Friday, February 10, 2012

The Battle of Greenfields

I've read a few actual play (AP) reports for The One Ring, and one thing that struck me was the effort that many players went through the really bring the setting alive.  Specifically, in most of the reports one or more players actually composed songs or poems to go along with their characters Song skill (songs obviously appear very frequently in LotR and The Hobbit).  Which got me thinking.  Battle cries are a common way for players to roleplay in combat in many different RPGs, but TOR allows you to perform the Rally Comrades action while in the Open Stance.  This action calls for an Inspire or Song roll to allow allies to recover a small amount of Endurance, which got me thinking about how awesome it would be for a player to have an actual battle song prepared for the Song roll.  This was all going through my mind this morning, and so in true hobbit fashion I composed parts of this Hobbit battle song in my head while eating breakfast.  It refers to the Battle of Greenfields, being the only battle occurring in the Shire until the Battle of Bywater in Return of the King.  An orc host from Mount Gram invades the Shire, and the famous Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took (tall enough to ride a horse, it is said) leads the defense, personally killing the goblin king Golfimbul.  If Hobbits have any songs about battle, this is the one they're bound to refer to.  Anyone running a Hobbit character in TOR can feel free to use this.

The Battle of Greenfields

Though our foes be twice as tall
We'll come to blows, we'll make them fall!

Like a flood over the downs
They came for blood from goblin-towns.
In the rain the fields they burn,
But they'll be slain, they won't return!

For Bandobras, “Bullroarer” Took
With shield-emboss'd, courage un-shook
Leads Hobbits from across the Shire
To goblin-targets of their ire.

Arrows nocked, in clouds they flew
Their foes soon shocked, Took's aim was true!
King Golfimbul he killed that day,
Orcs appall'd, they ran away!

Though our foes be twice as tall
We'll come to blows, we'll make them fall!

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