Gaming in March-May 2023

 A very belated update, partly because I'm finding Illmire heavy-going.

• 1 March - The Evils of Illmire (OSE)
• 15 March - The Evils of Illmire (OSE)
• 21 March - Sundays in the Shire (Under Hill, By Water)
• 29 March - The Evils of Illmire (OSE)
• 18 Apr - Sundays in the Shire (Under Hill, By Water)
• 10 May - The Evils of Illmire (OSE)
• 31 May - The Evils of Illmire (OSE)

The Evils of Illmire

The face-to-face group ('The B-Table') I GM for are currently playing The Evils of Illmire.

• 1 March - Session 5: Never Be Rude to Old Women in Fantasy RPGs

As the Party was recovering from the last session's slaughter they were joined by Yancy, twin of the now-deceased half-orc Clancy.  He'd escorted two new PCs and a hirling to catch up with them (Convenient that, eh?  We also had a flashback to the hiring fair).  After introductions - the new PCs were Dalk, a Ranger, and Collum Phobetora, an Illusionist - and while debating what to do next, they had an encounter with another group of cultists.  After a very effective use of the Sleep spell, they tied the cultists up and left them to die of thirst and starvation.  

Then they went to investigate the Misty Lake and Fishfolk (they'd previously been given this quest by the lumberjacks).  Dalk was unnecessarily rude to a old woman who they found living in a cave - he actually said that he wouldn't talk to anyone who hid their face to someone who turned out to be a Medusa!  He paid the obvious penalty.

Fortunately, Connie the Barbarian had earlier had some positive dealings with another Medusa, which included learning their language.  (Both that and this apperance of a Medusa were the result of random tables, nicely tying together.)  This placated her and she gave them some info on the Racoon Tribe/Fishfolk that they'd missed picking up on last session.  She also told them that the secret of getting to the Fishfolks' underwater dwellings was to befriend the Froglings, who had gadgets for breathing underwater.  Eventually, she even de-petrified Dalk.

Another trek led to the Froglings' village in the forest canopy.  An audience with the Matriarch let the party know that she was happy to help on condition that they first rescued some younglings, who had been captured by the dastardly Mantismen (Illmire is a little railroady).   Cue training montage, while the party spent a couple of days in Frogville.  (In retrospect, I realised that I could have had the younglings kidnapped while the the party was learning to use the breathing aparatus - thus removing the obvious quid pro quo and letting the party decide whether to rescue the infants or not.)

They set out into the swamps with a couple of Frogling warriors, and soon had their first encounter with a Mantis ambush.  Through interrogation of a captive they determined that Mantismen have no redeeming qualities and that the children were probably still alive ("they have to be starved for a week to make their flesh worth eating").

We left them as they discovered the Mantis-mound.

• 15 March - Session 6: Hostage Rescue

Reinforced by another couple of Froglings (the Matriarch having had a vision of "much death" if the they went into the Mound by themselves), the Party moved in to rescue the Frogling children.  

With close-quarter, chamber-to-chamber fighting there was indeed "much death".  Before the final confrontation with the Queen, two PCs and a Frogling ally had been killed (one of the PCs by the Mantis' nifty decapitation action) and 21 Mantis we dead.  After that, the Queen was a pushover and the survivors managed to rescue the children (and two replacement PCs).

Back to Frogville, where there was much rejoicing.  They stayed there for a week, training in the Froglings' underwater breathing apparatus and whips.

• 29 March - Session 7 : "Much Death"

Another session with a dispiriting amount of bloodshed.  The Party made an abortive attempt on the underwater entrance to the Fishmen's caves.  Having met Giant Caimen and Electric Eels on the way, they weren't in the best of conditions when they reached there.  A tussle with guards left one PC and an NPC dead without even getting into the caves.  They sensibly withdrew.

There bad luck with random encounters continued.  Having fallen asleep on watch, they were attacked by Vampire Bats, again with fatal results.  They made it to the loggers camp where they picked up their mule [and new PCs].

