So after some of the yuletide festivities died down, I ran a session of Cubicle 7’s Adventures in Middle Earth, continuing the campaign from earlier. We had a larger group this time, 6 players, 3 of whom were new to the system. I ran the published adventure “Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit,” the second of the seven Wilderland Adventures and used my recently created terrain piece (build described here.)

In order to keep the play progressing, I laid out some ground rules:

• No cellphones at the table;
• 15 seconds per person during combat;
• Initiative rolled prior to game start and remains the same throughout;
• Name cards for each person, with character name, AC, maximum hit points, perception score and initiative;
• 1 at a time (I am outnumbered rule); and
• Crit snacks rule (our group has a tradition of having nice chocolates set aside that are only used for when a natural 20 or 1 is rolled. Sometimes it’s a consolation prize, other times it’s celebration).

The party was:

Arador, a Dunedain Warden;
Caranthiel, a Wood-Elf scholar;
Eothygn, a warrior of Rohan;
Quentin T. Tarrow-Took, a Hobbit Wanderer;
Skovrok, a Dwarven Warrior; and
Tharin, a Dwarven Treasure-Hunter.

***SPOILER ALERT*** If you’re going to play this adventure, there will be spoilers. 

We started as the party entered the Most Easterly Inn, a cozy place set up by some Hobbits. The party met with the new characters who had been sent by Radagast to check out the Grey Mountains for signs of new Goblin activity. They hadn’t found much, but had killed a messenger of the enemy and recovered a missive. I had printed it to be read in the mirror, and then had put the important bits as a note on the text in a simple pigpen cipher. This was to keep players interested if there were slow bits, as well as to advance the overarching campaign plotline I’ve created.

As the party settled into the well-appointed inn they were approached by the rather talkative owner, Dodinas (Dody) Brandybuck. Dody had opened the inn with his wife, Agatha, and his brother, Didy. Beorn had offered his protection as a favour to one Bilbo Baggins, who was a principal investor. Being a safe spot, and run by hobbits (who know much of comforts) the inn was doing very well. Didy had gone back to the Shire earlier to gather some more critical supplies from the civilized lands west of Bree. The thing was, he was overdue by a few weeks. The party volunteered to help to search as far as High Pass, and so impressed the innkeeper that he offered them a large sum of silver and also a letter of introduction from Bilbo Baggins to ease any meetings with the luminaries this side of the Misty Mountains.

After a good night’s rest, the party set out down the good road towards Old Ford.

The journey went well, with a good departure roll. The first journey event could’ve gone poorly, with a roll of 12 (which is either very good or very bad). In this case, the party crossed paths with Saruman. Not all saw him immediately, as Quentin was waxing poetic about his mount (a donkey named Inspiration) and his riding skills. Eothygn nearly fell of his steed of Rohan at this, and Arador was laughing into his mirror. Tharin alerted the group and all stopped and quieted respectfully. The wizard raised his hand in a silent blessing (a free skill re-roll) and disappeared into the Mirkwood. This is a good example of the magic in Adventures in Middle Earth, still fantastical but not Vancian or clearly defined as it is inaccessible to the players.

Three days south of the inn, the party came to Old Ford. A quick stop by Galivira’s homestead nearby for some stew and some news and then to the ford. A bit of the old D&D mentality came up, as the party didn’t want to pay the toll to cross. The party then remembered that this crossing was owned by Beorn, and wronging his people might not be wise. More discussion. As the discussion was going on, Caranthiel approached the crossing guards and talked to them, using the sigil of her master trait to smooth things over and lower the fee. Eothygn paid for it, not wanting an elf to pay for a noble from the Mark.

The sigil is a feature from Caranthiel’s background. The Adventures in Middle Earth ruleset has cultures, cultural virtues that are like feats but full of flavour. They are not stacking, and you don’t need to plan out your character carefully or risk being left with a “poor/broken build.” The classes are modified as well, and backgrounds are very important, with more impact on the non-combat aspects of the game than the vanilla 5e rules. I must say that I really like this ruleset and highly recommend roleplayers to check it out. Back to our heroes!

Two more days over rougher roads to the west. One the first day, they saw a group of elves singing on their way to the grey havens. All found it peaceful, except for Tharin the treasure hunter, who seemed to see the loss of beauty as a sign of the coming darkness and so sank slightly deeper into shadow himself. The next day found the party making camp in what is colloquially called “Elendil’s Camp.” The arrival roll for the journey was good, but the first night at the base of High Pass wasn’t quiet. A barrow wight emerged from some boggy ruin and made to carry off some of the party. Alerted by Skovrok, the party stood-to quickly. Tharin snuck off to the shadows, but the wight saw him, and used a spell of despair on him. As the shadows darkened around the treasure hunter, Tharin didn’t feel the despair that was intended. Instead, he smiled and slunk deeper into the darkness to get a better shot off.

