The Eccentric Hobbit's Hedge Maze - a Flux-dungeon for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl

A goal with my Middle-earth Hexcrawl project is to capture the feeling I first came to love in Zelda: the feeling of wandering around and falling into a hole and realizing Oh shit, there's a whole dungeon in here. So even though I'm trying (and failing) to keep the hex entries brief, I sometimes want to include a site-based adventure that can stretch its legs. 

This is one such adventure. 

---

Arthur Rakham

! - HEDGE MAZE: Mr. Cuthbert Burrows (hobbit - pointed nose and big ears, eccentric, goodman) of Borrowstones House has spent years perfecting his hedge maze, hiding several of his antique finds within. He's eager to test it out on real "professional treasure hunters."

The Borrowstones Hedge Maze uses the rules for flux space by Nick L.S. Whelan.

Theme
Five fields of Borrowstones farmland have been dedicated to the hedge maze. From no vantage point in Oatbarton can one see the entire thing at once: it runs up and down hills, through ditches, and around copses of trees. Stones from old Norbury (Arthedain) have been used in the construction of the maze, giving it (at times) an ancient and awe inspiring air. Indeed, there's something uncanny about the place. Traditional tools of maze-solving (the thread, the dropped candy, etc.) are baffled by some force within.

Event Die
Although the maze is bewildering, it's not the Mines of Moria (thank goodness!). Use a d4 Event Die in the maze:
1. Encounter
2. Rest or lose 1 morale; if no morale, lose 1d6 Endurance
3. Local effect
4. Encounter sign

Encounters (1d6)

1. Dragon: A stone statue shaped like a dragon stands at a junction of two ways. (Is it the same one as last time or are there many such statues? Is this the same junction? Has it moved?) The statue has a baleful visage. Each burglar must pass a Valor Δ6 test or lose 1d6 Endurance.

2. Hateful Goose: It is a lovely day in the hedge maze and here is a hateful goose. Base stats as rat, but the goose can attack three times during a turn (two wing buffets and a bite). The goose can also unleash a provoking honk (Valor Δ6 test: on a success, they must attack the hateful goose; on a failure, they run away, becoming separated from the group).

3. Living Hedge: The hedge ambles, grasping at passers by. Stats as troll. On a hit, target must also test Strength Δ6 or lose an item to its vines.

4. Monkey and Bear: A bear in a little hat ridden by a monkey in a vest with a barrel organ. The monkey's discordant tune seems to provoke the bear forward. Strength Δ6 tests to run away or battle the bear to ½ Endurance.

5. Scarecrow: 1d4 scarecrows with pumpkin heads sit on poles poking out of the hedges. As the company goes by, they reach down and grab them. Test for surprise. Stats as bandits. (It's just some of Mr. Burrows's farmhands doing a bit of wrestling. Right?)

6. Wizard: Why, it's Gandalf, the famous wizard. He's stuck in the hedge maze, too, and is ready to start burning the whole thing down. He smokes his pipe in fury. (If Gandalf is encountered before the Center of the Maze, he will be active in fighting the specter there.)

Local Effects (d4)

1. Fog: A dense fog fills the maze. The company must light torches or each encounter begins as a surprise.

2. Sleep: Soporific flowers, heavy with a drowsy scent, grow in the tangle of the walls of this passage. If approached without caution, each burglar must test Skill Δ4 (Δ6 for hobbits) or fall asleep. If all fall into sleep, each burglar is separated in the maze and loses 2d6 Endurance.

3. Shifting walls: The second person in the marching order sees the hedge shifting in front of them. They can either jump forward, joining the first person who is about to get cut off from the rest of the company, or remain with the main group.

4. Strange mushrooms: Strange and toxic mushrooms cover the mossy floor of this section of the maze. Disturbing them has a 50% chance of triggering a 10' spore cloud. Each burglar in the cloud must test Strength Δ6 or succumb to its effects. Roll d3 to determine type of mushrooms in this area:

• Marsh candle: Erupts into tiny sparks dealing 1d6 damage; can start fires if not dealt with. It is harmed by water and strengthened by fire.
• Brown jenkins: Fills the victims lungs, dealing 1d3 damage per round for 1d6 rounds. It is harmed by fire and strengthened by water.
• Mervyl's smile: Saps the victim's hydration; suffer -2 penalty to all tests until they drink a quart of water. It is harmed by cold and strengthened with water.

Points of Interest
The hedge maze has d4 shallow rooms and two deep rooms.

Shallow Rooms (d4)

1. Tea party: A confluence of paths has a picnic set for tea. A notecard at the head of the table reads: "If Tobold's son is my son's father, / Then find your seat—don't make a bother! / What am I to Tobold, can you say? / Sit where that answer points the way." Each place is set with a covered dish and a notecard. The notecards read: Tobold, Tobold's Da, Tobold's Gaffer, Tobold's Lad.

• Tea: The tea at Tobold's son is actually an infusion of healthful herbs: drinking it allows the burglar to recover 2d6 Endurance. The tea at each other place setting is just tea.
• Covered dish: Under all covered dishes except "Tobold's son" is a strange mushroom (see local effects), which erupts when the dish is uncovered. Under the cover at "Tobold's son" is a card that reads "South" and a purse with 3d4 silver coins. Taking the southern path allows the party to proceed.

2. Pond: At the bottom of the pond is a statue of a mermaid. She is holding a gleaming short sword, clutched to her breast.

• The sword is clutched tight in the statue's stone hands. The statue is impossible to move, it's so heavy.
• Sword: If the company has a clever plan to get the sword out, they find it is a +1 sword of the auroch. Bulls and cattle flee from it when it is unsheathed. Its crossguard is reminiscent of an auroch's horns.

[Credit: Prismatic Wasteland]

3. Lawn chess: In a confluence of many paths there is a life-size chess board with large, wooden statues of the pieces. The board is currently in the configuration shown below. A sign reads: "White to mate—the victor's sign, / Follow their gaze in a line."

• White to Mate: Moving white queen to a4 shows that the northeast path is the correct one as that's the way her statue would be facing to look at the black king. Taking this path allows the party to proceed.
• White queen: Investigating the statue of the white queen shows a real ruby in her crown (worth 50 silver).

4. Topiary menagerie: At a confluence of paths there is a garden with six topiary bushes. A sign reads: "One beast here is not the same, / Find the odd one in this game. / At this creature's tail, / Is the exit to the right trail"

• Six topiary bushes: The bushes are shaped like:
  • Panther
  • Troll
  • Knight
  • Horse
  • Eagle
  • Dragon
• Take the path along that trail: Only the horse is an herbivore. Taking the path at its back allows the party to proceed.

Deep Rooms

1. Center of the Maze: The center of the maze is at the top of a hill. As the company crests the hill, fog lays on the maze itself, obscuring any attempts to divine a path forward from the vantage. On the hilltop, a spiral of weathered stones curls around a raised stone with a wyrm-like engraving. A red candle flickers on top of the stone, from which a shadow seems to stretch, even in the middle of the day.

• Shadow: A specter attacks the company; they cannot leave the hilltop until it is defeated. Each time it successfully hits its target, they must reduce their number of hexes traveled by 1 as it drains their hope.
• Candle: If the candle is snuffed out, the shadow disappears.
  • The candle is sorcerous. Sorcery spells cost 1 less Endurance while it burns and are cast with +1 to all values. It has 9 remaining uses.

2. The Exit: Finally!

On the Road from the Three-farthing Stone to the Bridge of Stonebows - Middle-earth Hexmap

An installment of my hexmap for Middle-earth project. Follow the "Middle-earth Hexmap" tag for all entries in this series.

The East Road stretches across the Shire, from the Westfarthing to the Eastfarthing. We have already traveled on it a bit in previous entries. If you were to leave the Shire without needing to hide from the public eye, you could walk comfortably from Hobbiton to the Brandywine Bridge. Let's see what that looks like today. 

Map credit: Idraluna Archive. Click for the full map.

Theory: Approach to writing Middle-earth content

But first, having pursued this daily writing exercise for a few weeks, I find myself forming opinions about what makes a good hex entry--and what's more--what makes something "work" in a Middle-earth milieu. 

Part of this exercise is looking at my own licensed Tolkien games to see what material I can pull from to make content for my players. When I use or adapt this material, I cite it. Without wanting to be overly critical, I frequently find the products I'm referencing fall short of what I'm looking for. Often, the sourcebooks just regurgitate or collect simple facts about the locality.

It's not enough for the sourcebook to tell me what exists, like an encyclopedia. I have the Complete Guide to Middle-earth by Robert Foster for that (or Tolkien Gateway!). The material has to be actually gameable. 

For example, instead of saying "Visitors to Stock might find themselves ... enjoying a fine meal of fish and chips at the Golden Perch while they hear the latest tall tales out of Buckland and the Old Forest," you need to provide those details and they need to be fun enough to enjoy on their own. (Dolmenwood is a great resource because it's actually fun and funny for the referee and players alike to listen to the names of the tavern food and content of the local rumor table.)