On the was back to the village the party encountered three wolves.  Having killed one and driven the others off, they found that they had been protecting a litter of cubs.  The imediate reaction was "Yah! We have wolf cubs!".  But as they tried to removed them the vanquished wolves returned and wouldn't give up until they were killed.  The reaction now was "We've killed all these wolves, the cubs can't survive, we can't care for them.  We'll have to kill them!".  In the end [after a lot of debate] they took them to the loggers' camp to be raised their.

• 10 March - Session 8: Back to the Plot, or Not?

Stephen

Heading back to Illmire Village, the party encountered a Lizardman, who turned out to be a servant of the Medusa ("My Missstresss calls me...   Ssstephen").  He offered them a side quest - to recover a Blue Jewel from a wizard's tower.  His Mistress would offer a suitable reward.

Arriving at the village, they went to the house of an associate, which they found empty.  And stayed their for the night.  The next morning they went to the mill/bakery, where they learned that things hadn't improved in the days they'd been away.  The associate they had wanted to visit had died of the Illness, and his son was now staying with the miller and his wife - but she had also come down with the illness.

Our Ranger determined that it was time to consume some mushrooms in order to determine just what was going on.  After some false leads, he finally discovered that the water from the village well was poisoned [at which stage the Druid pointed out that she could have told them that...].  While the Ranger still had the ability to discern magic, they went back to the abandoned druid's hut and gave it a good turning-over.  The Ranger, who had the munchies, raided the vegitable patch.

Then it was time to talk to less friendly villagers [most of whom were confused as only one of the party survived from their last visit to the village].  After selling loot to the jeweller, they met the tanner's wife, who asked them to search for her missing husband - they had to tell her that they'd found his body in the mantis-mound.  In her distraught state, she let slip some clues about his cultist activities.

Back to the inn, where they had surprisingly little difficulty picking up the post for their dead predecessors.   They decided to have a good look in the cellars so, later that night...

...They went down and found that the inn was kidnapping lone travellers.

• 31 May - Session 10: Burning Bridges

[The rescued travellers were convenient, as we had a new player and were able to introduce her PC.]  As well as the prisioners, there was extensive evidence of Cultist activity, include the dreaded mindphage worms [which are quite squidgy and easy to kill] and a rather convenient letter that proved the the Cultists were on the Party's trail.  To nobody's surprise the inn's cellarman turned out to be a cultist.  To Dalk's (fatal) surprise he had access to a suply of potions.  The gaff being up, the Party sent a message to their allies, letting them know that they should leave the village and meet them at the loggers' camp.

A few days were spent at the camp, making plans and nursing wounds.  It was decided to take up Stephen's offer of a side-quest.  The first attempt to get to the tower was stymied by an encounter with a [familiar-looking] Ghoul and another withdrawal to the loggers.  Having finally got to the tower, they found a bear's lair [fortunately empty], stirges and animated furniture.  Two of the party had the indignity of being killed by a table [one by falling into its burn wreckage while drenched in oil].

Sundays In The Shire

• 21 March - The Great Raddish-Nobbling Scandal

See my detailed write-up here.

• 18 April - The Great Goblin Battle Re-Enactment

Despite side-plots concerning the Friends' rivalry with the drinkers from the Bear & King and Ebs finding that his nemisis and rival tax-collector has unjustly seized a cow (filed away for further use), the session was mostly concerned with the anniversary of the Great Goblin Battle.  

Let Justice Be Done!

This aniversary was to be marked with a re-enactment organised by Capt Bigglesthwaite of the Little Wincing platoon of the Knights of the Old Road (assisted by the long-suffering Sgt Oldbarrow). 

Naturally, everyone wanted to take part, and auditions were held.  Three-quarters of the village turned out dresses as Doughty Misstress Oldbottom, who had helf off the Golblin Horde by throwing well-aimed turnips until relieved by the Brave Lads.  Sadly, none of the party got the star part, being evenly split between Brave Lads and Goblin Horde.  The re-enactment went well, despite the contingent from the Bear & King unjustly targeting the Friends.

The Friends had gathered together the makings of a Great Feast, which they held after the celebrations.  There was a rather sordid side-plot to catch Beryla Hogspen (the rival tax-collector) and Capt Bigglethwaithe in a compromising position, but (fortunately) this came to naught.

