a GM so the more help you give me with that the more appreciated you all are :)

Maracar is seeming the best choice then, with more of an emphasis on what it is that he defends.

OK, so it's looking like we have

WW: Barding, class TBC
Bergur: Wood elf, Warden
DO: Forester, Wanderer

Black Dow said he was interested but it's been a while since he posted. Morwen said she is busy so I think she won't be joining us.

It looks like we need at least one more. Decimus, did you say you're in a nother LOTR campaign? Do you think any of them would be interested in this one?

Aye. They might be!

Discussion thread.

I submit Faem for your consideration.

Culture: Hobbits of the Anduin Vales
Class: Treasure Hunter
Background: Lure of the Road
Standard of Living: Frugal
Shadow Weakness: Dragon-sickness
Height: 2'9"
Weight: 30 lb.
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Brown

Faem's Story:
"What is it?"

"Daa calls 'em Gobbies," Faem answered her younger brother. "We're supposed to run if we see one." The blackened corpse floated idly at river's edge, face down. A tear in the flesh from shoulder to hip festered in the cold water.

"Why ain't we running, then?" Gael brushed always-dirty hair away from his eyes, squinting into the perpetual fog of the marshes, should the thing that did this one in be prowling nearby. "It smells worse than the bog."

Faem poked the body with her fishing pole to try to push it off. "Come on, we'll catch nothin' here." She led her brother upriver another mile before casting her line among the rocks in the quicker action in the middle of the current. There, the Gladden narrowed and the waters rushed over large round stones where trout waited for smaller prey. It wasn't long before Faem felt the familiar tug on the end of her line. The fish lept from the water, a good catch that would feed her entire family for the night.

"Faem!" Gael's cry stole her focus and the trout spit the hook. Before she could muster a curse, her eyes followed her brother's unblinking stare. Across the river, not ten strides through the shallow water, a Gobbie glared back at them. Blood dripped from the fingertips of one arm, flowing from a nasty gash at the base of its neck. It glowered with a dark hunger. For the first time in her young life, Faem knew the face of evil.

She grabbed her brother's hand in hers and they ran as fast as his six-year-old legs could turn. Faem didn't dare turn to look until Gael's hand pulled out of hers. The Gobbie was on them - it had her brother! She had forgotten to drop her fishing pole, and so she swung it at the vile creature, snapping it off against its head. It leered at her, spitting in some wicked language. The thing picked Gael off the ground and looked as if it were about to take a bite out of the skinny lad. Faem kicked at the side of its knee and the Gobbie buckled and hissed, dropping Gael and reaching for her. She fell backward and it pounced, but another kick hit the open wound at its neck and the dark thing howled and spun, grasping in agony. It rolled toward the river, cursing and spitting, and if it gathered itself up once more, Faem knew it would kill them.

The young hobbit sped past it and pulled a stone from the rocky shore with both hands. In one smooth motion she swung it high and brought it crashing down on the Gobbie's head, smashing its skull. Over and over she hit it until nothing resembling a face remained and she was sticky from ears to toes in black blood. At last she dropped the stone, stumbled into the river's edge, and sobbed while the glacial whitewater of the Gladden rushed over her.

Quick tempered and capable, Faem chipped daggers from stones and whittled her first bow at age nine. Haunted by that day at the river, she taught herself how to fight, for there was no place in the Vales more dangerous than the fetid marshes of the Gladden Fields. She learned to be quiet, and to shoot rabbits, snakes, and large burrowing rodents which poked their unsuspecting heads up. She was a provider for her family and grew into a proud and well-regarded member of her scattered clan.

During the spring of her twentieth year, Faem and Gael were out hunting in the lowlands near where the Gladden flows into the Anduin. As the floods recede, thousands of fish are beached, attracting birds of prey, rats and other vermin, and the occasional badger or fox, which are difficult to catch but good eating. It was there she saw him - it - the tall man in the black cloak. It reached for Gael, having appeared out of the very mist, and when its bony finger touched her brother, Gael fell to the mud. Faem was too far to do anything but scream and throw her spear, but the black thing only looked at her with red eyes like death and then vanished as quick as it had come. She did not know it was one of the Nine that had visited her that day, in search of Isildur's Bane, The Enemy's Ring.

