Since Tomas has specifically asked for comments NOT to go in to the feedback thread, I thought I'd start this one rather than go against that request.
(And a thank you to Fenhorn for his help)
Agreed. This one stands out to me as odd in quite a few ways. I particularly dislike the comical element of Osmer wearing a dollar-store wizard’s disguise throughout, fooling not only the locals of Bree but also his own henchmen. It’s just too far out there for me (even the artwork shows the fake beard rather clearly). That plus the farm being the fortress of an evil Wizard? The chickens are children!? It’s all over the place in my opinion, and takes away from the underlying seriousness of the story — the creeping power of the Hill of Fear and how it is affecting the landscape further and further into Eriador. I’m all for more light-hearted adventures, but it just seems very random compared to the other ones in the book.Anyone else find the third adventure, Kings of Little Kingdoms a little... janky?
Personally, the pieces of the plot don't seem to hang together well for me, especially Osmer's use of Hamfast as bait for a Wraith that he didn't know existed, nor has a real clue on how to handle, or how to keep it from wreaking havoc on everyone within a ten mile radius of the tower once it gets out. I have ideas on how I will run it to fix the gaps, like deleting Farrell's Farm (it just feels unnecessary to the plot), and leaning in to Osmer messing with things he has no idea about that contribute to accelerating the Wight's appearance right as the Company arrives to rescue Hamfast.
Yeah, I like these suggestions. I was focused on having Hamfast as the MacGuffin for the tower and things going pear-shaped, but you're right about the absurdity of Fake Gandalf. I think the folk of Bree may be simple, but not that simple.I particularly dislike the comical element of Osmer wearing a dollar-store wizard’s disguise throughout, fooling not only the locals of Bree but also his own henchmen. It’s just too far out there for me (even the artwork shows the fake beard rather clearly). That plus the farm being the fortress of an evil Wizard? The chickens are children!? ...
Removing the farm changes too much for me, plus I like some of the stories within. I will be reskinning Osmer for sure. Beyond that… I have no ideas yet how to fix the story. As you say, how does Osmer know of the Wight? Okay, perhaps the guard who survived under “The Wight Rises” spoke of it. But how does Osmer know he can trick it, that it will rise again, that it -actually- exists? Just odd to me all the way around. Why does he even want the farmstead?
If anything, I’ll likely skip this altogether, and maybe just make a minor adventure out of it with the farmstead suffering bandit attacks of late — defeat the outlaws, save the farm. Done.
I like that suggestion actually! Removing the fake wizard stuff — perhaps Osmer has been in Bree impersonating a Ranger, and Hamlath has gone off to be a Ranger himself. Any Rangers in the company realise this all sounds very odd, and they can’t think of anybody matching Osmer’s description.Alternatively, Osmer and his outlaws could try to impersonate Rangers and cause havoc extorting residents for "protection" on The Great Road, leading them to either the farm or the tower as their base of operations. This could, in turn, lead to a conflict with the real Rangers who are now aware of something evil awakening in the North causing the dead to stir, and they sense something amiss at the tower. The Company could find themselves embroiled in this conflagration.
Here I’d have to disagree actually (with the latter part). I think there is plenty of flavour regarding scenes and adventures — more than enough to make me happy. I think they’ve been great at setting the scene and tone for nearly all adventures and landmarks. In my opinion they leave the various fights a little too much up in the air, but I also appreciate this is done to not “lock” LM’s into certain situations but rather give them options.I agree it is the weakest adventures of all. The inital plot idea had potential but the realisation is terrible. Also too much focus in general on dungeons and not enought on scenes and adventures. no guidance on travel either. Cubicle 7 was writting better stuff I am afraid.
I definitely agree this is the weakest, and would work better as a minor adventure, but I do kinda like the comical more Hobbit stuff. It's a little out of place in the grand story but I'm totally into a goofy little quest with a silly fake wizard and a Scooby-Doo mystery for a couple of sessions, it's a kinda a mess with a few holes and if I run this campaign in full I'll probably switch it out it's overall place in the story for something homebrewed (maybe something from Ruins?), but I reckon my players would get a kick out of it as a quaint sidequest for a couple of weeks. Middle-Earth is still a pretty silly world sometimes and it's fun to play into the fairy-tale whimsical side of things every so often.Agreed. This one stands out to me as odd in quite a few ways. I particularly dislike the comical element of Osmer wearing a dollar-store wizard’s disguise throughout, fooling not only the locals of Bree but also his own henchmen. It’s just too far out there for me (even the artwork shows the fake beard rather clearly). That plus the farm being the fortress of an evil Wizard? The chickens are children!? It’s all over the place in my opinion, and takes away from the underlying seriousness of the story — the creeping power of the Hill of Fear and how it is affecting the landscape further and further into Eriador. I’m all for more light-hearted adventures, but it just seems very random compared to the other ones in the book.Anyone else find the third adventure, Kings of Little Kingdoms a little... janky?
Personally, the pieces of the plot don't seem to hang together well for me, especially Osmer's use of Hamfast as bait for a Wraith that he didn't know existed, nor has a real clue on how to handle, or how to keep it from wreaking havoc on everyone within a ten mile radius of the tower once it gets out. I have ideas on how I will run it to fix the gaps, like deleting Farrell's Farm (it just feels unnecessary to the plot), and leaning in to Osmer messing with things he has no idea about that contribute to accelerating the Wight's appearance right as the Company arrives to rescue Hamfast.
Removing the farm changes too much for me, plus I like some of the stories within. I will be reskinning Osmer for sure. Beyond that… I have no ideas yet how to fix the story. As you say, how does Osmer know of the Wight? Okay, perhaps the guard who survived under “The Wight Rises” spoke of it. But how does Osmer know he can trick it, that it will rise again, that it -actually- exists? Just odd to me all the way around. Why does he even want the farmstead?
If anything, I’ll likely skip this altogether, and maybe just make a minor adventure out of it with the farmstead suffering bandit attacks of late — defeat the outlaws, save the farm. Done.