181636322 lord of the rings quick start demo

QUICK-START ADVENTURE

INTRODUCTION: HOW TO USE THIS BOOKLET

W H AT I S R O L E P L AY I N G ?It’s a lot of things, that’s what. Here are a few of them…

It’s fun for you and your friends. Roleplaying games are a group experience. Everyone works and plays together to havea good time. All but one of the players takes on the role of a character, a hero who sets forth on fantastic and dangerousadventures. One of the players, the Narrator, acts as referee. He comes up with the adventures and plays the roles of allthe other people your heroes meet during their journeys.

It’s a movie you write as you go along. The Narrator is like the ‘director,’ the person who sets the scene, describes theaction, and speaks the dialogue for the extras and villains. The rest of you are like the actors who play the star characters!Like Viggo Mortensen playing Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings movies, you play your character’s part in the game—butunlike Viggo, you get to make up your own lines and make Aragorn do anything you can think of! How many times haveyou watched a movie and thought a character should have done something else—something much cooler? Well, roleplay-ing is your chance to do all those cool things the scriptwriters never thought of. And the rules of the game along with thosenumbers on your character sheet help the Narrator determine whether you succeed or fail in whatever actions you attempt.

It’s ‘Cops and Robbers’ with rules. When you were a kid,you’d run around the backyard playing ‘cops and robbers,’ mak-ing pistols with your fingers and shouting ‘Bang! I got you,you’re dead!’Then,you’d argue over whether you were dead untilyou had the energy to start running around the backyard again. In The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game, the roll ofthe dice tells you whether you’re dead, or whether the robber—Orc—dies instead. This makes the game more fun andmore challenging, and cuts down on the arguments.

It’s a computer game run on the best video software ever. In a roleplaying game, there’s no graphics budget. All the Orcs,the walls and ramparts of a mighty stronghold such as Helm’s Deep or Orthanc, all your weapons and armour and thespectacular effects of magic spells come from your imagination and from the descriptions of the Narrator. You still haveWound Points, weapons, and special abilities on your character sheet, just like the stat bar in a video game. But you can usethem in any combination, not just the ones the programmer thought would be useful. And best of all, you’re not restrict-ed to a glowing computer monitor to see the Orcs explode when you chop them in half. You use your imagination to envi-sion them in their final death throes.

The rules presented here and the accompanying adventure, ‘The Road to Henneth Annûn,’ give you more specificsabout roleplaying, including some examples and hints to guide you through the adventure. The Narrator can use this mate-rial to help make your first roleplaying experience easier and to introduce the rules of the game in small, manageable pieces.‘The Road to Henneth Annûn’ will introduce you to the rules of the game as you play it through. So by the time you solvethe final encounter, you will be confident roleplayers ready to develop your own adventures in J.R.R. Tolkien’s world ofMiddle-earth. Welcome to the grand adventure that is The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game!

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T H E L O R D O F T H E R I N G S D I C E R U N E S K E Y

1 2 3 4 5 6

‘But you have been chosen, and youmust therefore use such strength and

heart and wits as you have.’— Gandalf to Frodo,

The Fellowship of the Ring

In these days of dark foreboding,Lord Faramir, who is the younger son ofthe Ruling Steward of Gondor and alsothe military commander in Ithilien,needs as many stout men and true as hecan find to help defend this border ofthe realm. At this moment, the belea-guered garrison at Osgiliath needs a fewintrepid messengers to get through toFaramir at the secret stronghold ofHenneth Annûn and ask him to cometo their aid. The fate of these bravemen—perhaps even the fate of Gondoritself—hangs on successful delivery ofthis message. Who will accept responsi-bility for seeing it through?

Welcome to the Fast Play rules forThe Lord of the Rings RoleplayingGame and its accompanying adven-ture module, ‘The Road to HennethAnnûn.’ This product is designed tointroduce you to The Lord of theRings Roleplaying Game regardless ofwhether or not you have much experi-ence with roleplaying games.

The Fast Play rules themselvescover concepts that are important to

understanding how the game works,and they are just detailed enough to getyou through the adventure module.

After the Fast Play rules you willfind three pre-fabricated, beginning-level characters designed for use with‘The Road to Henneth Annûn.’ Eachrequires a little bit of customisationbefore they are ready for play—justenough to give you a taste of the char-acter creation process.

The adventure requires a Narratorand 1–3 players, with each player tak-ing the part of one character, in orderto play it. For their part, the playersmust guide their characters through adeed of valour upon which the fate ofthe Osgiliath garrison hangs, whilethe Narrator presents them with thechallenges that come with the great-ness of the deed and adjudicates thesuccess of their efforts. Only theNarrator should read the descriptionof the adventure before play begins,however, as it would ruin the players-fun to know in advance the exactnature of the challenges they will face.

n the year 3018 of the Third Age of Middle-earth, a darkening stormgathers over Ithilien, once the fairest province of the old Kingdom ofGondor. The Dark Lord Sauron has drawn his minions about himand thrown an army against the causeway forts just outside the

ruined city of Osgiliath, which are defended by a small, but determined, garri-son. And yet this is only the beginning of things. Soon, full-fledged war willbreak upon Middle-earth.

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THE LORD OF THE RINGSROLEPLAYING GAME: QUICK-START ADVENTURE

AUTHOR: Douglas SunDEVELOPMENT AND EDITING: Jeff TidballLINE DEVELOPMENT: Jeff TidballCREATIVE DIRECTION: Christian Moore

and Owen SeylerPRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, TOLKIEN

ENTERPRISES: Laurie BattlePRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, NEW LINE

CINEMA: John MayoASSET COORDINATION, WETA DIGITAL:

Glen SharahCARTOGRAPHY: Rob LazzarettiORIGINAL ART: Norman LaoVISUAL CREATIVE DIRECTION: Dan BurnsART DIRECTION: Jesse CassemPRODUCTION DESIGN: Owen Seyler

PRODUCED BY DECIPHER INC.

12240 VENICE BOULEVARD, SUITE 15

LOS ANGELES, CA 90066

© MMIII New Line Productions, Inc. The Lord of the Rings, The Two

Towers and the characters, events, items and places therein, TM The Saul

Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line

Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2003 Decipher Inc. Authorized

User. Promotional dice manufactured by Games Workshop under license

from the Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license

to New Line Cinema. All rights reserved.

First Printing — 2003. Printed in Canada.

F A S T P L AYR U L E S

‘Let those call in the wind who will; there are fell voices on the air, and

those stones were aimed at us.’— Boromir, The Fellowship of the Ring

These Fast Play Rules represent acondensed version of the game

rules found in The Lord of the RingsRoleplaying Game core rulebook.Everything you need to know in orderto play ‘The Road to Henneth Annûn’is explained here, but the core rulebookprovides more detailed rules governingevery aspect of the game, as well astools for extending your game experi-ence into a full-fledged chronicle con-taining many exciting adventures.

TI M E

This adventure, ‘The Road toHenneth Annûn,’ should provide youwith up to an afternoon’s worth ofgameplay, depending on how manyplayer characters (or PCs) areinvolved. This time, the time you andyour friends experience as you play, iscalled real time. During those fewhours of real time, the PCs couldspend several days adventuring. Thattime, the time characters experience, iscalled game time. Game time falls intoone of two categories: action time andnarrative time.