But while Gael did not die that day, he was stricken with weakness and mute thereafter, finally succumbing to the sickness on the eve of his twenty-fifth birthday. Dispirited by the growing evil in the marshes, Faem packed up her few belongings, bid her Mother and Daa farewell, and set off on her own, across the mighty Anduin, toward the forest in the east. Something about the lure of the road attracted her - a persistent restlessness rather than a sense of adventure, but a compulsion to travel afar nonetheless.

Hello hello!

I saw your Therenger-inspired post, Mrs B, and I thought I'd find a ring in which to toss a hat!

Some stuff!

Since you're a new GM, I feel honor bound to share with you a hard truth: GMing...is hard. (There I said it!)

Someone recently said that a GM post is harder than any 5 player post, and I'd tend to agree. Hence, I would -strongly- encourage you to start out on the easy path, rather than start off hard, get frustrated, work hard to come up with how -much- to have the players start doing, have it go wrong, then something starts on fire....

Besides, in all other PbPs the Players keep track, and having the GM do it just makes it -also- harder on the players as they clandestinely try to find ways to keep track of their status anyway. ^_^

Also!

I see that you are discouraging characters from Minas Tirith. Hmmm, it's almost like you're throwing down some kind of challenge. Of course that must be it! Well I accept madam I accept! (Y'know...probably. I'll start thinking of something and see what I come up with.)

Also, now, I know that my BFF Therenger disagrees with me on this (ya, our friendship predates cell phones, FaceBook, and grunge) but I always think that any party needs a cleric, hence I'll be looking into the Scholar class. (May dip a level in Fighter just to be a bit less useless in combat. Not sure yet.)

I'll be starting a new job soon that will let me work 4 hours a day less than I am now ("What? A ten hour day?! That's like vacation!") so I'll try and toss up a good character shortly.

I'm a big fan of clerics.

As for tracking stuff, I found that players actually update their tags less than half the time. Tracking arrow usage is even worse. An idea I stole from a previous GM is to have you, the GM, track HP during combat using a running total for each character. That eliminates any confusion. As for arrows, I got to the point where I would say, "You have 6 left," when they probably had more than that. Players need to own it or take what the GM gives them. Players need to track Shadow and roleplay appropriately. I reward exceptional rp with bonus xp. Just my .02

Thanks both newcomers for your commments and Therenger for the character submission.

Therenger/Faem: I like the character, and your story gives me a good sense of who she is. I don't have the rules for those hobbits, but WW has all the splatbooks so I can borrow his. But I'm not clear why you've gone with a hobbit. How did she end up with the Foresters? What do they think of her? What does she think of them? Is it a community she will contribute to, take Holdings in, grow old in (or, more likely, die for)? I'm a novice GM so please don't make me work too hard at coming up with reasons for why she is where she is.* Also, are you planning on taking the Small Folk cultural virtue? It looks like if you pair that with your class, you have someone who can sneak attack every round, which means Sauron should have abandoned the Haradrim and colonised the Shire - he'd have ended up with The Littlest Hashashin. Cute, but deadly. I'm not experienced enough as a GM to know if that is a potentially game-breaking combo, but I'm not that willing to find out.

*one suggestion, and it is only a suggestion: after fleeing the loss of her brother, she ran east until she reached Mirkwood which even by the standards of what she's used to was dire. She would have died but for stumbling across a Forester hunting expedition, who weren't sure who/what she was but took her back to the nearest settlement (your choice of Rhosgobel, Woodland Hall or the other one, name escapes me) and nursed her back to health. She's been tehre about 18 months, long enough to have some wary but reasonably firm friendships. Take it/modify it/leave it and do something else, your call :)

I saw your Therenger-inspired post, Mrs B

No, just no. GM/Sarah/GM Sarah will be fine

I see that you are discouraging characters from Minas Tirith. Hmmm, it's almost like you're throwing down some kind of challenge. Of course that must be it! Well I accept madam I accept! (Y'know...probably. I'll start thinking of something and see what I come up with.)

