OOC THREAD

[Eclecticon]

The DoM campaign book can't tell us what to do 'cause IT'S NOT OUR REAL DAD!

[Eclecticon]

In all seriousness, though, I love these sorts of scenarios.  In fact, were I running this game I would have left off the big table of options up the top and just left it to the players' creativity.  Your approach got things moving quickly, though, and I can't complain about that.  

I like the vantages - they add another tactical option other than 'cower in the fortified spot until it abruptly becomes un-fortified'.  

[Eclecticon]

Suddenly, a beautiful voice rose from below - one he had never heard before. It was Esgalwen! Her beauty truly extended beyond her visage.

The trees grow there
Great and fair
A timeless seeming land

Of climbing woods
And swift-falling streams
Oh, old Ithilien

Southern winds
Blew moist and warm
Coming from the sea

And Isildur
Set here his house
To thwart the Enemy

But Shadow fell
The King was lost
An age was at its end

Now in silence
The winds still blow
In old Ithilien

Her words ended and Arbogast heard the murmur of other voices - probably that of Bandy asking his many questions. Feeling somewhat solemn, the man looked out once more over the sea of leaves and to his mind rose visions of a king long gone.

Cool writing!  I've got a couple of poems nearly ready to go - I'm just waiting for an appropriate moment to polish them off and post them up. 

[Telcontar]

Adventurers Companion is out in pdf. It has some usefull stuff but didnt open up very much new in terms of generational play. I'l have a more invovled review to put up later.

[Eclecticon]

The new combat manoeuvres look well done, though not quite in line with what we've already been using, and the combat Roles are an interesting concept.  I am likewise a bit disappointed in the lack of new depth for intergenerational play.  I'm guessing, though, that a deliberate decision was made to keep the Fellowship Phases focused on narration over rules quibbles. 

Also, Bofri's dad is the book's spokesperson for the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, establishing pretty well what precise manner of Dwarf our current millstone guide and employer is. 

[tomcat]

Cool writing!  I've got a couple of poems nearly ready to go - I'm just waiting for an appropriate moment to polish them off and post them up.

Thanks, Paul.

I wanted to put something into the story that makes it Tolkien and Esgalwen needed to become more than some warrior woman.

[Telcontar]

I'm not sure who has the new adventurers companion, but I think the first order of bussiness is to decide if we want to suppliment some of our combat moves with the ones from the new book. That portion looks like the only part that would be of immediate value to us.

[Telcontar]

For group consumption, discussion, and possible approval.

New Combat Tasks
The tasks described below supplement those found on page 178 of The One Ring Roleplaying Game (italicized in the table at the bottom of the page), offering a total of eight new combat actions. As before, these tasks require a hero to be fighting in a specific stance, and often require a die roll (difficulties are set at TN 14, unless otherwise specified).

Forward Stance: Challenge Adversary
A companion may choose to single out a foe for the fullness of his ferocity, fighting recklessly in an attempt to bring that enemy down. The hero must name one adversary they are engaged with in close combat at the beginning of a round, after choosing a forward stance. For the length of the fight, the challenging hero rolls the Feat die twice, keeping the best result, when making close combat attack rolls against the challenged creature. The challenged foe enjoys the same advantage against the challenging hero.

Forward Stance: Two-weapon Attack
At the start of a round, heroes wielding a close combat, one handed weapon in each hand may declare that they will attack using both weapons. One hand must wield a primary weapon making use of the highest close combat weapon skill of the hero, while the off-hand must hold a secondary weapon making use of his second-best close combat weapon skill. If two skills are tied, the player chooses which
weapon is the primary one and which one is the secondary. A first attack is made rolling the primary weapon skill and is resolved normally. If the attack is successful, it is followed immediately by another attack using the secondary weapon skill. This roll is also resolved normally, and must target the same adversary hit by the first attack. A Twoweapon Attack does not allow a companion to attempt a Called Shot. Moreover, for the length of the round, the TN to hit the hero is reduced by an amount equal to the sum
of the Encumbrance scores of the two weapons they wield.

Open Stance: Enhearten Comrades
A variant of Rally Comrades, this task enables a companion to rouse their companions when the fight is wearing them out.
When it is his turn to take action, a hero may forego the chance to make an attack roll and make an Inspire or Song roll instead.
If the roll is successful, all fighting companions who are not Wounded ignore the effects of being Weary for a number of rounds based on the quality of the success:
Ordinary success: 2 rounds
Great success: 3 rounds
Extraordinary success: 4 rounds, or a number of rounds
equal to the enheartening hero's Valour score, whichever
is higher.

Open Stance: Sudden Attack
In place of their normal attack action, companions who are unengaged at the start of their turn may attempt a Sudden Attack against a foe currently engaged with another companion. The companion must first succeed at a Stealth roll; the TN is equal to 10 plus the highest
Attribute level among all enemies present. On a success, the companion engages the enemy and attacks normally, adding to the roll a number of bonus Success dice based on the result of the Stealth roll:
Ordinary success: 1 bonus Success die
Great success: 2 bonus Success dice
Extraordinary success: 3 bonus Success dice
On a failure, the opportunity for attack is lost and the round of the companion is over.

Defensive Stance: Full Defence
A companion carrying a shield, or fighting with a onehanded, close combat weapon in each hand, may choose to devote their attention fully to their own defence, for example when engaged by multiple powerful enemies, or when attacked by a particularly deadly creature.
A hero fighting in Full Defence forfeits their chance to attack, in favour of raising their Parry rating by an amount
equal to the Encumbrance rating of the carried shield, or of the weapon with the highest Encumbrance score among the two they are wielding. If the Encumbrance rating was modified by a Quality, use the original Encumbrance rating of a weapon or shield type.