Instead, I have tried to give specific, small vignettes for each location that show (and tell!) the factoids of the locale. If the locals are fisherfolk, I'll have named NPCs eating fish and chips, eel pie, or frogs legs. If there are tall tales, I'll say what they are--rumors that try and lure the players across the map, urging them to explore new locations. The NPCs have relationships with the other people in town and other people in other hexes. 

Also, I want there to be THINGS TO DO. Every town has to have a quest for a burglar. I've also hidden quests in NPC dialogue and random events. 

Now, to put my money where my mouth is and try to write content I can use to run my games.

47.58

ROAD. The East Road stretches from Waymeet (47.55) to Frogmorton (47.59). The Water runs to the north and Green Hill Country follows along the road to the south.

(1) - CONKERS: Bratty hobbit children tease adult hobbits in the company, saying they can't play conkers anymore. Test Strength Δ4 or they're proven right.
(6) - FARMHANDS: Farmhands lounge by the side of the road. Engaging them in pleasant conversation earns an invite to their picnic. They share their food; the company doesn't have to mark rations for the day's travel.

48.58

GREEN HILL COUNTRY. Gently sloping hills covered in grass cropped by free-ranging herds.

(4-6) - SHEPHERD. Adelbert Barleycorn (hobbit - gap-toothed smile, companionable, shepherd) is a shepherd whose panpipes play in harmony with the birds and droning insects of the hills. Knowledgeable about all four farthings: might be convinced to give a tour of the Shire, but won't leave its borders. Looking for a capable, strong-willed wife.

46.59

APPLE-BRIGHT MEADERY. On the "garth" between the split in the Water is a meadery and farm run by the Methier family. The meadery sells bottles out of the Floating Log in Frogmorton (47.59) and also abroad.

! - RARE INGREDIENT: Rose Methier (hobbit - apple-cheeked, sweet, mead-maker) looks to hire burglars to procure dumbledor honey from the east bank of the Brandywine River (45.62). She warns that dumbledor stings can be deadly.

47.59

FROGMORTON. A prosperous Hobbit village on the East Road. North of the village, the Water temporarily splits into two streams where the village's namesakes are much in evidence. The local inn is the Floating Log, famous for its baked oysters, mussels, and bread.

✦ - OFTEN HERE: 1. Minto Hopp (hobbit - big bellied, avuncular, landlord of the Floating Log) will say with a wink that his grandfather purchased the tavern from a water nymph 200 years ago, 2. Berry Mugwort (hobbit - blonde toes, charming, maid) is in from Bree, visiting relatives; visibly upset about a meal of frog's legs but doesn't want to be rude, 3. Terald Brown (hobbit - boss-eyed, conspiratorial, tobacconist) gives away twists of Frogmorton-brand pipeweed as a gesture of good will.

! - A PLAGUE OF FROGS: Mr. Gundolpho Bolger requests a private interview with the burglars. His person and his house are overrun with frogs—an uncanny amount. They're in his tea pot, in his gardening gloves, in his chimney. They crawl into his mouth when he sleeps. Everywhere he goes: frogs.

When pressed, he admits the plague began soon after something he previously considered a stroke of good luck: unearthing a lockbox full of gold coins. He tried burying it again, but the frogs persist.

If pressed again, he admits he spent 6 of the coins. (The plague will continue until all of the coins are returned.)

The coins are in the pockets of:

1. Minto Hopp (bought everyone's drinks at the Floating Log one night)
2. Hob Bunce (bought everyone's drinks at the All-Welcome Inn one night)
3. Farmer Proudfoot (purchased pony and trap)
4. Mrs. Cotton-Grubb the tailor (purchased six new bespoke suits)
5. Mr. Gammich of Michel Delving (48.54), the clockmaker (grandfather clock, commissioned but not begun)
6. Farmer Hayward (purchased Angharad, a fine truffle pig)

(The coins were given to a river spirit in exchange for the Floating Log, and should remain buried.)

ALL-WELCOME INN. The All-Welcome Inn sits west of Frogmorton where the Northway meets the East Road. The landlord is Hob Bunce (hobbit - pug-faced, young-at-heart, innkeep). It is a favorite of dwarves.

(1) - A PRIVATE CONFERENCE: An old man with a long beard and pointed hat is holding close council with an important-looking dwarf with a blue hood and silver tassel. They give you a look that warns you away.
(5-6) - DWARVEN OPPORTUNITY: Swart Ivar (dwarf - white-eyed, maniacal, tinker) eagerly tells all burglars in attendance that his cousin is beginning a grand quest to recover lost dwarven artifacts at the Forsaken Inn (47.68).

47.60

BRIDGEFIELD ROAD. The East Road enters the Bridgefields district in this region, crossing through Whitfurrows towards the Brandywine Bridge (47.61).

(1) - BOULES: Two gaffers disagree about a game of boules, and ask the company to settle it as they pass by. One has played his ball out of turn; the gaffer believes it should be left in play and next turn skipped. The other says the ball should be picked back up. If the company favors one argument, the other will be mad.
(6) - SONG FOR A SONG: Tommy Brownlock (hobbit - obviously tipsy, carefree, poundmaster) sings a walking song as he walks the road looking for escaped farm animals. He offers to trade song for song. If the party succeeds on a Beauty Δ4 test (or sings a real song), he'll be delighted and trade them a whistle that sounds like a bird.
[Inspiration: TOR2E - Starter Set - Shire]

WHITFURROWS. A Hobbit town. As the first stop along the East Road from the Brandywine Bridge, the Hobby Horse Inn accommodates many visitors. Although many merchants and imports make their way further along the road to Michel Delving, Whitfurrows is an opportunity to buy goods from outside the Shire: wine and olive oil from Dorwinion, dwarf mattocks and jewelry from the Blue Mountains, woolen clothes and marmalade from Bree.

✦ - OFTEN HERE: 1. Babbin Quillfoyle (hobbit - bespectacled, bookish, landlord of the Hobby Horse) is a scholar of languages and is conversant in Sindarin; often serves as scribe and scrivener for hobbits without their letters, 2. Griselda Bolger (hobbit - frizzy hair, matter-of-fact, farmer's wife) travels with her pig, Pretty, wherever she goes—even drinking in the tavern!, 3. Bingo Bracegirlde (hobbit - jowly, friendly, shopkeep) always has a crowd of young hobbits around him listening to tales of the "Ghost of the Crossroads" said to haunt where the East Road and Stock Road cross.

! - MYSTERIOUS PACKAGE: Someone (no one saw who) left a letter on the Brandywine Bridge, along with a real gold coin. It has no address except a crescent moon in silver ink. The Whitefurrow Post Office is absolutely flummoxed and will pay the coin to anyone who can figure out where it should go.

Viewed in the light of the moon, elvish letters appear: Thain Peregrin Took, The Great Smials, Tuckburough. The thain will be grateful for the delivery, but scant on details.

BUDGEFORD. A Hobbit village north of Whitfurrows where heavy traffic and wagons can cross the Water towards Scary (48.60). The eponymous ford has been built up for years by dumping the quarry tailings (from 45.61) into the river. Bolger is the predominant family of the region; they are famous hog farmers.

! - THAT'S SOME SPIDER: Punto Bolger needs a spider problem cleared out of his pig-barn. Words woven in the webs: OUR FRIEND PIGS. HARM NOT PIGS. PIG AND SPIDER AMITY EVERMORE. It's causing quite a stir. In addition to the usual fee, Farmer Bolger will throw in a side of bacon for successful completion of the quest.

A spider named Loblolly has crossed the Brandywine from the Old Forest (48.63) and moved into the farmer's barn. She claims the barn as her protectorate. Really, she's not a bad sort.
[Credit: Pipedream]

48.60

THE YALE. This lowland region of the Eastfarthing is called "The Yale." It has no village, but consists of a collection of many prosperous farms. Boffin is the predominant name in the region. It is the breadbasket of the Shire, with wheat being the predominant crop.

(1) - WUFFLES: Wuffles the dog comes yapping down the lane. He's shaped like a sausage with googly eyes and a single protruding lower fang. His favorite food is a hobbit's hams. Test Strength Δ4 or lose 1 Endurance to the little blighter.
(6) - MILKMAID: Miss Jessamine Boffin (hobbit - doe-eyed, innocent, milkmaid) walks down the lane, yolked with pitchers of milk. Huge cats follow at her feet, expectantly. If helped to carry her milk back to her hole, she'll reward the gallant burglar with a pressed flower (+1 boon to one camp from morale).

! - THE BLACK BOAR OF THE YALE: Children of this region are taught that if they're naughty, they'll be fed to the Black Boar of the Yale. Until recent days, no one (except Granny Yale, 48.59) has ever taken this story seriously, but recently hunters have reported seeing a terrifying boar roaming east of Woody End: bristling black hairs like quills, curving black tusks, eyes like coals. The shirriff has laughed it off. The locals have pooled money to ask burglars to investigate.

