Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can't see me! Attercop! Attercop!  Won't you stop, Stop your spinning and look for me! Old Tomnoddy,  all big body, Old Tomnoddy can't spy me! Attercop! Attercop! Down you drop! You'll never catch me up your tree!
J.R.R.T, The Hobbit, "Flies and Spiders

Introduction

This game takes place in the depths of Mirkwood and is my version of playing out the chapter from The Hobbit called 'Flies and Spiders' where Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield & Co are captured by the giant spiders which live in the eternal gloom of the dark forest. It is a nice story and makes a perfect little monster bash of manageable size. I am no arachnophobic, quite the opposite, but my hope is that the miniatures and gaming terrain will look appropriately dark and threatening.

Sources

The inspiration is pretty much all taken from The Hobbit:

"...Something like a strong sticky string was against his left hand, and when he tried to move he found that his legs were already wrapped in the same stuff, so that when he got up he fell over. ..."

   ...  "Then the great spider, who had been busy tying him up while he dozed, came from behind him and came at him. He could only see the thing's eyes, but he could feel its hairy legs as it struggled to wind its abominable threads round and round him. It was lucky that he had come to his senses in time. Soon he would not have been able to move at all. As it was, he had a desperate fight before he got free. He beat the creature off with his hands-it was trying to poison him to keep him quiet, as small spiders do to flies-until he remembered his sword and drew it out. Then the spider jumped back, and he had time to cut his legs loose. After that it was his turn to attack. The spider evidently was not used to things that carried such stings at their sides, or it would have hurried away quicker. Bilbo came at it before it could disappear and struck it with his sword right in the eyes. Then it went mad and leaped and danced and flung out its legs in horrible jerks, until he killed it with another stroke; and then he fell down and remembered nothing more for a long while."

     " There was the usual dim grey light of the forest-day about him when he came to his senses. The spider lay dead beside him, and his sword-blade was stained black. Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath."

     "I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting."....

J.R.R.T, The Hobbit, "Flies and Spiders"

Setting

Thorin and Co. have wandered through the dark forest and have almost completely exhausted their food supply. Seeing flickering elf fires amidst the threes to the side of the track they walk towards them to ask for food. As they approach the fires go out, the company gets separated from each other and one by one they get captured by spiders...except Bilbo. At the last moment he wakes up from a slumber he tears free from a giant spider which is trying to snare him and kills it. He then sets out searching for his friends and finds them strung up in webs in the circle of trees which is the giant spider colony. The battle begins...

Bilbo Baggins

This unlikeliest of heroes wields four potent weapons which helps the company greatly in their battle against the spider:

• Sting: as Bilbo goes into the fray with the spiders he carries the newly named sword (a dagger really but very much a sword for a hobbit). It is of formidable weapon of elven-make , being and forged in the First Age by the Noldor at the height of their power in the hidden city of Gondolin. It is magical and both cuts through spider and web with ease.

• Magical Ring: this is the ring Bilbo found in Gollum's cave. No one knows at this stage that it is indeed the One Ring with all its potential powers but Bilbo has found out it can make you invisible.

• Fair Shot: Bilbo has since his boyhood a keen eye and good aim and with a supply of smooth rocks he can pick off his targets from a good distance.

• Taunts: Bilbo has an exceptional talent for rubbing spiders the wrong way. When he burst into "Attercop! Attercop! ..." any spider (not in melee) within 6 inches/ 18 cm must stop what  it is doing and in its next movement face move towards Bilbo.

Thorin Oakenshield & Co.

...does, in fact, not include the great dwarf lord himself but only his companions. Thorin has at this stage already been taken by the wood elves. Trapped with the spiders are Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur. They are all normally as powerful and brave as dwarves you would find but, starves, stung and suffocated by gossamer they are operating at a less than maximum level.

Thorin Oakenshield

Balin

Dwalin

Fili

Kili

Dori

Nori

Ori

Oin

Gloin

Bifur

Bofur

Bombur

The Spiders

[Click for a larger image]

The spiders of Mirkwood are vile descendants of the infamous Shelob, the cruel guardian. Her off spring are far less powerful than their old granny but can still make a formidable foe for the unwary and tired. They are fast, they travel through the tree tops and they can spin sticky webs with which they can trap and hinder their prey. The spiders have two nasty weapons to employ against their victims:

• Fangs: when charging and fighting back they can try to bite their foe and they will cause a wound on d?. The dice is poisonous and if the first bite doesn't kill the venom will force the victim to roll for the next consecutive 2 turns.

• Web: the spiders have spinnerets with which they can shoot sticky strands of silk. A spider can choose t use this in two ways:

  1) build a web. This takes a turn and means the spider can build a barricade between two trees no more than 3 inches/ 9 cms apart. The barricade wont be very well made and can be forced on a d3.

  2) shoot snare: this work as a modified missile weapon. The spider shoots a sticky strand towards a victim. On a D2 the victim is cant move but can fight. It takes the victim one turn to free himself and he cannot both fight and free himself of gossamer in the same turn. On a second hit the victim is completely immobilized and has to be helped out of the sticky mess.

Game Rules

Gaming Terrain

	A spider and the rest of its dinner. I made this macabre terrain piece to help set the mood of the gaming table. The spider was added for size comparison.  [Click on for a larger image]
	The elk cadaver seen from above. The bulk of the cadaver was made from a Games Workshop skeleton horse. The antlers are soldered brass and copper wire. A bit of fur and rotted meat was added to the bones. [Click on for a larger image]
	The piece from another angle. The web was made from a combination of fishing line and strands of hot glue. The tree trunk and rock is bark.  [Click on for a larger image]

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