Showing posts with label middle-earth hexmap. Show all posts

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Two Haunted Ruins (Middle-earth Hexcrawl)

My colleague Warren of ICastLight was kind enough to send me a copy of the MERP module The Haunted Ruins of the Dunlendings.

MERP modules can be a little hit or miss, but I thought two of the three adventures were pretty good! Of course, being persnickity, I wanted to inject some modern OSR theory into the dungeons. So I took the opportunity to go ahead and stat these out for Lore, my Lord of the Rings Adventure Retroclone, and expand the Middle-earth Hexcrawl into this as-of-yet uncharted region.

As such, I present to you, two haunted ruins.

86.98

CABED ANGREN. A small Gondorian mining town in the shadow of the White Mountains, supported by about ten farming homesteads in the surrounding valley. Although too small to have an inn, the town hosts one of Gondor's three Juggler's Colleges (the others are in Pelargir and Cobas Haven), which has a guest house. The River Morthond flows on the east of the region; a stone bridge allows passage into the Vale of Erech.

✦ - OFTEN HERE: 1. Forlong (man - velvet chaperon, mercantile, alderman) lost two brothers to the bandits encamped at Minas Anghen (85.99), 2. Duoervis Cleg (man - old & fat but surprisingly nimble, childishly witty, master juggler) wants to prove that his Juggler's College is superior to its sisters in loftier cities, 3. Audrey (woman - cow-eyed, frank, goodwife) is willing to rent out a spare room for 5 copper/week, but won't put up with any funny business.

! - RAIDERS OF MINAS ANGHEN: Eriel (woman - almost-violet eyes, haughty, noble) is gifted with foresight, and is interested in Minas Anghen (85.99) as a home of past seers. She has disguised her status as a noblewoman while researching the history of the tower, which is currently held by a company of raiders. She knows that the old seer who dwelt at Minas Anghen possessed much magic treasure, and she's not sure if the raiders have discovered it or not. She will pay the common burglar's price and give a simple map of the layout of the tower in exchange for first pick from any treasures recovered.

★ - A burglar who pays 12 silver tuition and spends six months of intensive study at the Juggler's College gains the following art:
Juggler: Gain a +2 bonus on all Subtlety tests related to sleight of hand. Additionally, you treat falls as if they were 10' shorter.

[Credit: MERP - Haunted Ruins of the Dunlendings]

85.99

MINAS ANGHEN. A tower fortress on the shoulders of the White Mountains. Its name means "Long-eye Tower" in the Common Speech, and is sometimes named as such by the folk of Cabed Angren. Once held by local lords, the last legitimate resident was Niniel the Seer, who died of plague 100 years ago. It is now occupied by a raiding company of bandits hired by a disinherited Pelargir noble.

(6) - SEER'S GHOST: The ghost of Niniel the Seer haunts the mountain paths that lead to Minas Anghen. She can also be seen standing, impossibly, on top of the Long-eye Falls. She will try to lure heroes to rid the tower of the occupying bandits by pointing, pleadingly, towards the tower. She will be attracted to those carrying treasures that is Haunted.

Approaching Minas Anghen triggers a location-based adventure.

The Bandits
There are ten occupants in total; nine raiders and a young woman they've pressed into service. As they are defeated, mark through their names in the list.

Coerba Nine-Fingers, "The Bandit Prince" (man - braided thinning black hair, sardonic, bandit captain)
Sunil the Snake (woman - lisp, fiery, Coerba's woman)
Hirgon (man - dandy, casually cruel, bandit lieutenant)
Vagor (man - piggish, odious, bandit)
Pwyll (man - hawk-nosed, meticulous, bandit)
Dagnir (man - boss-eyed, out of countenance, bandit)
Gorlim (man - drooling, lecherous, bandit)
Dirhavel (man -bushy-bearded, bully, bandit)
Treva (woman - white haired child, sullen, thrall)
Gorghiric (man - haunted, hard drinking, shaman) *

* Alone among the bandits, Gorghiric doesn't use bandit stats. Instead, user sorcerer stats to represent him. Although not a servant of the Necromancer directly, he has lost his mind studying dark things. He can attack with a spell of fear and summon illusory phantasms, if not drunk.

What are the bandits doing?
The bandits sleep during the day; a random pair will be on watch duty at any point. During the night, each bandit has a default room where they will be (until an alarm is raised). Roll on this table to see if there are any changes to this default behavior:

Sunil is in the Presence Room (area 9), sitting in mock judgement to settle a disagreement between Vagor and Pwyll. Gorghiric is drunk in his cell, insensate.
Coerba is sparring with Hirgon, Dagnir, and Dirhavel in the garth (area 2). Sunil is discovering the purpose of the orbs on the rooftop (area 18). Gorghiric is in the kitchens (area 4) with Treva; he has confused her with his daughter and is weeping.
Gorghiric is speaking with Coerba in his sitting room (area 13), trying to convince him to let him perform a human sacrifice to appease the dark powers. Dagnir and Gorlim are searching the tower for Craun, a bandit who went through a portal in the Room of Doors (area 15) and became lost; they swear they can hear him crying out sometimes.
Sunil is browbeating Vagor, Pwyll, Dagnir, and Gorlim to help Treva with the cleaning in the kitchens (area 4). Gorghiric is discovering the purpose of the orbs on the rooftop (area 18).

The Outer Structure

1. Gates: Heavy wooden doors bar entrance to the courtyard. They are open at night (so the bandits can come and go as they please) but barred during the day.

2. Garth: The central courtyard is weedy and overgrown. There are two wells, an enclosure for horses, and a henhouse. There is a single bedraggled chicken.

Two Wells: One of the wells drips into a rushing river and produces clear, cold water. The other drops down into the secret prison (25).

3. Hallway: A hallway to the servant's quarters.

4. Kitchen: A large, rustic stone kitchen with two hearths. It is in a state of disarray: kettles, cleavers, unwashed pots, old bread. Treva, the bandits' nineteen-year-old thrall, works and sleeps here.

5. Dagnir and Gorlim's Bedroom: A bedroom with beds and two locked chests. Dagnir and Gorlim are usually here.

Chests: Dagnir's chest contains 21 copper pennies and a bottle of fine red Belfalas wine. Gorlim's holds 16 copper pennies and a book, Tales Behind the Cotton Curtains, which contains bawdy pictures.

6. Dirhavel's Bedroom: An untidy bedroom strewn with eight bottles of wine (three empties), three longswords, and a poleaxe. A locked chest sits at the foot of the bed. Dirhavel is usually here.

Chest: The chest contains several woolen tunics and a leaking bottle of oil for cleaning swords. The chest has a false bottom that contains a purse with 75 copper pennies and a massive gold chain (worth 5 gold).

7. Vagor and Pwyll's Bedroom: An odd couple's bedroom: half tidy, half squalid. Vagor and Pwyll are often here, arguing.

Searching the room: Under Pwyll's mattress is a golden headband set with green tourmalines worth 16 silver. Under Vagor's bed is an old boot with a gold ring (worth 1 gold) hidden in it, as well as various apple cores, wine bottles, chicken bones, etc.

8. Stables: Five horses are bedded on old leaves. The horses are:

Stubby: An old nag. No tail. -2 Morale.
Stubborn: An old nag. -2 Morale.
Frello: An old nag. Bites.
Swiftfoot: A good piebald horse.
Prince: A good bay horse.

The Tower

9. Presence Room: A black oak throne set on a central dais dominates this room. Eight beech chairs line the outer wall. A huge tapestry with an abstract, Arabesque pattern hangs at the back of the room.

Throne: The throne conceals mechanisms that control traps in this room.
- A foot pedal in the floor drops the portcullis in the entrance to the tower.
- A button in the left armrest opens a 10' x 5' pit in the floor that drops into an underground river that eventually cascades down Long-eye Falls. A Strength Δ8 test is allowed for a burglar to grab the edge of the pit. Falling in is almost certain death.
- Both Coerba and Sunil know of these mechanisms. If the company is captured, Coerba will hold a mock trial for them in this room and use the floor traps against them.
Tapestry: The tapestry conceals the door to area 10.