In truth, the Black Boar of the Yale is a hill man named Ufred. After stumbling into the machinations of Ar-Gûlar (43.87), he was transformed into this shape and, in fear and pain, wandered into the Shire. Ulfred-as-the-Boar doesn't really wish to hurt anyone and flees when approached. Stats as bear.
[Inspiration: TOR2E - Starter Set - Shire]

A Camping Procedure

Here is a procedure to simulate getting a good night's sleep in the wilderness. An adventuring party will need to perform several jobs around camp. Each job accomplished produces "boons" to help recover. Each negative factor that impacts rest creates a "bane." A party can have many boons and many banes.

Only use this camping procedure if the party has food and water. Without these, rest and recuperation is impossible. 

Lots of inspiration from the Dolmenwood and His Majesty the Worm camping procedures, but with some twists. Using this procedure will generate, potentially, many more hit points a night than your standard OSE 1 hp/night. 

Camping procedure

1. Set campsite. A scout or the GM determines the quality of the campsite.

2. Camp actions. Every character performs one camp action. 

3. Watches and wandering monsters. The party decides on a watch order. The GM checks for wandering monsters. 

4. Total and roll boons and banes. A number of d6 are rolled to represent all the positive and negative factors for the night's encampment. The party heals a number of hit points equal to the result of the boon dice, if any.

5. Awaken. Resolve the consequences of the night's sleep. Wizards prepare spells. 

By BertDrawsStuff

Set campsite

First, determine if anybody is going to scout for campsite. The other camp actions can be performed in any order.

A scout rolls 3d6 and takes the two highest dice to determine campsite location. 

If no scout, the GM rolls 2d6 to determine the campsite location in normal wilderness or 1d6 if camping in inhospitable terrain (wastes, Mordor, Nagwood, etc.).

The GM might give a bonus or penalty to the total roll for the campsite based. These adjustments are cumulative.

• Rain or snow (-2)
• Fog (-1)
• Darkness (search by torch or lantern only) (-2)
• Campsite scout is an elf or ranger (+2)
• Elf, ranger, or similar in party (+1) [multiple party members don't stack]

Scouting is that character's camp action for the night. The campsite scout will also help clear brush, unpack gear, and set up tents after the site is found.

Campsite roll

The campsite roll determines where the party sets up camp. Treat rolls less than 1 as 1. Treat rolls greater than 13 as 13.

1. Compounding problems through the night: seeping groundwater, biting insects, discovery of a rotting animal corpse. Two banes due to discomfort. Refilling water bottles is impossible.
2. Soft, sandy depression. Cramped, only sufficient space for [1d4+1] humans to sleep comfortably. Bane due to discomfort. Refilling water bottles is impossible.
3. Clearing ringed with eerie, looming trees with spooky, twisted branches. The chance for a nighttime encounter is doubled. If a creature is encountered, lair may be nearby.
4. A clearing overgrown with thorns and brambles. Bane due to discomfort. 
5. Clearing of bracken and soft mosses. The burble of a nearby creek.
6. Verdant clearing. Signs of ancient habitation (pile of rocks, remnants of old wall, etc.).
7. Beneath an overhang. Protection from rain and weather. 
8. Ring of trees standing vigilant guard. Lots of deadfall,+2 to all firewood gathering.
9. Atop a small hilltock. Rolls to avoid surprise during nighttime encounters are made with +2.
10. A meadow of soft grass near a tinkling stream. Boon due to comfort.
11. In the midst of a bower of plants; soft within, camouflaged without. Nighttime encounters have a 75% chance of passing the party by without observing them.
12. A cozy dell overshadowed with moss-bearded trees. Boon due to comfort. 1d4 uses of random herb found.
13. In the shadow of glacial boulders, a secret caern crafted by an ancient people. The encampment is completely hidden with no chance of a nighttime encounter. Two boons due to comfort.

Camp actions

Each character selects a job to do to help set up camp. A character can only do one camp action per night. Characters can (as much as practical) collaborate on the same action, although often the benefits don't stack; rather, the party has more opportunities to gain a boon. 

Cook

If the party has a cookpot and seasonings, one or more characters can prepare a meal with the party's rations. Each character cooking should make a Wisdom or Skill check (or similar). If one is successful, the party adds a boon. If either rolls a natural 1, the meal is burned and the rations wasted; a bane.

• Halflings have +2 to this test.

Entertain

One or more characters can tell stories, sing songs, and raise the spirits of the party. Each character entertaining should make a Charisma or Beauty check (or similar). If one is successful, the party adds a boon. 

• Humans have a +2 to this test.

Fetch water

One character may refill the party's waterskins and fetch water for cooking (assuming the campsite allows for it).

Rest

If a character performs no other actions and just rests, they should make a Constitution (or similar) check. If successful, they gain a boon that only they benefit from. 

Tend the fire

Each character that gathers firewood gains 1d6 hours of firewood.

• Dwarves gain +2 hours of firewood when undertaking this action.
• Desolate wilderness imposes a -2 penalty, at GM's discretion.

Assuming the character has a tinderbox or similar, starting a fire is automatically successful. Adverse conditions such as snow or rain call for a 4-in-6 test to start a fire (5-in-6 for dwarves).

Miscellaneous, Et Cetera

Items such as a tinker's kit, a map, or a book might provide additional camp actions for players to pursue. These aren't covered in detail here.

Watches and wandering monsters

The party establishes a normal watch schedule throughout the night. If a magic-user doesn't have 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep, they have difficulty preparing their spells. 

The GM randomly determines if there is a nighttime encounter. An encounter occurs on a roll of:

• 1-in-6 in light terrain
• 2-in-6 in wilderness 
• 3-in-6 in shadowed lands

If an encounter is triggered, the GM then randomly determines what hour the nighttime encounter happens (1d8). The GM should note if the fire is burning at this hour. 

The GM then determines what creature is encountered. If it is a natural animal and the fire is burning, no encounter is had; the animal avoids the encampment. 

If an encounter occurs, the character on watch must test Wisdom or Skill (or similar) to avoid being surprised. If there is no fire, this is done at -2 penalty (elves ignore this penalty). If they are not surprised, the party begins the encounter armed and armored. If they are surprised, only the characters on watch are armored; the rest are in their bedrolls.

Having a battle in the middle of the night incurs a bane.

Total and roll boons and banes

After the encounter check (and potential encounter) is resolved, total all the boons and banes 

The company gains an additional boon for each point of interest visited during the last day.

A player gains a bane for each of the following:

• Slept less than six hours total (e.g., double watch shifts). Elves ignore this penalty.
• Did not sleep in a bedroll.
• Slept in armor (2 banes).
• If inclement weather (snow, rain) and did not sleep in a tent.
• If winter and fire burned for less than eight hours. 

Roll a number of d6 equal to your boons. Then, roll a number of d6 equal to your banes. Subtract the total value of the banes from the total value of the boons.

If there is any boon value remaining, this is the amount of hit points the party recovers, up to their maximum. 

If the bane value is higher than the boon value, the party had a poor sleep and they are exhausted. They receive a -1 penalty to tests the following day.

(This can be done all at once and applied to the whole party to save time, if feasible.)

Awaken

The GM checks for the day's weather.

Vancian magic-users prepare their spells. If they slept less than 8 uninterrupted hours, they have a 1-in-6 chance of failing to prepare their spells that day.

Took Country - Middle-earth Hexmap Project

An installment of my hexmap for Middle-earth project. Follow the "Middle-earth Hexmap" tag for all entries in this series.

The Tooks are a prosperous and important family in the Shire, with numerous relations and the need to spread out. They reside in the Green Hill Country: an idyllic region. Few residents of this region know  of the secret paths that elves use to walk through the Shire, right under their noses.

Map credit: Idraluna Archive. Click for the full map.

48.56

TOOKBANK. A small Hobbit village, peopled predominantly by Tooks looking to escape the close confines of family life in Tuckborough (48.57). There are good orchards here, mostly growing apples of a breed called whitcyser brought back by Blossom Took from a short adventure outside the Shire. "Ain't natural," complain neighboring villages, upon tasting the sweetness of these apples (and byproducts). "That Wizard probably blessed them."

! - A QUEER HAUNTING: Lately, Whitbough Hall has been plagued by one (or more?) nocturnal visitors. Draped in a funerary sheet and rattling chains, an apparition has moaned its way through the corridors, frightening the family to death.

In truth, a small gang of Took cousins are pretending to be ghosts as a way to enter and explore the smial. They believe that Blossom Took brought treasure back from her adventure, in addition to her famous apple transplants, and are determined to find the hidden cache.

WHITWELL. A Hobbit village in the Green Hills. It has a post office and a thriving band of local actors ("The Whitwell Players"). The eponymous well is decorated by the townsfolk in ribbons once a year. The town's public house is called The Hole in the Oak. There is a limestone quarry south of town, where many residents work.

TRYSTING TREE. Point of interest. Off the road between Waymeet (47.55) and Whitwell is one of the largest and oldest oaks in the Shire, called the Trysting Tree. Here is a traditional place for many meetings, especially between sweethearts.

(1-2) - Two hobbit tweens having a sobbing broken betrothal. Awkward!
(4-5) - ! - MISSING HOBBIT: Sally Fairbairn (hobbit - pleasantly plump, anxious, farmer's daughter) is waiting anxiously for Freddy Burrowes (hobbit - stout, carefree, farmer), but he's very late. What if something happened to him? (He fell into a gully picking flowers and twisted his ankle. He really does need help out of it, but he'll be alright.)
(6) - Thain Peregrin Took collecting a secret letter. Has advice for the fellowship's current quest.

