Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams - Discussion

[mark12_30]

Hello Tapestry team,

I want to reiterate how much I'm enjoying this game; the character interactions are complex and therefore fascinating, the action/drama possibilities are wide-open, and I think the team is one of the best on the Downs. Go ahead, tell me I'm biased. I don't care.

So, what's next? Let's have some ideas? Ents and huorns at Fangorn? Orcs? Trolls? Dragons from the North Mountains????
And for Ravion's Rangers... A less than enthusiastic welcome in Rohan? Some sort of conflict as 'Ravion's bandits' traverse the Pelennor (hard to imagine...?) Ravion's personal enemies (does he have any?) Aeron's irate "benefactors"?

Let the imaginations run wild...

[Imladris]

Hey,

I was planning on having my next post to be about Aeron picking Gwyllion up. Do you also want me to bring the group to the village in that post (kind of like a forwarding post), or do you just want to have the individual members do their own posts bringing them to the village?

Did that make sense?

Cheers,
Istawen

[mark12_30]

We have lots of ground to cover so I think it's best to go ahead.

In general, if anybody has a reaction of "Hey, wait, I had something I wanted to do three posts back...!" then we can always paste it into a previous post. That's part of co-operating in a complex game. The writer who wants the pasting asks the writer who has the needed spot. Or, depending on the complexity, we can leapfrog; copy the post , add it in at the end, and then delete the original.

So when in doubt, people, surge ahead! I'm looking at the maps, now (making some zoomed-in maps of the ground we will be covering in this game) and I'm looking at between 1,500 and 2.000 miles.

That's on a par with Frodo's trip.

(If I sound a little surprised myself, well.....)

Travelling: IO went hunting on the net for rate of travel data. I found this much. PLEASE add your two cents worth, everyone! Nuru, you ride, don't you? How far could you go on horseback in one day?


On FOOT:
3rd infantry 25 to 30 miles daily;
polish atrocities: 25 to 30 miles daily
bad day: 12 or 15 miles daily
at 3 miles/hour, six hours is 18 miles; 8 hours is 24 miles

Frodo: averaged 17 miles/ day from Bag End to Rivendell? Referred to by mapmaker as "forced marches"...?


on HORSEBACK:
With horses swift as the wind (Mearas or Akhal Teke):
Probe, an emperor of Rome, is known to have been presented with an Akhal-Teke horse that could cover the distance of 150 kilometers a day for up to ten days in a row. (Translation... 1 km = 0.6211 miles ) 93.165 miles/ day. Good heavens, that's incredible!

Cavalry: 35 miles daily (which one? What nationality?)

As we know, the Magyars' main occupation was animal husbandry, especially horse-breeding. Their horses, relatively small but very strong, had great speed and stamina. Each soldier had 3 or 4 horses, riding them in turn so as not to overtire any of them. Thus the army was able to cover 25 to 30 miles daily for weeks,/22/ whereas the western knight-armies rode a maximum of 12 to 15 miles a day for only a few days.

In the year 937, a Hungarian army of 8-10,000 light cavalrymen rode 5,000 miles in ten months. Unmatched achievement in military history, Ferenc Julier, Magyar Hadvezerek.

American West: He marched with a large wagon train to carry forage for our horses, for we were to be gone nearly four months, and could not expect to find adequate pasturage along our route. We arose at 3 A. M., marched at 4.30, and halted for camp on the best water we could find, averaging thirty- three miles daily throughout the march.

[mark12_30]

Love these latest posts. Ravion's motley band is going to be a lot of fun!

[littlemanpoet]

Funny, this same topic came up at FWW (for those of you who want to know what that is, PM me). Here's what I wrote there:

I have an atlas of the journey from Hobbiton to Mordor. On 9/24 Frodo, Sam, and Pippin traveled 24 miles, stopping for supper and walking with Gildor and the Elves. They made 14 miles through the Midgewater marshes in one day (Oct. 3). On Oct. 18 Glorfindel pushed them through the night, on the East Road, and they made 30 miles on foot before they were allowed a 5 hour rest. Then they put in another 20 miles, on road again, the next day. Okay, that's something for on foot.

Hmmmm.... horses.....Wouldn't you know the maps are less helpful? I'm looking at Rohan. Gandalf's and Pippin's ride took 3 days and covered 300 miles. The march of the Rohirrim by horse from Edoras to Minas Tirith had them going about 60 miles a day. Hope that helps.

[mark12_30]

Profoundly quiet today... Are most of us busy Wednesday? (I have band practice.)

I've brought a suspicious dog towards Ravion's group, guessing that Gwillion will react fearfully. Imladris, is this right or does she love dogs fearlessly?

The dog seems to me just a foreshadow of things to come; he doesn't need to be a big deal. Or-- if somebody feels like making him a big deal, have fun.

It's quiet in Rohan... Anybody there?

[mark12_30]

Thursday, April 08, 2004
Hi all,

I've been looking hard at maps.

First of all, the head start that Amroth, Ædegard, Liornung and Bellyn got on Ravion turns out to be very good news. According to Ravion,

"I was in Rohan not a week gone by... ...and he is no longer in Edoras, as I said. As I also said, he is headed north. No one knew where he was bound."

So let's say the Rohan team had a week's head start. Maybe a little more.

I make it 300 miles from Edoras to the stream of Nimrodel at the Lorien edge. Average Cavalry speed is 33 miles per day, but Mellon-Amroth is pushing hard, and although he can't match Shadowfax's speed (100 miles a day) he's faster than 33 mi/day. Let's call it 45 miles / day to Lorien, since he's guessing he'll find Nimrodel there and the horses can rest. (He'll be wrong.) So, he gets to the edge of Lorien in a week. In other words, our timescales are a bit skewed; the Ædegard group is a week ahead of Ravion's group. We can either leave it that way for a little bit, or do some hasty writing and "catch up" timewise.

Timewise: As Ravion is leaving Minas Tirith, Erebemlin is meeting the Rohan group.

So let's say Erebemlin meets them where the Nimrodel-stream meets the edge of Lorien. He gives Mellon-Amroth the news that "She departed for the Havens long ago." So instead of searching along the banks of the Nimrodel-- the banks of which, Erebemlin assures him are quite deserted-- They immediately skirt the south of the forest and follow the Anduin river; the horses are growing weary.

So as Ædegard's group is heading south from Lorien along the Anduin on weary horses. Let's say they slow down to under 30 miles per day. Ravion's walkers are heading north-northwest, skirting the banks of the Anduin. Let's say they struggle along at twenty miles a day.

Somewhere between Rauros, Sarn Gebir, and the East Emnet, I'm guessing they will either hear word of Ædegard's group, or, they will actually find their trail. So at that point, they turn and follow the trail.

Do they each have horses by that time? What do you all think? Would some herdsman of Rohan take pity on them and offer them horses? (It's been nice working with Echo and the old Bay Mare, so... I confess I like the idea.)

I'm going to rough all this out on a map, and put it up on my website. It'll be a large map showing from the Bay of Belfalas to Lorien, with the trails I just described roughed out on it.

The Map

Comments....?

Grace and peace, --mark12_30