Donjinmester
Topic Author
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu 23 Jun 2022, 22:40

Advice and inspiration for a Gathering Storm

Thu 23 Jun 2022, 22:48

Greetings Loremasters!

Quick background: So I hosted a one-shot for my regular group and they absolutely loved The One Ring. They are keen on playing a bigger campaign in this system and I am happy to provide!

Now all of us are used to DnD 5e and in that regard I am super insterested in the more open narrative of campaigns in this system, even though its a bit different than what I'm used to.

I am sort of missing that introduction, as to how to get the campaign rolling. Who would be the perfect Patron to get them going, and where would they send them off to - and in search of what?

I was hoping that some of you might have experience with- or thought about this, that I might be able to be inspired from.

Thanks in advance and have a great day wherever you are!
 
howard035
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue 29 Jun 2021, 16:57

Re: Advice and inspiration for a Gathering Storm

Fri 24 Jun 2022, 03:04

I ran some 1E Adventure paths, currently running my players through the Shire starter set and writing my campaign based on the Lost Realms.

My plan is, since the meat of the book is mostly landmarks and Tharbad, have the players recruited by Lady Gilraen to pose as bandits (which she already has 1 ranger doing in Tharbad, Gwilleth the Scout). Lady Gilraen wants the players to earn Captain Gurnow's favor, and then use that favor and access to redeem him, or at least get him to act like a responsible leader. Of course, to earn the favor of a thug like Gurnow, they party will have to regularly turn over treasure that they got from "banditry."
Since real ToR heroes aren't going to actually rob merchants and the Dunedain would never allow them to anyway, instead Gilraen is going to direct the heroes to sites across Eriador where there may be treasures they can loot, and pass of those treasure to Gurnow as something they stole from a merchant. As you can guess, the "sites" are going to be the Landmarks in the books. I will probably add a lesser horde or two in there.

If Gurnow gets suspicious that all the coins and trinkets the heroes keep bringing him look thousands of years old, well the only person he could turn to in Tharbad on this subject is Amelia Kern, so the Fellowship will have to recruit her first. At the end of each adventuring phase, the players will return to Tharbad and hold a council, usually with Gurnow but maybe occasionally with his son or Lady Stock, to try and get them to do things like end the exit tax or have the City Watch actually protect people.

Of course, very soon on their journeys the players will start seeing shady figures that are the Black Numenoreans, who are also pursuing these treasures across the continent, like Indiana Jones and his Nazi rival, working with the orcs from Mount Gram. They'll also run into some unusually ambitious Dunlanders who seem to be researching powerful magic.

I figure about halfway through the campaign the players will be approached by Saruman's agents and offered a choice: Stick with making Gurnow a better leader, or decide instead to help the Dunlanders take over as part of a plan to build a powerbase for Saruman to oppose Sauron. I feel like either choice the players make at this point could be viable, and roughly morally equivalent.

Eventually (once we run out of landmarks) regardless of which side the PCs back, the Black Numenoreans invade Tharbad. Depending on how successful the PCs have been with their councils, Captain Gurnow (or the Dunlander they replaced him with) rallies his men to defend the people while they evacuate the city, or flees in cowardice while the Numenoreans enslave everyone. The more successful councils, the more civilians escape Tharbad and move to Bree (if the PCs stuck with Gurnow) or move south to Muspelheim or Edoras.
 
Donjinmester
Topic Author
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu 23 Jun 2022, 22:40

Re: Advice and inspiration for a Gathering Storm

Fri 24 Jun 2022, 21:54

I ran some 1E Adventure paths, currently running my players through the Shire starter set and writing my campaign based on the Lost Realms.

My plan is, since the meat of the book is mostly landmarks and Tharbad, have the players recruited by Lady Gilraen to pose as bandits (which she already has 1 ranger doing in Tharbad, Gwilleth the Scout). Lady Gilraen wants the players to earn Captain Gurnow's favor, and then use that favor and access to redeem him, or at least get him to act like a responsible leader. Of course, to earn the favor of a thug like Gurnow, they party will have to regularly turn over treasure that they got from "banditry."
Since real ToR heroes aren't going to actually rob merchants and the Dunedain would never allow them to anyway, instead Gilraen is going to direct the heroes to sites across Eriador where there may be treasures they can loot, and pass of those treasure to Gurnow as something they stole from a merchant. As you can guess, the "sites" are going to be the Landmarks in the books. I will probably add a lesser horde or two in there.

If Gurnow gets suspicious that all the coins and trinkets the heroes keep bringing him look thousands of years old, well the only person he could turn to in Tharbad on this subject is Amelia Kern, so the Fellowship will have to recruit her first. At the end of each adventuring phase, the players will return to Tharbad and hold a council, usually with Gurnow but maybe occasionally with his son or Lady Stock, to try and get them to do things like end the exit tax or have the City Watch actually protect people.

Of course, very soon on their journeys the players will start seeing shady figures that are the Black Numenoreans, who are also pursuing these treasures across the continent, like Indiana Jones and his Nazi rival, working with the orcs from Mount Gram. They'll also run into some unusually ambitious Dunlanders who seem to be researching powerful magic.

I figure about halfway through the campaign the players will be approached by Saruman's agents and offered a choice: Stick with making Gurnow a better leader, or decide instead to help the Dunlanders take over as part of a plan to build a powerbase for Saruman to oppose Sauron. I feel like either choice the players make at this point could be viable, and roughly morally equivalent.

Eventually (once we run out of landmarks) regardless of which side the PCs back, the Black Numenoreans invade Tharbad. Depending on how successful the PCs have been with their councils, Captain Gurnow (or the Dunlander they replaced him with) rallies his men to defend the people while they evacuate the city, or flees in cowardice while the Numenoreans enslave everyone. The more successful councils, the more civilians escape Tharbad and move to Bree (if the PCs stuck with Gurnow) or move south to Muspelheim or Edoras.

I love this! Truly like the idea of a treasure hunt race. Thank you so much!

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