Into Dol Guldur

[Telcontar]

doug, Orophin failed the Watchers Fear roll with the first roll and I am not sure spending Hope will get him to pass. Wecan either let the roll stand as it is, or let him use his Merry trait to pass the Fear test, but the sorrow of what he has seen will give him an automoatic Shadow Point to do so. Thoughts?

Yea, Tom, I am good with that. Since Dol Guldur is formerly a Silvan Elf home, I could see him taking great sorrow from seeing what it is now compared to what it used to be in the songs and stories.

He also rolled an with his second Fear test - not sure if that falls under the sidebar for effects within Dol Guldur - so let me know how you want me to play that out.

Anyway, I marked off a point of Hope to make the first roll a 15. His Merry ability takes the test to TN 14 (my house ruling), so he passed and may enter the fortress. BUT, he gains the Shadow for your ruling above, and his failed second roll removes his ability to spend anymore Hope while in Dol Guldur. 

ALSO - the book sidebar allows us only a maximum of rolls of any type for each PC equal to their Valour score from this point forward. Any roll above the maximum count automatically causes a Shadow Point.

TO the players, what this means is there is a Dark Will within the fortress that is focusing on your party. The one that is most heroic and skillful will get more attention. 

Doug,
 i have a post that explains all that for the next section once I knew who can press on and what everyone's final shadow score is going to be before we actually enter the High Keep. I was getting the second roll out of the waynow so as to not break the narrative with another roll sosoon after the first.

[tomcat]

I'm not entirely clear on how Distinctive Features work, but Rorin is Bold [not easily daunted, willing to place yourself in danger - TOR p.97] and I imagine that should have some affect on his current predicament.

I would have to say that this plays into the same realm as the Merry issue with Orophin. As Loremaster, I do not want to have PC's with traits that give them an auto-pass on things like Corruption and Fear. That said, I agree that the trait should have an impact - so we will apply the same rule as Merry that the Bold trait will effectively reduce the TN by one step. I will also go as far to say that the trait will grant an ordinary auto-success on any standard TN (14) or less.

So on a Fear test TN 14, Rorin could make use of the trait for an auto-success. If the Fear test was TN 18, he could still use it, but all it will do is step the TN down by one rank to TN 16. Make sense?

Doug,
i have a post that explains all that for the next section once I knew who can press on and what everyone's final shadow score is going to be before we actually enter the High Keep. I was getting the second roll out of the waynow so as to not break the narrative with another roll sosoon after the first.

Cool...I just brought it up now, so the PC's know they will have dangerous limitations since they are within the environs of Dol Guldur. I didn't want them going off with a bunch of skill rolls and then fall victim to the evil will. I did not mean to overstep any boundaries.  

[disench4nted]

  Great, that makes sense. So that brings the TN for these tests down to 14 which he still failed miserably. If I can spend 2 hope to pass the first test I will, because I still fail with a 13 after one hope. I'm guessing you aren't allowed to use more than one hope on a single roll, but I don't remember for sure.

[tomcat]

scratch my idea above about the Merry or Bold trait granting an auto-success to Corruption or Fear.

It clearly states in the book that traits affect skill rolls, and Fear and Corruption are not skill rolls. So, I will say we only apply the TN step down to these kind of rolls.

Cool profile pic!

[Telcontar]

  sorry to disrupt the mood with all this mechanical stuff. Orophin will be able to pass the test using his Merry trait to reduce the difficulty by 2 points and thereby pass. Rorin will not pass the first test, Bold will lower the TN to 14 but even with spending a point of hope he will not be able to match the TN. My understanding is that only one point of Hope can be spent on a roll, but I'll confer with my co-LM. Doug?

[tomcat]

I can't find anything that says either way, but it seems logical that since its based on attributes, we only have 1 life to offer, if you get my drift - 1 heart, 1 mind, 1 strength.

But, I will let you rule on it , Tom, either way works for me.

[Eclecticon]

The closest I can find is on page 25: "Players can choose to spend a point of Hope to tap a player-hero's energy reserves and possibly push him beyond his limits." 

There's no mention of 'one or more points' (sorry - I'm in full law-student mode at the moment). 

On the other hand, I doubt anyone will criticise a decision that allows disench4nted to keep participating in the story, rather than sit it out for however long we're in the High Keep.  I'd say otherwise in a face-to-face game, but the requirements of PbP are different, so I'd argue against locking a player out of the story based on any single roll.  Given that you've already gone that way, I'd say that the use of multiple points of Hope to keep him in play is fine.  It also brings his Hope score down to the point where being Miserable becomes a real possibility, which is fun.  For a given definition of 'fun'. 

[Telcontar]

I'm going to rule one point of hope only. I agree that the implied intent is only one point and the quote you mentioned was what I remembered but couldnt find. this is a character story not anaction story, so Rorin's being frozen by the watchers may have unintnended consequnces in this or future stories. I am not in the habbit of allowing the story or plot to hinge on capricious dice rolls so no one should feel iced out. All in due time.