No! There's no "challenge" (I can smell the testosterone from here). As you pointed out (and thank you, please do mansplain to me some more), GMing is hard and I have a clear idea what I want to do with this game and where I want to take it. I'm looking for characters tied in to Mirkwood and who belong there.

Therenger/Faem: I like the character, and your story gives me a good sense of who she is. I don't have the rules for those hobbits, but WW has all the splatbooks so I can borrow his. But I'm not clear why you've gone with a hobbit. How did she end up with the Foresters? What do they think of her? What does she think of them? Is it a community she will contribute to, take Holdings in, grow old in (or, more likely, die for)? I'm a novice GM so please don't make me work too hard at coming up with reasons for why she is where she is.* Also, are you planning on taking the Small Folk cultural virtue? It looks like if you pair that with your class, you have someone who can sneak attack every round, which means Sauron should have abandoned the Haradrim and colonised the Shire - he'd have ended up with The Littlest Hashashin. Cute, but deadly. I'm not experienced enough as a GM to know if that is a potentially game-breaking combo, but I'm not that willing to find out.

*one suggestion, and it is only a suggestion: after fleeing the loss of her brother, she ran east until she reached Mirkwood which even by the standards of what she's used to was dire. She would have died but for stumbling across a Forester hunting expedition, who weren't sure who/what she was but took her back to the nearest settlement (your choice of Rhosgobel, Woodland Hall or the other one, name escapes me) and nursed her back to health. She's been tehre about 18 months, long enough to have some wary but reasonably firm friendships. Take it/modify it/leave it and do something else, your call :)

I had a line at the very end of Faem's story about Rhosgobel, but I thought it was too obtrusive to whatever you may be setting up. She is searching for something - a better life, perhaps a better way of life, not only for herself but for her family and the larger community, and she knows she won't find it in the despoiled earth near the River Gladden. So she has ventured east to greener spaces and unknown dangers. She knows of the Wood folk and of Rhosgobel, and seeks first to explore their way of life. I like your hook for how she integrates into that society. It could be they thought she was a child lost in the wood - I doubt many Men are even aware of the Stoors that have lived in the Vales for hundreds of years. I think the one aspect of your suggestion I would modify would be how she came to be in such a dire state. Faem is a clever survivor; the forest alone is ominous but she would find a way through unless attacked by spiders or something. I'll work with that if we want to move ahead with this character.

I once described the Small Folk/Sneak Attack combination as being like Yoda from Attack of the Clones. You actually generate 2 sneak attacks each round because it forces the opponent to move away, triggering AOO. Yes it's powerful, but only serves to make the Treasure Hunter actually useful in combat, as sneak attack on its own is less than inspiring. In my opinion, the only broken class is the Slayer. As a GM, there is nothing less fun than trying to balance encounters when someone is playing a Slayer. If you like Faem but can't work with that combo I can choose to not take the Small Folk virtue. I could do that.

I have a fondness for hobbits in this world - who doesn't! Maybe it's because I'm 6'6" and my entire adult life I've wanted to be shorter. I can play whatever, though, this was a concept I had handy.

Also, are you planning on taking the Small Folk cultural virtue? It looks like if you pair that with your class, you have someone who can sneak attack every round, which means Sauron should have abandoned the Haradrim and colonised the Shire - he'd have ended up with The Littlest Hashashin. Cute, but deadly. I'm not experienced enough as a GM to know if that is a potentially game-breaking combo, but I'm not that willing to find out.

5e/AiME make sneak attack a lot easier to set up than Pathfinder, and (I believe) built the Rogue/Treasure Hunter class around the expectation that you would be using it regularly. Bergur's been using sneak attack just about every combat round, and I don't think it's been game-breaking.

Small Folk is a great Virtue, but also remember Faem would have to give up their level 4 ability score increase to get it. (Only Mannish cultures start with a Cultural Virtue.)

I think the one aspect of your suggestion I would modify would be how she came to be in such a dire state. Faem is a clever survivor; the forest alone is ominous but she would find a way through unless attacked by spiders or something. I'll work with that if we want to move ahead with this character.