10. Dining Room: A seven foot long oval table of oak. Two doors afford exits: one leads to a privy; the other opens onto a stairwell at one end and a door into the kitchens at the other.

11. Hallway: A window lights this narrow corridor. A privy (unkeyed) is at one end.

12. Hirgon's Bedroom: Fine quarters. A silver mirror with a jade frame (15 silver) hangs prominently on the wall. The bed has a purple satin quilt. There is a locked chest. Hirgon is often here.

Chest: The chest contains fine wool tunics and heavy silk surcoats. There is a purse containing 32 silver pennies and a green glass jar containing 5 doses of marigold salve (prevents infections).

13. Coerba's Sitting Room: A pleasant room with cushioned benches and carved applewood chairs. Trinkets (worthless) decorate the hearth. A painting of a dwarf forging six keys hangs on the wall. Coerba is often here.

Painting of a dwarf: This painting has a trace of magic set on it. A burglar wearing the Seer's Ring sees the rings as being hyper-realistic and may remove the six keys from the painting. These keys open the chests in the Seer's Vault (area 27).

14. Sunil and Coerba's Bedroom: Fine quarters. The curtained and canopied bed has draperies of velvet green, embroidered with gold; half is missing because Sunil made a cloak of it for herself. Chests of drawers hold an extensive collection of fine Gondorian clothing. A bear skin rug lies on the ground. The fireplace is carved with stone roses. Sunil is often here.

Bear skin rug: Under the rug is a trap door that covers a shallow compartment. Opening the trap door activates a trap. Inside the compartment are:
- 105 silver pennies, bracelet of silver with garnets (10 silver), necklace set with sapphires (9 silver), a jar of madwort (a poison that addles the victim), 8 mirenna berries (heal 1 damage each), a cut sapphire, a gold circlet set with adamant (magical; acts as a helm when worn), and the Box of Panes (see below).
Trap: Four crossbow bolts are fired from the ceiling; they make four Attack +8 versus the burglar that opened the trap door.
Stone roses: Pressing a hidden button on the stone roses disarms the trap.

Box of Panes
This magic item controls the behavior of the Room of Doors (area 15). None of the bandits have worked this out and are rightfully cautious about experimenting with the magic items of this place.

The Box of Panes is a wooden box with nine compartments, arranged 3 x 3. The center compartment is empty. In the other compartments are colored glass cubes.

When a colored glass cube is placed in the center position of the Box of Panes, the correspondingly-colored door in the Room of Doors opens into a new location.

The cubes are:

Black: The door opens into darkness. Those who pass through it are sent hundreds of feet deep into the earth; instant death.
White: The door opens into a white light. Those who pass through it are suspended, as if in a changeless sleep. When the cube is moved out of the central compartment, they reappear in the Room of Doors.
Blue: The door opens into the Wine Cellar (area 23).
Green: The door opens into the Seer's Vault (area 27).
Yellow: The door opens onto the Roof (area 18).
Orange: The door opens into the Baths (area 22).
Violet: The door opens into the Library (area 16).
Red: The door opens exiting the Gate (area 1).

15. Room of Doors: This strange chamber takes up an entire floor of the tower. Six doors are equally spaced around the room. They are each different colors: black, white, blue, green, yellow, orange, violet, and red.

Doors: The doors are controlled by the Box of Panes (held by Coerba and Sunil in area 14). If the Box of Panes's central compartment is empty, each of the colored doors open into a mist. If entered, the victim is transported to the Secret Prison (area 25).
- Box of Panes: If the appropriately colored cube is placed in the Box of Panes's central compartment, that door opens into a new location. The other doors still transport victims to the Secret Prison.

16. Seer's Library: A spacious and ornate library, orderly but weighted with dust. Shelves full of old books and tomes line the walls. A writing desk sits in the south of the room. A painting of elven women gathering herbs hangs on the wall.

Note: This room can only be reached via the Box of Panes and the violet door in area 15.
- Windows: The room's six windows are one-way glass—they are coated with a silver paint, ithilcaid, that permits viewing from inside but not outside.
Books: The books are obscure tomes written in Grey Elvish cataloging foretellings, prophetic verses, and symbologies. If studied for a month, a burglar may learn Seer's Lore. If sold to a Gondorian mystic, each would be worth a ducat.
Desk: The desk contains a normal complement of writing tools: ink-horns, quills, sealing wax, parchment, sand, etc. Drawers contain a ring of keys and a book titled Gilrhuin's Tower.
- Ring of keys: These are keys to the mundane doors of the tower, including the secret prison.
- Gilrhuin's Tower: This book was begun by the Seer Gilrhuin and continued by adopted heir, Niniel, whom he adopted from an orphanage in Cabed Angren. The book explains the working of two magical treasures: the Box of Panes and the Seer's Ring. Towards the end of the book, Niniel expresses her desire to donate the contents of the "Seer's Vault" to the orphanage she spent her early years in.
Painting: This painting has a trace of magic set on it. A burglar wearing the Seer's Ring sees the herbs as being hyper-realistic and may pull six uses of sweet sorrel from the painting.

17. False Door: The stairway ascends to the fourth floor and comes to a landing; the stairs continue upwards. The interior of the stair shaft and the stairs transition from wood to stone. The door on the landing has a poem written on it: "The library within is for neither man nor elf / seek the knowledge inside of yourself."

Door: The door is a false and opens to nothing. Attempting to open the door triggers a magical trap: all weapons carried in hand erupt into flame. Their bearers suffer 2d6 damage.

18. Rooftop: An open colonnade surrounds the top of the tower and supports the roof. A stairwell winds around the central chimney, which leads up to a basin for a signal fire (18a). Between each column is a pedestal overlooking the crenellations topped with a viewing orb.

Orb: There are twelve orbs in total. Each is a magical seeing stone that activates after about a turn (10 minutes) of concentration. They permit sight in a 30 degree arc, and lets the user view up to 30 leagues with the clarity of a spyglass at both day and night.

The Halls Under the Garth

19. Storeroom: A hallway stacked with supplies.

Supplies: Recent additions from the bandits include: 20 sacks of oats, five barrels of wine, 8 cured hams, a sack of carrots, some boards, a saw, a hammer, and other simple construction supplies.

20. Gorghiric's Quarters: A damp underground chamber. A sleeping pallet is set in one corner. An altar is set up in the center of the room: a table overhung with a cloth, on which black candles drip wax. Gorghiric is often here.

Gorghiric: If he hears the company coming, he will try to frighten them away with phantoms of disturbing images: headless corpses demanding retreat. If the company persists, he will ambush them with his dagger.
Altar: Hidden under the altar is the skeleton of Niniel the Seer. Gorghiric discovered her near the secret exit in area 23. He has not told the other bandits about this. On her skeletal hand, she still wears the Seer's Ring.

Seer's Ring: A mithril band set with an adamant.

Once a day, the ring can be twisted on the bearer's finger while they ask the question: "If I do X, will Y happen?" The ring will glow softly if the answer is "Yes."
Once a week, the ring can be twisted on the bearer's finger while they ask the question: "If I do X, what will happen?" The ring will show the bearer a vision of the answer.

21. Well Room: A wide stone basin filled with mountain spring water which flows from a mouth in the cavern wall and out through a drain in the bottom. An inscription carved on the wall cavern reads: "Harrowing the path, narrow the way. Hide your treasures where no man strays."

Drain: There is a secret passage reachable only by swimming down the drain, into a water-filled channel that leads to area 27. This is a Strength Δ12 feat to accomplish.

22. Baths: Two basins in a stone chamber. One has a continuously flowing stream of icy mountain spring water. The other is a large tub with a spigot. A fireplace beneath the tub can be used to warm the bath.

23. Wine Cellar: Mostly empty wine racks line both the north and south wall. On the east wall, there is a painting of a fly trapped in a spider web. A cold breeze blows through the room.

Painting: There is a secret door behind the painting.
- This painting has a trace of magic set on it. A burglar wearing the Seer's Ring sees the painting as partially transparent and can perceive the secret door behind it easily.
Searching behind the wine racks: Behind the southern wine rack is a concealed door that leads into an exit onto a mountain path.