ACTION TIME

Action time passes in rounds. Around represents about six seconds ofgame time. All participants, whetherthey’re PCs, or non-player characters(or NPCs) or monsters controlled bythe Narrator, get to act twice eachround. Moving, attacking, and casting aspell each cost one action. Characters

may move up to 18 yards in a singlemove action. During action time, it isimportant to keep track of who goeswhen, what everyone is doing, and howlong it takes. Life and death can hang inthe balance of how long it takes to drawa weapon, for instance. Since time playssuch an important role during combat,character location and movementbecome crucial.

NARR ATIVE TIME

Narrative time isn’t measured inrounds. It’s basically the time betweencombats. Narrative time can passquickly or slowly depending on whatthe players do. It could take you 10minutes of real time to decide howyou want your characters to respondto an encounter, even though theytake their actions within a few secondsof narrative time. Likewise, if you tellthe Narrator that you and the rest ofthe party are resting for the night, hemight determine that nothing hap-pens while you rest. So, in just a fewmoments of real time,you skip over anentire evening of narrative time toawaken the next morning and contin-ue on your journey.

ACTION SEQ U E N C E

During a combat scenario or actionsequence, all characters make initiativetests to determine who acts in whatorder. Each player rolls 2d6 and addstheir character’s Swiftness reactionmodifier. The Narrator makes one rollfor all the villains and adds the highestSwiftness modifier belonging to a vil-lain in the group. Once every playertotals their result, characters begin act-ing in order, from highest to lowest ini-tiative results. They maintain thisorder every round until the combat oraction sequence ends.

SKILL TESTS

Most of the things that PCs,NPCs, and monsters alike can do

require particular skills, such as know-ing something about the history ofGondor (a Lore/Realms skill), follow-ing a trail (Track skill), or shooting abow (Ranged Combat skill). Look atthe skills listed on your character sheet.This list represents those things yourcharacter knows, or can do well, andmake up your basic options duringplay. The numbers behind the title arecalled levels and represent how skilledthe character is (higher levels beingbetter). Any time you want to use askill, do the following:

1) Roll 2d6.2) Add your skill level.3) Tell the Narrator the total.

The Narrator follows the sameprocedure when making skill tests forNPCs and monsters, except, ofcourse, that he need not announce thenumerical result. He simply describesthe consequences (when the Orcswings its scimitar, does the blowstrike home or miss?) if it’s somethingthe players would see.

The Narrator knows the numberyou need to beat in order to succeed atany given skill test. That number iscalled the target number, or TN.Situations can modify the target num-ber. For instance, it’s harder to tracksomeone at night than it is during theday. These modifiers are accountedfor by predetermined target numbersincluded in the encounter instruc-tions. The Narrator doesn’t have toworry about them unless he decides toalter the conditions surrounding aparticular test.

AT TRIBUTE TESTS

Occasionally, PCs, NPCs andmonsters want to do something sim-ple, like carrying a heavy object orremembering something that hap-pened earlier in the adventure. Thereare no skills for these basic tasks.Instead, they require an attribute test,using the appropriate attribute modifi-er in place of skill level. If you need to

FAST PLAY RULES

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The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game: Quick-start Booklet

make an attribute tests, the Narratorwill tell you which attribute is beingtested so you know which modifier toapply to your roll. To make an attrib-ute test, do the following:

1) Roll 2d6.2) Add your attribute modifier.3) Tell the Narrator the total.

As with skill tests, the Narratorhandles attribute tests for NPCs andmonsters.

Attribute modifiers tend to belower than skill levels. This is becauseskill levels happen to include attributemodifiers. You don’t see them becausethey are already factored into thecharacter skill levels to keep thingssimple.

REACTION TESTS

Skills and attributes play a rolewhen determining the outcome ofactions initiated by the character. Butsome circumstances may force yourcharacter to react. In these situations,you make reaction tests. The Narratorwill tell you whenever you need tomake a reaction test. When makingthe test, do the following:

1) Roll 2d6.2) Add the appropriate reaction

modifier.3) Tell the Narrator the result.

As with skill and attribute tests,the Narrator handles reaction testsfor NPCs and monsters.

You’ll know which is the right reac-tion modifier because the Narrator willtell you. He’ll say ‘make a Swiftnessreaction test,’ meaning ‘roll two dice andadd your Swiftness reaction modifier.’

NATUR AL TWELVE

Any time you make a skill test, anattribute test, or a reaction test androll sixes on both dice (called a naturaltwelve),you get to roll another die andadd it to your total. If you roll anothersix, you get to add 6 to your total androll again. Keep rolling and addinguntil you roll something other than asix, add the last number rolled, thenstop. Through this open ended rollingmethod, you could achieve very highscores indeed!

MELEE COMBAT

Striking with a weapon duringclose combat involves a skill test, justlike using any other skill. Check yourcharacter sheet for skills that let youuse weapons. These include ‘ArmedCombat: Blades (Longsword)’ or‘Armed Combat: Axes (Battle Axe).’As with any other skill test, you mustroll 2d6, add your skill rating, and tellthe Narrator your total. He will thentell you if you hit, based on the estab-

lished target number (your oppo-nent’s Defence rating).

RANGED COMBAT

Shooting someone with a bowrequires skill just like attacking with asword. Like all skill tests, it involvesrolling 2d6 and adding the attacker’sskill with a bow (‘Ranged Combat:Bows (Longbow)’ or some similarskill). The target number for rangedattacks is the target’s Defence, just asin melee combat, but range modifiersbased on the distance to the targetmust be accounted also. As a generalrule, add +2 to the roll if the target iswithin 5 yards, and subtract two if thetarget is more than 30 yards away.Each type of bow also has a maximumrange, beyond which it cannot shoot.To make a ranged attack, do the fol-lowing:

1) Roll 2d6.2) Add your Ranged Weapon

skill level.3) Add the range modifier (penal-

ty or bonus).4) Tell the Narrator the total.

IN F L I C T I N G DA M AG E

A successful combat skill testinflicts damage in Wound Points.Damage varies by weapon type, and is

FAST PLAY RULES

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always expressed in terms of numberof dice rolled and, in most cases, anamount added to the roll. For exam-ple, 2d6+2 means roll two six-sideddice and add 2 to the result. The dou-ble sixes rule does not apply to dam-age rolls, but an attacker’s Strengthmodifier is always added to damagefrom melee attacks.

WOUNDS

The Wounds rating representshow much damage a character cansuffer before dying. Reduce Woundpoints accordingly every time a char-acter or monster suffers damage.When a character or monster’sWounds reach zero, he or it dies.

MAGIC

Characters that have the orderability Spellcasting can also cast magicspells. A character with Spellcastingmust make a successful Wearinesstest against the TN of a spell in orderto cast it. If he fails, the spell has noeffect, and he loses 1 level ofWeariness. Spells vary in strength andtype of effect, but as a general rule themore powerful the spell, the higher itsTN and the harder it is to cast suc-cessfully.

YO U RC H A R A C T E R

S H E E T

Look at your character sheet. Thefirst thing you’ll notice is the pic-

ture of your character along with abunch of terms and numbers. Here’s abrief explanation of all these elementsto help you understand your characterand his abilities.