Skovrok stood his ground and the wight closed him but was unable to get past the Dwarven warrior’s heavy armour. Quentin, seeing his companion in danger, bravely called out for none to fear! He drew back his bow, and proclaimed woe to those who stood against him. As he loosed, his donkey, Inspiration, awoke and nudged him. Quentin’s arrow shot into the fire and sent sparks up, nearly lighting Arador’s cloak ablaze. The party mostly kept at range, leaving Eothygn and Skovrok to engage directly while all looked warily at the hobbit.

Quentin drew another shaft and loudly proclaimed that his next shot… would hit Skovrok in the rear. Doing maximum damage. Enraged, the dwarf hit the wight amazingly hard. The hobbit stated that clearly his hit had inspired Skovrok, so he, Quentin T. Tarrow-Took was responsible for that great hit which had rent the ancient armour of the wight. A short time later the wight’s spirit fled and the party took stock. No one was injured but Skovrok, who looked ready to kill the hobbit as the little one sauntered up and reclaimed his arrow from the dwarf’s posterior.

The next morning, Eothygn, having recognized the armour that the wight wore as belonging to one of the Eothed, went looking for the body. He found it as the party packed up, and took a jeweled necklace and a piece of armour. Again, the difference from a normal RPG showed here. Eothygn recognized the danger of taking a wight’s treasure, and put the necklace in a small pouch with the armour so proper burial rites could be done for this ancestor of the Horse Lords.

Leaving Elendil’s camp, the party followed the road into High Pass and found a pack pony with an arrow in its flank. Calming the pony, the party carried on into the foothills. A shout alerted them to look up at a ruined tower. Some humans were in the ruins, and one loosed an arrow down at a group of goblins. Looking around, the party saw more goblins swarming in the hills. The rushed up to the tower to join the humans. As they did, a few arrows hit the archer on the walls. Others in the tower shouted “Igwar!” and rushed to aid him. The party ran faster, realizing they had found the missing group.

I had set up the scenario for this in an adjoining room, to keep the pace moving. So we simply picked up our dice and character sheets and carried on, before returning to our whiteboard and sweets at our usual set-up. I found that this really helped to keep the pace moving and I will use similar ideas in the future.

Well, almost the whole party ran up. Tharin climbed up and then hid in the bushes just below the walls. Eothygn hefted his spear and readied his mount. Quentin took to the highest point of the ruins to lob arrows down. Arador took to the walls by the rear of the fort, covering Tom of Bree, one of the three humans in the ruins. Igwar stood near Skovrok, his left arm hanging uselessly as he looked at the orc soldiers moving up. Caranthiel attempted to aid Igwar, but wasn’t able to do much. The last person in the ruins, Andy of Bree, bravely took to the walls overlooking the closest goblin archers.

Eothygn shouted a war cry and charged the nearest goblin archers. He figured that he would scare some of the goblins and give pause to any reinforcements. He rode down the first few goblins as volleys of arrows began to fall around the tower. As per the scenario, I rolled an attack against a single character, changing it up each turn. Quentin was hit by a few shafts but kept his perch and fired down on the charging orc soldiers. Skovrok’s short bow also was in action, and Andy also fired effectively. 2 of the orcs were dead before the others rushed the front of the fort. Caranthiel’s bow had helped, and she readied her spear, standing a little behind Skovrok’s armoured form.

Tharin had injured some of the orcs at the front, and moved out from the hill to hit the goblins charging the rear. He dropped several, and kept disappearing into the undergrowth leaving the goblins distracted.

At the rear of the fort Arador fired, directly into the tree to his front. That didn’t help. Another shaft hit one of the goblins charging up with a chieftain. Another miss. Arador growled as Andy of Bree dropped ANOTHER orc. He loosened his sword in his scabbard.

Eothygn, had killed or injured several of the archers and held off reinforcements. Sadly, he was a target. My dice, which had been incapable of rolling above 7 (on a d20), suddenly changed tune. Previously, the players had voted my dice as the MVP for the night, laughing. Now they got quiet. Eothygn was hit, hard. Then the wolves turned to him and his spear missed. The wolves didn’t. Winning free from the goblins, he raised his spear in salute to his companions and charged back in towards the milling goblins and wolves with only a few hit points remaining.