24. Hidden Passageway: A hallway. The east door is made of metal and locked.

25. Secret Prison: A pulley apparatus drops down from a hole in the ceiling. A not-quite-rotted corpse lies near the metal door.

Pulley: It is connected to a well in the garth (area 2). It is used to drop food and supplies to a prisoner held here.
Corpse: This is Craun, one of Coerba's gang, who went through a portal in the Room of Doors and found his way here. The bandits could hear him shouting, but could never determine where his voice was coming from. He died of thirst. He is carrying a falchion and 26 copper pennies.

26. Cell: A smaller cell, containing a rotted straw-filled mattress and latrine hole. The cell has an iron grate door (currently open and unlocked).

27. Seer's Vault: A carved stone chamber that contains the wealth of the Seers of Minas Anghen—the wealth of more than 500 years. There are six oak chests standing in this room. Each is locked (but not trapped). The ghost of Niniel the Seer lingers in this room.

Note: This room can only be reached via the Box of Panes and the green door in area 15 or by swimming in the secret passage in area 21.
Ghost: Niniel the Seer wished to invest the treasure of chest 1 to the Foundling Home in Cabed Angren, where she spent the first part of her life and was adopted by the seer Gilrhuin. She died before she could make this a reality. As a ghost, she will beg the company to fulfill this for her. If they do not, the treasures of the vault become haunted.
Chest 1: 12 bags each containing 30 silver crowns.
Chest 2: The Bearing-bag of Breca (can hold up to 7 slots of items in a single slot).
Chest 3: The Bracers of Blyga (Of Archery, grants +1 on attacks with bows) and a necklace of clarity (roll 3d6 and take the best 2 dice when rolling to resist confusion and hallucinations. Additionally, you automatically identify phantoms as illusions).
Chest 4: Axe of Armor Slaying (removes 1 from an enemy's Defense bonus from armor when succeeding on a Critical instead of a normal Critical effect) and the Bracelets of Iorn Fegic (when worn, your fists are like maces but attack with -1).
Chest 5: Eagle brooch (of adornment: +1 bonus to any temporary magical blessing from Songs of Power and similar sources, and of grace: you take 1 less damage from singing Songs of Power per round, to a minimum of 1) and a belt of soft tread (+1 bonus to Subtlety maneuvers to move silently).
Chest 6: This chest contains:
- 3 ingots of silver
- 3 ingots of gold
- 5 diamonds (adamants)
- 2 sapphires
- 12 lesser jewels (moonstones, moss agates, tourmalines, leucoasapphires)

88.97

SETMAENEN. A mound of earth raised over a grotto spring surrounded by seven standing stones. This was once one of the calendar temples of the Dunlendings. Today, there is an aura of fear on the place.

Those with Dunlending Lore know that, of old, this was a place of healing on Midsummer's Day, but was cursed by the Dark Lord out of jealousy that none should be worshipped but him.

Approaching Setmaenen triggers a location-based adventure. Italicized text is included for the GM's benefit and shouldn't be told to the players unless they have an appropriate lore.

1. Circle of Stones: The earthwork mound is ringed by seven standing stones. There is an entrance (area 2), cut into the mound. Next to the entrance is an evil-looking statue.

Stones: These stones were part of the ancient Dunlendings calendar system: they seem to have a star motif. They depict periods of time demarcated by which constellations are visible in the sky. On one stone is an illustration of a picture of a woman (representing the moon) walking a circuit of 29 steps. The 7th, 8th, and 9th steps are marred.
Statue: A squat statue of a humanoid with a leering bull's face. An evil will lives within the statue. It was erected by Sauron in the Second Age to end the worship held at this site.
- Entering the circle of stones: As long as the statue is possessed by the spirit, every burglar entering the circle of stones takes 15 - (2d6 + Valour) fear damage.

2. Door: A hole is cut into the turf of the mound. The door step is 3' above the ground level (the ancient stairs have rotted away). The entrance way is defined and supported by three huge stones forming an archway. The lintel is carved with a solar motif. It depicts the sun on the longest day of the year. Above the lintel is an opening like a transom window; it can only be opened from inside (area 3).

Transom window: The window will allow the sun's rays inside while the stone is blocking the entrance door. (On Midsummer's Day, this would close the door to the pool, re-opening the mound. See area 4 for an explanation of this mechanism.)

3. Entrance hall: A 15' passage into the heart of the mound. Next to the door (2), set into a recess is a huge round stone (weighing 2 tonnes).

If the door to area 5 is opened: The stone next to the door rolls into place, blocking the exit to the grotto.

4. Altar room: A cross-shaped room. To the north, west, and east are nooks with altars. Each altar has a silvery mirror set onto the wall behind it. The north altar depicts a solar motif. The western altar depicts stars. The eastern altar depicts a lunar motif. The door to area 5 is blocked by a heavy round stone.

Shining the sun's light onto the northern mirror: If the sun's light is shone directly onto the mirror set in the northern niche, the door to area 5 will open. A counterweight will simultaneously roll the stone in the entrance hall (area 3), closing the mound off from outside access. That is to say, if the door to area 5 is opened, the entrance to the mound is closed and vice versa. This effect will happen naturally on the sunrise of Midsummer's Day.
Investigating the eastern altar: A burglar who specifically investigates the eastern altar for hidden doors or mechanisms will find that the lunar motif is a button. Pushing this button disarms the trapped stairs in area 6.

5. Resting room: An empty room. This space was once used for worshippers to make themselves ready to enter the pool of area 8.

6. Stairs: A flight of stairs descending into the earth. At the base of the stairs, there are two pillars containing levered mechanisms.

Walking on the stairs: The 7th, 8th, and 9th are trapped. When 40 lbs. of weight is placed on these stairs, all three stairs turn into a trapdoor that fall 40' into an underground cavern, then close again. Burglars may make a Strength Δ8 test to dive off the stairs before falling.
Mechanisms: These two mechanisms, when both engaged, disarm the trap on the stairs.

7. Pool of the Holy Spring: The heart of the mound is egg-like, with polished white stone walls and a domed ceiling. A spring floods the room, making it a pool of cold water.

On Midsummer's Day: If the wight in area 9 is destroyed, the pool becomes a place of healing on Midsummer's Day. A maia of Estë visits the pool on this day and stirs the waters, blessing it. A player may benefit from one of the following healing effects (player's choice) per year:
- Healing of all damage
- Curing madness or mental affliction
- Healing one long-term wound, scar, or lost body part
- Improving one negative attribute to +0

8. Trapped hallway: A hallway that slopes towards area 9.

Trap door: The middle of the hallway has a trap door. If not specifically investigated, the first burglar in the marching order can make a Subtlety Δ10 test to notice the trap door. Those who step on the trap door fall 50' into an empty cavern below. The trap door can be navigated by walking close to the edges of the hallway.

9. Priest's treasury: This black-marble lined chamber is the trove of the ancient priests of this place: seven stone jars hold their treasures (see below). A wight haunts the room: it conjures an unearthly mist that fills the area.

Wight: VAL: 5, STR: 2, SKI: 3, UND: 3, SUB: 2, BEA: -2, MOVE 2
END: 125, Attack: +6 (+1 sword), Defense +4 (gold-flourished, baroque armour)
Everyone who wishes to attack the wight must make a Valour Δ8 test. On a failure, they suffer 1 fear damage each round they attack the wight.
A wight suffers no criticals from any mundane weapon.
Once defeated, a wight will return from death if its body is not removed from the mound and exposed to sun.
Mist: All burglars suffer a -1 to Attack while in the mist. Hobbits are beneath the mist; treat their Defense as +2 in this room. Slaying the wight clears the mist.