Mirkwood is worse than ominous on its best day. For a level 1 character on her own, it is death. Even a group of level 1 adventurers is going to have a tough time (trust me on this). If Faem went into Mirkwood by herself, she would need rescuing - it doesn't matter how clever a survivor she is.

I have a fondness for hobbits in this world - who doesn't!

Heh - true :)

I'm ok with your build, if you can tie her in to the Forester community a bit more, that would be great. At the start of the campaign the companions are going to be asked to run a mission into Lake-Town. The Foresters would not ask people to do this if they didn't already trust them, they are (with goood reason) a tight knit communtiy.

Thanks for your comments on sneak attack/small folk virtue (and Bergur as well). 2 sneak attacks/turn sounds potentially unbalancing but let's see how things get once you're at level 4.

I'm playing a Slayer in the other game, I think WW is handling it well by ensuring I have lots of different combats between long rests which means I'm careful about using the Slayer Rage Power. (Taht's the difference between an experienced GM and a not so experienced one!).

That works for me. I will append her connection to the Forester community tonight or tomorrow and post here.

Thanks Therenger.

Does everyone else have some idea when they could get their submissions into some sort of shape? It would be nice to make a start.

(This is Bergur)

I'm still probably going to do some backstory tweaking, but the general shape of the character is in place.

As I mentioned earlier, she's a Wood-Elf Warden with the Harrowed background. She keeps having dream-visions of a great battle in Mirkwood against the Shadow, sometimes with everything ending in destruction, sometimes in a narrow victory. (Basically she's seeing the invasion from Dol Gulder in 3019, not that she has any way of knowing that.)

This campaign won't last that long, but her 'hook' so to speak is that she's trying to do as much as possible to weaken the Shadow now so that the battle can be won then.

And of course, she'll still be around at that point, if I haven't suceeded in killing her! I like that character a lot.

GM, are there named personalities in Rhosgobel that Faem could have connected with, as say, an apprentice of some kind? Also, what is the year, and might we have casual acquaintance with Radagast?

Faem's Story, Part 2:

Faem only knew the Great Greenwood from afar, so far that from the west bank of the Anduin she could see only the dark green line marking the veil of trees at the horizon. In the mornings it appeared as a black cut separating the earth and sky. In the evening, when the rare sun pierced the marsh fog in winter, it was like a chain of gold resting atop green fields. It looked very different now.

Approaching for several days, she knew that was where her future lay - inside that dark tangle. Tales of the clever wizard that lived somewhere amongst the trees had seeped through the bog to her home and told to children for countless generations. She decided she would find this wizard, and then ask him about the best way to settle her spirit. From the tales she knew of a place called Rhosgobel, nearly due east, and perhaps only a little ways off the Old Road.

Faem camped along the edge of the forest for many nights, probing for a trail - not too well trodden but not obscure as to be easily lost. Imagine her disbelief when she spied a dwarf coming, striding confidently into the wood. Well, clearly, this fellow traveler was afflicted with purpose and a sense of direction, so she followed him, discreetly.

By the second day she realized the dwarf was lost. When he made camp, she did the same, far enough away to remain hidden, and she took up following the next day and the day after. When she was hungry she'd nibble small chunks of smoked trout, bones and all. She considered whether to approach the dwarf and tell him he wasn't going straight, but how would that conversation go? What if he wasn't friendly? He seemed friendly, but lots of people seem friendly until you meet them.

The spiders removed her choice. When the dwarf got caught, Faem lit a quick tinder fire and fashioned a poor torch, should they come for her. Why didn't she run? Because running had never saved her before, and against those overgrown critters it would not save her now. What spooked them she didn't know, but she pushed away fear and stepped quickly with weak legs to where the dwarf was suspended in webbing.

"Yur lost," says Faem in a terse whisper, the words accented by her mild brogue. "So who's the greater fool, you, or I for followin' ya?"

But the dwarf was already afflicted by the first sting, the one that numbs, and his mouth hung open and his eyes, did not focus. With a stab from her torch the webbing burned and the the dwarf fell, but he was much too heavy to carry or even drag. If she wanted to save him, she would need to stay, fending off the spiders until he recovered enough to join the fight or flee.

