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]