Treasures:
In addition to many canopic jars that hold the ashes of previous priests, the following treasures are found within the seven stone jars:

Anti-Ring: This silver ring that suppresses the power of all other magical rings worn. Cursed.
Ring of Stone: With intense concentration, the wearer can turn into whatever stone they are touching for a turn (10 minutes), usable thrice a day. Additionally, the wearer is immune to any magical sigils carved into stone.
Star Compass: A silver device reminiscent of the Antikythera mechanism. Using it allows one versed in Star Lore or Artifice Lore to accurately tell the time of day and year.
Blue Leather Bottle Bag: This waterskin can hold one use of the Maia-stirred waters collected on Midsummer's Day and maintain its virtues, allowing the powers of the spring to be taken abroad.
20 diamonds
Wishes of Woel Laebur: A tome written in the language of ancient Dunlendings. If translated, study of the tome can teach the following lores during Downtime (one lore gained for each Downtime of study): Caving Lore, Dancing Lore, Herding Lore, Song Lore, Star Lore, and Weather Lore.

[Credit: MERP - Haunted Ruins of the Dunlendings]

89.97

HAEDREC'S CAVE. Haedrec (man - garbed in yellow and red, disquieted, sorcerer) is a sorcerous hermit. His father was of Dúnedain stock and his mother was Dunlending; he follows the magical practices of his mother. He frequently has attempted to explore Setmaenen (88.97) but hasn't yet plumbed its inner mysteries. He will warn the company away from the place, saying truthfully that an evil spirit was sent by the Dark Lord to stop the worship that occurred within the mound on Midsummer's Day. This is partly from genuine concern and partly because he hopes to one day claim the treasures inside for himself.

[Credit: MERP - Haunted Ruins of the Dunlendings]

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Writing in Canon Settings (microblog)

Working on the Middle-earth Hexcrawl Project has made me want to articulate some brief thoughts I've had on writing material for canon settings. This is a microblog, unedited, stream of consciousness, and written while drunk.

If you just faithfully reproduce the things that Tolkien directly talked about, Middle-earth would seem very empty indeed. You can see in Idraluna Archive's map that much of the setting feels empty because nothing is as built out as the Shire.

I have three approaches to filling in the empty space. I wouldn't call them contradictory, but they are different ways to get at the same problem.

One approach is resonance. If I invent something whole cloth, it needs to feel like an appropriate inclusion. In the first edition of The One Ring, Francis Nepitello did a great job with this. The River-maidens aren't mentioned in any of the canon material, but they feel so resonant! Europe is replete, East and West, with water women that wreak havoc. And you know from Goldberry that there are personified Rivers and River's Daughters.

The other approach is what I call the Grant Morrison method. When he wrote Batman, he said he took the entirety of the comic line as "canon," even the weird and silly periods where Batman and Robin fought aliens and stuff. One part of the exercise of populating the entirety of Middle-earth as a hex map is looking at the licensed games I own and seeing how I would organize them for this kind of blorby, procedural play. If MERP has a weird undead spirit called the Gullion in the Shire, should I contradict them?

...To answer my own rhetorical, yes! I should! Curating the licensed material for my own finicky personal preferences is part of the fun. But as I read the works of those who have come before, I'm often struck by stuff that isn't necessarily resonant but is...real? Strange? Appealing? I borrow my favorite pieces of these and stick them into the hexcrawl (with credit).

The third approach is the simplest: revel in the void. Certainly, there are lonesome places in our own world. Not every hex needs to be a slam dunk. Sometimes, a lonely lake or ancient monument is enough to give some color. The writing exercise for the day can be easy. And when I have an opportunity, I can hide cool things in random encounters that will make those hexes feel fun when explored.

As an additional caveat, all of this is just for my own amusement. I've always been writing Tolkien RPG stuff, since my very earliest days playing RPGs, and I suspect I always will. This is a project only as long as it's interesting to me as a daily writing exercise. But while I'm doing it, I might as well be reflective about what choices I'm making today and why.

Monday, May 18, 2026

Middle-earth Hexcrawl Dashboard

A while back, when juggling all the materials I needed to run a game, I had the idea for and mocked up a proof of concept of a hexcrawl dashboard--something that had everything I needed to run a game in a single view.

Last week, Mick of Advanced Mystery & Manners did the yeoman's work of making a hexcrawl dashboard for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl - at least as much as has been released so far. I'm sharing it with their permission. Behold!

Click the image to check it out

Just click a hex, and the key appears. If you need an encounter or rumour, those will generate in the same window.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the hard work Mick put into this. For folks who want to run Lore with adventures in the Shire, this makes it so easy.

Everybody say "Thank you, Mick!"

Saturday, April 18, 2026

LORE - A Lord of the Rings Adventure Game Retroclone

"I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama." - J.R.R. Tolkien

My favorite licensed Tolkien game was published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 1991. It was called The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (abbreviated, bizarrely, as "LOR"). Because I'm very charmed by the system, I ran some games using an adaptation of it.

When I began the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project, I wrote them with an eye towards this adaptation. The more I wrote daily hexes, the more I found myself co-developing a system to use to run the hexcrawl.

I've called this system Lore. It is a retroclone of The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game, much expanded and elaborated on and with many optional subsystems. It is what I will use to run the Middle-earth Hexcrawl.

You can check out the game, here:

Click the picture to get the game!

**What's different about this retroclone?**

There's lots of retroclones scattered throughout the blogosphere. Why is this one worth your time? I think there's a few things that are cool here!

A setting for a system, a system for a setting

Ever since I wrote my 1937 Hobbit blog post (almost ten years ago, good Lord), I've been making posts with rules that attempt to codify the "Treasure Hunting, Journeying, Singing" aesthetic of the original Hobbit. The Middle-earth Hexcrawl Project and Lore are the culmination of those efforts.

The hexcrawl allows you to explore a Middle-earth that never was: one where weird stuff is under every hill and around every bend in the road.

Flavourful characters

The original LOR had a premise I've rarely seen before - it was almost a capsule game. The game was about playing these characters in this adventure. (The adventure was a railroad, but hey.) And there was no ownership over the characters. You could play one character one night and another character on the following night.

A funky premise, but one that I think is compelling! Lore has a similar default set up: play as a gang of burglars from Bree!

And if you choose to make your own character using the advanced rules, each character should prove to be totally unique with each culture having 50 random, flavorful abilities to gain (300 abilities in total). I think there's some real gems here!

How to make friends and influence people

"Poor little blighter," said William. He had already had as much supper as he could hold; also he had had lots of beer. "Poor little blighter! Let him go!"

"Not till he says what he means by lots and none at all," said Bert.

I love that exchange between the trolls in The Hobbit: what a perfect summation of the OSR approach to monster encounters. In Lore, there are two twists on classic OSR procedures of languages and the reaction roll.

Characters in The Hobbit are true polyglots! The dwarves speak the raven language but also understand the crow tongue. Gandalf (and the goblins, presumably) speak the wolf language. And characters can suddenly understand languages in medias res, like Bard understanding the thrush. Similarly, in Lore, the languages you know and don't know are determined during play. If you pass your Understanding test, you know the language being spoken/if you fail, you don't. Add it to your permanent list of languages known/unknown.

Similarly, based on your race, characters have a default starting reaction towards you (nobody likes dwarves...). But if you speak their language, you can negotiate with them and improve their reaction. Your Beauty score determines how many times you can make a social faux pas before a neutral reaction deteriorates into a hostile one!

Delightfully wonky combat

The OSR has ruthlessly refined all the wonkiness out of old-school combat, streamlining it and harmonizing it with the rest of the system: roll high, no THAC0, no charts. I think the simplified MERP combat shown in the original LOR was too crucial to its experience to cut!

Roll on a combat chart to determine if you hit your opponent and how hard. And nested in the chart are super flavourful death and dismemberment results. Armour is important not just because it makes you harder to hit but because it protects your vital spots. For example: "Gash to neck: 10 damage and bleeding wound. If no chest armour, internal bleeding in the throat means that target cannot speak until after rest."

Experience through travel, just in-time level ups

If The Hobbit (and its sequels) are about journeys, I wanted to make sure that journeys were actually fun. Something that frustrates me with other "Ring" games is it abstracts travel either into a series of random rolls (the Guide randomly has to make a skill check - no choices! boring!) or handwaves travel entirely.