Sundays in the Shire #4: Cozy Encounters

Many of you who play fantasy RPGs are, I hope, familiar with James Holloway's podcast 'Monster Man' in which he reads his way through gaming books and looks at the monsters and creatures therein.  If not, I highly recommend it - a month or so ago (after about five years of broadcasting!) he created a Start Here episode.

I'm a Patreon backer and, as such, occasionally get to suggest the theme for a Special Episode.  Most often than not I'm quite at a loss when my turn comes up, but recently with 'Under Hill, By Water' on my mind I suggested an episode about encounters where the resolution isn't kill-and-loot.

He released the resul today and, if you have been interested by my recent posts about 'Under Hill, By Water' it's a must-hear.  He gets the tone of the game down to a tee.

Apart from anything else, it was worth it for James' coining of the word Nobbits for "Little Folk, similar too but legally distinct from Hobbits" (Not Hobbits).

Sundays in the Shire #3: The Great Radish-Nobbling Scandal

As I recently posted, I've had a hankering to play 'Under Hill, Over Water' a game I played  once during lockdown but not again since.  My regular group agreed to give it a go, and we had our first session this week.

The Village 

Hayton-Below-Rime a town of the Eastmarch, perhaps not as renowned as some places, but then again, We don’t go around crowing about ourselves like Some People do.  Everybody has to admit that we’re solid, respectable folk in these parts. 

The Players 

• Thornberry Tunneler (Dorcas).  A locksmith with a dream to investigate the ruins Beyond the Hedge 
• Branon Oldbairn (Matt). A beekeeper who wants to open his own Mathom-House. 
• Ebinezeer ‘Ebs’ Rumblo (Jo).  A tax-collector who wants to meet an Elf and learn one of their songs. 
• Awena Sandwallow.  A wainwright who is keen to be included in her Aunt’s will. 
• Bit Gaggler.  A comley shepherd who wants to publish a volume of genealogy. 

Spring 1246 CA - Set-Up

A Worrisome Thing 

Janna Diggle’s garden has been pilfered in the night. Is the culprit a hare or a young radish-stealing rascal?  She offers a substantial reward to resolve the situation. 

Current Event 

The Spring Faire is coming! 

The Word is that... 

The beer at the Lion & Troll in Bramble Gate is actually quite good this season. It might be worth a nip over to taste it, if your local landlord doesn’t find out about your treachery. 

Personal Complications

I forgot to roll complications for the Players!

Our Session 

The Players started with a few post-work drinks and dinner in The Wooden Baby.  They half-heartily debated trekking all the way to Bramble Gate to try the beer at the Lion & Troll, but that seemed like rather hard work when everyone knew that The Baby had the finest ale in the Commonwealth (which prompted another round of Baby’s Best). 

Instead, they decided to do something to help Janna Diggle solve her radish problem.   They had a few ulterior motives here.  First, Janna was a member of the Matronly Order of Good Manners and friend of Awena’s Aunt Dora.  Secondly, she and Bit were in the middle of a neighbours’ dispute which he wanted resolved (Bit had complained about her smoke drifting over their fence, and Janna had told the Matronly Order that he was behaving in an uncouth and un-Halflinglike manner by disparaging the traditional art of pipe-smoking).  Thirdly, Janna was the servant of Berylla Hogspen, a tax-collector with whom Ebs had a less-than-professional rivalry. 

So they headed over the river to Janna’s hole, first taking the precaution of buying some mints from Rigsby the landlord in an attempt to hide their beery breath and sending Bit back to his own hole, where he could observe the garden from his back parlour.   Janna was initially put-out by their appearance at such a late hour, but Branon persuaded her that as the interference was taking place at night, it was necessary for them to bend the rules of social intercourse.  His gallantry impressed her (quite a lot it turned out!), and she accepted his offer to stake out the radish-patch and catch the thief. 

Janna had her own ideas about the Dreadful Crime.  She felt that this sort of hullaballoo was indicative of the decline in good manners amongst Young Halflings and needed to be stamped out (the Matronly Order had raised this with the Shirrif, but no action had been taken!).  In particular, she blamed her new neighbour, a rough sort of fellow with no feeling for the Old Ways.  In fact, she was able to point him out to Branon as he was lurking in a dark room spying on them at that very moment!  Branon, Ebs and Awena all agreed that he seemed a shady character, worth investigating.  Ebs and Awena, in particular, praised the good work of the Matronly Order. 