Searching the tree reveals (1d10):

1. A sealed letter (affectionate and practical) from Cavallo Took of Whitwell to Peony Pennytree of Waymeet (47.55) tucked into a hole in the tree.
2. An opened letter (awkward and flirtatious) from Boffo Hammidge (50.53) to Lavender Mazer (48.55), abandoned on the ground.
3. 2d6 pennies tucked into nooks on the tree for luck.
4. A fresh honeycomb, bees buzzing around it.
5. A sealed letter from the ranger Asofel to Gandalf, written in Sindarin. Tells of tracking a cursed and magical boar in Minhiriath, and warns that it possibly crossed the borders of the Shire.
6-9. A public notice of a burglar's quest in the Shire (GM's choice).
10. Letter addressed to a random PC from Gandalf. The letter requests help with rescuing a prisoner from the ruined keep of the sorcerer Ar-Gûlar (43.87). It includes a box of matches (magical!) as downpayment.

49.56

COUNTRY ROAD. A country lane in the Green Hill country runs from Whitwell (48.56) to Sackville (52.56) and Longbottom (51.57). To the east, the eaves of a wood and rolling hills. To the west, gently sloping farmlands.

FAIRY ROAD. The elves have a secret road that allows them to pass through the Shire untroubled by its inhabitants. As they pass, those hobbits who see the glimmer of their lamps attribute the lights to fairies.

In the woods south of Tookbank, adventurous folk can find an entrance to this secret road. To find the road, each traveler tests Skill Δ9 (Δ7 on a clear night when the stars are visible). Elves can see this road automatically. Using this road allows travel in hexes 49.56, 48.57, 49.58, and 48.59 at half travel points, and hides travelers from the eyes of almost all others.

48.57

TUCKBOROUGH. A small Hobbit village and de facto capital of Tookland, the folkland of the Took family situated in the Green Hills. The Tooks live in Tuckborough in a rambling, many-tunneled mansion called the Great Smials.

The Took family holds the hereditary title of Thain, the master of the Hobbitry-in-Arms and captain of the Shire-moot. This has been a ceremonial title for most of living memory, as the Shire has not seen a true emergency since the Fell Winter in 2912. The current thain is Peregrin Took (hobbit - bright, clever, goodman).

The Thain keeps a good library. Those visiting may indulge in his hospitality to ask questions related to Hobbit Lore.

✦ - OFTEN HERE: 1. Burgo Greenhand (hobbit - tan, friendly, gardener) is looking for someone to deliver a package to his horrible aunt in Bucklebury (48.62) before her birthday for a silver penny, 2. Mrs. Muckle Took (hobbit - old, shrewd, apothecary) sells tonics and oils made from local herbs (randomly determined) at a reasonable price, 3. The twins Farfeld and Findalas Took (hobbits - bright-eyed, talkative, historians) are constantly arguing about historical events and will draw the fellowship into their discussions.

49.57

HOLLOWAY. The road from Longbottom (51.57) to Pincup (49.58) arcs through the southern corner of this region, turning into a tree-canopied "holloway" (a sunken lane). To the north of the lane is the Green Hill Country.

(1) - ROAD WEARY: In the shade of the trees, there's a feeling of sleepfulness and desire to picnic. Resting here for a few moments prompts Skill Δ4 tests (Δ6 for hobbits) or the burglar falls asleep for 8 hours.
(6) - TRAPPED HEDGEHOG: A baby hedgehog is caught in a snare; its mother is rushing to help. If observed, the mother rubs an herb on the snare that causes it to untie. The mother hedgehog will then eat the herb. If prevented from doing so, one portion of raskovnik is obtained. Using it can unlock a lock, open a chest, or untie a knot.

50.57

COUNTRY LANE. A sunken country lane runs from Longbottom (51.57) to Pincup (49.58). Outlying farms, staple crops, tea bushes, and tobacco fields lie on either side of the lane.

(1) - SNAIL RACE: Six snails cross from one side of the lane to the other; children and a few adults are betting on the race. Impossible to pass without disrupting the race (to the boos and bad will of the audience). If willing to delay, can bet on a snail. (Slimey, Bluey, Sluggoth, Shineshell, Gooper, or Wet Willy)
(6) - CART RIDE: Willa Lambeth (hobbit - gnarled, spunky, spinster/farmer) coming back from market with an empty cart; offers ride and discussion of weather. +2 travel points for the day, accurately predict the next week's weather.

48.58

GREEN HILL COUNTRY. Gently sloping hills covered in grass cropped by free-ranging herds.

(4-6) - SHEPHERD. Adelbert Barleycorn (hobbit - gap-toothed smile, companionable, shepherd) is a shepherd whose panpipes play in harmony with the birds and droning insects of the hills. Knowledgeable about all four farthings: might be convinced to give a tour of the Shire, but won't leave its borders. Looking for a capable, strong-willed wife.

49.58

PINCUP. A small Hobbit village in the Green Hills, with only a few families in a scattering of houses and holes. The sparrows of this country are friendly with the farmers and can understand Common. The villagers are superstitious about the fairies in the woods.

! - FALCONER NEEDED: A hawk with an exceeding bad temper has moved into the area and has been beheading sparrows and leaving them uneaten. A falconer is needed to capture the bird (or, at worst, a hunter is needed to slay the raptor).

(3) - FAIRY DANCERS: At night, Tavari (faerie of the woods) can be encountered dancing and singing in the Woody End. Those who dance with them disappear for 1d100 years. The power of torch, campfire, and iron render their lure powerless.

48.59

WOODHALL and WOODY END. The woods in this region of the Green Hill country are called the Woody End. Woodhall is a small, handsome Hobbit village within the Woody End surrounded by orchards and groves of well-tended trees. Several prominent members of the Mathom-house Curators guild live in Woodhall; the chief of them is Gammira "Granny Yale" Boffin (hobbit - XX). They make themselves available to provide their services of Artifact Lore to visitors.

✦ - OFTEN HERE: 1. Hudibras Porringer (hobbit - bug-eyed and bespectacled, proper, private tutor) is on holiday after attempting to educate the wild Took children, 2. Burt Underhill (hobbit - jowly, fabulist, bounder) came back bloody after encountering the Black Boar of the Yale (48.60), 3. Suithlas (elf - rustically dressed, merry, tea merchant) has many varieties of teas from far countries for trade.

! - MISSING MATHOM: Granny Yale has many small magical items in her collection. A smaller one of small enchantment was a pair of scissors shaped like a heron that can snip away magical transformations. Unfortunately, they have gone missing. Granny Yale notes that the peddler Tin-Kettle Tom had recently been by the village; he's rumored to have sticky fingers.

In truth, a gorecrow has stolen Granny's scissors. They have also set on old Tom, who knows where the foul birds roost (50.58).

ELVISH GLADE. Visible to those on the fairy road (49.56), those who pass a test of Skill Δ9, and elves (automatically). Treat as a point of interest. The elves who secretly travel the Shire have a hidden camp stocked with provisions in the Woody End (20 rations and 2d6 healing herbs).

You All Meet at a Cottage...

 

"Now for the most part the children did not often go into the house, but danced and played in the garden, gathering flowers or chasing the golden bees and butterflies with embroidered wings that the Eldar set within the garden for their joy. And many children have there become comrades, who after met and loved in the lands of Men, but of such things perchance Men know more than I can tell you....Of the misty aftermemories of these, of their broken tales and snatches of song, came many strange legends that delighted Men for long, and still do, it may be; for of such were the poets of the Great Lands."

- The Cottage of Lost Play, The Book of Lost Tales

Art by Kay Woollard

In a Tolkien-based game, how do you get characters of various backgrounds together: hobbits, dwarves, men, and elves? Why are they a fellowship?

Here is one potential answer to that question:

When the gods hid Valinor, they felt pity for the children of Men left in Middle-earth. Lorien, the lord of dreams, make a small road for them to visit the Blessed Lands. This was Olórë Mallë, the Path of Dreams. Elves and Men (and Dwarves and Hobbits) can find this path when they sleep only when they are very young. 

The Path of Dreams leads to a cottage on the shore of Valinor. It is called the Cottage of the Play of Sleep, or the Cottage of Children. Children come to it in their dreams, and play for a while, and hear the songs of the High Elves drifting down from the deeper regions of the realm. Some of these children form friendships that transcend that space and that time.

Sometimes, adults have fleeting memories of their childhood dreams. Scraps of songs. The feeling that they know and like someone. 

Perhaps this is why these disparate player-characters seem like such fast friends, even at first introduction. 

---

This content is derived from The Book of Lost Tales, volume 1 in the History of Middle-earth series -- those abandoned notes and drafts of the legendarium that were collected, edited, and provided to the public through the scrupulous scholarship of Christopher Tolkien. It is a difficult and complicated work, the draft of a draft of what became The Silmarillion. But, maybe, it has a few gems in it.

