Outracing the Flames Discussion Thread

[piosenniel]

Arry invites you play in his game:


Outracing the Flames


Basic Storyline:

It is late autumn of 3017 TA; the War of the Ring will begin in June of 3018 TA. Orcs and Easterlings have begun to rampage near the eastern borders of Rohan. One of the small villages just outside the eastern Rohan border has been hit hard, most of its people killed, its houses and barns burned. The leader of that village has sent messengers out to those other villages nearby which he thought might be next on the agenda of the ravaging orcs/Easterlings.

One of the messengers has come to the village of Wulfham, a village just within the eastern boundaries of Rohan. The March-warden (minor Lord) there sends out a number of young volunteers to ride to Edoras to raise the alarm as they go along and to bring back assistance. The March-warden intends to pack the village up and move them all towards Edoras for protection. All of his armed men will ride with them - that's why the younger folk are asked to be the messengers.

During the first week of their ride, they encounter another group of riders who’ve come from a small village, Bregoware, just outside the eastern boundaries of Rohan (that would be on the other side of The Great River – the Anduin).

The two groups will have to form an alliance of some sort in order to survive the ride and deliver the message to Edoras.

[piosenniel]

The purpose of the story is to: Bring news of the destruction of outlying villages to King Theoden at Edoras

This means we will know the story is over when: The message is delivered (or if there is interest in continued play – when the messengers are reunited with their villages)

[piosenniel]

Starting Location: The far eastern borders of Rohan, somewhere near the Wold. (See Map)

Likely destination: Edoras – the King’s Hall

[piosenniel]

Timeframes:

This game takes place in the Third Age, very late autumn, of the year just prior to the start of the War of the Ring. (The War of the Ring begins in June of 3018 TA)

The storyline itself or plot covers about a month to a month and a half.

This game requires a time commitment of three (3) months from me, the game owner, and from the major players.

[piosenniel]

Other thoughts:

We would most likely be from farming villages (raising crops and small animals) - not horse raisers. The outlying lands are a little harsher than the grassy lands nearer to Edoras.

Women would be as likely to know how to wield weapons as the men, though I don't think they would be able to become professional soldiers in the employ of the March-warden.

Weapons would probably be simpler than those of the professional army - plain steel swords, hunting bows, knives; stout sharpened wood staves - the sorts of things farmers might have in their family armory.

I was thinking we would be about 200 or 250 miles from Edoras, possibly up near the Wold.

I'd like our route from the eastern border to take us toward where the Snowbourne River intersects the Entwash. We can ride along the Snowbourne, then, to Edoras. The Snowbourne River is that little white dotted line that connects, on the first map below, to the Entwash River, and goes straight to Edoras.

[piosenniel]

MAPS:


Map 1


Map 2

Map 3

[Arry]

From the Discussion Thread:

Timeframes:

This game takes place in the Third Age, very late autumn, of the year just prior to the start of the War of the Ring. (The War of the Ring begins in June of 3018 TA).

Specifically - it's mid-October.

As a reference, sunset here in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. for that time of year is around 6:30 p.m; sunrise around 7:30 a.m.

[Farael]

Eowyn, I'm sorry if I used your character a bit, but I needed to chomp a lot of time in one post and it would have not worked if EVERYTHING had been Osmod's ramblings and second-thoughts. If you can think of a better way for me to phrase Eostre's request, please let me know. I think of all the characters she is the most likely to make such statement. Unless I'm reading her completely wrong, Meghan will not do it and I'm not sure I get a read on Fionn yet.

I'll try to limit using other characters in the future. For further reference, Osmod can be 'borrowed' if needed be just as long as
a) Whoever borrows him does not go too deeply into his thoughts and reasoning
b) He does not say anything that would be out of character and most importantly,
c) The borrower ought to be willing to change/delete Osmod's part in the post if I think it's not quite right.

Point B is a little complicated so point C is most important. If you are ok with that then I'm ok with you using Osmod (note, I often use "you" as a general "you all" even right after being talking to a specific someone. just clarifying as the list was a case of a 'general you')

Another thing we could do if time allows is to put the possible post on this thread first and see how we work it all together. After all, this is a 'team' effort, right?

Still Eowyn, if you think I should change it, let me know. I could make it an unidentified grumble or maybe someone else will volunteer for it. I wasn't sure if I should have used Eostre as I don't want her to be "the bad guy" of the group but at that moment and given that I did not have time to discuss it with everyone, she seemed the best fit.

[Valier]

Wulfhamers: I have decided that Vaenosa should take first watch(She wouldn't have it anyother way would she?) Oh and the salve is supposed to be horseradish or something like it! Oh if someone would approach Vaenosa soon to get her to wake them next would be good. I will wait till Telvido does his nightly post then I will post the first watch. I have an idea I would like to try, to open Vaenosa up a little bit. Let me know if this is ok!

[Eowyn Skywalker]

Farael: No, she's the cynic of a group, so remarking "I thought you promised us a fire, at any rate" or something like that's fairly IC. But, yes, I agree. Meghan's too... at the moment, too naive and nice to be pushy (that's how Eostre reads her), and Fionn's too "happy days slashed with evil angst etc so let's just be Luke Skywalker instead!". If you know what I mean. If you want to plug in a bit of an edit and indicate that she thought that no one else would've even considered that they needed a fire and dinner before they could have breakfast, curse it all... or something like that... just to explain why she spoke up.

Thank you, Arry. I knew it was late fall, but I didn't know what timezone you were basing it on... heh. I wanted a Terran view for translation.

[Farael]

Eowyn,
While you are right and I should add what you say, my post is still focused on Osmod. I'm not sure I could show any insight into Eostre's thoughts in the middle of it with any sort of credibility. Why don't you add it into the last post you wrote?

Edit: and sorry, I'm not a big fan of star wars, I have no idea what you just said about FIonn

[piosenniel]

Bringing this forward -

A few reminders:

Remove your signature from EVERY post to the RPG thread, including SAVES.

Fill in your SAVES in 48 hours, please.

Do not use smilies or any Post Icons on your Game posts.

Don't put 'Reasons for Editing' on your game posts - if it's important that the other gamers know you've edited something - use the Discussion Thread to tell them about it.

Please remember to use other writers' characters very carefully. Don't speak for them or have them perform actions unless it is okayed by the character's owner.

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Note:

If you see an 'edited by piosenniel' on your game post - it will be to remove your signature or an icon.

Anything else that needs to be edited will be addressed by PM.