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Aiden Harrison
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Posts: 133
Joined: Sun 18 Apr 2021, 09:49

Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 17:01

So with Eriador being the emphasis in 2e, and Bree being the default safehaven, how do we keep Elves out of the town of Bree?

Or rather, should we try?

It doesn't seem likely that an Elf would visit Bree, yet it's going to be pretty hard to avoid if you have an Elf player hero.

Would they go I disguise? Mistaken for those strange Ranger folk.
Would they wait outside the town? Maybe, but that could get boring for a player.
Would a Breelander even recognise an Elf? Again just assuming they are strange folk not from around these parts.

Anyone got any ideas to get around this lore jarring problem or are people going to hand wave it.

They same applies to the Shire, but includes all the bigfolk.
 
Dorjcal
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun 11 Jul 2021, 10:22

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 17:08

So with Eriador being the emphasis in 2e, and Bree being the default safehaven, how do we keep Elves out of the town of Bree?

Or rather, should we try?

It doesn't seem likely that an Elf would visit Bree, yet it's going to be pretty hard to avoid if you have an Elf player hero.

Would they go I disguise? Mistaken for those strange Ranger folk.
Would they wait outside the town? Maybe, but that could get boring for a player.
Would a Breelander even recognise an Elf? Again just assuming they are strange folk not from around these parts.

Anyone got any ideas to get around this lore jarring problem or are people going to hand wave it.

They same applies to the Shire, but includes all the bigfolk.
I had the same doubt. From one side the defaault safe haven for a company is Bree. On the other side if you read the supplement from Bree in 1E people living there never saw an Elf in their life
 
MDuckworth83
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue 06 Jul 2021, 03:32

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 19:50

Hadn't crossed this bridge yet. If you have a party with one or more elves, could make the Grey Havens or some Dwarven mansion in the Blue Mountains a haven? Probably avoid Rivendell, that should probably be left to discover in story.

Other possibility is that elves might just go about like rangers do... hooded and keeping to themselves. They would probably be aware that they would not be a normal sight in Bree.
 
MDuckworth83
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue 06 Jul 2021, 03:32

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 19:51

Personally, story-wise I've been more concerned with how to explain having Tom Bombadil as a potential patron!! :D
 
Dorjcal
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun 11 Jul 2021, 10:22

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 19:54

Personally, story-wise I've been more concerned with how to explain having Tom Bombadil as a potential patron!! :D
Hahaha! Yes, definitely it would be a curious choice as a starting patron
 
MDuckworth83
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue 06 Jul 2021, 03:32

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 20:27

Personally, story-wise I've been more concerned with how to explain having Tom Bombadil as a potential patron!! :D
Hahaha! Yes, definitely it would be a curious choice as a starting patron
"Hey Doll, Merry Doll! Could you roll a few explore checks and find some water lilies for me?"
 
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Voronwe
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon 01 Jun 2020, 22:54

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 23:25

So with Eriador being the emphasis in 2e, and Bree being the default safehaven, how do we keep Elves out of the town of Bree?

Or rather, should we try?

It doesn't seem likely that an Elf would visit Bree, yet it's going to be pretty hard to avoid if you have an Elf player hero.

Would they go I disguise? Mistaken for those strange Ranger folk.
Would they wait outside the town? Maybe, but that could get boring for a player.
Would a Breelander even recognise an Elf? Again just assuming they are strange folk not from around these parts.

Anyone got any ideas to get around this lore jarring problem or are people going to hand wave it.

They same applies to the Shire, but includes all the bigfolk.
Good point. Thought the same thing when I read about Bree. That was not a problem in 1E, as (Mirkwood) Elves were a common sight in Laketown.
 
Dunheved
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Joined: Wed 11 Mar 2020, 02:07
Location: UK

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Mon 26 Jul 2021, 23:54

Keep elves out of Bree... Why would they be in there? Most Bree folk and most hobbits don't see or don't discuss elves. Yet the Wandering Companies travel to & fro all the time. To the extent that they have secluded refuges - in the middle of the Shire and I would assume in the Chetwood too.
If they use the Great Road in Eriador, they have enough "elvish magic" to avoid being seen if they want to. Often travelling by night through the more inhabited regions (and those are pretty few).
With the right sort of cloak and quiet movement, most elves are not going to be seen unless they parade up the main streets led by a marching band.
AFAIK Tolkien's elves don't interact with mortals - Dunedain excepting - in any meaningful numbers. The only given exception, as pointed out by Voronwe, was with an Wood- Elf enclave in Laketown: and even that was not free egress to other folk. Yet did the Wood - Elves directly assist Dain in the siege of Erebor (War of the Ring)? after the brief flash of cooperation in the time of Bilbo, there is no record of much elvish involvement with mortals.

So the issue can only be those occasions when individual elf adventurers move with a Company.
Using the example of Gandalf as a Patron - Unfinished Tales suggests that even a bunch of DWARVES were moved quietly and discretely through the Shire - mainly so as not to tip Bilbo off. But the Eye of Mordor mechanic would make this a sound practice for ANY group set up by ANY patron.
(In fact servants of the Shadow have the same issue: avoiding revealing their presence accidentally to the background population. Should we narrate this as well?)

Yeah. I'd hand wave this. (BUT if the Eye of Mordor was active... then maybe a the Company get exposed then: a chance for an LM to show a bit of flair?)
 
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Aiden Harrison
Topic Author
Posts: 133
Joined: Sun 18 Apr 2021, 09:49

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Tue 27 Jul 2021, 00:20

Yeah there wasn't too much of problem with Mirkwood Elves showing up in Wilderland settlements. If anything it was Hobbits who had to be hand waved in 1e, and it wasn't stretching the lore too bad.

I think an Elf hero would have to keep his hood up in Bree.

I wonder if the rpg book itself will cover this problem at all.

Yeah the Eye of Mordor mechanic could be a good tool to help narrative this problem.
 
Fornost42
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 22 Jul 2021, 20:43

Re: Keeping Elves out of Bree

Tue 27 Jul 2021, 00:24

So with Eriador being the emphasis in 2e, and Bree being the default safehaven, how do we keep Elves out of the town of Bree?

Or rather, should we try?

It doesn't seem likely that an Elf would visit Bree, yet it's going to be pretty hard to avoid if you have an Elf player hero.

Would they go I disguise? Mistaken for those strange Ranger folk.
Would they wait outside the town? Maybe, but that could get boring for a player.
Would a Breelander even recognise an Elf? Again just assuming they are strange folk not from around these parts.

Anyone got any ideas to get around this lore jarring problem or are people going to hand wave it.

They same applies to the Shire, but includes all the bigfolk.
So for the Shire, the Bigfolk are rare but not unheard of, especially in the Southfarthing and the easternmost part of the Eastfarthing. Elves though, they’re in the Shire plenty as the road to the Havens goes through it. Gildor and company have a space they visit often in Woodhall.

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