In Lore, there's a crunchy journey system that makes you have conversations about how you approach the puzzle of travel.

And, importantly, your company gains experience based on new hexes traveled and new dungeons explored. When your company gains a total of 10 travel points, one member of the company gains an experience point (which is what "levels" are called in this parlance). You can cash in your XP right away to immediately get a new power. Or you can hold on to it and use it when you need it most. If you meet an old man in the hexcrawl, they might be able to teach you a unique skill if you have the XP banked. Or you can spend your XP on enchanting magical items!

Credits

This is entirely a fan work, like a piece of fanfiction published in the Tolkien Society bulletin. My use of the terms, concepts, characters, names, and texts are not a challenge to the trademark or copyright.

Art and Cartography

The Middle-earth Hex Map was created through the research and labor of Idraluna Archive
Art is by Goran Gligovic, used by kind permission

Additional Thanks

Hope, hexcrawling rules, and certain wandering encounter events are sourced from Arnold K. of Goblinpunch's Hex Crawling v3, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
When populating hexes, I frequently relied on the bounty of the blog d4caltrops by Ktrey. You might see some results from his wonderful d100 tables here.
Special thanks to Elizabeth for her encouragement.

Sprawling, but incomplete

The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game is a simple piece of game design; its rules barely take up 34 pages. Like many old games, it is an imperfect beast but has many good ideas. This adaptation has become swollen—almost bloated like Shelob. It has spoiled the original's simplicity in favour of gluttonously feasting on subsystems that appeal to my sensibilities. Such is the author's prerogative!

And yet, this game is incomplete. Not only are there subsystems mentioned (e.g., Downtime) that I haven't finished explaining, but the whole thing is unedited. The entire thing was written in a stream of consciousness to get the ideas onto paper with no thought of clarification or harmonization.

But if I didn't stop working and publish this game on my blog in an unfinished state, it would never be seen by anyone besides myself. I am prioritizing sharing the results of my fever dream labours over presenting something that's, well, presentable.

I suspect that as I continue to reread the trilogy every year I will continue to return to these rules and worry at it. Check back in sometime. Maybe you will find some improvements! I hope there is something here that is appealing to you, friend.

If you end up running the Middle-earth Hexcrawl using these rules, please do let me know.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Random Goblin Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what goblins get. You can also use this table for folks like half-orcs or maybe even tieflings, if that's your style of game.

If you prefer your goblins more whimsical and fairy tale oriented, may I suggest Papers and Pencils's d100 Gobbobilities.

Art by Goran Gligović

Goblins

Now goblins are cruel, wicked, and badhearted. They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones. They can tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, when they take the trouble, though they are usually untidy and dirty. Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design, prisoners and slaves that have to work till they die for want of air and light. It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them, and also not working with their own hands more than they could help; but in those days and those wild parts they had not advanced (as it is called) so far.

Roll a d50 to determine what dark gift you manifest.

Mountain Maggot: You can see in the dark. You can operate as if you had dim light in total darkness. If there's dim light, your eyes are no better than anybody else's.
Hardheaded: Your skull is as hard as stone. You can headbutt and deal damage like a hammer. You are immune to head-based Critical Wounds. You gain +1 Defense, but this doesn't stack with wearing a helmet. Unfortunately, the bottoms of your feet are very, very sensitive. Stepping on caltrops deals double damage to you.
Bloodhound: You can smell as sharply as a wolf. You can identify people you've met before by smell alone. You can follow fresh trails unerringly.
Spidery: You may climb sheer surfaces as if you had a rope. If you ever do fall, treat your fall as if it were 15' shorter.
Trap tricky: If you set off a trap during combat, roll a d6. On a 1-2, the trap hits you. On a 3-4, it hits you AND a foe. On a 5-6, it only hits a foe.
Singed: You are resistant to fire damage.
Long Under the Shadow: You are resistant to fear damage.
Packmaster: You gain the speech of wolves (if you don't already have it). Wolves you meet will default to friendly reactions to you.
★ - Wolfrider: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. Through negotiation and the sharing of meat, a wolf agrees to enter your service and serve as your mount.
Crow Gossip: Gain the speech of crows (if you don't already have it). Crows that you meet will tell you a rumour.
★ - Messenger Crow: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. By sharing a portion of your meat with a clever crow, they form a bond with you. The crow will carry messages for you over distances.
List of Grievances: Make a list of foes that have harmed or slighted you. You gain +1 to attack those named individuals. You can have as many people on the list as equal your Valour attribute (minimum 1).
Looks Like Meat's Back on the Menu: At the end of the battle, if you were victorious, you may devour one of your fallen foes and reduce your damage taken by 1d6.
Chanter of Black Rites: When you chant, you can conjure phantoms of illusion that baffle the eyes of mortals. Elves are never tricked by these, but other folk may react as if they are true.
Cave Ambusher: You gain +2 to any test to set up an ambush while underground. Also, you gain +2 to your attacks during the first round of combat.
Indolent Effort: If you can't get a slave to do the task, you'll try and find a way to cut corners. Reduce the time to perform a particular task by 50% by taking 1d6 damage.
Where There's a Whip, There's a Way: If you spend a fast action driving and exhorting your fellows, all other goblins fighting with you gain +1 to attacks as well and +2 bonus to Morale.
Pitwright: You can forge items of enchantment.

★ - Delighted by Explosions:

If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. You can now craft fireworks and bombs.

Oft Evil Shall Evil Mar: Once per day, after you've seen the result of a roll, you may push a nearby ally into a trap or attack that was going to hit you and have them take the effect instead.
Terrible Blow: You may choose to sunder the melee weapon you are wielding to gain a +4 attack bonus for the blow.
Revenger: You gain a +1 to attack anyone who has damaged you in combat.
Eater of Foul Things: In a pinch, you can eat food that would make other folk sick: the flesh of speaking peoples, rotten meat, worms and vermin.
Cowardly: Gain +2 Movement in combat if you are moving away from a foe.
Flatfooted and Bowlegged: Gain +2 Movement. ★ - You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
Slave Driver: When serving as the Guide, reduce damage from forced marches for those you in your company by -5 for the first day, -4 for the second day, -3 for the third day, and so on, until you can no longer reduce the strain.
Forked Tongue: When you whisper, you can choose exactly who can hear you--them and no one else. When you shout, you can be heard clearly, even over the din of battle.
Sunblotter: When you deal a Critical Wound with an arrow, you may immediately make a second missile attack.
Bloodletter: Your taste for blood is preternatural, giving you insights that no one else can understand. You can identify different blood types (allowing you to give transfusions). You can identify who is and who isn't related to each other. If a target is bleeding, you can follow them like a hound.
Head Taker: Every enemy you kill during a combat increases the severity of Critical Wounds that you deal by one letter (from A -> B if you've killed 1 enemy, from A -> C if you've killed 2 enemies, etc.)
Besieger: Treat your Strength as +4 higher for maneuvers related to smashing down doors, climbing held castle walls, bending bars, or lifting gates.
Poisoner: With a few minutes of sniffing and tasting, you can identify the effects of poisons that you encounter.

★ - Learned Harsh Lessons:

If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. You are resistant to poison damage.

