You're right - I'd forgotten that the party was split!  In that circumstance, aggregating the rolls and producing a bit of narrative based on the results was absolutely the right thing to do to speed things along. 

Multiple fellowship phases suits me fine, though as for this:

Quote from: Telcontar on Oct 15, 2015, 04:13 AMSince our goal is to do the whole thing it might help to work on the second generation early!

... you're as bad as my in-laws used to be. 

On a less facetious note, the fellowship probably could use a Sanctuary somewhere to the west of Mirkwood - The ability to make two rolls to remove Shadow points will tell, in the long run.  Rhosgobel is the only choice at the moment, as it's the only settlement the fellowship as a whole has visited, but that may change. 

Can I get a quick rules call?  At the risk of counting un-hatched chickens, I'm considering picking up the Herbal Remedies virtue (TOR p 111).  I'm curious about whether I can use Arbogast's Herb-lore speciality for an auto-success on the Craft roll for a poison remedy.  I don't think it'd throw the game out of whack if I can, as it's not the sort of thing that will come up all that often, and it dovetails very neatly with the normal use of the speciality.  What do you think?

Quote from: Eclecticon on Oct 14, 2015, 07:37 PMOn another subject, I wanted to ask whether our GMs are holding fast to the one-adventuring-phase-per-year idea, or if there is some scope to have more than one per year.  I think the second option makes things like opening Sanctuaries more feasible, as it means the PCs can do this without risking hard-won Standing.  

Allowing multiple Fellowship Phase activities each year's end would achieve the same result, but has less story goodness.

Hey Paul,

Tom and I are discussing this right now - and we will be having longer adventure phases with the onset of the new section. The campaign has 2950 T.A. as the last good year, and the decade following being the return of the Shadow. So, we will have more to work with and throw at you, instead of these adventure phases that are solely about investigation and social meets. I am not sure I will call it multiple Adventure phases, but they will be longer and cover more of the year than those we've done thus far.

The Fellowship phases will remain the same - 1 between each Adventure phase. That said, I am open to ideas when it comes to what your PC might wish to achieve while in the down phase.

As for your thoughts on Herbal Remedies...

First I want to say that I do not want to do anything that breaks this game - whether that is in adjusting the rules away from their design, or in giving things out that create a give me for PC's and no longer present a challenge.

With that said, I like the House Rule that Bandy helped in creating where we say that the traits step a challenge level down. For Corruption and Fear tests - which are not SKILL tests, this is a perfect way to allow the traits (i.e. Merry, Bold, Patient, etc) to be beneficial in these tests (as they are fitting for helping in these tests). But I also don't like the idea that a PC has this trait that awards free successes constantly.

My ruling would be this - yes, your Herbal Remedies would give you its benefits. Your Herb-lore would allow you an auto-success on a Craft roll TN 14 (Moderate) or lower. Otherwise, the trait enacts the ruling above by stepping the Test down by one step. In the example in the book on page 112, it says its a Craft TN 16 with Herbal Remedies, so your Herb-lore would step that down to a Craft TN 14. It would still need to be rolled because the test did not start Moderate. Make sense?

If you, or anyone, disagrees, please feel free to present your ideas. I am open to suggestions...like I said, I do not want to break the game system, or the fun.

I really like that ruling, and we've already used it several times for different rolls. If you have a trait that specifically addresses a situation, you will automatically succeed at an easy task. But a difficult task is still difficult, but you're more skilled at it.

That sounds fair to me too. I like the prospect of longer adventures. I look forward to whatever you two cook up after Dol Guldur.

Hot damn, Dol Guldur is sure leaving up to its name we gave it as kids. We used to call it Don't GO There. 

           

Is there any likelihood of another challenge arising between here and the end of the adventure that could result in an Advancement point? 

I'm asking for a friend. 

Two things... Paul - yes, for sure.


Second thing...I am leaving for Florida today for the next seven days. I will have computer access and I will be gaming while I am away. I will have stuff up for you guys today, so fear not!

Just give me some time to get the family down the road a ways. 

Have fun in the sunny south.

Hey guys Doug and I are trying to keep the momentum going on the game so its exciting, but we are also trying to do this in tandum. If the NPCs or the results dont come immediately it maybe because we are trying to work out cause and effect and stay in sync with each other. Keep posting but keep in mind we need time to coordinate a little bit too.

No worries at all.  You guys have been doing a good job so far, so we can put up with the occasional delay.

That being said, after seven days the sensation of ants under my skin is growing...   

Dougs on vacation and I'm making the world save for democracy. I'll have something up today

Hey Guys!

I am back. I thought I would have had time to get things done on the boards, but it was a crazy seven days of travel and wedding fun.

Anyway, as Tom says - I, too, will have stuff up on the boards today.

Sounds like a blast! Glad you had a safe and fun trip