NA M E , R AC E , A N DOR D E R

Your character’s name appears atthe top of your sheet. His race andprofessional order are listed under-neath. To use the characters includedwith the adventure module as anexample, Galathil is a Man andWarrior. Your character’s race conferscertain strengths and weaknesses, justas his order makes him skilled in someareas and unskilled in others.

ADVANCEMENTS

As your character completesadventures he gains experience points,which you may then use to purchaseadvancements. The beginning-levelcharacters that the players will run in‘The Road to Henneth Annûn’ haveyet to earn any experience points. Butsome of the foes (or potential foes)that they will encounter have gainedadvancements thanks to their previ-ous exploits, and that fact is dulynoted in their statistical blocks.

AT T R I B U T E S

All characters are described usingsix basic attributes: Strength, Vitality,Nimbleness, Wits, Bearing, andPerception.

STRENGTH represents how muchyour character can lift or how muchextra damage he does when he hitssomeone with a melee weapon.

VITALITY measures your character’shealth and endurance.

NIMBLENESS represents how fastand agile your character is.

WITS reflects how smart your char-acter is and how fast he thinks on hisfeet.

BEARING describes how regal,noble, or imposing your characterseems to others.

PERCEPTION measures your charac-ter’s ability to notice things in theworld around him.

Each of these attributes has anassociated level or value and derivedmodifier. Some rules use the level,others use the modifier. The followingchart shows attribute levels and mod-ifiers.

RE AC T I O N S

Reactions work like attributes,determining your character’s ability toreact to situations or cope with certainpredicaments. Reactions are usuallyderived from one of two attributes,then elevated through edges. Thereare four reactions: Stamina,Swiftness, Willpower, and Wisdom.

ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS

LEVEL/VALUE MODIFIER

0-1 -3

2 -2

3 -1

4-7 0

8-9 +1

10-11 +2

12-13 +3

14-15 +4

16-17 +5

18+ +1 for every 2 levels

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STAMINA allows you to resist poi-son and disease as well as tolerateextreme pain or fatigue.

SWIFTNESS lets you dodge incomingattacks or falling rocks, and performother actions requiring you to move oract quickly.

WILLPOWER lets you resist tempta-tion, mental control, and social domi-nation, including corruption andspells that affect your mind.

WISDOM lets you perceive decep-tion and see things for what they are.It also enables you to realize the follyof actions you or your companions areabout to take.

DE F E N C E

All characters, heroes and villains,have a Defence rating. Your Defencerating serves as the target number(TN) your enemies need to beat withtheir attack rolls. When you roll to hitand add your bonuses, you’re trying toovercome your enemy’s Defence rating.

RE N OW N

The Renown score measures acharacter’s fame (or notoriety)—howlikely it is that a complete stranger willrecognize him by reputation. A highRenown score can prove helpful in sit-uations that require Social skill tests.Since beginning-level characters haveRenown scores of 0, it will not playmuch of a role in ‘The Road toHenneth Annûn,’ but more advancedcharacters will find it useful.

CO U R AGE

Your character is, by definition, anextraordinary individual, whether infact or potential. To reflect this, hereceives a number of Courage pointsthat he may spend to increase a singletest result. After you make a test, youcan choose to improve your result by+3 for each Courage point spent. A

Courage point spent is lost to youuntil the end of the scene in which youspend it.

OR D E R A N D R AC I A LABI L I T I E S

Your character’s order and racemay grant special powers and testbonuses during the game. For exam-ple, Rogues often have the ‘Fleet-Footed’ order ability, which gives thema bonus when making a Run skill test.Racial abilities, such as the ‘Beast-skill’ability possessed by Elves, also conferspecial bonuses and abilities duringspecific situations in play.

TR A I TS: ED G E S A N DFL AW S

Edges are special abilities thatgrant a specific bonus over the courseof the game. For instance, Caranor hasthe ‘Furtive’ edge, which allows him toadd +1 to his dice rolls when makingLegerdemain and Stealth.

All characters begin with at leastone edge. You may begin with morethan one if you choose a number offlaws equal to the number of extraedges. Flaws are notable shortcomingsthat may hinder you in performingspecific tasks or otherwise make lifedifficult for you. For instance, the flaw‘Weak-willed’ gives you a –2 penaltyto all of your Willpower tests.

SK I L L S

Skills define the areas in whichyour character excels, includingknowledge, socializing, and actions.Each skill comes with a number, or‘level.’ Melephin, for instance, has theskill ‘Climb +1.’ He adds ‘+1’ to his dieroll whenever he needs to make aClimb skill test. Some skills also list aspecialty in parentheses, such as‘Stealth (Sneak).’ If a skill test calls fora specialty that the player possesses,

he may add +2 to his dice roll. If a testonly calls for the skill or the skill (nospecialty), he just adds his skill levelnormally.

HE A LT H A N DWE A R I N E S S

Health and Weariness monitoryour character’s physical state and giveyou an idea of how much harder youcan push him before he collapses alto-gether. The Health score tells youhow many Wound Points he can takebefore he drops to the next lowerWound Level. As a general rule, char-acters have 5 Wound Levels (‘Dazed,’‘Injured,’ ‘Wounded,’ ‘Incapacitated’and ‘Near Death’) in addition toHealthy. Whenever your charactertakes damage, check off one WoundPoint box for each point of damageyou sustain. When you check off thelast box in your Near Death WoundLevel, your character dies. EachWound Level other than Healthy isassociated with a penalty that appliesto all tests your character makes. Ifyour character drops from a Healthystate to Dazed, for example, he suffersa –1 penalty.

If your character wears armour, hecan shrug off a certain amount ofdamage from each attack, therebyreducing the amount of damage thatcounts against his Wounds. Theamount of damage that is reduced byarmour is listed in parenthesis behindthe armour type—for example,‘Ordinary chainmail (5)’. In this case,wearing ordinary chainmail allows thecharacter to ignore up to five points ofdamage from each attack, subtractingonly whatever damage remains fromhis Wounds.

Characters cannot recover WoundPoints unless they rest. They mayrecover 1 Wound Point per day ofcomplete rest. In addition, anothercharacter with the skill Heal may tryto augment the process once eachweek. In this adventure, however, it ishighly unlikely that characters will

CHARACTERS

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have the opportunity to recoverWound Points.

Weariness measures your character’slevel of fatigue. Characters may lose 4Weariness Levels (‘Winded,’ ‘Tired,’‘Weary,’ and ‘Spent’) without becomingcompletely helpless. If they drop a levelfrom Spent and become ‘Exhausted,’they may take no actions at all until theyhave rested enough to recover aWeariness Level. Winded characterssuffer a –1 penalty to all tests. Tiredcharacters suffer a –2 penalty. Wearycharacters suffer a –3 penalty. Spentcharacters suffer a –8 penalty.Characters may recover 1 WearinessLevel by resting: 10 minutes of narrativetime for a Winded character, 1 hour ifTired, 2 hours if Weary, 4 hours ifSpent, and 8 hours if Exhausted.

Characters must make a TN 10Weariness test if they have been incombat for 10 minutes (60 rounds) ortravelling for 4 hours.

GR I M O I R E

You must choose in advance thespells that you know well enough tocast. You select them when you chooseSpellcasting as an order ability.

GE A R

Your character owns certainequipment he takes with him on hisadventures. The ‘Gear’ portion of yourcharacter sheet lists all of the arms,armour, and equipment he’s carryingwith him during the adventure.

