Otaku-sempai
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House Rule: Lifepaths for the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

Thu 12 May 2022, 20:18

Dwarves of the Blue Mountains
1 - Searching for Roots
You prefer to spend your time outside, to study the marvelous architectural achievements of your forefathers, rather than inside the workshop of your mansion, where you should learn the ways of hammer and forge. Unfortunately, many of your ancestors' greater works lie deep under the earth, or have been ground to dust in an ancient upheaval that changed the face of the world. This means that to study them you must first find them, something that often takes you many miles away from home, and for many long days.
♦ STRENGTH 6, HEART 2, WITS 6
♦ FAVOURED SKILL: Explore
♦ DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Bold, Determined

2 - Wandering Blacksmith
There's no path through the Blue Mountains and the Grey you haven't trod with your trust boots, and there's no inn you haven't visited. You often paid for drinks and lodging with your work -- every village or homestead in Eriador has a broken mill wheel, or a pony to shoe anew. From every customer you have satisfied in the four corners of the land you have picked up a great many proverbs and rhymes, words of wisdom that will prove useful in these days of uncertainty.
♦ STRENGTH 7, HEART 2, WITS 5
♦ FAVOURED SKILL: Riddle
♦ DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Eager, Proud

3 - Keeper of the Anvil Song
For you, the forges beneath the Blue Mountains are more than just places of crafting. There, the ringing of hammer against anvil and the hiss of cooling metal entwine with voices lifted to sing the deeds of your ancestors. You have heard ballads suited to a feast-hall, dirges for days of mourning, and marching songs to bolster the heart of a warrior and prepare him for the shedding of blood. You dream of the day when those songs won't be sung only to celebrate the past, and you hope you will be the one to bring them to the Iron Hills and Erebor itself.
♦ STRENGTH 7, HEART 3, WITS 4
♦ FAVOURED SKILL: Song
♦ DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Fierce, Lordly

4 - Librarian
The innermost halls of your mansion in the Blue Mountains guard a store of lore that can be accessed thanks only to the patient work of Dwarves like you. You spend days on end, bent over ancient rolls of parchment and graven tablets, looking for the clues that will allow you to unlock the obscure ciphers your ancestors used to guard their most precious secrets. Sometimes, your task is to locate the entrance to forgotten chambers, whose existence is substantiated only by pages of half-burnt books and records.
♦ STRENGTH 5, HEART 4, WITS 5
♦ FAVOURED SKILL: Scan
♦ DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Cautious, Steadfast

5 - Eriador Trader
For over a century your father has traded with the Folk of the Shire and the Men of Bree. Trinkets and treasures of his own making decorate the Hobbit-holes of well-to-do families of Hobbiton and wealthier residents of Bree, and now that the Lonely Mountain has been reclaimed, you hope to travel farther even than he did.
♦ STRENGTH 6, HEART 3, WITS 5
♦ FAVOURED SKILL: Travel
♦ DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Cunning, Hardy

6 - Provider
In the Blue Mountains, your folk never profited from the proximity of a thriving community like Dale or Esgaroth, and had always to rely on far traders and local hunters and farmers.

Your father and his father before him were accounted among the best hunters of their time, and their knowledge and skill has become your birthright. The way of the hunter is a solitary one, and is as vital to a community as that of the warrior. For when a huntsman fails, his whole family suffers.
♦ STRENGTH 6, HEART 4, WITS 4
♦ FAVOURED SKILL: Hunting
♦ DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: Robust, Suspicious
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Winterwolf
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Location: Adelaide Hills, Australia

Re: House Rule: Lifepaths for the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

Thu 19 May 2022, 02:26

Good idea to adapt this from the 1e Adventurer's Companion.

However now Dwarves of Durin's Folk (I guess these are used as the basis for Dwarves of the Blue Mountains?) start with only Travel or Craft as Favoured Skills and (as I have come to realise) these mentioned Favoured Skills aren't additional, they might need to be revised.
 
Otaku-sempai
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Posts: 598
Joined: Wed 15 Apr 2020, 15:35
Location: Western New York

Re: House Rule: Lifepaths for the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

Thu 19 May 2022, 22:46

I'll have to look at adapting the rest of Dwarves of the Blue Mountains to 2e to see if your issue is a valid one. I'm very disappointed that Free League ignored them both in the core rules and in the starter set.
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Simaruk
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Joined: Tue 29 Jun 2021, 22:29

Re: House Rule: Lifepaths for the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

Mon 23 May 2022, 06:42

I'm very disappointed that Free League ignored them both in the core rules and in the starter set.
Doesn't the core book's Durin's Folk also cover blue mountains dwarves? The various Dwarf cultures of 1e were all very similar anyway, with little to no CULTURAL difference. This was mostly for mechanical reasons, in order to give dwarf players a broader selection of virtues.

See p. 34:
Many Dwarves cross into Eriador from the East, on their
way to their mines in the Blue Mountains.
 
Otaku-sempai
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Re: House Rule: Lifepaths for the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

Mon 23 May 2022, 17:09

I'm very disappointed that Free League ignored them both in the core rules and in the starter set.
Doesn't the core book's Durin's Folk also cover blue mountains dwarves? The various Dwarf cultures of 1e were all very similar anyway, with little to no CULTURAL difference. This was mostly for mechanical reasons, in order to give dwarf players a broader selection of virtues.

See p. 34:
Many Dwarves cross into Eriador from the East, on their
way to their mines in the Blue Mountains.
.
The description in the Core Rules certainly allows for that. On the other hand, there are Dwarves who never left the Blue Mountains and are not part of Durin's Folk. They did receive their own write-up in the 1e Adventurer's Companion and, yes, there are some significant cultural differences due to the relative peace seen by the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains throughout the Second and Third Ages (and from a relative lack of precious metals). The loss of trade following the end of the North Kingdoms had its own impact upon their culture.
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