Her mind raced back all those years to when she saved Gael from the Gobbie. She could not run away; what was there in this world for her if she fled from danger when others were helpless against it? But she was no match for the eight-legged monsters, and when they returned she felt the sting, and then all went dark...

When the light returned to her eyes, Faem was in a bed - the softest she had ever known. The smell of leaves scented the space around her, and the sound of songbirds carried in on the breeze. She lay there in the light for some time, until a woman walked in. She was tall and beautiful, with rosy cheeks and well-earned laugh lines etched at the corners of her green eyes. Faem tried to sit up.

"Be still, child," said the woman. She brought cool honeywater to sip.

Faem's strength returned over the next few days. She learned the names of the people who had saved her from the spiders webs - a company of Foresters who had been working to maintain the Old Road and were coming to inspect a known nest site. Of the dwarf, they found only the empty remains. His death meant she would be spared for the precious hours until the Foresters arrived. She knew not his name, but would never forget the poor lost fellow she traveled behind, if out of sight.

Soon after, Faem worked her way into the hearts of the locals through her many stories from the Western Vale, They seemed enchanted to learn of Hobbits, and she was well-cared for. She was allowed into the fine kitchen of Rhosgobel - first as a rogue sampler of sweet things, and then later as an assistant, where she demonstrated her knowledge for the preparation of fish and root vegetables in simple broths. The Woodwomen and Foresters spoke the Vale of Anduin tongue fluently, but they sprinkled in foreign words that sounded high and lofty to Faem's ear, but quick enough she picked up some of the language of Men, enough to understand its meaning, if not be fully conversational.

A year passed. The hobbit had ingratiated herself in the community. But she longed to travel beyond the Hedge. She had made a life for herself in Rhosgobel, but accomplished nothing for the loved ones she left behind, and had done little for the memory of her beloved brother Gael. She picked up her sword and bow once more and returned to a regimen of practice in the evening. Her prowess was noticed by the village guard, and what was first regarded as an amusement turned into spirited sparring sessions, during which she held her own against some of the less-experienced men by way of her quick feet and sure hands. Faem reveled in their praise and relished the opportunity to become genuinely skillful instead of merely brave. Through the next winter she sharpened her blade and her wits, until she felt she was ready to set out once again.

Sorry for delay in putting my concept together, I will have it sorted by tomorrow - or at least a first draft thereof.

Faem, good to see you again (Finraeth here) - alas, poor Veig! We knew him not ;)

WW, that's fine - but I would like to get this game started next week if at all possible please.

(btw, and that's your Shakespeare allowance for this campaign)

Faem - I like that a lot, it works for me :) Yes, we can put NPCs in place but for me thta is the 'painting & decorating' bit once the rest of the building is in place. I will proably want any NPC to have connections to more than one PC so this is the last bit we will put together. Do remind me though in case I forget!

We start in the spring of the year 2947.

Yeah, Radagast. Should probably say something about the brown wizard. If Mithrandir is the wandering Grey Pilgrim, the stone doomed to rolling, Radagast is his opposite. A tree, or a spear thrown in the dirt, defying Dol Guldur and saying ‘that far, but no further.’ Within the shelter of that tree, the Foresters have thrived and prospered, in their own frugal way, for generations.

You can say Radagast’s concern is “plants and beasts” in the same way you can say Gandalf wandered around and talked to a few people. It’s true, but it misses the point. Radagast is a nurturer and improver. He didn’t create the Ents, but he taught them a lvoe of shepherding their trees. He didn’t create the great eagles, but he helped them thrive and taught them a fierce hatred of evil things. He didn’t create athelas, or reedmace, or the other haelign herbs (although they may well bear a measure of his power), but he taught their uses to the race of men. He’s not one of those “grass sprouts where he treads” types, that’s just soppy, but his magic is the magic of nature: tree roots that can break mountains, or drive a ton of sap up to the height of a three-storey building. He stood in the shadow of the Necromancer for centureis and didnt’ flinch.