Ebs, Awena and Thornberry withdrew to Awena’s hole for a late snack and a night of pipe-smoking and plotting while Branon prepared for his lonely vigil.  [One nice mechanism of the game is that if players provide a suitable song or poem at the table, they can give a fellow an advantage on a role – Jo and Dorcas sang an eating song.]  It turned out not to be too lonely though, as Jenna soon appeared bearing a blanket and tray of coco and crumpets.  Branon then demonstrated his Knack, which allow him to light a wand that throws a light that only he could see.  [At this point, members at the table collapsed amidst comments about Branon’s “knack with wood”.]  Branon was perhaps a little too relaxed following Janna’s visit and lit his pipe.  Unfortunately, this rather highlighted his position to all-and-sundry.  The Radish Bandit made no appearance that night. 

Next morning the Players decided to see what the word on the streets was.  Talk of the matter had flown around Hayton.  There were three theories going the rounds.  Some (mainly members of the Matronly Order) agreed with Janna that this was mindless vandalism, and indicative that the Commonwealth was going the Heck in a Handbasket.  Others pointed out that the Spring Faire was coming up, and that Jenna had won the Prodigious Produce (Root Vegetables) Competition for the last two years with her prize radishes.  [Cue another collapse amidst mutterings about the length and girth of Jenna’s radishes.] They preferred to think of sabotage rather than vandalism.  The third group didn’t care and thought that Janna was an interfering old biddy who deserved everything that she got coming to her.  They pointed out that, despite all her crowing, she’d only won the radish competition twice, unlike Hamson Cubber, who’d had a 10-year record of success. 

While talking to the townsfolk, Bit was able to gather a few anecdotes about his family. 

Awena and Thornberry concentrated their efforts on Awena’s Aunt, Dora Sandwallow.  Like Awenda, she'd become estranged from the family for not joining the prestigious family firm of Sandwallow, Bevin, Greene, Bevin & Co.  She was pleased that they were helping Jenna, who was a fellow member of the Matronly Order (it turns out that Dora was a Past-President of the Order).  Like Jenna, Dora was a prize-winner at the Faire - frequently winning the Meetest Meal (Preserves Division) competition.  Awena immediately offered to help Dora however she could: Dora suggested that any rare ingredients for her cooking (perhaps a hogshead of fine ale - “For the kitchen, of course!”) or for weaving (natural dyes and “as much horse urine as you can get”) would help. 

Branon, Bit and Ebs visited the Mathom-House.  There a group of Keepers were enjoying a pipe and a glass of wine while looking at their latest acquisition.  The Head Keeper, Morris Keighly, was particularly impressed with Branon’s appreciation of a prize numismatic specimen – a gold piece.  Now in a generous mood, Mr Keighly was happy to show off his knowledge of Elves to Ebs and tell Bit about a member of his family who had been a Keeper and deposited the family archives in the Mathom-House. 

Re-grouping in the Wooden Baby and exchanging news, the Players felt that they had achieved a good day’s work.  Thornberry allowed the wild, Alwin side of his nature to emerge and decided that the way to get rare ingredients for Aunt Dora was to stage a raid on Farmer Cotton’s fields!  Other, more sober [sic] heads pointed out that he was notorious in dealing with poachers, and perhaps they should just ask him if he would trade.  

Plans were made for catching the Radish Bandit.  These ranged from alarms to pit-traps to covering the radishes with a coloured dye.  In the end, the dye path was adopted. 

Next day they visited Farmer Cotton.  Although known as a friendly fellow, this only extended to non-mushroom matters.  He distrusted the Players on sight and called his dogs Pouncy, Gripper and Bitey.  He had no need of Awena’s offer of free wagonage (“What kind of farmer doesn’t have his own cart?”) or Thornberry’s offer of labour (“I knows all about these pick-your-own tricks!”), but his eyes lit up when Ebs suggest that he might get a tax rebate.  He relaxed enough to stand the dogs down and show them Ol’ Bess his blunderbuss.  In addition, it turned out that Bit’s grandfather had taught him all he knew about dealing with mushroom-poachers!  He was able to provide a few mushrooms and Awena and Ebs found some red berries on the way back to the village. 