C H A R A C T E R S

‘And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas isdangerous. You are beset with dangers,

Gimli son of Gloin; for you are danger-ous yourself, in your own fashion.’

— Gandalf, The Two Towers

Here are three characters that youcan play in ‘The Road to Henneth

Annûn.’ We present them not torestrict your options as a player, but toget you started quickly in playing TheLord of the Rings Roleplaying Gameby skipping through most of the char-acter creation process (to learn indetail how to create characters, see thecore rulebook). For the most part, theyare ready to go. The passages in italicsindicate choices that you need to makebefore the character is finished. Justfollow the instructions to round himout. If you wish to run all three charac-ters through the adventure, but haveless than three players, feel free to haveone player run more than one charac-ter.

The characters represent two of theFree Peoples of Middle-Earth—Elvesand Men—and three different profes-sional orders. If you wish to playthrough the adventure with less thanthree characters, it doesn’t really matterwhich one(s) you pick. We havedesigned each with skills and abilitiesthat will prove helpful in the adventurein mind. Even if you try to play withonly one character,you should be able tofollow a reasonable course of action ineach encounter, making use of at leastone of the character’s strong points.

For the most part, the names ofskills are self-explanatory. Racial abil-ities, professional abilities, and traitsare explained in parentheses as neces-sary. If no explanation appears, theeffects of most of these character ele-ments have simply been worked intothe statistical blocks.

MELEPHIN’S GRIMOIRE

Melephin can choose five spellsfrom the following list:

BLINDING FLASH (WearinessTN 10, inflicts –5 penalty to all teststhat require sight on one foe for1d6+1 rounds, duration halved if tar-get makes TN 12 Swiftness test, can-not select without Create Light)

BURNING SPARKS (WearinessTN 8, cast sparks from an existingfire so that anyone within 10 feet ofthat fire suffers 1/2d6 damage, tar-gets may halve damage by making asuccessful TN 10 Swiftness test, can-not select without Kindle Fire)

CHANGE HUE (Weariness TN8, caster receives +5 bonus to allStealth (Hide) tests for 100 minutes)

CREATE LIGHT (Weariness TN5, caster creates a light centred onhis hand or the point of his staff suf-ficient to illuminate a 20-foot radius,negates darkness-related penalties),

EVOKE AWE (Weariness TN 10,caster gains +8 bonus to Intimidatetest against servant or ally ofSauron)

FIERY MISSILE (Weariness TN 7,caster can create up to 10 small flam-ing projectiles that he can throw upto 8 feet as a Ranged Combat attack,doing 1d6+1 damage each, cannotselect without Kindle Fire)

FOG RAISING (Weariness TN 8,caster can create a fog bank up to300 feet in radius and 500 feetaway, +5 to the TN of all Combatand Observe tests within the fogbank, lasts until caster stops con-centrating)

KINDLE FIRE (Weariness TN 5,sets any one flammable objecttouched by caster on fire, targetwith clothes afire suffers 1d6+3damage per round unless hespends an entire round extin-guishing himself and makes a suc-cessful TN 5 Swiftness test)

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M E L E P H I N

RACE: Elf (Silvan)RACIAL ABILITIES: The Art, Beast-Skill, Comfort, Elven Form, Elven-sense, Farsightedness, Ghost-scorn,

Lightfootedness, Swift Healing, WoodsyATTRIBUTES: Bearing 10 (+2), Nimbleness 8 (+1), Perception 9 (+1), Strength 6 (±0),Vitality 9 (+1), Wits 12 (+3)REACTIONS: Stamina +1, Swiftness +1, Willpower +3, Wisdom +3ORDER: Magician

ORDER ABILITIES: Spellcasting 1 ADVANCEMENTS: 0SKILLS: Acrobatics (Balance) +4,Armed Combat: Blades (Longsword) +2,Climb +1, Debate +4,

Healing +4,Insight +2,Intimidate (Majesty) +4,Language: Haradrim (Near Harad) +4,Language: Orkish +4, Language: Sindarin +9, Language: Silvan +9, Language:Westron +9, Lore/Realm: Mirkwood (Geography) +4, Lore/Group:Haradrim (Customs) +6, Lore/Race: Orcs (Tactics) +6,Observe (Spot) +5, Persuade (Charm)+8, RangedCombat: Thrown Weapons (Dagger) +3, Run +4,Stealth (Hide) +4,Track (Orcs) +2

Add +1 to any 5 of the above skills except Acrobatics(Balance), Armed Combat: Blades (Longsword), Climb,Language: Westron, Language: Sindarin, Language: Silvan,Persuade (Charm), Ranged Combat: Thrown Weapons(Dagger), Run, Stealth, and Track.

EDGES: Fair, Keen-eyed, Swift Recovery (heal wounds twiceas fast as normal), Wise

SPELLS: Pick 5 from Melephin’s Grimoire (see page 6). FLAWS: NoneHEALTH: 9 DEFENCE: 11 COURAGE: 3 RENOWN: 0GEAR: Longsword (2d6+5 damage), staff (2d6+2 damage)

scale mail (absorbs 4 points of damage)

BACKGROUND

Melephin cuts an eccentric figure in Ithilien—a Silvan Elf ofMirkwood who wandered south in search of a broader knowledge ofmagical practice than he could get in his native realm. He even wan-dered as far as Near Harad, where he picked up some of the languageand customs of the place. Recently, a Ranger patrol from Osgiliathtook him into their custody. They didn’t know what to make of himat first, but he won many friends among the ruined city’s defendersand decided to stay with them and help defend the causeway fortsas an informal and highly irregular soldier of Gondor.

HEALTHY (0)DAZED (-1)

INJURED (-3)WOUNDED (-5)

INCAPACITATED (-7)NEAR DEATH (-9)

HEALTH

HALE (0) WINDED (-1) TIRED (-2)WEARY (-4) SPENT (-8) EXHAUSTED (-10)

WEARINESS

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C A R A N O R

RACE: Man (Middle Man)RACIAL ABILITIES: Adaptability, Dominion of Men, Skilled

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing 10 (+2), Nimbleness 12 (+3), Perception 8 (+1), Strength 8 (+1),Vitality 6 (±0), Wits 8 (+1)REACTIONS: Stamina +1, Swiftness +5, Willpower +2, Wisdom +2ORDER: Rogue

ORDER ABILITIES: Lurking in Shadows (+5 bonus when you spend a Courage point on aStealth test) or Fleet-Footed (+2 bonus to Run tests)ADVANCEMENTS: 0

SKILLS: Acrobatics (Balance) +5, Armed Combat: Blades (Dagger, Long Knife)+5, Craft: Calligraphy +4, Debate +3, Jump +2, Language: Westron +7,Legerdemain (Open Lock) +5, Lore/Realm: Gondor (Ithilien) +2,Observe (Listen) +3, Persuade (Fast Talk) +4, Ranged Combat: Bows(Longbow) +4, Ride (Horse) +2, Run +3, Search +3, Stealth (Sneak)+7

Add +1 to any 5 of the above skills except Craft, Debate, Language:Westron, Lore/Group: Gondor (Geography), Ride, Run andStealth. Instead of adding +1 to an existing skill, you may alsoadd Climb +2 or Guise +2.