His other contrast with Gandalf is in his relations with people. Gandalf saw individuals of great merit and guided them. Radagast isn’t that fussed. His interest is in the health of the forest. The fate of the individual trees is not his concern. The Foresters invite him to their leadership councils and he mostly spends the time amusing the children by getting the mice to dance for them. He can be asked for advice, but if he does it will be the big-big-big-big picture view: this course of action will ensure the lomg-term safety of the community, but you and all your companions will probably die achieving it. For the forest to be healthy, some trees have to make way.

Oh, and if you’re low-level there’s nothing you can do for him that’s of interest. There are always saplings, and most of them don’t make it.

(I know this isn’t canon, I’m making it up to fit my campaign so don’t @ me)

GM Sarah, that was the most eloquent and insightful description of Radagast I have read.

Sorry for delay in putting my concept together, I will have it sorted by tomorrow - or at least a first draft thereof.

Faem, good to see you again (Finraeth here) - alas, poor Veig! We knew him not ;)

Likewise. I'm still a little sad at missing the cut for your campaign, but it inspired me to work on my backstory chops, so all good. As for the dwarf in the forest, it could be any dwarf, almost. ;)

(I can smell the testosterone from here)

*flexes*

*kisses bicep*

Excellent!

It's coming together, I just won't have time to write it all out until later this weekend.

Imma write down the major points so I can think upon them

WW, that's fine - but I would like to get this game started next week if at all possible please.

(btw, and that's your Shakespeare allowance for this campaign).

Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature possess it merely.

C'mon, you have to admit that's a fantastic description of Mirkwood :)

I agree with Therenger, your concept of Radagast is the best I've encountered.

@Atlas - hello again, small world! Morvius here from DMDM's ill fated Fingerprints of the Fiend adventure :)

GM Sarah, that was the most eloquent and insightful description of Radagast I have read.

Thank you! It's something I've wondered about since I first read LOTR, so I've had a lot of time to discard the bad ideas and refine the good ones. I'm glad you like it.

Atlas: nothing personal, but I spend a lot of my working life dealing with guys who think they're funnier than they really are. It's not something I watn to do when I'm trying to have fun. Please bear taht in mind. To answer your questions, I'm still thinking about where in Mirkwood we will start. It's definitely somewhere in the Foresters' domain and it might be Rhosgobel. That's less important than how your character left the big city of Dale (and why) to end up in Mirkwood. If you work on sorting that, we can sort the fine details of where later. I'm happy for you to run ideas by me and refine them, like I did with Faem.

Hi folks. I aim to get Maracar sorted today.

Wandering Wastrel here with my Dúnedain warden. I'm planning to take the Herald archetype at the moment but we'll see how it goes.

His mother was one of the Foresters (which explains his red hair and green eyes, as well as the fact that you know, unlike the grim-faced Rangers he can actually frickin smile) and he is returning to their lands to explore that side of his heritage after being brought up among the Dúnedain. In particular, he is looking for the settlement that she lived in that was razed by the Shadow over 30 years ago. He is not sure what sort of records the Foresters keep but he is hoping at least someone is still alive who can remember that far back.

Exactly what he will do if and when he finds it is still an open question.

Hey Wastrel!

Oh man, during that whole game, but especially during the seemingly-endless rail-car chase, I just kept thinking 'This whole thing would be over by now if any of us rolled up an Evoker'. XD
I was on a bug two-weapon kick at the time and I thought that build was gonna be hot.  But now?  Meh, didn't really like it.  I keep thinking 2WF is gonna break the game, but I keep getting reminded that Two-handers or 1H+shield are quite fine. ^_^

I've been thinking on the character backstory, and I really like it, but I can't get it 'perfect'.  I realize that's more my failing, so Imma just lay out the jist that keeps running around my head and we'll go from there.  (I already have the crunch down, but I sense that's not the important thing.)

