beginning scenario help

Hi, newbie Narrator here, with first time party (my wife and our young son).
True to form, young son has picked to play a Hobbit Noble, much in the style of Frodo. This has allowed me to create an NPC hobbit servant (craftsman), much like Sam, for him, that I will run. Wife has decided to play a hobbit, much like Pippin.

So I have three hobbits to send on an adventure.

I have decided to set period around year TA 3000.

They are clearly not a "powerhouse" of adventurers, but there again neither were Frodo and Sam when they first set off for Crickhollow...

I am guessing they may meet more people along the way, (more NPCs for me to run), maybe a ranger like in the Strider mold perhaps, an elf from Wandering companies, maybe a dwarf passing through...

I am just a bit stuck for how to get things rolling...

I imaging things starting in the Shire, but not sure what.

I had thought of perhaps some kind of raiding of farmland of South Farthing, maybe by Sarumans minions looking to loot provisions as he builds his army, but then that didn't seem plausible, as any food stuffs taken would most likely spoil before they reached Isengard... 500 miles away...

I had perhaps thought of some kind of raid in the North, where the Hobbit noble manages to organize the Sherrifs and Archer Militia to defeat an orc plundering raid..

But to both I am left with the the contrary thought that "weren't the rangers closely protecting the Shire" during this time, so no such raids would get through?

I am trying to think of other plausible reasons for "messages" to be delivered to Bree, or even Rivendell, but I'm struggling to come up with anything useful...

If you can give me any idea or prompts, or perhaps links to suitable download-able scenarios, I would be very grateful.

Thanks
Scott

Does it need to be set in 3000 TA?

Set it 1500 years prior and it could be after the initial settling of the Share. Maybe wolves are raiding hobbit farms and it is to organized to be random. The pc's need to investigate only to discover it is a large warg leading the pack, or a lazy orc, or maybe a fat troll. I would tweak the leader's stats depending on the strength of the characters.

The reason I say change the time is because it eliminates the watch on the shire. This allows for tons of game ideas:

- the one idea above
- by the king of arthedain's request, maybe the noble hobbit has been given a length of the east-west road to repair bridges (which was one of the reasons the shire was granted to the hobbits, by the king, because dunedain population was so lean) and his workers have troubles with rogues. Maybe he decides to journey to the Blue Mountains to seek dwarven aid.

The ideas for a simple start are endless, and you can build on it from there.

Hi, thanks for reply.
I had thought to set the period TA3000, ie lead up to War of the Ring, as this is the period my players are familiar with and will understand, having seen movies, and read a LOTR & Hobbit.
However unlike me, they are not really versed in the wider Tolkien world of Middle-Earth, and may not follow the earlier stuff.
Plus they'd probably quite like the chance of bumping into some notable characters and places, without derailing the core events of Fellowships Quest etc etc

regards
Scott

One way to justify trouble in the Shire region is to start the campaign just as Halbarad's company of Rangers went south to join Aragorn for the battle of Pelennor Fields (early 3019). This would mean that the guard on the Shire is weak to non-existent. Possible antagonists include orcs from the Misty Mountains, wolves/wargs, trolls, Saruman's minions, etc.

Using this scenario, it would probably work better if the PC's are Breelanders, since we see in the books that Bree was not conquered by Saruman (not even being fully aware of what happened to the Shire). You could have them be in the Shire, but that would make things more complicated, as, since you want to keep from affecting the timeline, you would have to either have the PC's fail to stop Saruman or somehow work the story around it.

What about some villainous or scheming hobbits, in league with humans from the surrounding area? There's got to be some local trouble they can deal with.

Hmm, some interesting ideas cropping up, thank you. I hadn't thought about the later time-line with the marching out of the Rangers, that's a very good point! :-)
Rebellious Hobbits are certainly a possibility.
I had been having some musing on some kind of upsets with the post service, unforeseen harvest difficulties, missing hobbit children, problems for the bounders and other shire border guards/militia.

After perusing through the Fellbeasts tome, I am always one for a bit of gothic horror, I loved the idea of a vampire sneaking into the shire. Perhaps sent as an early spy by Sauron, or maybe acting on its own mischief. Perhaps also have it in cahoots with a werewolf and pack of wargs, backed up by orcs.

So initial play may be to root out the vampire, then get the militia raised and organised to defend against the werewolf's depredations, and repel an orc raid.

Or am i heaping too much on beginning characters...?

A vampire and/or werewolf in the first chapter might be bit much for 0 Advancement characters, especially if they're a noble and craftsman. :) Maybe starting out with the lesser foes would be a good idea. For example, an encounter with orcs and/or wargs somehow leads them to the werewolf, which alerts them to the presence of a vampire. They don't even need to see, let alone encounter, the vampire for several chapters for him to be the main villain. He can challenge the heroes through his minions, quite sufficiently when the heroes are a pair of hobbits. ;) If you're still thinking of having them encounter allies along the way, that could be a good way of prepping them to encounter the vampire.

Yes that may be a better way around, keeping the vampire at arms length, controlling everything else. We'll see how we go...

A slightly vampiric hobbit? Maybe a hobbit Wuthering Heights...