The North Moors - Middle-earth Hexmap Project

An installment of my hexmap for Middle-earth project. Follow the "Middle-earth Hexmap" tag for all entries in this series.

The North Moors are lonesome places in the Shire, and the only places where snow falls frequently in the winter. The farmers of the Northfarthing mostly keep near the villages, but wanderers in these lands can find the odd hunter or goat herder, and signs of the Shire's past habitation. 

This entry includes another site-based adventure: a tight squeeze to a big treasure!

Map credit: Idraluna Archive. Click for the full map.

42.53

NORTH MOORS. A lonely heath, except for occasional shepherds and their flocks of goats. A few ancient ruins are found sporadically over the region; foundation stones, partial walls, or henges.

(6) - SHEPHERD: Heather Boffin (hobbit - lovely, independent, shepherdess) works to cajole a goat down from a tall, dead tree. Resents help offered.

43.54

NORTH MOORS. Windswept highlands of cottongrass and lichen dotted with ancient glacial boulders. Hills topped with cup-and-ring circles are common in this region.

(1-3) - MOANING WIND: The wind that groans over the hilltops is chill, even in summer. All travelers lose Endurance based on the season: summer - 1d4, spring/autumn - 1d6, winter - 2d6. One companion may describe a scene of warmth from their memory that comforts them to reduce everyone's Endurance loss by 1d6.
(6) - RANGER: Mindon (elf-friend - unshaven, quiet, ranger) is maintaining a small campfire and will share a supper of grouse. If the company stays with him, he'll speak of a hopeful spark that could kindle into a star that is kept in Rivendell, and recommend the players visit Elrond Half-elven (45.101).

44.54

RABBIT WARRENS. The west side of this region is marked by the rushing Water, cold and impassable as it comes out of the North Moors. On the east banks, uncultivated green fields. Rabbits of unusual size are common here; their holes are everywhere.

45.54

RIVER FARMS. The west side of the region is bounded by the Water. On the east banks, farms north of Needlehole (46.54) make use of the rich soil from the flooding river: cabbages, carrots, tomatoes, caraway. The farmers are rural folk, suspicious of outsiders, but also generous. They keep mean geese as watch-dogs.

43.55

GYPSUM MINE. A working gypsum mine in a hilly country. A mining village is populated part of the year by workers from Long Cleeve (43.53). Gypsum is put to many purposes in the Shire: plaster to set broken bones, fertilizer, sculptures (alabaster), and more. In the north of the region, the hills grow higher and rockier.

! - GIANT SKELETON: Mining operations have slowed down since Nob Appledore claims to have seen a giant skeleton in a new cavern discovered in the mine. Norbourn and Shuster Incorporated (who operate the mine) look for dwarven burglars to dispel these rumors.

1. Tunnel's End: An offshoot of the hobbit's exploratory tunneling comes to an end where it meets natural caverns. Mining gear (mattocks, shovels, lamps) can be found here.
2. Chasm: A cavern of shiny, damp speleothems. A chasm, reminiscent of a waterfall of white and pink limestone, drops down 30'. Nob's old rope can be found here, tied around a stalagmite.
   1. Chasm: Descending the chasm is a Strength Δ6 test.
   2. Rope: Cut off about 10' down. (Nob hurriedly cut it after he climbed back up, afraid he was being followed).
3. Crossroads: At the bottom of the chasm, a confluence of three tunnels. To the west, the sound of dripping water and a soft glow (to area 4). To the north, a quickly narrowing tunnel (to area 5). To the northeast, a guano-stained tunnel (to area 6).
4. Lake: An underground lake, shallow but broad. The stalactites are beautifully reflected in the water. On the far shore, a soft light glows.
   1. Water: Icy cold. Swimming costs 1d6 Endurance.
   2. Light: Zulsendra mushrooms glowing in the darkness. Herb Lore allows an Understanding Δ6 test to brew into a potion that doubles movement and allows two attacks in combat for three turns; afterwards Strength Δ6 or collapse from exhaustion in 1d6 turns.
5. Squeeze: A squeeze. Push your candle in front of you; kiss the ceiling above you. Strength Δ10 test (Δ6 for hobbits) to crawl through, losing 1d3 Endurance. On a failure, lose 1d6 Endurance and become stuck. Leads to area 7.
6. Bats: A barbell-shaped tunnel, covered in guano. 2d6 bats attack (stats as rats). Leads to area 7.
7. Giant Skeleton: Nob wasn't lying, but the skeleton has long ceased to be a threat to anyone. The skeleton of a deceased giant lies here. Nearby, the skeleton of the Man who slew him. The names of these combatants are forgotten. Dead end; ancient exits to this grotto have collapsed.
   1. Giant: Near the giant is his hammer—made of a henge-stone (missing from 41.55) and an uprooted tree, tied together. If skeleton was removed, would be a worthy contribution to a mathom-house or roadside attraction.
   2. Man: His gear is covered in salt deposits and rotted away, save for his sword, Glend.
      1. Glend is a +3 greatsword once wielded by the giant Nan. While carried, the wielder's Strength can never be weakened. Spend 5 Endurance to sunder or smash the environment as if struck by a giant's blow: tear down gates, split doors in two, or topple columns.

44.55

OVERGROWN ORCHARD. Uninhabited fields of the Northfarthing, covered in purple moor-grass, thistle, and clover. An overgrown orchard is in this region, fruit trees still producing (seasonally) in a tangle of brambles: apples, plums, and cherries. An exaltation of larks nest here.

45.55

HALF-FELLED TREE. Uninhabited fields of the Northfarthing, covered in purple moor-grass, with occasional copses of elm, juniper, and spruce. A thick-trunked hawthorn tree has a rusted saw sticking out of it; the logger evidently gave up. Two burglars need to succeed in a Strength Δ9 test to get it out: if they do, a honeycomb dripping with honey is found in the hollow of the tree.

43.56

NORTH MOORS. Windswept highlands of gorse, broom, and lichen. Ancient linear earthworks (of unknown purpose) stretch throughout the region, often topped with whitethorn trees. Cairns dot the horizon.

(6) - ANTIQUES: The traveler with the highest Understanding can make a Δ7 test (Ranger Lore grants a +2 bonus to the roll). On a success, they find an antique; useless but possibly valuable to a collector.

1. Ploughshare
2. Rusted blade
3. Arrow head
4. Ivory comb
5. Arthedainian silver coin
6. Bronze arm torc

Magical School Downtime Actions

During my weekly game, I have been running a magical school game using His Majesty the Worm. Following my copy and paste manifesto ethos, I've been using The Yellow Book of Brechewold as my dungeon, but I've also been house ruling the hell out of the game to achieve the effect I wanted. 

This game plays with the normal phases of a Worm game. Play flows between Explore -> Extracurriculars -> Explore -> Exams. 

To give myself a little room in my preparation, only second-year students can do Extracurricular Actions that aren't Studying (first years need to study!). My gaming group just got to the second year (...because their first year students died to flying leeches). 

I wanted to share these downtime actions with you in hopes that they would amuse you or provide a framework for house ruling your own Worm games.

Art by Heikala

Extracurriculars

Brew Alchemy

Prerequisite: Lab Safety
Having completed your Lab Safety course, you're allowed to access the Greenhouses to percolate potions, originate oils, and brew bombs.

Boons
When you Brew Alchemy, you may transform all hermetically preserved reagents into an oil, bomb, or potion. In addition, Test Cups.

• Great Failure: An explosion! Mutagenic smoke fills the Greenhouses. Gain a mutation. To remove it, you must Disenchant it or go to the Hospital.
• Failure: No, no, stir the potion counterclockwise, not clockwise! You spoil most of the batch. Gain 1 random potion.
• Success: Gain 3 random potions.
• Great Success: See, if you crush the bell beetle with the flat of your blade before you cut into it…Create 5 random potions and choose 3.

Carousing

Blow off steam, try some magical experiments on stupid boys, and try not to get caught running down the halls after curfew. But be careful! Your fellow students might not take too kindly to you losing them the House Cup!

Boons
Gain [1d4+2]XP and lose an equivalent amount of house points x100. So if you gain 3XP, your house points decrease by 300. Also, remove the Stressed condition for free.

Commission Large Projects

Prerequisite: The Philosopher's Stone
Making gold isn't difficult, but it's a time consuming process. Using the philosopher's stone, you can create enough gold to trade to master artisans in Brechenborg.

Describe your project in a few words. You create enough gold to commission large-scale works: a statue in your honor, a wizard's tower, a bridge, an orphanage, a kennel, and so on.

Repeated use of this Extracurricular Action is cumulative; longer-syllable projects require multiple uses of the Commission Projects action.

Test Cups.

• Great Failure: Most of your batch of gold was ruined this time. You commission one syllable of the project.
• Failure: You were overambitious and stirred the mixture too soon. You commission two syllables of the project.
• Success: You commission four syllables of the project.
• Great Success: Good luck and a steady hand ensured the maximum yield of this crop of gold. You commission six syllables of the project.