Edge Grinder: By tending to your weapon and oiling it (costs 1 silver piece/6 marks), you may increase its damage dealt by +1. This bonus lasts until the end of a battle in which you deal damage; afterwards, you must care for it again.
Foul Curses: Once a week, you can say at least two rhyming couplets of foul poetry (calling down the wrath of the Night, listing vulgar names, inventing new disgusting epithets) to force the GM to reroll an attack or maneuver an NPC made.
Hauler: Add +4 to your Strength score for the purposes of your carrying capacity.
Black Legionnaire: Reduce the penalty from your worn armour to your Movement by an amount equal to your Strength score.
Unrelenting Hatred: If you would fall unconscious in combat from damage taken, test Strength ΔX, where X is your Endurance - Damage Taken. On a success, you remain conscious and active. This test must be repeated each round as long as your damage taken exceeds your Endurance.
Slinker: If you are ever in a position where you are trying to hide from observers, you may take 1d6 damage to find cover in an implausible (but not impossible) manner and hide in plain sight.
Sense Hatred: You can clearly identify rivalries and enmities between people. Additionally, if you spend at least an hour in the company of a group, you get a sense of any repressed discontentment. The GM will tell which characters have negative views of each other.
Haruspicy: You can spend an hour dissecting and inspecting the viscera of a bird to ask the GM: "If I do X, will Y happen?" You receive a “yes, ”“no,” or "maybe" answer by interpreting the signs at hand.
Bane of Elves: You deal +1 damage to elves. Keep a tally of how many elves you have killed. At 50 elves, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 elves, this bonus increases to +3.
Caution of Curses: If you spend an hour in contemplation of an artifact, the GM will tell you if there are any curses that lay on it and what manner they are.
Songs of the Night: When singing Songs of Power, you may choose to use your Skill attribute instead of Beauty.
Dwimmercrafty: You can tell how many charges or uses are left on a limited use item.
Wheeling and Dealing: You may use Skill instead of Beauty when trying to influence the reaction of characters when buying or selling, getting a bargain, and closing business deals.
Mind of Wheels and Engines: When you tinker with a machine, you may add some basic conditions to its functioning that follows an "If this, then that" pattern. For example, you could rig a trap with conditions like: "If triggered, then wait 30 seconds before firing" or "If stepped on by a goblin, then don't fire."
Still Trouble the World: This virtue is only expressed when you fall in battle. After death, you will become a dark spirit and haunt the place where you fell, extending your hate after your death.
Canny to Hidey Holes: Once per day, you may ask the GM "Is there a secret door in my line of sight?" and receive an honest answer.
Tomb Robber: Once per day, you may ask the GM "Is there a hidden trap in my line of sight?" and receive an honest answer.
+1 Subtlety
+1 Strength
+1 Valour
+10 Endurance

(I usually make these d50 tables alphabetized to make it easy to read, but goblins are so chaotic I didn't bother.)

A note

One of the big reasons I started writing random advancement tables is so that I could update my most popular blog post, 1937 Hobbit as a Setting. Previously, that post linked out to random advancement options on a blog that I no longer want to give traffic to. I've updated the original blog post with the new links.

It's nice to have my own rules to replace them—and I hope they're useful to you!

Sunday, March 1, 2026

Random Hobbit Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what hobbits get.

You can either roll a d10 for your culture to get a result from a tightly-bound part of the table or roll a d50 to get anything from the entire table.
This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with halflings in it.
- The random dwarf advancement table is here.
- The random human advancement table is here.
- The random elf advancement table is here.
- The random elf-friend advancement table is here.
Note: When you roll an advancement option twice, you can either select the option above or below the rolled benefit. However, a few advancements can be upgraded several times or unlock a new art entirely. These are noted in the text.
Art by Goran Gligovic

Harfoots

The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were beardless and
bootless; their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides.

All's Well that Ends Better: When you Carouse, you may roll twice and take either event.
Elusive: In combat, as a fast action, you can make a specific enemy unable to hit you if they are also engaged with another foe.
Gaffer's Wisdom: Ask the GM if you're forgetting something and receive an honest reply.
Neat and Nimble: Once per week, you can declare that a sprung trap doesn't affect you because of your small size: blades whizz over your head, you're too light to set off pressure plates, etc.
Out with the Frying Pan: You can wield tools and trinkets as improvised weapons (stats a dagger): frying pans, cooking ladles, long sausages, etc.
Patient Packer: You may use your Skill instead of Strength to determine the number of your carried items.
Slumberous: Ignore up to 1 bane each camp. Additionally, if ever put to sleep magically, you may choose to wake up.
Where There's Life There's Hope: When you heal from Hope, you always reroll the Hope dice if you roll a 1 or 2.
…And Need Of Vittles: At camp, if you participate in the cooking and merriment, you may spend a point of Hope and have everyone in the company benefit from the healing.
Wrapped Tight: Fresh rations will keep for a week in your pack.

Stoors

The Stoors were broader, heavier in build; their feet and hands were larger; and they preferred flat lands and riversides.

Climb with Hands and Feet: You may climb sheer surfaces as if you had a rope. If you ever do fall, treat your fall as if it were 15' shorter.
Extra Padding: Wearing armour never imposes a penalty on your Subtlety rolls.
Finder: If looking for something that you or someone you're with has lost, you always have a sense of which cardinal direction it's in. Things never directly owned by a person ("My ancestor's magic ring, to which I have a claim") don't count.
Fox Trick: If you are ever in a position where you are trying to hide from observers, you may take 1d6 damage to find cover in an implausible (but not impossible) manner and hide in plain sight.
Riddle Master: You get a number of "free" guesses for riddles equal to your Understanding. These are asked to the GM and represent your thought process. If your guess is wrong, you don't really guess that.
Stone Skipper: The range of your thrown weapons and slings doubles. Also, you can skip a stone 2d100 times.
Storyteller's Memory: You can recall specific images very well. You can ask the GM questions about the details of anything you've seen or heard.
Tricksy: Once per day, if a foe misses you with an attack, you may say that they've driven their weapon into the earth and gotten it stuck. It takes 1 turn to free.
Underfoot: If you are engaged with two foes and one misses in their attack against you and the dice rolled is even, you may force the GM to use that result against the other enemy.
Voice of Birds: You can whistle any bird song you've heard before so faithfully even birds are fooled. Audible at great distances. If you try to call a bird in, roll a d6: 1) None are in the area; 2-4) 2-4 normal birds endemic to the area come to you; 5-6) A magical or intelligent bird comes to your call.

Fallohides

The Fallohides, the least numerous, were a northerly branch. They were more friendly with Elves than the other Hobbits were, and had more skill in language and song than in handicrafts; and of old they preferred hunting to tilling.

Brave in a Pinch: You are resistant to fear damage.
Button-Busting Feat: Once per week, if you would fail an attribute test, you may choose to succeed instead.
Hobbits Stick Together: You inspire a +2 bonus to Morale to all NPC hobbits in your service.
Lucky Number: When the entire company must make a test to avoid some doom, everyone gains +2 if you pass the test first.
Lustrous Toehair: +3 Beauty tests to determine reactions with other halflings.
Merry: You heal +2 damage from Hope.
Smoke like a Dragon: If you have an active pipe going, you can take 1d6 damage and finish the pipe to generate enough smoke to create a fog cloud that obscures your entire general area.
Rustic Courtesy: Although nobody knows of hobbits, you make a positive first impression. Once a day, you can cause an NPC to default to a positive reaction instead of a neutral one.
Weather Songs: The first time you travel in a type of weather, note it down. At the end of the day, you may make a traveling song specifically for that type of weather. Write at least four lines of poetry. The next time you travel in the same weather, you may sing your song. Every member of the company gets +1 to all tests related to their jobs that day. Keep track of all your weather songs.
Wrassling: You gain a +2 bonus to Maneuvers.

All Hobbits

+1 Skill
+1 Subtlety
- You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
+5 Endurance
- You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
Art of Smoking: When you smoke for an hour, you can ponder riddles. Tell the GM about something that you believe to be true. They will say: "You don't doubt your guess," "Close to the mark, but not quite" or "You're not sure that's right."
By the Hair of your Toes: Once per day, when taking a Critical Wound, you can roll twice and choose which effect to receive.
Comforts of Home: You may take on the jobs of both cook and quartermaster at the same time.
For the Shire!: Once per combat, you may make a Melee attack as a fast action instead of a fell action.
Good Cook: When you take the job of cook, the company gains 1 boon while camping.
Gourmand: You have exceptional taste. With just a tiny taste of food, you can tell what the ingredients are (e.g., if there's a little extra poison in there). You can also follow your nose to kitchens, root cellars, inns, larders, etc.
Hole Dwellers: You gain +1 to tests while underground.
Laughing People: Once per session, if you tell a joke in character that makes the table laugh, the company gains 1 Bonus Hope.
Light of Step: You may use your Skill attribute instead of Strength when it comes to matters of climbing, acrobatics, and moving swiftly.
Plain Hobbit Sense: When there's a choice between two (and only two) equally weighted options, you may ask the GM for their opinion.
Shields for Serving Bowls: If wearing no armour, set your Defense to +2 from your small size and agility.
Shortcut to Mushrooms: When you take the job of herbalist, on a successful test, the GM will give you a mushroom from the region's herb table (if available) in addition to a randomly rolled herb.
Shy of the Big Folk: You may always act in a surprise round if you are surprised by creatures larger than you.
Six Meals a Day: Eat a ration to heal 2 damage. You can do this up to six times per day.
Sure at the Mark: You may use your Skill rating instead of your Valour rating when using thrown weapons or slings.
Tough as Old Tree Roots: When you've taken damage equal to ½ of your Endurance total, gain a +1 bonus on all attack and attribute tests.
Tough in the Fibre: Whenever you camp, you always heal at least 3 damage taken.

