As part of this years, Challenge CORE series the GMD VIP Members requested a series of games from their favorite settings.
The latest of these is Lord of the Rings. So following on from a Middle Earth adventure I ran for them a few years back the part return as members of the Company of Culthain a band of rangers who hunt the enemy across the North Western Middle Earth.
This is a Campaign Playtest series with the following cast:
The Cast
Ailen
Ranged (Actor: Silvereagle)
Race: Elf
Skilled Archer.
Brief Background:
Who longs to be reunited with her lover Nina another member of the company who set off with Culthain ahead of the group.
Corvus (Corchmor)
Ranged (Actor: TPK)
Race: Human
Trackers, archer, and skilled warrior
Brief Background:
Related to Culthain the head of the company.
Ranger
Agitator (Actor: Rich)
Race: Human
Wilderness Survivalist and Falconer
Brief Background:
foul-tempered loner, the lost bastard son of Lord Mirendel.
Ronin
Scrapper (Actor: Eusi)
Race: Dwarf
Dual axe-wielding warrior.
Brief Background:
Who lost his family to Morg the Dwarf Killer.
Tinuviel
Scrapper (Actor: Waracolyte)
Race: Elf
Skilled Herbalist, and warrior.
Brief Background:
Good friends of Lofar who also is a tracker for the company, but has traveled ahead of the party with Culthaines band.
Ulf Iyrgison
Defender (Actor: Woadan)
Race: Human
A mighty great axe weilding warrior.
Brief Background:
Cousin of Eanfled Amrodan
Escorted by Galifae and her guard the party is marched without respite across the snow-covered valley. Icy winds bit at their flesh like hungry ghouls. Climbing out of the Bruinen valley cresting the hilltops they are greeted with the magnificent sight of the Misty Mountains looming in the distance, shrouded in icy mist. Staggering as they went across knee-deep snow, the journey was hard. Even when requestedGalifae refused to let up, stating ‘If you can not make it to Rivendell or bear the hardships, perhaps you should turn back?’
Dropping down into a wooded valley as the evening sun began to dip they passed into the realm of Imladris. Greeted by the roaring of waterfalls and the sound of mournful songs sung which echoed through the valley accompanied by a chorus of flutes. Much to the disapproval of Ronin, even Ulf & Ranger’s hearts hung heavy with sorrow from the tunes. For them, the loss of the company was still raw.
The company found themselves held in a room waiting for an audience with Lord Elrond. After some time they are finally greeted and offered food and drink, but it was accompanied by a frosty reception.
Unimpressed with Elrond and his aloofness they eventually managed to persuade him to assist them in the quest for the knowledge to defeat the darkness rising in the Yfelwoods.
Long into the early mornings, they all poured through books in the great library of Rivendell.
Intense Drama Scene Tested!
I play -tested the new intense drama rules. The new rules worked well with a 5 turn tim elimit to see iof the party would discover the information before Elrond, therefore gaining a bonus CDP each. (Of course they did not know that was the Objective, as it was not apparent). Instead of having to reduce a value by their DoS. They had to reduce the Objective Difficulty Tokens while gaining Bonus Dice & Hindrance Dice based on turn by turn difficulty rolls. Each success I would describe snippets of the information they were looking for absed on their investigation checks. It turned a knowledge seeking scene into quite an exciting scene of discovery.
Discovering that a Smith of a time long forgotten forged a weapon called the Star of Alagaine but it was lost in the Fall of Gul-Geldon. Elrond helped the company locate the ruins of Gul-Geldon which will only be found beneath a Full-Moon. Which was 5 days time, Gul-Geldon was 4 days away and winter was still heavy in the air, promising an arduous journey ahead…
What player won MVP? Read on…