Cram School

Prerequisite: 5th years with a VIM score of XX
Nearing the end of your studies but haven't completed all the courses you need for your career? One solution is to rend the forces of causality for your convenience! Petition the Headmaster to cast the Ritual of Time Sundering on your behalf.

Test Wands.

• Great Failure: Causality fallout. You become a random age, 1d100. Lose 1d4 XP.
• Failure: You are constantly confused about when you are. Impossible to learn anything like this. Lose 1XP.
• Success: You enroll in a third class this semester. The class can be any time, day or night, any year, by any professor, as long as you otherwise meet the prerequisites for it.
• Great Success: As a success. Additionally, accidentally traveled into the future briefly and glimpsed your exams. Gain a redraw to a card for any exam this semester.

Create Familiar

Prerequisites: Minor Imps, Hounds and Hawks of Brechewold
First, infuse an imp into an animal companion (usually, this is done by tricking the animal companion into eating the imp). Then, bind the animal companion as you would an imp to create a familiar.

Boons

A familiar has the following abilities:

• May be dismissed into the dreamworld when not needed or inconvenient.
• Can learn up to 5 commands.
• Has one random familiar feature.
• Almost impossible to kill; will fade into the dreaming on suffering a deadly blow, and return at some point later.

Art by Simz

Dragon Dodgeball

Prerequisites: Must complete Broom Ed
The most popular game in the world of witchery consists of several teams on brooms passing a fireball very quickly back between each other. It's dangerous, like most things at Brechewold, but glory outlasts death.

How to play
Two players. Collectively, select five small items to represent your team and mark out a play area at the table.

Draft one of the five items to each player and place the remaining piece in the middle of the play area. Players place their pieces on their edge of the play area.

Take turns flicking one of the pieces on your edge. If it hits one or more other pieces then move them all back to your edge. Pieces that leave the play area are out and removed from the game. First player to have no pieces on their edge loses.

Boons
The winner gains +1000 house points.

Those who win the Dragon Dodgeball Tournament several times become targets of professional headhunters. Who knows! You might graduate to the big leagues after school.

Disenchant

Prerequisites: Breaking Curses
Disenchantment is mostly a matter of finding the right threads to pull to make an entire spell unravel. This is done by administering a series of divinatory tests: the pendulum, reading the bones, tea leaves, etc.

Boons
A curse affecting anyone in the study group may be removed. (A tattoo from the INK spell is the most common curse.)

A cursed item's curse may be broken by taking this action. Additionally, magical items may be disenchanted and turned into mundane items.

Synergy
If the disenchanter has access to the Enchant action, they may move magical powers from one item into another. For example, stealing the +1 to hit bonus from one sword and placing it on an existing +1 sword for a +2 sword.

Dueling Club

The dungeons are a dangerous place! Learn to defend yourself like a true wizard by practicing attack magic at the Dueling Club.

How to duel

• Up to 5 players
• Each player holds up five fingers on one hand (this hand stays up for the rest of the game). Each finger is a life point.
• Each player counts to three then shows their other hand simultaneously.
• Players can zap, hold, or mirror shield.

• Zap: Point at another person. They lose 1 life, unless they have a mirror shield.
• Hold: Point your finger in the air. Nothing happens.
• Mirror Shield: Make a fist (fingers towards you). Any zaps bounce off of you and deal two points to whomever shot at you. Note: If no one shoots you, the mirror shield explodes and you lose 2 life points.
• Continue on until only one is left standing.

Boons
All participants master the "Attack" spell without needing to spend XP. Additionally, participants earn +200 house points for each student they defeated.

Enchant

Prerequisite: Runes of Power
The principle of enchantment and spellcasting is the same: draw the magic sigils and intone the incantation. Enchantment is the written form of a cast spell.

Boons
Permanently affix a spell you have mastered onto an item. For example, a magical key enchanted with the KEY spell will open any lock or a broom enchanted with the FLY spell will allow you to fly.

Art by Heikala

Forge

Prerequisite: Forging for Beginners
Your friends miss you during your long hours at the forge, but true craft takes time. Under the tutelage of Fullveig the Smith, you work the mundane forge in the courtyard of Castle Brechewold.

Describe to the GM what you want to make. This sets the amount of forge points (fp) needed to craft it.

• 1 forge point per syllable to craft something a farmer might have. Examples: dagger (2fp), pan flute (2fp), wooden dentures (4fp)
• 2 forge points per syllable of the commission if it's something an adventurer might have. Examples: helmet with a candle holder (16fp), imp trap (4fp), silverthread bug net (10fp)
• 3 forge points per syllable of the commission if it's something a noble might have. Examples: broadsword (6fp), platemail armor (12fp), bespoke clothing (12fp)
• 4 forge points per syllable of the commission if it's something that nobody has—something brand new. Examples: prosthetic leg (16fp), manticore saddle (20fp), decorative harpy wings (24fp)

Repeated use of this Extracurricular Action is cumulative; longer-syllable projects require multiple uses of the Forge action.

Test Swords.

• Great Failure: You muddle up and have to restart some of your progress. -2 forge points to your project's total.
• Failure: You make slow, steady progress towards your goal. +5 forge points.
• Success: You make excellent progress, +10 forge points.
• Great Success: You combine artistic insight with practical considerations, +15 forge points. Fullveig grants you his rare approval: +50 house points.

Grow Herbs

Prerequisite: Greenhouse Basics and Identifying Worts and Herbs or Mycology
Magical plants require special care. Whereas a petunia or begonia requires just water and light, a mandrake or wortwallop requires water, light, and mana. A careful balance of all three is needed.

Boons
Any hermetically sealed herbs or mushrooms you are carrying are planted in the Greenhouse. Thereafter, Brew Alchemy actions always include the option to brew potions made of these ingredients in addition to any other randomly created potions. (For example, if you have 2 herbs planted, you will be given the option of 3 potions out of 5 when you succeed at the Brew Alchemy action.)

Art by Heikala

Hobbies

You pursue a passion project during your downtime. Perhaps you dedicate yourself to the zither, study wizard chess, or just play Mundane Medieval Campaigns with your friends all night.

Test fate.

• Great Failure: Nobody understands your vision. And everybody's mad that your vision involved burning down half of your house common room. Lose -200 house points.
• Failure: You did that? Neat, I guess.
• Success: You become a more actualized version of yourself. The ace of a particular suit is a king for you for the rest of this semester.
• Great Success: As success, and you gain +300 house points and the blue ribbon in a local competition.

Hospital

Did you get turned into something unpleasant? Are you a victim of the rhyming curse? Did you catch a certain type of pox? It's time for a stay in the hospital wing to rest and recuperate.

Test Swords.

• Great Failure: A dozen spells, potions, and herbal poultices were tried, but no luck. You're stuck like this (for now).
• Failure: Although sometimes you still have a bit of a donkey's braying when you cough, you're mostly better! You'll be 100% cured by the end of the semester.
• Success: You're right as rain!
• Great Success: You gain favor in future tests of fate to avoid or resist whatever got you into this situation to begin with.

Hunting

Prerequisite: The Lord's Sport
You spend your free time far afield, in the Forbidden Forest of Brechewold, stalking the strange beasts that live there.

When you hunt, you slay either an exotic or natural beast.

Exotic beasts can be used as reagents in potions. Natural beasts can be used as trophies for house points. The beasts that you hunt must have HD equal to or lower than your Swords score.

Test Swords.

• Great Failure: You come back muddy, weather-beaten, and empty handed.
• Failure: Choose one:

• Hunt a random exotic beast
• Hunt a specific natural animal
• Success: Choose one:
• Bring back many exotic beasts up to your Swords score+2
• Hunt a specific natural animal up to your Swords score+4
• Great Success: Bring back an assortment of exotic beasts with HD equal to your Swords score+5. Also, you gain +500 house points for your bravery.

Make Friends

Did you take a shine to a student you met in the dungeons? Do you want to see if you actually get along with them in a non-terrifying situation?

Ask your friend about any subject and they'll give you their honest opinion. (Students might not know a lot about the dungeon itself.) Then, test Cups.

• Great Failure: You've made an enemy. They start a mean rumor about you. Every student you encounter next semester has heard it (and probably believes it).
• Failure: Well, that was awkward. Become Stressed.
• Success: Gain a new Bond with your friend, even though they're not in your study group. Begin each semester with it charged.
• Great Success: Gain a new Bond with your friend. Additionally, one time in the future, you can call in one favor. This allows you to draw two cards and take the highest in any card draw in any phase except the Explore Phase.

(If you're looking for something romantic, use the Snogging extracurricular instead.)

Moat Fishing

Many strange things fall into Lake Hart or float down from the headwaters in the mountains. Fish the moat around Brechewold to discover trash and treasure alike.

Boons
Roll 1d100. The GM will tell you what you find.

Monstroso Card Collector's Club

The most popular card game in school! Floop the pig!

Joining the club
When you join the club, you construct your first deck. Draw to see what type of deck you get.

• Swords - Aggro: Favor over Control
• Pentacles - Control: Favor over Combo
• Cups - Combo: Favor over Tempo
• Wands - Tempo: Favor over Aggro

You also gain 5 monster cards: roll 5d200 to see what you get.