After high tea, the Players went back to Bit’s hole.  As a shepherd, he was well-versed in making a dye that would stain any radish thief.  They presented the plan to Janna, who appreciated the fact that Bit had made the dye (and was rather more impressed to realise who his relatives were – she was able to tell him about an ancestor who married the daughter of a Thain).  The trap was laid. 

Early next morning there were signs of tampering in the radish-beds.  More importantly, there were red Halfling footprints – the plan had worked!  Branon volunteered to stay behind and tidy up the mess while the others followed the trail.  They crossed the bridge and went up the hill.  The tracks led into the Bear & King and another, more winding, trail led out.  Eventually, they came to a hole they knew to be Hamson Cubbins’.  Their banging on the door was answered by an elderly Halfling who had just sat down to first breakfast.  He protested but had clearly been caught red-footed!  

The spectacle of an old gaffer being unceremoniously dragged through the town in his dressing gown was only heightened when his pig Missy decided to join the procession.   When they got to Janna’s, her door was answered by Branon in a dressing gown (she insisted that it was because he’d got dye on his clothes while cleaning up...).   Hamson eventually confessed to sabotaging the radishes in order to regain the championship. 

Outcomes 

Jenna's radishes won the competition.  She was was pleased with the work the Players had done in solving the Great Radish-Nobbling Scandal and rewarded them with a silver piece each.  Impressed with Bit’s family connections, she dismissed their dispute and a miscommunication.  She seconded Aunt Dora’s nomination of Awena as the newest member of the Matronly Order.  She owes Thornberry and Ebs undetermined favours.  Finally, she invited Branon to tend to her garden whether he wanted [ultimate collapse of table into sniggers]. 

Hamson Cubbin, who had been totally humiliated in full sight of the whole town and received a lifetime ban from the Faire swore to “get even with those pesky kids!”. 

The Keepers of the Mathom-House were impressed with Branon’s astute eye and welcomed him as a member (subject to him paying his subscription).  They were also pleased with Bit placing his family’s famous watch on Permanent Loan at the Mathom-House and allowed him access to their archives.  This allowed him to get the final information necessary for him to Complete his Dream of publishing his book of genealogy.

Sundays in the Shire #2: A Quiet Start

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn, 

My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

Back during Lockdown, was lucky to discover Discord as a method of online role-play gaming.  It was quite a fertile time for trying new games and systems and - before I burnt out - I was playing up to four sessions a week (go back to the 2020/21 entries on this blog for the details).

One of the games which definitely fell into the "played it once, want to play it again' was 'Under Hill, Over Water' a game based upon respectable Hobbits living nice, quiet lives (certainly not adventuring!).  I talk about the one, very enjoyable, session we had here.

A couple of weeks ago I floated to my current face-to-face group ('The B-Table') the possibility of trying it out.  As I suspected, the idea was greeted with enthusiasm.

For at least the first session, I suspect that we will be happy to pooter around the town of Hayton Below Rime, but what will happen then?  I need inspiration.

Now don't get me wrong, I do have some source materials...

My Tolkien shelf

...but most of them deal with adventures and adventuring Hobbits.  

What is there for Hobbits that stay at home?  I'm sure there are tales of English small town or rural life that could be mined - the more comic elements of Cranford spring to mind.  If they stay in the village dealing with aunts and pigs, that's fine,  PG Wodehouse has that covered.

For Hobbits that go a-wandering (certainly not adventuring!) within the bounds of the Shire, I'm tempted to go to the folklore of the British Isles to find out what happens to ordinary people who stray away from the path and bump into Odd Folk.

This is all Work In Progress - stay tuned to see what happens.  There's the distinct posibility that I'm overthinking things: 'Under Hiil' is after all a very light game.