Skovrok dropped the last orc with Carathiel’s help, the front now secured. He then rushed to help Tom fend off the first of the goblins from the rear. The goblin attacks couldn’t get past the heavy shields. Caranthiel and Quentin (and Andy!) fired down to help Eothygn, cursing the brave rider for riding back into danger.

At the rear of the fort, Arador was done. His bow was failing to do much and he would not be outdone by some farmer from Bree! He drew his sword and jumped down into the fray, going straight at the orc chieftain. As he leapt he shouted out the family battle cry, his Numenorian blood ringing true. He struck the chieftain brutally, driving him back. The goblins ran in fear, as did the chieftain, not expecting this vicious attack from the rear. Another virtue here, royalty revealed. Arador and Skovrok ran down the hill in pursuit of the chieftain. At the last moment the orc chieftain turned, but was cut down by the Dunedain. The goblins fled, driven back on both sides of the fort, their biggest warriors and their chieftain downed.

Not all was well though. The wolves had downed Eothygn. The archers on the walls had taken down some of the wolves, but the last turned to feed on the Rider. Quentin would have none of that. He skidded down the walls and charged. Caranthiel fired to distract it, but the wolf saw the hobbit and flew at him, enraged. Quentin dropped his bow after putting a shaft into the beast. He drew his sword and as the wolf leapt at him, he ducked. His blade eviscerated the creature, which slid into the fort itself. The hobbit, blade held over his head, looked at the long red, line in the dirt. Igwar stared at the diminutive wanderer, who smiled and bowed before running to render aid to the fallen Eothygn.

Caranthiel helped to bind Eothygn’s wounds and the party pulled into the tower for the night to rest. Igwar told the party about leaving Bree late and being tracked by goblins in the pass. Then the goblins started to harass the caravan. Just before the party arrived Didy had been captured. The goblins had sung about food, and added in a bit about making the hobbit cook for them before they consumed him.

As soon as Eothygn was ready, the party left Igwar, Andy of Bree, and Tom to gather up any ponies. The heroes set off into the goblin caves. Deeper into the mountain they went, the dwarves leading the way, feeling the stone. Then, a snuffling sound in the darkness. A cave troll! The party hid as the troll shuffled past. They realized that their exit was now complicated. They pushed on to find two drunken goblin guards at the entrance to the goblin’s lair. The goblins fell quickly and quietly to several arrows. Quentin began to layer goblin armour on, hoping to open the option up of sneaking in. The next cavern though, held the prize. A hobbit, manacled, was cooking at a large fire, the smoke rising up through some cracks above in the darkness. Goblins could be heard nearby. Didy sighed with relief but said that his manacles were ancient and strong, and attached to the cave wall. Tharin used his knowledge of broken spells to free the hobbit and the party pondered their next actions. A quick and simple exit was decided.

Eothygn shouldered the goat roasting on the fire (being careful to put a large old cloak between his armour and the goat). The others dragged the dead goblin guards along too. At a side passage, the party placed the goodies for the troll before making some noise and withdrawing. Thàrin stared wistfully at the goat for almost too long, as the troll lurched into passage to feast. The party snuck behind it and to freedom. They met up with Igwar et al, and made their way back to the Most Easterly Inn, where we leave them, telling their story, collecting their reward and deciding on their winter plans before reuniting for some more adventures in the coming year.

Overall, it was a great session. Managing 6 players was doable, but meant a change in style. The ground rules worked, and everyone was engaged throughout. The ciphered text wasn’t even attempted, which was a good sign that the pacing was right. People really got into their characters, and there was a lot of in character banter all night. Arador’s heroic jump into melee was perfect, and the dice supported him after letting him down throughout the night. Skovrok got into melee quickly, but was also the most respectful of the strangers they met and was the solid backbone of the party. The quiet elf did what she needed to in advancing the goals of her people, and the Rider of the Mark was as stubborn and brave as one could imagine. Even the treasure hunter, Tharin, played his character true, embracing the darkness and living at the edge of morality. But by far, the most interesting was Quentin T. Tarrow-Took, whose dice rolls made him as clownish and yet seemingly talented (or lucky) as his player had intended, a mix of Sancho and Don Quixote all in one. tiny, brave hobbit. All had fun, and I think regardless of the campaign in progress next year, we’ll have a ritual goblin slayage every Christmas.