Defensive Stance: Stand Ground
Heroes wielding a two-handed weapon may profit from the superior reach of their war gear to keep multiple
adversaries at bay. When it is their turn to take action, heroes choosing to Stand Ground spend 1 point of Hope: until it is again their
turn to take action, all close combat attacks targeting them roll the Feat die twice and keep the worse result.

Rearward Stance: Harry Foes

Heroes fighting in a rearward stance and using bows (any type) may choose to pepper their enemies with arrows, not looking for carefully aimed shots, but rather to hinder their foes and make them easier targets. Only enemies engaged with companions in a forward or open stance may be targeted by this task.
The harrying player must succeed in a ranged attack roll using a bow of any type, against a difficulty equal to TN 12, plus the highest Parry rating among the potential targets. On a successful roll, a number of enemies based on the quality of the success are successfully hindered by the rain of arrows.
Ordinary success: 2 foes
Great success: 3 foes
Extraordinary success: 4 foes
Ranged attacks aimed to harry foes do not inflict damage,
but reduce the difficulty to hit the affected enemies for the
next close combat attack aimed at them: the TN to hit them
is considered to be equal to their Parry rating (the engaged
companion's stance TN is not taken into account).

Rearward Stance: Seek a Mark
A hero fighting in a rearward stance may forego their chance to make an attack to make an Awareness or Battle roll to observe the enemies, looking for the best opportunity to catch them when they lower their guard. On a successful roll, any foe attacked by the hero with a ranged weapon is considered to be severely hindered (TN-4) against those attacks, for a number of rounds based on the quality of the success produced by the roll:
Ordinary success: 2 rounds
Great success: 3 rounds
Extraordinary success: 4 rounds

[Eclecticon]

I like the above.  More options = more interesting.  Similarly, I support using the expanded called shots. 

[Telcontar]

I didn't put them up because I didn't want to make the post over long. I think we should talk about whether we add these in with the options we already have whole cloth or some combination. So then Doug can decide. I think that ours are pretty good and should be kept as well. 

[tomcat]

Hey all -

I am not not seeing your stuff, it's just been a bit crazy for me this week.

I will have a game update today and also compare thoughts on additional rules options now that we have the new book.

Doug

[Telcontar]

I dropped a hasty review on the G+ page, but am dropping it here for our consumption and comment from my esteemed fellow players and LM.

So I read most of this while I was sitting at my desk at work the day it dropped. I have gone back and read a couple of things in it, but I want to make some reflections on it to the group and see what some of the other thoughts out there are.

I understand why they took most of the cultures and compressed them into one book. If you were going to make the Adventure's Companion (here after AC) a one stop shop for character creation then put all the cultures in. Most likely because 1/3 of the book was already a rehash of previous material. Which leads me to my final point, if you wanted to consolidate all of the cultures into one place, then do that as a PDF release and just put them all together. As it stands page 24-102 is all cultures. This translates to 32 pages of a 157 page book dedicated to cultures. Part Four, Curious Diversions ( 8 pages) is pretty much fluff. Part Three as well suffers from a lot of rehashed material (24 pages). The new rules section is ten pages long and focuses on combat. Now some of those previous sections also include new material and the charts are helpful.

Overall I think this is the weakest supplement that has come out for TOR. The compiled material, while handy, will quickly become out of date the moment they publish a new source book. For instance Oaths of the Riddermark, which is on the release horizon, will surely have new Fellowship Undertakings. The new rules, while interesting and helpful, did nothing to make a dramatic change to the game or justify the price for the product. This release was a long time coming and on the surface it feels like the real challenge was developing new art (this rpg does has awesome art) and trying to decide where to cut the bloat of previously released material. I think this product would have been better served as a PDF living Source Book that was updated and compiled as new material comes out in other books so that it would truly be a players aid. In some circles this, plus the Core rules, will be all a player needs at the table. In that light it was the first supplement truly geared towards the player. However, as new material comes out this release will only serve as a framework for a cut and paste PDF aid to the players and if one wants all the cultures in one book that is probably its fate sooner rather than later. 

[Eclecticon]

I was also pretty disappointed in the book.  Don't get me wrong - the new cultures are well-done and fit with the others, and it's handy to have one book to pass out to players that covers all the ones (for now) not set out in the core book.  I was looking forward to a bit more about long-term, generational play than we got, though.  And you're right - Part Four is completely unnecessary.  I agree that it's the weakest supplement so far. 

That said, the new combat manoeuvres are well-done, and we may as well use 'em. 

[Telcontar]

The generational play was a huge let down. This was the category that I was hoping was going to take the game in a new direction or have a big impact on. I guess I was expecting something like a Pendragon source book that was going to take generational play, time management, and holdings to a new level of optional depth. Something that would greatly add to the narrative and expanse of time but not change the core game either.

I am also starting to think that this game shines as a PBEM but would be kinda eh at the table. Of course I am perhaps soured by the group we have here.

[tomcat]

I think that has always been a problem with games - especially those that spread their material across a number of sourcebooks. What you get is a compilation book that basically reiterates what we already have - and the price is always the same for the new players as the faithful first.

I like new rule expansion but what I truly prefer most is modules and sourcebooks about locations. MERP had a terrible mechanic, but they were amazing at expanding the regions of Middle-earth...alas it got them in trouble.

Anyway, I look forward to Gondor, hopefully Mordor, and maybe some surrounding region books. I look forward to new adventures in said areas, plus the ones we already play in. I look forward to some rule expansion on things that need expanded (i.e. generational rules), but other than that I say we have the mechanic, let's play!

Thanks for the review, Tom!