CHARACTER SHEETS and HOUSE RULES

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Here you will find the the links to your character sheets and the prior chapters of our ongoing chronicle. Also below you will find quick synopsis of the characters to introduce you to our story:

CHARACTERS
Gumbo Bellybottom - Hobbit warrior- Telcontar
Idhriel - Elven scout - Jared
Kori - Dwarf Warrior Craftsman -NPC
Nori - Dwarf Warrior Rogue - Telcontar
Turumarth - Middle-man Mage - Don
Vári - Dwarf warrior - Shawn


To print out hard copies of your profiler character sheet:

• First do a print preview of the character sheet page
• Set the top and side margins to .25, the bottom margin you may need to adjust to make sure the sheet is just three pages and no section spills to the next page (range of .25 to .75).
• Turn off the Header/Footer if you prefer.

You now should have a neat 3 page print out of your character. If you experience any difficulties, let me know.

If you want to maintain a written copy of your character sheet, feel free to download this PDF; understand that I will be going by your online sheets. - LotR Character Sheet (blank)



ALL HOUSE RULES AND OTHER GAME CHANGES AND INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE:

TIMELINES, HOUSE RULES and AMENDED MONSTERS

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The following rules apply to the realm of Moria and will supercede any other core or house rule (unless I change it  ):

Travel
Traveling within Moria can be near impossible, especially if the adventurers are without maps or memories. Those who do have resources still must make tests to get from here to there - traveling requires a Lore/Realm: Moria (specialty*) to tranist each area of Moria.

Destination is within...		Base TN
Dwarrowdelf		10
Western Deeps		10
Mines		15
Additional Conditions		TN Modifiers
Destination is within the same area of Moria		-2 TN
Destination is within and adjacent area		+0 TN
Shortest route to destination passes through 1 additional area		+2 TN
Shortest route to destination passes through 2-3 additional areas		+5 TN
Shortest route to destination passes through 4 additional areas		+10 TN

Characters that get lost will require Lore/Realm: Moria (specialty*) at a TN determined by narrator to recognize where they may be.

*specialties can be particular areas (i.e. particular Deeps, Underdeeps, Lodes, etc.)



Weariness
Moria's environment exerts demanding effort upon all characters in terms of weariness, whether it is traveling, seeing, hearing, concentrating, and getting one's bearing. Stamina tests are required regularly to avert the penalties, and recovery from weariness takes 1.5 times normal.



Fear Tests
Dominated by Shadow, Moria has a dark, terrifying air. Animals refuse to enter the place and even the most stout of Man or Dwarf has a feeling of unease.

Servants of the Shadown gain a bonus to any Intimidate (Fear) tests based on location within the mines:

Dwarrowdelf and Western Deeps	+4
Mines	+6

In addition. the Mines region - including the Upperdeeps, Lodes, Underdeeps, and especially the Balrogs lair - exerts a subtle malevolent effect on travelers. Each day spent in the area, each character must make a Willpower test TN 15. On a failure, the following results are in effect based on DOS:

Failure	Frightened, -1 penalty to all tests
Complete Failure	Panicked, -2 penalty to all tests
Disastrous Failure	Unnerved, -4 penalty to all tests

The effects of the fear will last for the day's duration and then need to be tested for again with the following day. Inspire tests can serve as counters to the penalties if needed based on the rules in the CRB.



Light
The 'darkness' of Moria is deep and so even with a light source (or trait) the environment is considered Dim Lighting. So, here's how I am house ruling Moria's affect for seeing:

• Night-eyed 1 gives PC's -3 penalty in absolute dark, and -2 in Dim Lighting.
• Night-eyed 2 gives PC's -2 penalty in absolute dark, and -1 in Dim Lighting.
• If a light source of any kind is used, all PC's with the trait, or without, suffer a -2 to all physical skill check rolls.
• PC's with no trait or light source suffer a -5 to all physical skill check rolls.

Understand, I am doing this because it just doesn't seem right that PC's with no light can see better in the absolute dark of the mines, than those with a light. Because this is an effect of the Shadow of the Enemy, it does not effect creatures of the Shadow.



Water
Some sources of water within Moria has become 'spoiled' due to the infestation of the Shadow over the many centuries. Free Peoples who drink from corrupted pools or streams may weaken, sicken and even die. The fouled water counts as poison with the following attributes:

Water sources will be unclean on a 9-12 result on a 2d6 roll.

Type:	Ingested
Onset:	6 hours
Potency:	-5
Treatment:	+5
Effect:	Reduce Vitality by 1d6
Secondary Effect:	Reduce Vitality by 1/2-d6
Stages:	6

Combat
Due to the cramped and shadowed quarters, Medium-sized characters suffer a -2 penalty to all Armed Combat tests - unless otherwise stated by the Narrator (i.e. the chamber the PC's are in is a large expanse).

Large-sized creatures suffer a -5 to their tests, and creatures of greater size scales will most likely not be in a cramped passage.

Short characters do not suffer any penalty.

All Ranged combat suffers a +4 TN penalty at medium range, and +8 at long. Extended range is not possible due to darkness.

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Peril System

For every four hours that the PC's are in an area of Moria, they must make a Peril test to determine if they have an encounter (i.e. meet baddies, trigger a trap, find a hazard, etc.)

Test is made by making a Stealth test against an area's Peril TN. The stealth test is performed by the PC with the worst Stealth skill. DOS will determine the results:

PERIL TEST RESULTS
DOS		Result
Disastrous Failure		Characters trip an alarm or make a great disturbance; a powerful force gathers to attack them - use Encounter Table A
Complete Failure		Characters alert an organized group though no ambush can be set - use Encounter Table B
Failure		Characters blunder into a small group who attack immediately - use Encounter Table C
Marginal Success		Characters evade detection and travel without encountering any threats
Complete Success		Characters evade detection and travel without encountering any threats
Superior Success		Characters not only evade detection, they also come across a threat and may avoid or ambush - use Encounter Table D
Extraordinary Success		Characters move in utter silence and come across an encamped force or dwelling area; gain a +2 bonus to future Peril tests in this area - use Encounter Table E

PERIL REDUCTION
Threat		Points
Orc-warrior or Archer		1/4
Orc-champion		1/2
Uruk-hai		1/2
War Chief		1
Captain		10
Cave-troll		5

The Shadow Gathers: Just because a test is failed, it does not mean the enemy will immediately attack - they may wait until their numbers build up. To simulate, when characters fail a Peril test, note the number of enemy that are encountered and increase all future Peril Test TN numbers by +5. With each additional failure, the enemy's number is added to until the Narrator decides to attack.

Modifying Peril: For every 10 points worth of creatures the characters defeat in an area, reduce the Peril number by 1. For every two weeks that pass without the characters attacking or exploring a particular area, increase the Peril TN by 2 back to its original.

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Moria Map

On the control bar above, I have added the link to the map of Moria. It is an interactive map for you guys to track your passage into and around the realm of Moria.

As long as you guys are making successful travel rolls (see above), you will be able to see where you are - or, you'll be able to see your last known location. Also understand that just because you guys can see it as players, doesn't mean your characters have an in-depth knowledge of the layout of the ancient Dwarven kingdom.

The red areas on the maps are the interactive spots and as we get deeper into the realm, these map hot spots will increase.