Gaming in October 2020

 

• 4 Oct - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
• 7 Oct - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
• 10 Oct - Boardgames - face-to-face
• 14 Oct - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
• 18 Oct - Without Warning (Call of Cthulhu) - on-line
• 21 Oct - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
• 25 Oct - Sunday in the Shire (Under Hill, By Water) - on-line
• 28 Oct - Blackmore (OSE) - on-line

Blackmore (OSE)

• 4 Oct

Back to the Abbey of Fitz.  We acquired war-dogs from passing trader and went back to clear out the ruins of the Abbey.  We found a large grizzly bear and the matriarch of the clan of Reavers we thought we'd cleared out.  Not all the dogs (or my PC) made it out, but we did rescue a mutilated unicorn.

• 7 Oct

There were spiders

In the Under-Booh.   Pluteus my Cleric gained an acolyte (Myxomycetes) and after much discussion we decided to go on a boggart hunt.

• 14 Oct

We continued our mission for the Grand Wizard of Booh to clear out the nest of Boggarts.  We were succesful in that, but unfortunately their hostages and one of our retainers died in the process (the last surviving hostage - and more importantly, "witness" - at the hands of our thief).  The retainer was the pretty-boy Klaus.

• 21 Oct

More exploration of the Under-Booh on behalf of the Grand Wizard.  In this one we finally took him up on his mission to destroy 'Outsider' eggs (after all, he had given us a Wand of Fire Balls to do this).  First though, we went back to the Shroom Shrine to collect some more mushrooms - Myomycetes, our Acolyte of Shroom, being transformed into a giant mushroom during one of the rituals.  

Sadly, we'd left the mission so long (weeks since we accepted it), that the eggs had hatched and wiped out the gang of Teddy Boy Halflings.  We battled with Facehuggers, but still haven't met Mother.  The session ended on a cliff-hanger, Holmund sending a Fire Ball into a pool filled with eggs.

• 28 Oct

A continuation of the last session.  We defeated the Outsiders but have been cut off from out usual exits.  Going around the long way, we ran into some (well-signposted) patches of Blackdamp - fatally.  The Zombie Cat remains a mystery.

Jason Connelly taks about the 21 and 28 Oct sessions on an episode of his podcast.

Under Hill, By Water

• 25 Oct

It's always fun to try something new, and this is one that I've been looking forward to since it came out.  I've written about it here.  Basically a pie-quest.

Board Games

• 10 Oct

The Home Group (or the majority of us anyway), met up at The Games Table for a evening of board games.  We played Scrawl (much better when you actually understand how to play), 7 Wonders and a opening couple of rounds of Pandemic to introduce some of us (including me) to the rules.  

Board games played in October: - 3

New games tried - 1

'Without Warning' (Call of Cthuhlu)

• 18 Oct 

This was an on-line session run as part of Miskatonic Repository Convention 2020.  It was the first play-test of a new scenario from Bill Adcock.  A routine flight to resupply an Early Warning Post in the romote Arctic leads to more than was expected...

Obviously influenced by 'The Thing from Another World' (but not slavishly so), this was great fun.

Sundays in the Shire #1: First Thoughts

Last month Josh McCrowell published 'Under Hill, By Water' an RPG that had been gestating for a a couple of years on his blog Rise Up Comus (which I would highly recomend for a variety of good stuff).  It's a game about being a Hobbit* living a quiet, pastoral life: "Adventure! No, thank you!". 

*I use the term advisedly - 'Under Hill...' doesn't use that word of course.  'Hobbits' are the IP of the Tolkein Estate.  Still it is clear that McCrowell is talking about, and in homage to, Tolkien's creation.  These aren't the 'Halflings' that have grown out RPG culture: McCrowell explicited says "a lot of fat from dragons and/or dungeons has been trimmed off".  

As an aside to this footnote, I would point to McCrowell's excellent blog post in which he considers how one would RPG The Hobbit if the Middle-Earth IP had solely consided of that book.  It gives a nice feel of his style.

How JRRT saw his Hobbit

As the description says, "this is an OSR(ish) game that’s about living in the cozy under-hill homes of the halflings" going back to 'the source material of Tolkien and the eclectic, rustic, anachronistic little British gentry that were the center of his stories".  The adventure promised is on the level of delaing with awkward aunts and ornery goats, rather than defeating dragons.