Lorgan - that works as an outline, I like it. I'm going to say that the place your mother lived in was called Trelawgun - that's right, she named you after the place she lived but the Dúnedain write things differently. It was far beyond the Western Eaves where most of the Foresters are and where Rhosgobel lies, deep in the Narrows of the Forest near Southern Mirkwood. The reason the Foresters had a settlement that far away is that it portected an important resource, a tin mine. Tin is needed for bronze, which isn't as hard or sharp as iron but it doesn't rust, it doesn't corrode, it looks nicer when polished and it's much, much easier to work. You don't need as hot a flame, which when you only have wood and charcoal is a big deal. (The Foresters do have iron, they mine it from the Misty Mountains, but they use a lot of bronze). Trelawgun was heavily fortified, and it lasted for generations but in the end it fell a few decades before the Necormancer was finaly dirven out of Mirkwood. I'm also going to say that Gaelrith was the daughter of the Headman of Trelawgun, a position only given to mighty warriors because of the vital nature of its locatin. His name was Ageric "The Spear-shaker". Your mother was therefore what passes for nobility among the Foresters.

Agnar - you're absolutely right that the crunch is not the important thing :) I like what you have come up with, someone who has married into the Forester culture. I don't know if you have a map of the region hnady, but I'm going to suggest that Kara was from the Eastern Bight, which is a "safer" part of Mirkwood* and more importantly on the same side of Mirkwood as Dale and Lake-Town. So it is more likely that a bride would be exchanged because they live nearer. The Foresters of the Eastern Bight live a long way from Rhosgobel and so far they have been relatively isolated, but the fall of the Necromancer meanst that the forest can be crossed, if you know what you're doing. The Foresters of the Eastern Bight are led by a man named Ceawin, "The Generous" - he is the one who chased the orcs down and destroyed them, and who ensured that you had a place to go. He could see you were grieving and had no wish to return to your old life, so he sent a group to escort you to Rhosgobel, which is a cure for all wounds, physical and of the heart. You arrived there in January and have spent a few months healing up.

*Most orcs that the Foresters encoutner within Mirkwood are dried husks hanging from spider webs. Mirkwood is ridiculosly dangerous. At the risk of going Monty Python, the Foresters of Mirkwood look at the Foresters of the Eastern Bight with a cretain amount of envy: "orcs? You were lucky to be attacked by orcs!"

Let me know fi that works for you?

Ólneth - I haven't forgotten about you :)

It looks like we will be starting in Rhosgobel, it makes sense that's where Lorgan would go if he is looking for lore, and Agnar and Faem were both taken there for healing. So, let's get you there as wel. You're one of the few elves whose bothered to learn how to talk to humans, not jsut he language but how to avoid the whole 'arrogant elf' thing. Whehther you like it or not, it means you spend a lot of time outside the Woodland Realm and you go to Rhosgobel from time to tmie to pass on messages, take messages back and genearlly act as a gopher for more important elves. The Foresters have started to get to know you, a bit, which means that they recognise you as an individual elf and have more or less stopped worrying about whether you're going to do "Elf-Magic" on them (Foresters are superstitious which is udnerstandable given that they live in one of the most dangerous parts fo the world). The menial nature of what you do is starting to great slightly, and when the opportunitiy to do somehting a bit more rewarding comes up, a chance to prove yourself, you're going to jump at it (I hope!). Let me knwo if that fits with how you see your character.

Also, while I'm on a roll, nicknames. The Foresters rely on these to a large extnet, and some of them will only introduce themselves with their chosen epithet until they really get to know you. If you're playing a Forester character you get to choose it, but those of you who aren't are getting one now, chosen for you by me. These are your "baby-names" which tend to be slightly mocking, in a good-humoured sort of way - if you hang around and survive, you'll get a more dignified name later (Say arund level 3?).

Ólneth, your nickname is "Swíðan" (The Strong/Mighy/Powerful), the Foresters have noted your lack of physical strenght. Whether or not this is based on a spcific incident, is your call.

Faem, your nickname is "Swétwlitig" (Cutie-pie), the Foresters (once they worked out you weren't a human child) were completely smitten with you - not in a romantic sense, just in a "awww, isn't she sweeeet" kind of way that probably is what has led you to try and prove yourself. Being adored is nice and all, but it starts to wear after a while.
(This is the one I wasn't sure about, so if that's going to be too much let me know)

Lorgan, your nickname is "Byrfling" (The Fosterchild/Step-child), the Foresters are willing to believe your story - it helps you look like them and know a lot of their customs, but you aren't one of them, at least not yet.
(That's right, you're the porverbial red-headed stepchild)

Agnar, your nickname is "Wulfshéaf" (The Wolf-bane), your lack of wood-craft was obvious the first time you went out on a hunt with the Foresters and promptly tripped over a wolf's den, where you were bitten on the ankle by a wolf cub. The other Foresters dragged you out before the she-wolf got involved, but it caused a lot of laughter.
(I'm assuming you aren't taking Proficiency in Survival skill, but if you do then we can re-write this)

Hey Wastrel!