EDGES: FurtiveFLAWS: NoneHEALTH: 7DEFENCE: 13COURAGE: 4RENOWN: 0GEAR: Dagger, long knife (2d6+3 damage), longbow (maxi-

mum range 200 feet), 20 arrows (2d6+2 damage), scale mail(absorbs 4 points of damage)

BACKGROUND

Caranor was born and raised in a farming village on the westernbank of the Anduin, in east Anorien. When the army of Mordor issuedfrom Minas Morgul and bore down on Osgiliath, he went there to vol-unteer his services in defence of Gondor, despite entreaties from hisfamily not to risk his life. Impressed by his enthusiasm, the garrisoncommander Atanacar took on Caranor as a scout and messenger.He has since earned the affection of the garrison, who treat him assomething of a mascot.




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9


G A L AT H I L

RACE: Man (Dúnedan)RACIAL ABILITIES: Adaptability, Dominion of Men, Skilled

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing 8 (+1), Nimbleness 12 (+3), Perception 8 (+1), Strength 10 (+2),Vitality 8 (+1), Wits 6 (±0)REACTIONS: Stamina +2, Swiftness +5, Willpower +1, Wisdom +1ORDER: Warrior

ORDER ABILITIES: Warrior-born (you may spend a Courage point to receive a +2 bonus to all Armed Combat andRanged Combat tests during a single battle)ADVANCEMENTS: 0

SKILLS: Acrobatics (Balance) +5, Armed Combat: Blades (Longsword) +6,Climb +3, Healing +2, Intimidate (Power) +3, Language: Westron +6,Lore/Realms: Gondor (Geography) +3, Observe (Spot) +3, Persuade(Oratory) +2, Ranged Combat: Bows (Longbow) +6, Run +5, Stealth(Sneak) +4

Add +1 to any 5 of the above skills except Acrobatics (Balance)Craft, Language and Lore/Realms: Gondor, Language: Westron.Instead of adding +1 to an existing skill, you may add Jump +3or Track (Orcs) +1.

EDGES: Bold (spending a Courage point gives Galathil a +5 bonuswhen using any skill on his list except for Intimidate, Language,and Lore)

FLAWS: NoneHEALTH: 10DEFENCE: 13COURAGE: 4RENOWN: 0GEAR: Longsword (2d6+5 damage), longbow (maximum

range 200 feet), 20 arrows (2d6+2 damage), ordinarychainmail (absorbs 5 points of damage), large shield (–5penalty to ranged attacks against)

BACKGROUND

Like many Rangers of Ithilien, Galathil was born in MinasTirith to a family that had once lived in the Anduin vales ofNorth Ithilien. He just completed his basic military training,and was recently sent forward with a small detachment of sol-diers to bolster the garrison at Osgiliath.




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ADVENTURE: THE ROAD TO HENNETH ANNÛN

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A D V E N T U R E :T H E R O A D TO

H E N N E T HA N N Û N

‘But however that may be, my lordFaramir is abroad, beyond the river on

some perilous errand. . . .’— Beregond, The Return of the King

As an opening move in what willbecome The War of the Ring,

Sauron launches an army against thegarrison at Osgiliath. The ancient cityis now only a ruin of its former gloryand useful only in that it guards astrategic crossing point along theAnduin. It is just a probing attack,meant to test Gondor’s defences andmask the Harad Road, while the DarkLord mobilizes for a full-scale assaulton the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.But for the Rangers of the South whohave been posted here, the situation isserious enough.

They are a relative handful of menstanding against the might of Mordor,for the rest of Lord Faramir’s Rangersare scattered throughout the provincein secret bases like Henneth Annûn,from which they attempt to spy onstirrings in Minas Morgul and theBlack Gate. Waves of attacking Orcshave crashed against the causewayforts east of the city proper and fallenback, but rumours abound that atleast one Nazgûl will arrive soon toturn the tide. Atanacar, the captain ofthe garrison, realises that he needsmore men to defend this importantriver crossing. He resolves to get amessage to Faramir asking for rein-forcements.

This is where your players andtheir characters come in. No matterwhich combination of pre-set charac-ters is participating, Atanacar consid-ers them suitable candidates for this

mission, because Caranor andMelephin are irregulars and thereforenot entirely reliable in close combat,while Galathil may be spared becauseof his inexperience. The captain sum-mons them into his presence andorders them to find Lord Faramir atHenneth Annûn, the Ranger sanctu-ary in North Ithilien, and urge him tocome to Osgiliath with reinforce-ments. ‘Tell him that our situation isgrim, and that his presence will steadythe men. The fate of Gondor may relyon it, for if the Enemy takes theAnduin crossing, then nothing standsbetween Mordor and Minas Tirith.’

Atanacar gives them no writtenmessage, lest they fall into the handsof the Enemy, but it is simple enoughto remember in any case. He does givethem a small parchment with a rough-ly drawn map (see pg. 17) showing theway to Henneth Annûn. It entails fol-lowing the Anduin north for 10leagues, or 30 miles, then cuttingnortheast toward the Ephel Dúath foranother 10 leagues, until they reachthe main road that runs north towardthe Black Gate. From there, theyshould cut back to the northwest foranother 6 leagues until they reach asteep, rocky slope. The entry to thesanctuary will not be obvious, but theywill spot the sentries—or more likely,the sentries will spot them. Whenthey meet the sentries, they shouldgesture with a fist held over the centreof the chest and say, ‘In the name ofLord Cirion, we come.’ This is thestanding password among the men atHenneth Annûn.

The journey should take about 4solid days of travel, assuming that thecharacters spend 10 hours per day onthe march. The terrain through whichthey are to proceed, while not espe-cially easy, allows them to cover 2miles per hour.

Atanacar dismisses them by onceagain stressing the need to make haste.He dashes off an order to allow themto draw rations and sundry items fromthe garrison’s stores, and orders themto depart as soon as they can.

Important Note: Only theNarrator should continue to readbeyond this point, as the remainder ofthe text explains the challenges thatthe players will face, and knowingwhat they are ahead of time wouldruin the surprise. Consider this anemphatic spoiler alert.

EN C O U N T E R 1: ANORC PAT ROL

‘In the red glare Sam . . . caught a glimpseof his evil face as it passed . . . slaverdripped from its protruding fangs; the

mouth snarled like an animal.’— The Return of the King

Your players face their first chal-lenge shortly after their characters setout from Osgiliath. They slip awayfrom the causeway forts by cuttingthrough the heavy brush right on thebanks of the Anduin, and soon theyare behind the Enemy’s lines.

But the besieging host of Mordorregularly sends out patrols to find outwhat is happening beyond the mainarea of battle. These almost alwaystake place at night, since Orcs do notfunction well in daylight. Sometimeon the first night of their journey, thecharacters stumble across such apatrol (or such a patrol will stumbleupon them, however you want to lookat it). It consists of two Orcs per char-acter, plus an Orc leader of moreadvanced abilities (see page 12 for sta-tistics).

This encounter centres about asmall clearing in the heavy brush 50feet in diameter. First, inform yourplayers that the day is ending. If theydecide to stop for the night to recoverWeariness Levels, they come uponthis clearing before they can find a suit-able place to shed their packs and sitdown. If they decide to keep movingthrough the night, just ensure they

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12

make Weariness tests (TN 10) every4 hours and spring this encounter onthem at a time of your choosing.

