This looks awesome! I can't wait to run it with our Austin group.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/8/17/murder-at-the-prancing-pony/

It looks amazing. Another must-buy POD it seems.

Sure wish my retailer would run these, I don't like eBay but I want those alternate art cards!

I can't stop staring at that playmat...

That playmat! What new kind of devilry is this?

This quest look like a lot of fun with great replayability. The playmat and the Legolas card are both beautiful.

I'm so sad right now that nobody in my city play this game (well almost), so my local gaming shop will never participate.

How do I find out if a game store in the SF Bay Area will be participating?

wait what? what is going on, I thought this was some fake title for the gen con event...?

Johnny Goblin Fingers...? Susie the Spider...? what is this...?

Just seems like Stewards Fear but in Bree.... Set aside the 5 suspect and 5 hideout cards and randomly select one? replace 5 with 3 and make it Villains and Plots instead and you have yourself Stewards Fear. I really don't know about this one.... seems super unthematic and the art on Johnny Goblin Fingers is just super irritating, why is he holding those knives in that silly fashion, why is he smiling like that, why does he look like a man-child?

Oh man I want that playmat and alternative art legolas so bad.... I bet you can only get it via the fellowship event though... booooooo!

How do I find out if a game store in the SF Bay Area will be participating?

Contact your FLGS. Where in SFBA? I'm in RC.

That playmat has the alt art Gimli from the GenCon PoD right?

How do I find out if a game store in the SF Bay Area will be participating?

I'll put a post in the community section, but I'm trying to get one set up at Games of Berkeley again.

The playmat is the alt art Gimli and alt art Legolas combined. Very cool.

Sounds like Game of Thrones….. Is not sounds like a Tolkien for me…

We have so many Tolkiens things why they do this kind of ****!!!!??????

Not my cup of tea!

Have to agree with Glaurung. This does not seem like it fits well in Middle Earth or Tolkiens world at all. Also this dead guy would have to be VERY important for a group of heroes to waste their time finding out who his killer is... we have far more important tasks at hand than just solving a Murder in the Prancing Pony!

Theme aside though I'm sure it will probably be a great quest as pretty much all of them coming out these days are. Much more excited for Ruins of Belegost to be available for the public than this one as Ruins is just a thematic homerun and who doesn't want to explore first age ruins guarded by a dragon?!

Please grey company, cardboard of the rings, beorn, teamcovenant, anyone please have some of the game mats and alternative art Legolas cards for sale/competition or raffle! So badly want to get my hands on them but there will not be an event anywhere near me so I will miss out for sure!

A murder mystery in LotR? That sounds so cool. Sure this is more CSI investigation than adventuring or taking one some grand quest, but I like the change of pace. It's nice to have a one-off fun event different from what we normally get.

I'm totally fine with this quest thematically. I find it great to finally have a new quest take place in a settled, civilised place and Bree is pretty cool for that. Leaves plenty of room for imagination. I admit that I also thought about Game of Thrones when I saw the villains but you know what, it's hardly more of a stretch than the ones in Steward's Fear, and in fact the whole plot about Faramir being abducted to Minas Morgul is more of a canon break IMO. You are right in that they took great liberties with these unique enemies, but to me their names and appearances really match the more rural village and more light hearted setting. Maybe if this was the first or second POD quest I would have been more shocked, but after all the FFG-invented characters and villains and the whole focus on story over the years this kind of creativity is to be expected. But maybe you see something different this time, I don't know.

I get why people are saying that it doesn't seem like it quite fits with Tolkien. But it doesn't bother me too much (in fact I'm super excited for this one), because to me the POD quests in particular are a chance for the designers to go nuts and experiment with something off the wall. I have wanted to see something along the lines of a murder mystery in card form for a long time (I once suggested a Sherlock Holmes LCG), and I'm so interested to see how they are going to pull it off. Is it a seamless fit with Tolkien? No. Do I care all that much? Not really. Especially since the attention to lore is so good in general. This game to me is a chance to play in Tolkien's world and gosh darn it, I want to play whodunnit with Barliman Butterbur!

