u/ElladanandElrohir

The topic here is a bit broader than the title suggests, but I couldn't think of a short way to phrase it. Basically, how much freedom would a party of heroes have to actually explore the shire?

The Shire is portrayed in the books as fairly isolationist. Shire Hobbits sometimes go to Bree, and we can infer that Hobbits trde with their neighbors, with some contact along the borders with other people's. ​Their primary visitors seem to be on special occasions that might bring dwarves in, like at Bilbo's birthday party, or elves passing through (but elves can pass unseen, largely by night under starlight.) But there is the notion of bounders whose job it is to keep folks out (even if their main interest in the profession is in a prolonged pub crawl) and in general Hobbits in the interior of the shire don't strike me as having much contact outside of other Hobbits.

I am curious how to play this as a LM. This is all hypothetical, as my group hasn't started yet, but how do you run the Shire where that it retains its identity and tone​ while still allowing the party to explore it?

EDIT: Thank you all for your comments! Rereading the core rulebook and the Shire supplement, the game makes several references to people traveling through the East-West road through the shire, primarily dwarves, and that Hobbits are happy to let them be so long as they don't cause trouble. You all gave lots of good suggestions!

I recently walked myself through the starter set with three pregen characters in an attempt to learn the system before I run it for a group. Overall I think I got a good handle on it, but the final lair at the end of the adventure makes the odd choice of randomly rolling for what rooms you find.

While playing solo, this worked well enough, but it feels very strange to run a dungeon this way when no other location in any of the published books do this. ​I'm tempted to just map out the lair, hiding the more valuable rooms behind some skill checks, but I'm not sure.

Anyone who has run the adventure have any input?

EDIT: Thank you all for the input! I will probably run it as written. ​​

For those who use music to help set the tone, I am curious what you play. Obviously the film soundtrack is iconic, but I feel like it's almost too iconic, and that playing it might overly color the players experience and expectations.

I feel like something more ambient, almost like dungeon synth or something else lo-fi might be a good fit, but I'd love to know what you have found to be a good pairing with the game!

With the two upcoming expansions (The Rohan/Gondor book and the Bestiary) I'm curious what folks are hoping to see included.

For the new locations, I know we are getting Paths of the Dead from the teaser image. I'm personally hoping we get a lot of detail on Fangorn, especially since it showed up in Hands of the White Wizard. I'm also hoping for an interpretation of Pelargir and more detail on settlements of Rohan. (Also maybe the Drudain/Woses?)