When they reach the edge of theclearing—but before you announcethat they’re about to run into trou-ble—each of them must make anObserve test. The TN for the test is20 if they choose to use the Observe(Spot) specialty because of the dark-ness and the relatively impenetrableterrain. If they use any other type ofObserve specialty, the TN is 10. Atthe same time, make a single, collectiveObserve (Smell) test (TN 10) for theOrcs. If at least one of your playerssucceeds, his character sees, hears, orsmells something just on the oppositeside of the clearing. If the Orcs alsofail their Observe (Smell) test, theplayers surprise them and have onefree action round to do whatever theywish before the Orcs may react.

If the Orcs succeed in their test butall of the players fail theirs, then theOrcs achieve surprise and they get thedrop. They then split their force andsqueeze the characters on both flanks,skirting the edge of the clearing. Theleader hangs back, hoping to pick offtargets that pop into the clearing, thencharges with his longsword if none doso. Make a Stealth (Sneak) test (TN15) for all of the Orcs. If they succeed,make an Armed Combat test againsteach character before they get to react(that is, one Orc per character gets in afree shot before combat begins). If theOrcs fail their Stealth test, then beginthe combat with the Orcs halfwayaround the clearing.

If both the Orcs and the playersmake successful Observe tests againsteach other, they spot each other simul-taneously, and they begin the combatfacing each other directly across theclearing.

Because of the nature of the ter-rain, all Ranged Combat tests againsttargets that are not in the clearing suf-fer a –6 penalty.

If the Orc leader is slain, allremaining Orcs flee. If the characterschoose to pursue them instead of

either getting necessary rest or forgingon to Henneth Annûn (thereby dis-obeying their orders), the fugitiveslead them into a trap. The charactersthen find themselves surrounded onthree sides by a force of Orcs equal toten times their number, plus the sur-vivors from the original encounter. Itis unlikely that they will survive such aconfrontation, but let your playersconsider it a lesson from the Narratorin the consequences of straying fromthe orders of Lord Faramir!

The Orcs carry no possessions ofnote other than their arms andarmour, except for the patrol leader,who wears a silver medallion worth 2silver pennies for the weight of itsmetal. A successful Lore/Realms:Gondor test reveals that it bears thelikeness of one of the early RulingStewards, Cirion, and was likely loot-ed off of a dead Gondorian soldier.

ORCS

RACE: OrcRACIAL ABILITIES: Curse of Daylight

(-4 penalty to all tests in sunlight),Tough Skin

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing 6 (±0),Nimbleness 7 (±0), Perception 8(+1), Strength 8 (+1), Vitality 8(+1), Wits 5 (±0)

REACTIONS: Stamina +2, Swiftness+1, Willpower ±0, Wisdom ±0

ORDER: WarriorORDER ABILITIES: Evasion (roll 3d6

and keep the highest 2 when per-forming a Swiftness test)ADVANCEMENTS: 0

SKILLS: Armed Combat: Blades(Scimitar) +4, Intimidate (Fear)+4, Language: Black Speech +4,Language: Orkish +6, Language:Westron +2, Lore/Realm: Mordor(Geography) +4, Observe (Smell)+6, Ranged Combat: Bows(Shortbow) +2, Ride (Wolf ) +3,Run +3, Stealth (Sneak) +4, Track(Scent) +3

EDGES: Keen-nosed, Night-eyed 2(penalties for seeing in the darkreduced by 7)

FLAWS: Craven (must flee or cave in tothe threat if a character achieves anIntimidate test result against themof 10 or higher)

HEALTH: 9DEFENCE: 10COURAGE: 0RENOWN: 0GEAR: Scimitar (2d6+4 damage),

leather armour (absorbs 2 points ofdamage)

ORC PATROL LEADER

RACE: OrcRACIAL ABILITIES: Curse of Daylight

(-4 penalty to all tests in sunlight),Tough Skin

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing 6 (±0),Nimbleness 8 (+1), Perception 8(+1), Strength 8 (+1), Vitality 8(+1), Wits 5 (±0)




SKILLS: Armed Combat: Blades(Longsword) +5, Intimidate (Fear)+4, Language: Black Speech +4,Language: Orkish +6, Language:Westron +2, Lore/Realm: Mordor(Geography) +4, Observe (Smell)+6, Ranged Combat: Bow(Shortbow) +6, Ride (Wolf ) +3,Run +4, Stealth (Sneak) +4, Track(Scent) +3

EDGES: Keen-nosed, Night-eyed 2(penalties for seeing in the darkreduced by 7)

FLAWS: Craven (must flee or cave in tothe threat if a character achieves anIntimidate test result against themof 10 or higher)

HEALTH: 9DEFENSE: 11COURAGE: 0RENOWN: 0GEAR: Orc longsword (2d6+5 dam-

age), shortbow (–2 penalty toRanged Combat tests beyond 25yards), 20 arrows (2d6+2 damage),

scale mail (absorbs 4 points ofdamage)

If the characters decide to make arun for it instead of squaring offagainst the Orcs, you may treat theirefforts in summary fashion by havingeach player make a Run test (TN 10).A successful test means that that char-acter can get away from the Orcs scot-free, and they will not pursue himeffectively.

A failed test means that the Orcscontinue to pursue that character.They split into two groups, with halfand the leader staying directly behindand the other half moving to the char-acter’s flank to keep him pinnedagainst the Anduin as he flees.Characters suffering this fate can onlyshake the Orcs by following a paththat leads them along a high cliff over-looking the mighty river. The Orcswill not follow at this point, choosingnot to brave the precipice. The charac-ters must then make a successfulAcrobatics (Balance) test (TN 10), orelse they fall into the Anduin anddrown. If this happens to your play-ers, you might want to remind thembefore they accept this doom that theycan spend Courage points to improvetheir test results.

EN C O U N T E R 2: ME NOF HA R A D

‘Hard fighting and long labour they had still; for the Southrons were

bold men and grim. . . .’— The Return of the King

Assuming that your players keepto their orders, they head northeastafter their encounter with the Orcpatrol, through the vales of NorthIthilien. This country is still lush andgreen despite its proximity to the foul-ness of Mordor. After covering 10leagues in this direction, the charac-

ters come to a ridge overlooking awide, well-travelled road. This is afork of the old Harad Road, which theKingdom of Gondor built in its daysof glory to serve as the main overlandconduit between the South ofMiddle-earth and Gondor and Arnor.At the moment, however, with thefortresses at Osgiliath masked by oneof his armies, it functions as Sauron’smain avenue of communication withhis Haradrim allies.

At this point, the players shouldturn north, as per their orders. Beforethey can do so, however, each mustmake an Observe test (TN 10 in day-light,TN 15 if using the Spot special-ty at night). Characters that succeednotice a small group of swarthy menin scale mail and conical helmets pick-ing their way up the slope towardsthem. One of them also carries a long-bow and a small shield. They appearto be fanning out from the road, andthey move swiftly and low to theground, stopping from time to time tolook around them. From where thecharacters are standing, the Haradrimthen disappear from view behind anoutcropping of rock, then reappear totheir front, at a range of only 100 feet.