Oh man, during that whole game, but especially during the seemingly-endless rail-car chase, I just kept thinking 'This whole thing would be over by now if any of us rolled up an Evoker'. XD
I was on a bug two-weapon kick at the time and I thought that build was gonna be hot.  But now?  Meh, didn't really like it.  I keep thinking 2WF is gonna break the game, but I keep getting reminded that Two-handers or 1H+shield are quite fine. ^_^

Yes, didn't we have a kineticist at some point? He would have been useful, but yeah a full-on Evoker would have been handy. But then, everything's better with wizards, as long as they don't get cocky about it...

Agree on 2WF. I think what keeps them humble is that it only works as a full-round action: did you move to attack? Did you opponent move more than a 5 ft step away? No 2WF for you this round! Or, as a certain president might have said, It's the [action] economy, stupid!

Lorgan - that works as an outline, I like it. I'm going to say that the place your mother lived in was called Trelawgun - that's right, she named you after the place she lived but the Dúnedain write things differently. It was far beyond the Western Eaves where most of the Foresters are and where Rhosgobel lies, deep in the Narrows of the Forest near Southern Mirkwood. The reason the Foresters had a settlement that far away is that it portected an important resource, a tin mine. Tin is needed for bronze, which isn't as hard or sharp as iron but it doesn't rust, it doesn't corrode, it looks nicer when polished and it's much, much easier to work. You don't need as hot a flame, which when you only have wood and charcoal is a big deal. (The Foresters do have iron, they mine it from the Misty Mountains, but they use a lot of bronze). Trelawgun was heavily fortified, and it lasted for generations but in the end it fell a few decades before the Necormancer was finaly dirven out of Mirkwood. I'm also going to say that Gaelrith was the daughter of the Headman of Trelawgun, a position only given to mighty warriors because of the vital nature of its locatin. His name was Ageric "The Spear-shaker". Your mother was therefore what passes for nobility among the Foresters.

This is GREAT. I will add it to my background :)

(That's right, you're the porverbial red-headed stepchild)

This is the sort of thing that makes me uncomfortably aware of how many characters of yours I have offed over the years. (Although in fairness, at least 2 of them died so early into the game that you can't possibly have had time to get attached to them.)

Ólneth - I haven't forgotten about you :)

It looks like we will be starting in Rhosgobel, it makes sense that's where Lorgan would go if he is looking for lore, and Agnar and Faem were both taken there for healing. So, let's get you there as wel. You're one of the few elves whose bothered to learn how to talk to humans, not jsut he language but how to avoid the whole 'arrogant elf' thing. Whehther you like it or not, it means you spend a lot of time outside the Woodland Realm and you go to Rhosgobel from time to tmie to pass on messages, take messages back and genearlly act as a gopher for more important elves. The Foresters have started to get to know you, a bit, which means that they recognise you as an individual elf and have more or less stopped worrying about whether you're going to do "Elf-Magic" on them (Foresters are superstitious which is udnerstandable given that they live in one of the most dangerous parts fo the world). The menial nature of what you do is starting to great slightly, and when the opportunitiy to do somehting a bit more rewarding comes up, a chance to prove yourself, you're going to jump at it (I hope!). Let me knwo if that fits with how you see your character.

That mostly works for me. I don't think Ólneth would be irritated at being used as a messenger: she's friendly, doesn't have any other important duties, and with it only being a few years since tensions between the elves and other cultures eased the novelty won't have worn off just yet. That being said she will appreciate the chance to prove herself. (Particularly if it means continuing to improve relations with the Foresters.)

I love Swíðan as a nickname. I imagine it was a specific incident that granted it to her.