Bloodstained Elanor Planning/Discussion Thread

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

United Army Possibility #1:
Scouts find the army:
-already on the move
-Preparing to attack
Report back
Seek aid from Thranduil
-Envoy: incorporate more characters, of more types than elven warrior/scout
-Inner borders must hold
-Aid gained from Thranduil: united forces drive back orc army
-End here
or
-Move on to destruction of Dol Guldur

For what it's worth, I prefer this scenario to the others. It's clean, simple, and allows for the greatest variety in characters.

I'm no longer keen on the Houseless (for reasons that are too tiring for me to get into here -- I've already PM'ed with Durelin on this and *whew*: in brief, though, there's no way that I can see having any Houseless without them becoming what the rpg is all about, and that's not what I think this rpg should be about).

The second united army scenario I don't like because it's too 'easy' to capture an orc and have it spill the beans. Besides, how would the Elves do that? Torture???

The outer border patrols of Lorien have disappeared. A scout party is sent to investigate. An orc army is discovered to be near or even inside the edges of the forest. - or, a survivor is found: Houseless. Either way, an army is preparing to attack Lorien from Dol Guldur. It may be that Mirkwood is also being attacked. But, Lorien needs aid. An envoy is sent to Mirkwood to ask Thranduil for aid. While the envoy is gone, the soldiers of Lorien must hold back the orcs. (another viewpoint) They return with soldiers of Mirkwood, surprising them from behind. Perhaps they could intercept the orc/easterling patrol we spoke of returning to Dol Guldur with hostages - or with the Houseless (as he now has a body, so he's done his work??). The orc/easterling (an easterling leader work well) army is defeated. Skip to the meeting in Mirkwood renewed, the renaming.

That's some good work of distillation Durelin! I think to tighten this up we should:

1. remove the Houseless

2. have the orcs and easterlings take prisoner the envoy from Lorien to Mirkwood

3. have these hostages freed by the Mirkwood scouting party ("hey, where were those orcs taking you?" "To Dol Guldur, there's an army attacking Lorien -- we need your help" "an army attacking Lorien?! Let's go!").

4. Lorien Elves hold out until Thranduil can get there.

This would give us a lot of options for players perspectives:

The envoy
The orcs and easterlings
The Lorien army holding off the orcs and easterlings
The mirkwood scouting party
(The army of Thranduil?)