The Lost Tales
“Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt.”
The Shire, a pleasant corner in the Quiet of the World, has stood safe and peaceful for many years. Its inhabitants, a little people called Hobbits, possess a love for solid traditions and respectable ways, and a strong dislike for anything out of the ordinary. If Hobbits had their way, the days would go by in an unchanging world, as they have since anyone can remember. But even if most Hobbits pretend not to heed it, there are dark things moving beyond the borders of the Shire; and while someone has long been taking care that no shadow interrupts their well-ordered lives, these shadows are lengthening.
Since Mr. Bilbo Baggins’ astonishing adventure with a group of Dwarves and a travelling wizard, all kinds of stories concerning remote lands, dark woods, Giants, Elves, and dark halls beneath the earth have started to circulate among Hobbits of the more adventurous sort.
Now, certainly not everyone believes that Mr Baggins really left his comfortable hole at Bag End to go anywhere, but some actually do, and every year another lad or lass leaves home to go adventuring. Gandalf, the conjuror, has often been blamed for such incidents, and the sight of his pointy hat is sure to ruin the day of all respectable Hobbits.
Hobbits are much smaller than Men, even smaller than Dwarves, and are often mistaken for children by Men who see them. Such likeness may be explained through a long-forgotten common ancestry, which would also explain why Hobbits often like or dislike the same things as Men do. A merry folk, Hobbits are good-natured individuals. When pushed to resort to weapons, they choose small swords and short hunting bows, which they can shoot with uncanny precision when needs be.
STANDARD OF LIVING
Hobbits live in peace and relative prosperity. Their land is rich and their borders protected. They seldom trade with other folk, with the occasional exception of travelling Dwarves. Their culture’s economy ranks as Prosperous.
The peaceful inhabitants of The Shire like to stay well away from adventures, unless driven by their dangerous curiosity. When a Hobbit commits the unthinkable social offense of going on an adventure, he is sure to lose his good name; he starts to be attributed all sort of oddities, and ends up quickly with a reputation for a ‘queer‘ or ‘mad’ character. Much more grounded in good sense than their quieter fellows credit them with, Hobbits on the road do not forget that a small pleasure can work wonders on a weary traveller, and make sure to bring with them some source of gratification, be it a supply of pipe-weed, a set of favoured cooking tools, or simply a small token that reminds them of home.
Suggested Callings: Treasure-hunter, Wanderer.
Each Hobbit character in the group increases the company’s Fellowship rating by one point. Additionally, when making a Wisdom roll, Hobbits can roll the Feat die twice, and keep the best result.
You were born into a family of farmers in the Southfarthing, where the best pipe-weed grows. To satisfy your curiosity – and your father’s expectations – you started to work at a very early age, learning a lot from farmhands and traders. From time to time, you feel your closeness to the earth move you, awakening a desire to sleep in the fields, under a canopy of stars.
Favoured Skill Craft
Too Many Paths to Tread
Your father was a tradesman and you were supposed to take his place in his workshop in Hardbottle at the age of 33. But before that time, a mysterious wanderlust took you and you were away from home for months. When you came back, you renounced your position, to the outrage of your whole neighbourhood. But you know that secretly your father approves: he always dreamed of leaving the Shire to ‘go and see Elves’!
Favoured Skill Travel
A Good Listener
Your uncle was a Sheriff, and often brought you along with him when he went ‘beating the bounds’, that is, when he was appointed to watch the Shire’s borders for Outsiders. More often than not, his watch included a visit to The Ivy Bush, a small inn on the Bywater Road. There, you have heard told the best stories over deep mugs of excellent beer.
Favoured Skill Riddle
You come from a well-to-do family of landed gentry of the Westfarthing, living in a Hobbit-hole in Michel Delving. It is rumoured that your great-grandfather once vanished, only to show up three days later at the local inn, talking of a giant Tree-man he had seen on the North Moors. Some believe your family’s fortune is based on the giant’s hoard your ancestor discovered, but you have been able to dispel such rumours with your humorous remarks.
Favoured Skill Persuade
Your parents belong to the folk of Buckland, and you were brought up on the ‘wrong side of the Brandywine River’, as they say. If half the tales be true, members of your family have always displayed a certain queerness of character, and an unusual fighting spirit, a strangeness you seem to possess yourself.
Favoured Skill Awe
You grew up peacefully in a farmhouse in the Marish, Eastfarthing, until something Tookish stirred in your blood and overcame your respectability. It first happened on your way home one night, when you spotted some outlandish folk around a bright camp-fire. When you described them to your grandmother, she told you they were Dwarves, on their way to the Blue Mountains. From that night you started to shun well-trodden paths, hoping to meet other wayfarers secretly crossing the Shire.
Favoured Skill Explore