Solo SBH Lord of the Rings Campaign, Part 1: About a Book

So I began my solo mini-campaign this afternoon in Tolkien's Middle-Earth...or as close as I can represent it. For a bit more information on how I'm running this, please see my previou blog post. We'll start with the warband pictured here. These guys look familiar? Wrong! They're totally not four of the main heroes from the Lord of the Rings movies! Nope. These guys are totally different. Here are their stats to prove it! 1) Dwarven Fighter: Q3/C4 Group Fighter, Tough, Short Move. 2) Gondorian Healer: Q3/C2 Cleric. 3) Dunedain Ranger: Q2/C4 Forester, Shooter Medium, Fearless. 4) Elven Archer: Q3/C4 Forester, Shooter Long, Good Shot. See? I told you. These guys are nothing like they are in the movies. Well at least Boromir isn't. I wanted a healer and I love this minifig sooooo...sorry Boromir...I turned you into a wussy cleric. Obviously the others are pretty big rip-offs of Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas but whatever. I like 'em.

Part 1: Fool of a Took
Darkness is speading over Middle-Earth and our four drinking buddies adventurers have been tasked by the famous wizard/veteranarian, Radagast the Brown, to locate a mysterious book called...ummm...THE MYSTERIOUS BOOK OF MYSTERY! They've pushed away from the bar long enough to sharpen swords, fletch arrows, and sober up and are now ready. However, there's one small problem. The book is guarded by a big ol' hairy spider and a burglar is needed. The dwarf could do it, but he's on probation and cannot get busted for stealing again. So, a burglar is a must (sound familiar?). Luckily, the Gondorian Healer knows of a hobbit, a Took of course, who'd be perfect for the job! Well maybe not perfect but he is small and works for mushrooms. Good enough!

The board. (excuse the mess in my basement and the creepy floor that looks like someone was murdered on it.)

Goal: The burglar was last seen searching for mushrooms around the river valley ruins. Check all four ruins. He is found by rolling a 6 on a d6. If not found at first three ruins, he will be automatically found on the fourth. Scenario is failed if any member of the party dies!

Here's a shot of the four terrain pieces that must be checked. As I've described in my previous post, these are treated like rooms in a dungeon crawl. Upon entering them, a die is rolled to determine what the 'room' contains.

Large Hill

Small Woods

Large Woods

Elven...snake pillar...thing.

And we're off!

Our adventurers embark into the river valley beginning first at the large hill.

The short meat shield takes the lead, with the elf being a typical ranged attacker staying out of harms reach. Once the dwarf hit the edge of the hill, I rolled a d6 and...

 

...a three was rolled which spawned 6 Orcs on the top of the hill along with a bag of loot.

After some nice shots by the ranger and the elf and some piss poor rolls by the orcs, two are laying dead.

Speaking of piss poor rolls, the ranger ended up flat on his back. Thankfully the healer was there to lend a hand while the dwarf managed the action.

 

...and there we go. One more death lead to the orcs freaking out and trying to flee. They were quickly dispatched. The leader failed his morale roll on three dice and took a dive off of the hill.

Finally, our Ranger checked the ruins to see if the halfing was anywhere around there...had to roll a six...got a 4. Also rolled to see what kind of loot was there - it was Cram - which grants long move for one turn. This was promptly given to the Dwarf.

Moving across the valley, the small stand of woods was next. On the way, a d6 was rolled for random encounters. Nothing occured. Upon entering the small stand of woods, another d6 was rolled and it too came up as a 3 - which means goons and loot. Two wolves were spawned.

Long story short...

...the wolves were quickly dispatched.

Again, this 'room' had loot, so I rolled on the random table after the conflict and was rewarded with an Elven Cloak, which grants stealth to the wearer. This was given to the Elf because it matched his outfit...that and for the ranged ambush bonus that I think might come in handy.

Again, I rolled to see if the hobbit was around rolling a d6 and needing a 6.

 

Much to my surprise, I rolled a 6! He looked a little shaken up, but being a greatful little man, was willing to join the adventuring party. Hooraay!

 

Closing Thoughs: Well that was uneventful. I only had to explore two 'rooms' and fight two pretty easy battles to meet the objective. I was tempted to ignore that 6 I rolled to locate the hobbit to keep things going longer, but had decided that I wanted this campaign to be honest and real and let the dice decide for better or for worse. 

Now that we have a complete party, the rest of the journey can begin!