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Random Elf-friend Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what elf-friends get.
What are elf-friends? Well:
The master of the house was an elf-friend—one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.
- The Hobbit
So, you know, folk like Elrond and Aragorn. You might call them half-elves.
You can either roll a d12 for your culture to get a result from a tightly-bound part of the table or roll a d50 to get anything from the entire table.
This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with half-elves in it.
- The random dwarf advancement table is here.
- The random human advancement table is here.
- The random elf advancement table is here.
Note: When you roll an advancement option twice, you can either select the option above or below the rolled benefit. However, a few advancements can be upgraded several times or unlock a new art entirely. These are noted in the text.

Elf-Friend

Art by Goran Gligovic

North

Bane of Un-dead: You deal +1 damage to the un-dead. Keep a tally of how many un-dead you have killed. At 50 un-dead, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 un-dead, this bonus increases to +3.
Barrow Blessing: If you kiss the brow of a fallen companion, no evil will despoil their body. They will never raise as un-dead.
Bolster Hearts: As a fast action, say a line of poetry or boldly shout your war cry. All companions who can hear you gain +2 to their rolls until your next turn. (If you never get another turn because you fall, the bonus lasts for the rest of the combat.)
Far Strider: If you are unarmoured when you serve as a Scout, a successful Skill test allows you to choose two effects (instead of one).
Heir of the North: Can always sense the direction of true north, even if underground. If you ever fail a test as a Guide to orient, you gain a +1 bonus the following day. This bonus is cumulative with itself for each day you fail orienteering.
Master Herbalist: Gain Herb Lore if you don't already have it. (If you already have it, you gain another random Lore.) On a journey, when you act as an herbalist and successfully find an herb, the GM rolls twice to determine what you find; you gather both herbs.
Pursue Foes: On a journey, if you serve as the company's Guide, you may spend 2 movement points to deliberately seek foes to challenge. When making a wandering encounter roll for the day, the GM will roll 3d6 and drop the lowest dice (instead of rolling 1d12).
Resourceful Herbalism: When using an herb, a single use can be stretched to benefit two targets simultaneously.
Rumours of the Earth: If you act as the company's Scout, instead of following the normal procedure, you may spend 2 movement points and gather rumours by listening to the earth instead of roving afar. Make a Skill Δ10 test. On a success, the GM reveals a sound clearly detailing one entry on the local events table (if any). The GM will tell you if there is another local event in this hex. If there is, you may immediately spend 1 movement point and gain another clue about this encounter. This Art cannot be used at the same time as Far Strider.
Skillful Archer: You may make Maneuvers from afar using a missile weapon. To perform a ranged maneuver, test Valour against a Δ8 + your target's Valour. If successful, you deal a significant setback to your foe.
Student of Ruin: When you study a Numenorean artifact or visit a site important to the Men of the West, you can sing a song that tells of its history. Roleplay a few lines. If you do so, gain 1 Hope.
Wise of Ways: You gain a +2 bonus to Skill tests related to Scouting.

South

Bane of Orcs: You deal +1 damage to orcs. Keep a tally of how many orcs you have killed. At 50 orcs, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 orcs, this bonus increases to +3.
Brave: You are resistant to fear damage.
Captain of Men: During combat, you may use a fast action on your turn to shout a command to an ally who can hear you. They may make an extra action that turn.
Hands of Healing: In combat, you may use your action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death—as long as you minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). During a journey, your job can be "Healer." Each day spent ministering to a companion reduces one of their Critical Wound in severity and speeds their recovery—the GM will determine exactly how this works.
Keen Eared: Gain +2 bonus to any tests related to listening. If you spend a turn listening, the GM will tell you if there is any breathing creature hiding in your immediate area. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
Keen Eyed: You see as well under the stars as you do under the full moon.
Pursue Secrecy: On a journey, if you serve as the company's Guide, you may spend 3 movement points to attempt to avoid pursuit. When making a wandering encounter roll for the day, the GM will roll 2d12 and use the lower result.
Skirmisher: If wearing no armour heavier than leather armour, gain +1 to damage.
Student of the Enemy: If you study a character for a turn, the GM will tell you how many Endurance points they have. Once you've made your assessment, you can ask for the updated number with a glance.
Tall: Add +4 to your Strength score for the purposes of your carrying capacity.
Victory from the Jaws of Defeat: When you miss an attack roll, gain +2 to your next attack roll against the same creature. This bonus cannot be cumulative with itself.
Walker on the Dead Marshes: You gain a +2 bonus to Skill tests for orienteering as a Guide.

All Elf-Friends

Artifice: You can forge items of enchantment.
Bane of Wolves: You deal +1 damage to wolves and werewolves. Keep a tally of how many wolves you have killed. At 50 wolves, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 wolves, this bonus increases to +3.
Estë's Gift: Your healer's arts may stall or delay a death. In combat, you may use a fast action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death. As long as you continue to minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). After combat, an Understanding test (with a difficulty set by the GM) might be needed to permanently stabilize the victim.
Evermind: This virtue is only expressed when you fall in battle. No evil creature will despoil your body. You will not rise as un-dead. Your corpse will be preserved for many weeks. Flowers will grace your grave.
Far Ranging: Choose a type of region that you are familiar with: forest, hills, mountains, swamps, or wastes. When you serve as the company's Guide, treat these hexes as normal terrain, not difficult terrain. The difficulty for you to orient the company in this region is Δ6.
- You may gain this advancement up to 5 times, selecting a new type of region each time.
Friend to Horses: When you serve as the hostler, you may care for three steeds instead of two. All steeds in your care gain +2 bonus to Morale tests.
Grief of Ruined Lands: You can sense the level of Shadow in your current hex. You may ask the GM if there are servants of the Enemy on the wandering encounter table for the greater region; they will answer truthfully. If a hex has a hidden feature related to the Shadow, you can find it without needing to Explore the hex.
In the Lands of My Fathers: On a journey, you gain a +2 bonus to any job you do if you are within the ancestral lands of your people. For Northern Elf-friends, this is within the bounds of Arnor. For Southern Elf-friends, this is within Gondor's historical bounds.
Inspiring March: Reduce damage from forced marches for allies by -5 for the first day, -4 for the second day, -3 for the third day, and so on, until you can no longer reduce the strain.
Seer: Once per month, you may undo the consequences of a particular action that you or an ally have just taken, declaring it to be just a vision.
Tracker: If you spend a turn studying footprints, the GM will tell you what creatures made them, about how many there were, and about how long ago they were there. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
Pathfinder: When the company Explores a region, the GM will roll 2d6 for the local event and let you see the two dice. You choose which dice roll to use. 1s tend to be ill fortune. 3s tend to be interactions with the wild. 6s tend to be encounters with the Free Peoples.
Royalty Revealed: While wearing the heraldry of your house, NPCs that you lead into battle gain a +2 Morale bonus. Additionally, you may use your Skill attribute instead of Beauty to determine the Morale bonus for NPCs in your service.
Staunching Song: Directly after combat, remove 1d4-1 damage from one companion.
Vanish: Gain +2 bonus to tests to hide and move silently while out of doors. Additionally, if you stay completely still, a woodland environment always provides you enough cover to conceal yourself.
Vigilance: While traveling, you can spend 2 movement points to serve as a Lookout in addition to a secondary job.
Wanderer: You take only 5 damage (not 10) if you make a forced march without resting.
Wingfoot: Gain +2 Movement.
- You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
Yavanna's Bounty: When applying healing from an herb, you remove +2 more damage.
+1 Valour
+1 Strength
+1 Beauty
+1 Skill
+1 Subtlety
+1 Understanding
+5 Endurance.
- You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.