Returning to the club
Each semester you attend the club, you gain a new type of deck and gain 5 new monsters.

As you explore
The Monstroso cards have interesting facts about real-life monsters on them! Keep them with you as you explore, and you can read the monster facts if you encounter them. (The GM will provide you with their actual stats.)

You might find Monstroso players in the dungeons, too! Trade cards with them.

Playing the game
Games are resolved by drawing a card and adding the rating of the deck (+favor, sometimes).

Your deck rating starts at +0. Each time you can make a "pair" of creatures that are thematically unified (two elementals, two natural animals, etc.), your deck gains a +1 bonus. You can use the same monster to make different groups. The max deck rating is +10.

At the beginning of the game, you meet your opponent. They'll give you a hint about what kind of deck they're using.

Then, make the best deck you can (most pairs) and select one of your deck types. Draw a card and add your deck rating. Add favor if your deck type has advantage over your opponent's. Highest total value wins!

Winners get 5 new monster cards.

No Good Nick's Club

Prerequisite: Must not be named Nick
This club is strictly forbidden! All students are prohibited from joining this underground fraternity! As such, this prohibited activity must not exist.

If such a club did exist, this is how it would probably go:
You would swear to uphold the Law of Comus and no Law but Comus's. Mischief will be your only lover and Chaos your only companion. You will abide no Nicks.

At midnight, you will join the fellow members of the No Good Nick's Club and raise Havoc in the halls of Brechewold.

Draw a card.
50% that you make a merry mischief, 50% it all blows up in your face

Swords/Wands (Boons)

• 1-2: You enchant a house's common room door to insult and belittle everyone who tries to use it. Later, the door tells you a rumor it heard from one of the students.
• 3-4: Everyone was very amused when you made Fflewder (Riddleward, second year) kiss the school pet pig. Gain one dose of leftover love philter.
• 5-6: You raid the Wine Cellar on the first floor of the dungeon. Gain a random wine potion but start the Explore Phase Stressed.
• 7-8: You switch your class's exam papers with copies made by the goblins of Professor Gronch. Gain +/-4 to one exam total this semester (your choice).
• 9-10: Every club member finds the most volatile reagents they can and puts them all in a Big Bomba. It's your turn to carry it right now.
• Page-Knight: You fiddle around with experimental magic with club members. Gain and spend 5XP on guessing spells you don't know yet. Inscribe any that are real and describe how the prank goes off.
• Queen-King: You fill a house's common room with Dolmenwood nixies. One starts to follow you as a familiar. Burn a charged Bond to ask it to glow.

Pentacles/Cups (Banes)

• 1-2: Ecbert catches you drawing a huge, glowing, animated caricature of him farting with the word-scroll "I eateth mine own fart" on a wall. -100 house points.
• 3-4: You summoned imps into the [boy/girl's] dormitory. They escaped and got everywhere, even defiling you with their piss/shit. Begin the next Explore Phase Stressed.
• 5-6: The Prescipiece Dragon's Dodgeball team catches you ensorcelling their balls (lol balls) and kicks the shit out of you. Begin the next Explore Phase with a Wound.
• 7-8: Pollyjuice potion mishaps. Draw again.
  [S] Shrunk [P] Bizarre hair / skin / eyes [C] Gender change [W] Pig-headed
  Lasts for the rest of the semester.
• 9-10: Backfired jinx. You cannot tell a lie for the rest of the semester or slugs will pour out of your mouth for a watch.
• Page-Knight: You fiddle around with experimental magic and accidentally banish something of your own. Lose a random object from your pack (1-21) permanently.
• Queen-King: Death-Comes-Back catches you replacing his robe with a prom dress. You lose -300 house points and are given Detention. You forfeit next semester's Extracurricular action.

Prefect

Prerequisite: 5th years with a VIM score of XX
Ah, you're the cream of the crop. The very best Brechewold has to offer! A testament to the nurturing environment of the sprawling deathtrap beneath the castle.

Boons
As a Prefect, you're in charge of managing the younger students. Those you encounter in the dungeons are obliged to obey reasonable orders; you are allowed to deduct up to 5 house points from them if they refuse.

As a Prefect, you are given a ring of keys that open (almost) every door in the dungeons.

Research

Prerequisite: Research Fundamentals
Ecbert the Librarian runs a tight ship. Candles must be behind glass at all times: no open flame! Logs are kept of each time a book is unshelved and reshelved. Absolute silence at all times.

When you research, you may ask questions on the following subjects:

• Animals—Birds, Beasts, & Fishes
• Astronomy
• Conquests of King Aethur
• Elves, Fairies, Goblins, and Changelings
• Gnomes and Wild Spirits
• Famous Witches & Wizards
• Jewels and Magical Metals
• The Land of Wildendrem
• Realms of Faerie
• Runes
• Selenian War
• Spellcraft and Words of Power

Test Cups.

• Great Failure: Dead ends. Wasted time chasing down leads that turned into tedious drivel.
• Failure: Ask the GM a single question on any subject and receive an honest, thorough answer.
• Success: Ask the GM a number of questions equal to your Cups score.
• Great Success: Ask the GM a number of questions equal to your Cups+2 score.

If you're willing to start your next Explore Phase Stressed, take favor on this check as you pull an all-nighter.

Research, Forbidden

Prerequisite: Advanced Techniques in Research
These books are bound with wards and protections both mundane and magical: chains and locks keep them inside the library. Junior under-librarians and bound ghosts patrol the shelves, making sure no students are accessing the forbidden knowledge without Ecbert's leave.

Your research efforts can now include the following subjects:

• Angels and the Heavenly Choirs
• Curses
• History of Brechewold
• History of the World Before the Flood
• Imps, Demons, and Devils
• Matters of Time: Time-Travel, Predestination, Fortune-Telling, Eschatology
• The Moon and Other Worlds Beyond the Terrestrial Sphere
• Necromancy
• The Nine Hells and Katabatic Realms

Test Cups.

• Great Failure: You learn things that men were not meant to know. (A squid guy! AHHH!). Lose 1XP and begin the next Explore Phase Stressed.
• Failure: Ask the GM a single question on any subject and receive an honest, thorough answer.
• Success: Ask the GM a number of questions equal to your Cups score.
• Great Success: Ask the GM a number of questions equal to your Cups score. You learn things that shatter your conception of your place in the universe. Gain 1XP and begin the next Explore Phase Stressed.

Studying

Let's sing the Brechewold Hymn:
Good students study.
Bad students cheat.
The very best students may eat dragon meat.

Bad students wiggle.
Good students learn.
The very best students know His Majesty the Worm.

Boons
Gain +3XP.

Snogging

When a young witch and wizard love each other very much, they sometimes want to express it by locking themselves in a broom closet and snogging each other.

Procedure
Propose one of the following dates to a student you know and get them a gift. The GM will randomly determine your date's preferences.

Date ideas:

• Adventurous (sneaking out of dorms at night to snog, trips into the Forest to pick mistletoe, tastetesting the wine from the Wine Cellar on the First Floor Dungeon)
• Entertainment (watching enchanted puppet show of The Elves and the Cooper, attending a toad choir)
• Social (attending the Springle-Ring Ball, going to see Dragon's Dodgeball games)
• Quality time (studying together in the library, walks around the castle moat, watching for falling stars from the Seers' Tower)

Gifts:

• Ephemeral (baked treacle tarts, bouquet of fainting lilies, pumpkin juice)
• Expensive (pet newt, crushed-velvet pointed hat, jewelry)
• Funny (voice-changing chocolates, lewd animated card, an amusing carrot)
• Handmade (crocheted scarf in house colors, "I wrote a song for you")

Test fate using the attribute of your date's Brechewold house. Modify the test based on the student's preferences.

Results

• Critical Failure: Worst date you've ever had. They start a mean rumor about you. Everyone of the same gender as your date has their Disposition with you worsened by one step.
• Failure: Boring conversation, so you made out and did some light hand stuff. They're willing to go out with you again. Cure Stressed.
• Success: A rousing success! Cure Stressed and gain +1 to future Snogging actions with this student (cumulative). If you wish, gain a new Bond with this student called Boy/Girlfriend. It begins charged. If you burn the charge, you will need to Snog to charge it again.
• Critical Success: You're in love! Gain a Love Bond with this student. It begins each semester charged. Gain a locket with their picture—if you would ever take Death's Door, it cracks instead. Cure Stressed.

Tutoring

Are you looking for one-on-one tutoring? You may appeal to a professor and request direct mentorship.

When you encounter this professor in the dungeons in the future, their Disposition improves by one step towards you.

Additionally, make a test of fate based on the professor's house (Riddleward = Cups, Kelpuous = Pentacles, etc.).

• Great Failure: This could not have gone worse. Their Disposition actually worsens by one step when they encounter you instead.
• Failure: Your request is rejected; they are simply too busy this semester.
• Success: You work one-on-one with the professor after classes. Choose two boons from below.
• Great Success: As before, but gain all three boons.

Boons

• Hear a second rumor from that professor.
• Learn 1 spell (GM's choice) from the class without spending XP.
• During that class's exam, draw 2 cards and choose the highest, as if you had a group study session.