[Telcontar]

Doug, Matt is probably tied up, do you want to roll for Grimbeorn if he dooesnt post tomorrow so we can finish up?

[tomcat]

  Sure can...

Fear test
TN 16 valour♦♦♦

test 1 1d12 : 1, total 1
Rolled 3d6 : 2, 3, 3, total 8

test 2 1d12 : 8, total 8
Rolled 3d6 : 5, 4, 6, total 15

[tomcat]

Orophin held onto his memories of home as he walked towards the dark fortress. He looked at the ancient architecture, some of which had been built by his kin long ago. Dol Guldur was once the home of Oropher, King of the Silvan Elves, but he had retreated from the naked hill and led his people north.

Orophin steeled his heart and broke past the Watcher's and entered the castle. He was a merry Elf, normally full of song and laughter, but this journey had left a shadow on his soul that would take many days to fade away.

A gruff voice broke the silence, "I cannot enter this place."

The Company turned to see Grimbeorn standing there, shamed and afraid. "I have come all this way only to find that I cannot go any further. The terror this place exudes quails me and I dare not go forward."

"There is no shame, Grimbeorn," replied Radagast. "Strength is measured in many ways. Stay here and guard our rear - we shall be as quick as we can, and then we all must away. To stay longer will cause us to descend into a despair from which we will not escape. So use your keen eyes and ears and make sure our path out of Dol Guldur will not be impeded."

The wizard's words calmed the tall Beorning and took away any self-doubt that he may have felt, restoring his strength and commitment.

"Come," said the wizard to those that could.

[disench4nted]

During the approach to Dol Gulder, Rorin marched mechanically and silently. His mind was full of dark thoughts and he could not get over the feeling of humiliation from his stumble the day before. During rare moments of clarity he knew that the Shadow was entering his heart and that he was needlessly fixating on a small thing, but invariably his mind would turn back to resent towards those who laughed. When finally the company reached the High Keep, Rorin felt fear the likes of which he had never imagined. One by one he saw his companions master the fear and push forward past the terror that held them back, and yet, his feet would not move.

He said to himself, "I am Rorin, son of Barin! My beard is long and my hammer is dented, I have felled scores of my enemies and have never run from a fight! I will not let some cheap sorcerer's trick undo me now!" And he stepped forward.

Just as Rorin began to walk, he heard Grimbeorn behind him, "I cannot enter this place." Rorin could feel the fear take hold of him again, and as the wizard was speaking to the Beorning, he heard himself saying, "Fear not Grimbeorn! Who knows what creatures saw us approach this place, even now a host of orcs could be following in our footsteps. I will stay and guard the rear with you." And he was ashamed, for he knew that he had been bested by fear and that he had attempted to hide that fact from his friends with false bravado.

[tomcat]

The Silvan Elf nodded at the decision, "There is wisdom in this. We would not want to come out of the keep only to find all of our efforts for naught, due to a large host before us. We will make our stay inside only as long as needs be. Hold the door, my friends! We shall be back."

Orophin then waited for the wizard to take up the lead, for only he knew what they sought. "What are we looking for, Radagast?" inquired the Elf.
that opens the possibility for Tom to throw more at the Company - both in and out!    

[Bandobras]

Bandy's heart quailed when the two stoutest members of the fellowship could go no further. For a moment he was angry. How could they survive the Keep without Grimbeorn's Bear Claw sything through enemy ranks and Rorin's hammer smashing goblin helmets? He envisioned his own death. The pained looks on his companions' faces reminded Bandy that had Arbogast not broken teh watcher's gaze, he might find himself in their position. He felt pity for them both, but dared not show it. "Thank you Grimbeorn and Rorin," was all he could thin to say. "Thank you for protecting us against the orcs and other fell beasts that may come from this direction."

Let us press on.

[Telcontar]

  esgalwen, Arbogast, Orophin, and Bandy will be headed into the High Keep. bandy will not be able to spend Hope points while they are in there.

The High Keep
The exploration of the High Keep will be treated like an extended contest roll, with the following changes. Each die roll the players make will be treated as a function of time spent in the high keep exploring using the Search skill. Each character has a number of free rolls equal to their Valour score. Any rolls for any other reasons in excess of their valour while in Dol Guldur will result in a shadow point. The number of successful search rolls the group makes will determine the information that the party collectively finds and will determine the narrative. For planning purposes consider a complete success at 5 Search rolls TN14, the PCs may stop at any time with a lesser number revealing less information. Also, some of the clues found may require other skill rolls to successfully exploit the full information available, so factor that into the groups skill roll management. Good luck.

Figure out how you guys want to do this, make your rolls and I'll supply the narrative result.