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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dlsharrock" data-source="post: 4177874" data-attributes="member: 55833">This is the starting point discussion and OOC spot for the Eve of Mirkwood campaign, which I'm renaming Citadel of the Iron Crown. This isn't a recruitment thread. We have all the players we need right now and at this point are nearing completion on the character creation process (which is here: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=222987)" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=222987)</a>.Primarily I'd like to open up a discussion on starting point motivation (based on previous discussions) and put forward my own proposal for bringing the group together. I have designed an adventure. Not linear, but big and encompassing not only opportunity to travel extensively and adventure but also interaction with the 'bigger picture' specific to the period we're playing in, allowing players to do one, or both according to how their game pans out. Originally I planned on proposing a few ideas for reasons to leave the camp, but I'd sooner players put in their own suggestions based on the foundations provided <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.Once we've decided the details, this thread will provide somewhere for players to post OOC comments about the game, rules and so forth if we wind up getting into something in the IC thread that could do with a bit more space to breathe.It's been mentioned already that we need some kind of motivation for the group to leave the logging camp and explore the world a bit without the reason seeming trite or illogical. As a starting location the logging camp is certainly an interesting location and I really don't want to resort to any kind of disastrous event or invasion to prompt a shift in focus from the camp to the wilderness (which, as has already been mentioned, is more likely to scatter than strengthen the integrity of the group). I considered economic difficulties or racial disharmony but both fell a bit flat in my mind. Hopefully the camp will remain, in the early parts of the game and maybe later, a base of operations leading to adventure and probably travel throughout the wild lands of Middle-Earth. I don't think we need to discuss how to move the game beyond the camp, I think that will happen naturally. Instead the finer points of the initial set up need to be arranged. Which character is where, what they see and how they react and so forth, allowing all players to write the results into their background and start the game at a common point.Before I begin the opening gambit, I should warn players I've singled out Fred_Binder's character for a bit-part in the set up simply and for the only reason that he's a dwarf. I should add, with the utmost sincerity, that I don't approve of 'Chosen One' games and this isn't what that is. Having a dwarf in residence just makes the whole thing extremely handy. Had there not been a dwarf PC present, I'd have created an NPC. Opening game proposal:A dwarven member of the logging camp has something of value, an heirloom of little worth which, to even the seasoned dwarven eye, looks like little more than a collection of Dwarven runic letters (no particular meaning) on a parchment framed in unimpressive beechwood and kept behind a sheet of grubby and slightly cracked glass. It's been handed down from dwarf to dwarf,  yet even great great grandfathers purport to have little clue as to the parchment's purpose or point. Whenever the thing is handed over it goes with the same explanation: "it's not much to look at, but it's been in the family for many an Age, so keep it safe and give it to those you sire, lest we suffer the wrath of our fathers". One night a group of masked thieves steal into the logging camp and take the parchment from wherever it is the dwarf keeps his personal effects, smashing the glass, ripping away half the paper, rolling it up and making off with it. The dwarf catches them in the act but fails to grab them in time. Instead he sees the thieves running away and follows them out of the camp and into the Mountainous foresty terrain beyond the camp. Other PCs are either with the PC in question at the time, also see the thieves running away (and give chase), are out and about in the camp and see them running away (and give chase? or run after the pursuers wondering what all the fuss is about??) or are on the fringe of Mirkwood itself and run into the chasing party coming out of the logging camp (*looking in the direction of Aranel*). Suffice to say the thieves melt into the forest and escape.From this premise the group forms. Motivation to stay together then depends on where they go next and player input. Do they track the thieves? Do they go back to the logging camp and have a late night sup of ale and a chat about the missing item? Who were the thieves? What did they want with a grubby old parchment? And why did they single it out- of all the valuable things in the camp (there are a fair few masterwork weapons lying around after all). Other PCs may want to study the remaining half of the parchment.This is the jist of the set up I propose. At a glance it looks like a cliche (thieves steal a valuable artefact and the owners give chase, etc), it isn't. It is the introduction to what will likely be a campaign-sized adventure, but at this point it could just as well be the reason for the bonding of a few logging camp employees late at night over a mug of ale <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />A possible alternative, if players would rather make a more pro-active start, is to begin the game on the outskirts of Mirkwood, having just bumped into Aranel, and on the trail of the thieves. That's also doable, though I'd advise you remember this *is* Mirkwood and it *is* night time and the PCs *will* know only too well that wandering around the forest in the dead of night is rather dangerous. It just remains to say that this is a discussion intended for the DM and players of Citadel of The Iron Crown (Aka Eve of Mirkwood) but input/suggestions from anyone is welcome provided such input isn't unfriendly, sarcastic, pedantic or in any other way unnecessarily arsy.</blockquote>

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