Art by Heikala

Visit Brechenborg

Prerequisite: 3rd+ years only
Did you break your wand? Visit Brechenborg to replace broken, missing, or depleted essential items.

In addition to replacing anything with a Restock or Limited keyword and any School Supplies you might need, you may select items from the following equipment list:

• Weapon
• Doublet (1 armor)
• Fine clothes
• Block and tackle
• Chain
• Crowbar
• Falconry gear
• Hatchet
• Hammer
• Lard
• Leeches
• Salt
• Shovel
• Spyglass
• Torch
• Wine (fine)

Write Thank You Card

Everybody has a birthday. Celebrate yours! Choose something else from your starting equipment list. Then, write your parents a nice thank you note. Usable once only.

Art by Heikala

Troubles in the Northfarthing

An installment of my hexmap for Middle-earth project. Follow the "Middle-earth Hexmap" tag for all entries in this series.

In this entry, trouble begets trouble as trolls (driven towards these lands by the Necromancer, no doubt) awakens an entity older than the Shire. A stalwart company may be able to unravel the mystery before things get out of hand.

Map credit: Idraluna Archive. Click for the full map.

44.51

OLD GRAVEYARD. Near the south of the hex, an old Hobbit graveyard (now unused). Names such as Gammidge, Roper, and Gamwich are commonly found on tombstones. Many graves seem freshly disturbed. To the north, unkempt heathlands of hemp and flax.

(1-3) - TROLLS: At night, the wood-trolls Ed and Ned (44.52) are here, digging through old graves for marrow bones.

45.51

TIGHFIELD. A small Hobbit village. Many local hobbits work at the ropemarker's yard (also called the "ropewalk"). The Order of the Eagle's chapterhouse is in Tighfield. The local inn is called The Tightrope Walker.

✦ - OFTEN HERE: 1. Hugo Gammidge (hobbit - long, white hair, suspicious, farmer) swears he's seen huge, lurking shadows skulking through his fields to the north of town (44.51), 2. Robin Roper (hobbit - short, cheerful, ropemaker) is looking for someone to teach him acrobatics and juggling, 3. Angelica Gamwich (hobbit - white-lock, cunning, goodwife) has heard that another member of the Order of the Eagle, Priam Cadwall of Hardbottle (51.54), has recently imported an antique from Harad.

PRESTIGIOUS ORDER OF THE EAGLE MEETING HOLE: A reserved society of intellectuals, philosophers, and debate-enthusiasts. Entry into the Order of the Eagle is predicated on being able to defeat a standing member in a riddling contest (which is a primary occupation of many meetings).

! - ROPE THIEF: Andy Roper (hobbit - flat-faced, simple, rope-maker) leads a mob of angry Tighfielders against the The Tightrope Walker, where three dwarves, led by Ergl Broadbeam (dwarf - proud, pugnacious, trader), have shut themselves in. Andy accuses them of theft from the ropewalk. The tensions between the two groups are escalating towards violence, and both sides are eager for a neutral party to resolve the situation.

The dwarves are innocent; they have been framed by Bess Muggins (hobbit - sour-faced, prejudiced, innkeeper), who erroneously blames dwarven merchants for her husband's disappearance years ago.
[Credit: TOR2E - Starter Set - Shire]

46.51

FOX DOWNS. A hilly country of the Westfarthing, approaching the bounds of the Shire. Flax, hemp, and wildflowers grow in abundance. Draw on the Wilderness Landmarks table.

(1) - FOX HUNTERS: A pack of hunting dogs precede Timothee Broadbuck (hobbit - widow's peak, braggadocious, goodman) and seven companions, all on ponies, out hunting foxes. Mr. Broadbuck is in a foul mood since one of his saddlebags has been lost ("Along with my precious horn!").

47.51

FOX DOWNS. A hilly country of the Westfarthing, approaching the bounds of the Shire. Draw on the Wilderness Landmarks table.

(3) - The burglar with the highest Understanding must make a Δ8 test. If successful, they glimpse a fox carrying something shiny disappear into a hole by a tree. Investigating the tree hole reveals a cache of 4d6 silvers and an enchanted hunting horn (screeches like a fox when blown, 5-in-6 chance of summoning one).

44.52

FOREST on the NORTH MOORS. In a fold of the land, a marshy forest of oak, beech, alder and hazel tangles itself before yielding to the vast heath of the North Moors. The forest is eerily quiet. The Water gathers into its headstream in the northeastern corner of this hex.

TROLL'S DEN. Hidden. Inside a bowl of a dead tree is a tunnel into a sandy cave. A pair of wood-trolls, Ed and Ned, sleep here during the day. The bones of sheep, deer, coneys, and foxes litter the floor.

• Ed carries an enchanted skinning knife (+2 to Subtlety when stalking animals). He also wears an enchanted bangle that allows him to perceive 500' of his immediate area while in the wilderness, even through dense brush or unworked stone.
• Ned carries a shrunken orc head that can be asked questions of Orc Lore or Eryn Vorn Lore. Cursed. He also carries a shiny, lucky button. If carried by a non-troll, will heal 10d10 Endurance for its bearer at the best possible moment. The button then goes dull.
• Treasure is kept in a copper cauldron buried (obviously) in the cave. Totals: 17 gp, 110 sp, 160 cp.
• A piece of enchanted wood, vaguely face-like, is kept as a pet by the trolls. Pleasant to the touch. Can be carved into an enchanted (+1) item.

(1-3) - TROLLS: At night, the wood-trolls Ed and Ned stalk the forest in search of food. They've eaten most of the local wildlife. They're getting desperate and willing to take risks.
(6) - CHARCOAL BURNERS: Vigo Burrows (hobbit - bald-crowned, plainspoken, charcoal burner) and his son, Diggo, have set up a camp and charcoal kiln outside the forest. They swear they've seen elm trees, seventeen feet tall, walking through the forest at night.

[Credit: MERP - Realms - The Shire]

45.52

MISTYDELL. The northern slopes of the White Downs terminate in a bowl-like valley, filled with trickling streams, small waterfalls, and frequent fogs. The region has a bad reputation and is rarely visited.

GULLIONMERE. At the very center of the folds of the valley is a pond called the Gullionmere. There is a local superstition that a monster dwells in the pond, though nobody really believes it. On the banks grow croquists (small purple flowers in spring and summer) that grant water-breathing when chewed like gum.

THE GULLION: The Gullion is, however, real. A creature whose origins are lost to time (spirit? faerie?), it has dwelt in the Mistydell before the coming of the Hobbits. Recently, its only friend, a fox named Tawnwiddy, was killed and eaten by the wood-trolls in 44.52. This has enraged the Gullion, and it's venturing forth for the first time in generations.

In appearance, a drowned man the color of a starless night with hair like water weeds. Its arms can grow impossibly long, and it can reach out of its pond home and snatch creatures from the shore. It is strong enough to lift a pony.

It drinks the blood of animals (sheep, ponies, chickens), leaving them dried husks. It kidnaps those who go on two legs and takes them back to its underwater home, where they cannot escape.

He is difficult to talk to and is an incoherent speaker, often crying and blubbering about "my Friend." The Gullion is a sporting creature and loves games of all kinds.

END: 99, VAL: 7, STR: 6, SKI: 2, UND: 0, SUB: 2, BEA: -2. EP: 10,200.

GULLION'S HOME: A damp cave accessed via the Gullionmere. Crudely carved algae-covered logs serve as furniture.

• Heavy copper cooking gear: A lovely old twenty-piece set dating back to King Valandil of Arnor. The Gullion uses it to brew teas that heal his guests.
• Nine-mens Morris set: A fine board with obsidian and marble playing pieces.
• Musical instruments: A lyre made out of a turtle shell. The Gullion is a good player, but it rattles the teeth.
• Trophies: Eriadorian red brass battle axe (enchanted, +3), Arnorian shield (enchanted, +1), Arnorian carved staff (Endurance battery for magic, 5 points), and a river pike's head the size of a pig.

(1) - THE GULLION: At night, the Gullion can be found crying and seeking revenge in the hills. Those investigating his pond can be attacked even during the day.
(2-5) - MISTS: Fogs and vapors tumble down the hills and get trapped in the valleys, no matter the weather at the top.
[Credit: MERP - Realms - The Shire]

46.52

ROAD. The road between Little Delving (46.53) and Tighfield (45.51) runs through the northeast corner of this hex. To the south and north, the landscape is a patchwork of tidy farms, hedges, and low-stone walls.

(1) - Gerontius "Ron" Took (hobbit - bright-eyed, overeager, tween adventurer) has been sold a magic sword (fake) by an unscrupulous dwarf and is looking for adventure in the North Moors. He'll come to a bad end if not helped or redirected. If returned safely home, the Tooks and Gandalf will both be thankful.
(6) - A sibling trio of musicians, Sally, Terry, and Mickel Oldfield (hobbit - hazel-eyed, dreamy, musicians) are encamped on the side of the road. They're playing music to raise money to stay at an inn the next night. Listening to their songs restores 1 Endurance.