Hmmmm Stewards Fear takes influence directly from conflicts Gondor had in the past with Black Numenorians, Corsairs of Umber and traitorous rulers. Daughter of Beruthial could easily be a descendant of Queen Beruthial who was a traitorous ruler of Gondor (well wife of a ruler) just like the Hand of Castimir could be a descendant of Castamir (who created the Corsairs of Umbar) or could just be a general or spy from Umbar who we know are fierce enemies of Gondor. Lastly the "Bane of Telemnar" refers to a great king who died when the great plague struck. The plague was apparently "brought by an evil wind from the east" and many theorize that Sauron himself inflicted it upon Middle Earth. If this is the case Telemnars Bane is likely some sort of agent of Sauron reminiscent or related to the days of the great plague. Perhaps he is even there to start a new plague or sickness starting in Minas Tirith? This sounds like something Sauron would attempt if possible for sure. Perhaps the Hand of Castimir or Daughter of Beruthial think that by helping Sauron/Alcaron out they will be given great positions of power being distant descendants of rulers. To me that quest is super thematic for what it is.....

This quest look like a lot of fun with great replayability. The playmat and the Legolas card are both beautiful.

I'm so sad right now that nobody in my city play this game (well almost), so my local gaming shop will never participate.

Same, I really really want that playmat and Legolas card, but don't know anywhere that would participate.

I like the quest. People who claim it to be "not Tolkien enough" need to grow up. The Middle-earth universe is wast and diverse enough to not be restricted with simple orc-slaying duties.

Sounds like Game of Thrones….. Is not sounds like a Tolkien for me…

We have so many Tolkiens things why they do this kind of ****!!!!??????

Not my cup of tea!

I think so too, the murder thing is a bit out of Tolkien

I like the playmat very much on the other hand

I am also pretty excited for this quest and hope to get to take part in a fellowship event. As for how thematic it is....I am certainly not a lore expert, but I would argue that even if though Tolkien focused on larger, sweeping events (and themes), I don't think he created a world in which smaller scale evils don't take place. It might not be PARTICULARLY thematic, but don't think that it breaks anything. 2 cents.

PS PsychoRocka...thanks for the very cool breakdown of Steward's Fear! Always been one of the most appealing quests to me, but have always had a hard time beating it...prob going to have to play it again after reading your explanation of it.

As for the mechanics of the quest itself, it looks like you gather clues from an "investigation deck" and then make an accusation somehow. It'll be interesting to see how this works.

"You see, dear fellows, the trail of clues leads inevitably to just one man, the spider at the center of the web, as it were. A criminal mastermind of unlimited malice and cunning."

The crowd is still and silent, waiting for the final reveal.

"That man is...BARLIMAN BUTTERBUR!"

The crowd erupts in a furious roar of shouts. Barliman disappears in a cloud of smoke, cackling with glee.

Of course no one would expect the murderer's hideout to be The Prancing Pony itself. Brilliant!

The killer is a nazgul in disguise.

Really looking forward to this event. Last year's Fellowship Event was a fantastic experience. Players got to meet other players, worked together to overcome (or not) an engaging and difficult quest in Fog on the Barrow Downs, and received some great LOTR stuff in the quest, the alt-art hero card, and the playmat. I do hope as many 2015 Fellowship Events can be arranged as possible, as it's a truly enjoyable event for our community.

Interested in this quest, as it looks unusual for an LOTR scenario. I haven't really warmed up to the names of the suspects we see in the preview article (to me they don't seem "Tolkienish" enough), but I'm open to trying something a little different. The investigation mechanic sounds interesting, as it suggests that the players may actually have to visit various locations in order to figure out who the criminal is. In most quests, we usually just try to blow through or avoid locations, so the notion of purposefully going to them and possibly even staying at them sounds intriguing to me. I just played "The Uruk-Hai" last night again and really enjoyed many of the locations in that scenario that had the drawback/benefit combination, so I'm hoping we get something like that in this scenario.