Well, for a Hobbit-botherer like me, this sounds like fun, and luckily I know a few like-minded people.  Accordingly, last week we sat down for the first of what I hope will be many Sundays in the Shire.

The Village Map

The first step in playing is to create a Hobbit village and populate it with both PCs and NPCs.  The books suggests that this is done with all players together, in order to build relationships and family ties in at this early stage - in effect to have a Session Zero.  We didn't quite do that.  Dave and his co-GM Scarlett (aged 6) created the village beforehand.  Fortunately, Dave recorded the process and has put it up as the first episode of his new podcast My Kids Will Kill You.  You can listened to this 40min process here, which I'd advise as it gives an excellent overview.*

*And if like me, you like to shout at your podcasts, rest assured that Prof Aldridge does now know that peat-cutters cut peat (and why).

Character Sheet

Although there are some basic attributes, character-generation - like village-creation- is mainly based on a series of random tables.  Perhaps most important of these for a Hobbit is the family name, which potentially makes PCs and/or NPCs relatives (though it didn't in our case) and reference to an Ancestral Home.  Each PC begins play with a dream (the fulfilment of which is a means of acquiring XP).

In order to give a taste, here are our three PC's:-

Dolfin Tukkish

• Occupation: Cook.  
• Dream: To meet an elf and learn to sing one of their songs.
• Personal complication: A great-uncle had died (but has left him a bottle of particularly nice vintage of wine in his will).  We added that the will was being contested.
• Attributes: Dolfin rolled highly in CHA - he was 'Comely'.

Harvey Tunneler

• Occupation: Antiquarian.
• Dream: To steal his rival's apple-pie recipe.
• Personal complication: One of his more unpleasant relatives is visiting.
• Attributes:  Harvey rolled particularly badly in CHA: this meant that he had a Bad Reputation.  The player decided that he had used his knack once too often in stealing pies (this is before he rolled the Dream, which proved to be a nice tie-in).  He also rolled badly in INT, leaving him illiterate (an interesting complication for an Antiquarian!).
• In addition, Harvey was of a 'Stock' of Hobbit that has a 'knack' - in his case the ability to manipulate something that he can see as if he had his hand on it.

Jemmy Gaggler

• Occupation: Chandler.
• Dream: To publish his family's geneology.
• Personal complication: His parents are complaining that he's not living up to his full potential and wondering why he never visits (which we made into a prompt for his Dream - to show them that he did consider Family important).
• Attributes: With a high roll in WIS, Jemmy was a 'Greensinger' and able to use more skill points in Wrangling/Woodcraft.

As can be seen, the process of character-generation provided a lot of back-story and some good plot-hooks.  In addition, for each season a Current Event, a Worrisome Thing and a Village Event are rolled.  We ended up with late, heavy snows; the fact that an elderly aunt in a neighbouring village isn't answering her letters (this Thing was allocated to Jemmy's character); and that a petition against wearing large hats to public events was going around.

There are mechanisms for skill checks, combat, and particlurly Hobbit-like activities such as Feasting (restores HP), Singing (gives inspiration) and Party-Giving (increases prestige).  I won't discuss them now as, frankly, we hardly used any in this first session.

So how did the play go?

It was fun!  Gentle fun.

We quickly established that our activities needed to revolve around meals.  Luckily there was several inns in the village and our cook friend was renowned for making the best muffins in the South March.  The only drawback was that pesky pie recipe!

And, although we did make some progress on the other Dreams, I think it's fair to say that the Pie-Quest took centre stage.  Harvey's rival turned out to be a wretched fellow called Tylo Splistening.  Activities including souring his courtship with the fearsome Walda*, who was behind the hat petition**; interaction with the local fencibles***; and orgainising a violent snowball fight between rival fraternal societies; the last as a diversion for a spot of light breaking-and-entering.

*Walda is the subject of the romantic interest of a surprising number of NPCs.  It is yet to be established why.  She may prove to be an heiress.

**Jemmy took against the petition as likely to upset his many elderly female reatives.  Jemmy is the PC I played.  Although Lobelia Sackville-Baggins is in the mix, my concept of his aunts owes a lot to P G Wodehouse.

***Who, quite properly, wear very fancy large hats.