Friday, February 20, 2026

Random Elf Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what elves get.

This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with elves in it.

Elves

When you advance, you may either:

Roll a d10 to an advancement based on your culture.
Roll a d30. On a result of 1-10, read the corresponding entry in your culture. On a result of 11-30, read the corresponding entry in "All Elves."

Art by Goran Gligovic

Wood Elf

+1 Subtlety
Bane of Spiders: You deal +1 damage to spiders. Keep a tally of how many spiders you have killed. At 50 spiders, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 spiders, this bonus increases to +3.
Hit a Bird's Eye in the Dark: Your Critical Wounds with a bow are treated as one letter higher (A->B, B->C, and so on).
Master Hunter: The job of Hunter only costs you 2 movement points.
Point-Blank Archery: You may use the Melee action to fire a bow in close combat against opponents engaged with you.
Swift: If you Moved the last round of combat, gain +2 Defense for one round.
Tracker: If you spend a turn studying footprints, the GM will tell you what creatures made them, about how many there were, and about how long ago they were there. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
Vanish: Gain +2 bonus to tests to hide and move silently while out of doors. Additionally, if you stay completely still, a woodland environment always provides you enough cover to conceal yourself.
Wood Wary: While in the forest, you are never surprised.
Woodcrafty: When you serve as the company's Guide, treat forest hexes as normal terrain, not difficult terrain. The difficulty for you to orient the company in forest hexes is Δ6.

Grey Elf

+1 Beauty
+1 Subtlety
Enchanted Voice: What you sing of appears as illusions before the eyes of mortals. Elves and sorcerers are never baffled by these seemings, but other folk may react as if these illusions are true.
Lore of the Land: You may ask if there is a hidden feature in this hex—the GM will answer truthfully. The company will still need to Explore to find it.
Love of Languages: Gain +2 to your Understanding checks to see if you know a language that you encounter.
Precise Shot: Outside of combat and hunting, your long practice allows you to fire trick shots with the bow. If you have a chance to carefully aim your bow, you may knock apples from heads, blow out candles, and cut thin ropes. The GM must adjudicate what is reasonably achieved even by a master archer.
Advanced Guidelines: If using the advanced guideline about shooting into melee, this art also allows you to treat the base chance to hit the wrong target as 2-in-6 before aiming.
Shipwright: You gain +2 to swimming or piloting boats. Moreover, you will (almost) never drown (though you will shrug off burdens such as armour in the process of swimming).
Staunching Song: Directly after combat, you may heal 1d4-1 damage to one companion.
The Stones Tell: When you travel to a new hex, the GM must tell you the main name of that hex entry. You hear the land telling you its own name.
- Wood-weird: If you roll this advancement a second time, it upgrades. Each great forest, tall mountain, and deep lake has a spell hidden in it. If you spend the night sleeping in a new, significant, natural location, make an Understanding Δ12 test. On a success, you may learn a new Song of Power from the land itself, as if you had a mentor. You may make this test only once per hex, ever.
Subtle Attacks: If you are wielding a one-handed weapon and nothing in your off hand, Critical Wounds you deal are treated as one letter higher (A->B, B->C, and so on).

High Elf

+1 Beauty
+1 Understanding
Bane of Trolls: You deal +1 damage to trolls. Keep a tally of how many trolls you have killed. At 50 trolls, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 trolls, this bonus increases to +3.
Bane of Un-dead: You deal +1 damage to the un-dead. Keep a tally of how many un-dead you have killed. At 50 un-dead, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 un-dead, this bonus increases to +3.
Beauty of the Stars: When you succeed in a roll to influence the reaction of mortals, you may invoke a sense of awe, beguilement, or forgetfulness (your choice).
- Awe: The mortal dares not stand against your wishes.
- Beguilement: The mortal is inclined to agree to your proposals, if within their power.
- Forgetfulness: The mortal only dimly recalls your meeting, and almost no specifics, as if it happened in a dream.
Grief of Ruined Lands: You can sense the level of Shadow in your current hex. You may ask the GM if there are servants of the Enemy on the wandering encounter table for the greater region; they will answer truthfully. If a hex has a hidden feature related to the Shadow, you can find it without needing to Explore the hex.
Inner Light: At night, you are surrounded by a shimmering starlight. Your great vision can pierce through mists and fogs. Additionally, once per day, you may negate a shadow of darkness created by a servant of the Enemy.
Light of Aman: The light of Aman shines through you, withering wraiths, the un-dead, and others who dwell in the Unseen World. Your attacks equally affect those material and immaterial, tangible and intangible.
Ósanwe-kenta: You may speak through telepathy with anyone else who has this ability. Also, you can intuit the meaning of others' speech and can make yourself understood, even if you do not share a language.
- Read the Heart: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. If you study a character for a turn, you may present the character a mental choice between two options and understand which of the two they would choose. They are intuitively aware of your mental challenge.
See the Unseen: You see into the Unseen World. You recognize items of enchantment, see through phantoms of sorcery, can perceive non-incarnated spirits, hear songs of power at a distance, and recognize wizards for what they are.

All Elves

+1 Beauty
+1 Understanding
+1 Subtlety
- You may gain this advancement twice.
+5 Endurance
- You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
Art of Aulë: You can forge items of enchantment.
- Elven Arts: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. You can make the waybread of your people, lembas, and the rejuvenating cordial, miruvor.
Bane of Orcs: You deal +1 damage to orcs. Keep a tally of how many orcs you have killed. At 50 orcs, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 orcs, this bonus increases to +3.
Ear for the Music of Ulmo: If you camp near a river, lake, or the sea, you may hear an echo of the Music of the Ainur in the waters: visions of things that are, or were, or might be. Once per camp, you may ask the GM: "If I do X, will Y happen?" The GM will answer honestly.
Eat Song and Drink Story: You only need to eat a ration every other day
Estë's Gift: Your healer's arts may stall or delay a death. In combat, you may use a fast action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death. As long as you continue to minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). After combat, an Understanding test (with a difficulty set by the GM) might be needed to permanently stabilize the victim.
Judgement of Námo: You are immune to the fear damage from un-dead, wraiths, and ghosts.
Nessa's Step: If you are not wearing armour, you have near perfect balance and are able to run along tree limbs, ropes, or narrow cliffs. Moreover, you barely bend blades of grass as you travel and can run on top of snow or mud without leaving a trace. Those relying on sight (as opposed to smell) have difficulty tracking you.
Nienna's Grace: If you have not dealt damage in the last day, all healing effects you deliver to remove damage heal +1 damage.
- You may gain this advancement up to 5 times. The bonus to healing effects is cumulative.
Oromë's Rebuke: You may rebuke a wild animal, even one in the Shadow's service, by succeeding on a Beauty test. The difficulty is equal to 2 + (the animal's Endurance / 10). In combat, using this Art is a fell action. Rebuked animals will try to avoid you in combat and, if possible, flee the battle. This test can only be made once per animal.
Robed by Vána: You feel no discomfort from hot or cold weather and suffer neither penalties nor effects from it.
Saddleless Riding: You ride without tack or saddle. Horses you ride can understand your Elvish speech and obey your commands as well as a page.
Sleep of Irmo: Instead of sleep, you rest in waking dreams of memory. If a nighttime encounter occurs, you can be armed and armoured. (You still use the normal rules for surprise.)
Tulkas's Prowess: You gain +3 Movement while unarmoured.
Wanderer: You take only 5 damage (not 10) if you make a forced march without resting.
Weaving of Vairë: You may sing two Songs of Power at once, blending their melodies together.
Yavanna's Bounty: When applying healing from an herb, you remove +2 more damage.