HAR ADRIM WARRIOR

RACE: Man (Man of Darkness)RACIAL ABILITIES: Adaptable, Skilled

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing 6 (±0),Nimbleness 8 (+1), Perception 7(±0), Strength 9 (+1), Vitality 8(+1), Wits 6 (±0)




SKILLS: Armed Combat: Blades(Scimitar) +6, Healing +1,Language: Haradric (Near Harad)+6, Observe (Spot) +4, RangedCombat: Bows (Longbow) +6,Ride (Horse) +3, Run +2, Stealth(Sneak) +4, Track (Men) +2

EDGES: Warrior’s Heart (+4 bonus toall Weariness tests related to battle)

FLAWS: NoneHEALTH: 9DEFENCE: 11COURAGE: 0RENOWN: 0GEAR: Scimitar (2d6+4 damage), scale

mail (absorbs 4 points of damage)

HAR ADRIM LEADER

RACE: Man (Man of Darkness)RACIAL ABILITIES: Adaptable, Skilled

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing 8 (+1),Nimbleness 8 (+1), Perception 7(±0), Strength 9 (+1), Vitality 8(+1), Wits 6 (±0)

REACTIONS: Stamina +2, Swiftness+3, Willpower +1, Wisdom ±0



SKILLS: Armed Combat +6: Blades(Scimitar), Healing +1, Inspire +2,Language: Haradric (Near Harad)+6, Observe (Spot) +4, RangedCombat: Bow (Longbow) +6, Ride(Horse) +3, Run +2, Stealth(Sneak) +4, Track (Men) +2

EDGES: Resolute, Warrior’s Heart (+4bonus to all Weariness tests relatedto battle)

FLAWS: NoneHEALTH: 9DEFENCE: 11COURAGE: 0RENOWN: 0GEAR: Scimitar (2d6+4 damage), long-

bow (maximum range 200 feet), 20arrows (2d6+2 damage), scale mail(absorbs 4 points of damage)

The Haradrim Leader is an experi-enced warrior who also has the skillInspire, which allows him to encouragethose under his command to greaterefforts through the sheer force of hispresence. If he makes a successfulInspire test (TN 10), the Haradrimwarriors under his command gain a +1bonus to their Armed Combat tests

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14

during the next round. Attempting toInspire requires 1 action.

These strange-looking men are theoutriders from a column of warriorsfrom Near Harad marching north tothe Black Gate. Their task is to screenthe column from Gondorian spies,and so they are out beating the busheswell in advance of the main body.

Basically, your players have threeoptions here: fight, avoid them, or bluffso that the Haradrim will let thempass without incident. If they chooseto fight, the Haradrim rank and fileclose and attack with their scimitars,while their leader hangs back slightlyand looks for appropriate targets forhis longbow. He also uses his Inspireskill (see sidebar) liberally to maketheir attacks more effective.

If the characters decide to runaway, they must each make a success-ful Run test (TN 10), or else theHaradrim catch up to them. If theydecide to conceal themselves, theymust each make a successful Stealth(Hide) test (TN 10). Since Stealth isa skill that may be used untrained, acharacter may use it even though hedoesn’t have any levels in it. He simplyadds his Nimbleness modifier to theresult. The Haradrim fail to detectany characters that succeed, and passby them without incident.

Lastly, the characters may try tobluff their way past theseHaradrim—although, realistically,only Melephin may attempt this, sincehe is the only character who can speaktheir language. In order to communi-cate with them, he must make a suc-cessful Language: Haradric (NearHarad) test (TN 10). If he does so, hemust then convince them that they arenot, in fact, agents of Gondor. Theplayer running Melephin should makeup a cover story for the characters andtell you what it is. Then he shouldmake a Persuade (Charm) test (TN15 or 20, depending on your judge-ment of how good it is). If he succeedsin persuading them, the Haradrim goon their way, allowing the charactersto go on theirs.

EN C O U N T E R 3: TH EWI N D OW ON T H E

SU N SE T

‘They named themselves Mablung andDamrod, soldiers of Gondor, and they

were Rangers of Ithilien. . . .’— The Two Towers

If the characters continue inlandthrough the vales of northern Ithilien,the woodlands begin to thin out andthey see before them a rocky slopewith a roaring waterfall cascadingdown it. Trees and other vegetationobscure much of the base of the slopefrom view. Their orders tell them thatHenneth Annûn should be some-where around here.

As they approach the base of theslope, they see two large boulders oneither side of a dimly traced path thatseems to disappear into a sheer rockface. As they approach the boulders,two tall men in mottled green andbrown cloaks worn over chainmailspring out to bar the way. One carriesa sword and positions himself for-ward, while the other draws his long-bow and stands back. He also carries ahunting horn around his neck.

They are Halond and Ilthimir,Rangers of Ithilien standing sentry atone of the sanctuary’s entrances.When they challenge the characters,they appear aggressive and hostile.This is not a good time for Faramir’smen. An Orc prisoner recently plant-ed in their minds the suggestion thatthe location of Henneth Annûn andall of the sentries’ signs and counter-signs have been betrayed to theEnemy. Furthermore, the prisoneralso has the Rangers thinking thatSauron will send spies against themdisguised as Gondorian soldiers.Halond and Ilthimir are therefore in ajumpy mood. When the player char-acters attempt to give the passwordthey were taught at Osgiliath, the sen-tries’ eyes narrow, and they treat the

characters with deep suspicion. Thepasswords were changed recently, andthose that Atanacar gave to the PCsare now incorrect.

Quarrelling with the sentries is nota particularly good option for yourplayers. These men are veterans, andindividually they are more powerfulthan beginning-level characters.Besides, at the first sign of hostileaction against them, the sentry withthe bow looses a shot, then blows hishorn. This alarm brings 20 more ofFaramir’s men, with the first 10 arriv-ing within 10 rounds and the remain-der 10 rounds after that. Most impor-tantly, it’s just not something that aloyal servant of Gondor would do, nomatter how stressful the situation.

It would be much more sensiblefor your players to use their characters’Social skills to persuade the sentriesthat they are friends, not spies of theEnemy. If they seem stuck for a courseof action, you might suggest that theychoose one character to serve asspokesman for the party. That charac-ter may then make a Social skill test ofhis choice (TN 10 if Debate orPersuade, TN 20 if Intimidate) to tryto convince the sentries to let thempass. You need not act out thisencounter with your player (althoughyou should feel free to do so, if youwish). The skill test represents anabstraction of what the characterinvolved would say and do to get thesentries to see things his way.

If he makes a successful test,Halond and Ilthimir look at eachother doubtfully. Then Ilthimirmotions for the characters to followhim, with Halond falling in linebehind, his blade still drawn. If the testsucceeds by more than 5, then theirattitude toward the characters changesnoticeably. They apologise for theirwariness (the times being what theyare, one can never be entirely certainwhether strangers be friends or no,even if they are clad as friends), andtreat them as friends hereafter.

In either case, the sentries lead thecharacters through the brush to a

cleared spot at the base of the slope.Ilthimir places a ring on his right handagainst a spot in the rock. This ring ispermanently enchanted with the spellIthildin-fire, and it reveals the glowingoutline of a door carved into the rock.He then cups his hand to his mouthand appears to whisper something tothe door—a command word, nodoubt. The door in the rock then easesopen, and the sentries lead the charac-ters into the maze of caves and war-rens that is Henneth Annûn, theWindow on the Sunset.

