2023 Thematic Saga: The Old Forest 1.0

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• 1.0

The Thematic Saga continues with The Old Forest.

The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/gqRfMG0lLY8

In this series I am trying to use as many thematic cards as possible as I play the Lord of the Rings Saga quests in order, in a modified campaign mode. The modification is that I will not be raising my threat if I swap heroes in-between quests.

This quest presented me with my first challenge building thematically where I need to prepare for combat in a section of the novel that did not actually HAVE combat. The trees were menacing and angered, but the hobbits did not need to actively fight them. This makes building a thematic deck a bit tricky because I need to include combat cards, like Protector of Lórien, Dagger of Westernesse, and Quick Strike, that may not be the most thematic for this part of novel.

For this build we have our hobbit Heroes struggling to get through the Old Forest as they took a disastrous Short Cut. To represent this thematically, I thought Side Quests would be appropriate. So, Gather Information, Prepare for Battle, and Scout Ahead are here to represent being off-course and not questing against the true path the hobbits intended to be on.

The hobbits had their hobbit ponies, I am using Bill again to represent them, due to no sphere. Sam Gamgee has his walking stick and Hobbit Cloak. Merry has a couple small knives or pointed sticks. The heroes will have to use some Halfling Determination, Frodo Baggins will need some good Intuition. The inclusion of a song or two or three represents when Frodo sings a song that angers the trees as they travel.

I also have two wandering Miners of the Iron Hills who also got lost in the forest. This quest has a nasty condition attachment treachery that you need an answer for.

And finally, Sam and Frodo might need to call out Ho! Tom Bombadil! and get some much needed help at some point.