HALOND AND ILTHIMIR

RACE: Man (Dûnedan)RACIAL ABILITIES: Adaptability,

Dominion of Men, SkilledATTRIBUTES: Bearing 8 (+1),

Nimbleness 10 (+2), Perception 8(+1), Strength 10 (+2), Vitality 9(+1), Wits 7 (±0)

REACTIONS: Stamina +2, Swiftness+4, Willpower +1, Wisdom +1



SKILLS: Armed Combat: Blades(Longsword) +7, Climb +3,Healing +1, Jump +3, Language:Sindarin +6, Language: Westron+6, Lore/Realm: Gondor (Ithilien)+3, Observe (Spot) +6, RangedCombat: Bows (Longbow) +6,Ride (Horse) +4, Run +3, Stealth(Hide) +6, Survival (Woods) +5,Track (Orcs) +6

EDGES: Warrior’s Heart (+4 bonus toall Weariness tests related to battle)

FLAWS: NoneHEALTH: 11DEFENCE: 12COURAGE: 4RENOWN: 0GEAR: Longsword (2d6+5 damage),

ordinary chainmail (absorbs 5points of damage). Ilthimir also hasa longbow (maximum range 200feet), 20 arrows (2d6+2 damage), ahunting horn, and a ring perma-nently enchanted with the spellIthildin-fire

Halond and Ilthimir are more for-midable than the Orcs or Haradrimthat the characters faced in the earlierencounters. They really qualify asnon-player characters, or NPCs—characters run by the Narrator and

which are usually placed in an adven-ture to help facilitate the flow of thestory. If you wish to use Halond andIlthimir in an ongoing chronicle, notethat they are designed to place themon track to qualify for the Ranger eliteorder before very long (see the corerulebook for more about characteradvancement and elite orders).

BE YON D TH I SADV E N T U R E : IN T H E

SE RV I C E O F GONDOR

‘So it must be, for you are appointed tothe White Company, the Guard ofFaramir, Prince of Ithilien. . . .’— Aragorn (King Elessar),

The Return of the King

Once the characters convince thesentries that they are friends, theytake them to Lord Faramir, who isenjoying a rare moment of ease deepin the heart of the sanctuary. Hereceives the news with great concernand resolves to set off for Osgiliath

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16

with 100 picked men as soon as theyare ready. First, however, he thanksthe characters for their service andrewards each of them with one of thefollowing heroic arms or armour fromthe magazine:

DÛNEDAN BLADE, enchantedweapon: A longsword forged cen-turies ago by the Men of Westernesse.It contains a minor bane enchantmentthat grants a +2 bonus to ArmedCombat tests against servants or alliesof Sauron and a +3 bonus againstNazgûl or other supernatural foes.

STAR OF OSGILIATH, heroic shield:A large shield with an enormous starembossed on it. The Princes of Ithilienwielded it during the glory days of theKingdom of Gondor. It provides anadditional +3 parry bonus againstOrcs (see core rulebook for rulesregarding parrying) and an additional–3 penalty to ranged attacks by Orcsagainst the wielder.

MORDOR-BANE BOW, enchantedweapon: A longbow crafted inRivendell for the Kings of Arthedain,and subsequently given to Gondor asa gift. It contains a minor baneenchantment that grants a +2 bonusto Ranged Combat tests against ser-vants or allies of Sauron.

At this point, the adventure comesto its formal conclusion:The charactershave successfully navigated the road toHenneth Annûn. They have dealt withthe foes they met along the way, andthey have completed their mission andreceived their just reward for it.

But the chronicle of their deedsneed not end there. Faramir may askthem to remain with his Rangers inthe Window on the Sunset to serve asscouts or messengers, for he never hasenough men to serve with him, andeven fewer as brave and resourceful asour heroes. Or he may send themsouth to spy on the Southron peopleswho have allied themselves withSauron, for full-fledged war obviouslydraws nigh, and Gondor needs toknow what is going on in these landsthat will soon throw their mightagainst it. If the Haradrim send more

men north to Mordor, Faramir’sRangers ought to know when they setout and in what strength so they canplan ambushes. As Narrator, you maydesign further adventures set inIthilien or Harad and Khand that willtake your players up to and throughthe tumult of The War of the Ring.

If you wish, you can also workHalond and Ilthimir, the sentriesfrom Encounter 3, into the chronicleas friendly non-player characters. Oneor both of them might go with thecharacters as guides or guards, beingmore experienced warriors andknowledgeable in the lay of Ithilien.Or perhaps they simply befriend thecharacters, giving them helpful adviceand providing a little flavour to thechronicle between adventures. Afterall, it’s not that uncommon inTolkien’s Middle-earth for characterswho meet under difficult circum-stances to become friends. Recall thatAragorn and Éomer meet for the firsttime staring each other down blade-to-spearpoint. Yet, only a short timelater, Aragorn vowed that they woulddraw their weapons together in battleas inseparable allies.

If you choose to extend ‘The Roadto Henneth Annûn’ into a chronicle,just remember to consult the rulesregarding experience points and charac-ter advancement in the core rulebookbefore you go any further. Then go backthrough what your players did in theadventure and reward them experiencepoints accordingly. Afterward, they’llbe well on their way to adding to theircharacters in ways that will preparethem for greater challenges to come.

If the characters serve Faramirfaithfully and well in whatever capaci-ty he chooses to employ them, theiradventures need not end with the con-clusion of The War of the Ring,either. Surely Faramir, now theSteward of Gondor and Arnor underKing Elessar, would recommend ourheroes to the King, asking that they berewarded for their valour during thewar. And King Elessar might wellcommission them as ambassadors to

the tribes of Harad or Khand, know-ing that while the Free Peoples haddefeated Sauron utterly, many ofSauron’s allies still lived, and mightstill cause trouble in the future. By thispoint, it is obvious that our heroesknow Southron folk better than mostGondorians (especially if they spentthe war spying on them). The Kingwould consider them ideal candidatesto negotiate treaties with the varioustribes of the South, by which theywould swear fealty and pay tribute tothe revived Kingdom of Gondor. Atthe very least, our heroes would makesuitable spies to monitor the states ofaffairs among the tribes of Harad andKhand, and judge the extent to whichthey may present an ongoing threat toGondor.

Or it may be that they choose toleave Gondor and the South altogeth-er and head for the North-lands ofMiddle-earth, or that you wish to lurethem there with the prospect of newand greater adventures. That’s perfect-ly acceptable, too. The Lord of theRings Roleplaying Game core rule-book provides you and your playerswith a more detailed treatment of therules (including rules that allow char-acters to improve their attributes, abil-ities, and skills through gaining expe-rience as adventurers), descriptions ofthe races and geography of Middle-earth, and advice for running an entirechronicle. Rules supplements such asThe Fellowship of the RingSourcebook and Fell Beasts andWondrous Magic provide even moreoptions for enriching your chroniclewith elements from the fabulousworld of Middle-earth, including sta-tistical blocks for important figuresfrom the novels and movies. If youwant to work Gandalf or Elrond,Saruman or Lurtz into your chronicle,these books give you the tools to doso! Taken all together,The Lord of theRings Roleplaying Game allows youto explore the richness and wonder ofJ. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth bymaking up your own adventures asyou go along.

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