Brief Update

Yes, it's been a good long while since I've posted anything.  No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  I haven't stopped playing/running tabletop RPGs either.  In fact, with 3 weekly games and an online PbP, I'd say I'm still going pretty strong.  But this combined with a more time-intensive job and various other hobbies means that the one aspect of gaming I've had to cut down on is writing about it and reading about it.  I really should try to at least get some short posts in every now and then, though.

I've been playing Star Wars Edge of the Empire a LOT lately.  I'm running a game that will probably start winding down here soon (most of the players have long since maxed out their build concepts), but despite the larger-than-I-prefer party it has a good outer rim feel to it.  It seems like every time the PCs make some progress some complications sends them off on a new adventure.  But it's getting time that I bring home their personal arcs and let them retire on some moisture farm on Tatooine.  They probably won't do that.  Tatooine hasn't been kind to them.  Kinder than Nar Shaddaa, though.

I've been having an absolute blast as a player in another Edge game playing a Gand findsman.  He hasn't acquired enough notoriety to earn the use of his real name, so like any humble Gand he refers to himself as Gand, in the third person.  But when two Gands talk to each other they can of course tell the difference between these (proper?) nouns.  Playing a subtle, non-Jedi Force Sensitive has been a lot of fun.  Gand has Foresee and Enhance, the two force powers that I see findsmen using to augment their bounty hunting ability (I'm staying away from Seek until Force and Destiny is officially released; of course this campaign will have ended by then).  This campaign has developed its own brand of slapstick humor as well, and hilarity ensued when two of the regular players couldn't make it to several sessions in a row, and we took a third on temporarily.  This turned the party into this:  Gand (Bounty Hunter: Survivalist, Force Sensitive Exile), Khan (Sullustan Bounty Hunter: Gadgeteer), and newcomer Mara (Bounty Hunter: Assassin).  And those sessions mostly entailed buying pants, bribing police chiefs with nerf steaks, and getting the autograph of Jorje Lu'cas, producer of the Star Wars holiday special (the reel was destroyed by Khan, but fortunately Gand has a pirated copy on his ship....which was stolen by his rival, whose kids were just murdered in the custody of an NPC companion of Gand's....Gand doesn't think he'll ever see his favorite movie again).   Go figure.

Finally, I just finished running my Saturday group through Tales from Wilderland, the first adventure compilation for The One Ring.  This system didn't click with my other group, but these guys had a great time with it.  I started them off with Kinstrife and Dark Tidings (I wasn't sure if it would be a two-shot test of the system or if we'd play longer, and that was my favorite adventure just from reading it).  Then we went back to Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit, we skipped Don't Leave the Path (we were already on this side of Mirkwood) and Those Who Tarry No Longer (it's an interesting story but I'm skeptical of how it would play), and played the remaining adventures pretty much in order.  And the PCs (just three of them) survived (although poor Peter Lochlan, formerly bland Hobbit, went back to the Shire with four permanent shadow points and flaws).

The One Ring was the first non-D&D system I introduced to my gaming circle, and I suppose I didn't have enough experience with a variety of systems to make it work really well the first time several years ago.  The one group still doesn't like it despite being weaned off of Pathfinder by this point, but I'm glad I got this opportunity to actually run it well for a group of fairly new, narrative-focused gamers.  I was quite pleased with how the system ran when it was run and played well, and hopefully we'll play it again in the future.

The One Ring Official Updates

As some of you may know, several months ago Cubicle 7 announced that they were printing a revised version of the core rulebook for The One Ring.  Well, pre-orders are now open and the PDF is available right now as well.  Whereas the original printing was a boxed set with two softcover books (an Adventurer's Book and a Loremaster's Book), the new core book is a single hardback volume.  It's not quite a second edition, as it's been mostly re-organized so that the two books are now combined into one, and individual topics are not split up and difficult to find anymore.  Considering that the book's organization and index were the biggest criticisms of the system when it was released, this is a huge improvement.  If anyone has been on the fence about getting into TOR, now is the time to jump on board.

Even if it's not a second edition, there have been some errata incorporated into the new printing.  A few specific player options have been re-balanced (i.e. the notoriously underpowered Beorning Cultural Blessing has been given a boost, and the even more notoriously overpowered King's Blade has been hit with the nerf bat, bringing it down to parity with other Rewards and eliminating the "Hobbit uber-swordman" issue).  Preliminary rolls have been simplified into a unified mechanic between the three heroic ventures (Journeys, Combat, and Encounters), which was admittedly a houserule that the game's designer, Francesco Nepitello, had posted on his blog for a while.  Now it's official.  Favored skills are cheaper to upgrade, Fatigue from traveling gear has been increased, and the effects of the Intimidate Foe and Rally Comrades actions have been given a boost, making them more competitive options in combat.  Hazards have been re-worked, as they now trigger when an Eye is rolled on any Fatigue test (succeed or fail), and the consequences have been streamlined into a table that you can then narrate (instead of having dozens of narrative examples scattered everywhere with sometimes similar effects).

All in all, it polishes up what is one of the most well-designed licensed RPGs I've seen.  If you already have the original boxed set and don't plan on purchasing the new core book, never fear!  All of the updates have been posted as a free PDF.

Leaving Wilderland: Upcoming Supplements for TOR

A recent announcement by Cubicle 7 revealed the 2014 releases for The One Ring.  Rivendell has been on the schedule before, and was originally slated for a 2013 release.  It looks like it will be a combination of a regional sourcebook along with a decent amount of player options (including two much sought-after Cultures, and rules for magical treasure).  Not much of a surprise here.

The revised core rulebook is an interesting twist, and I think a necessary one given the switch to hardcover for the more recent books.  Even though hardcover books are a little more expensive, their durability makes them well worth it in my opinion.  I suspect the list of errata will be small, but this is still worthwhile even for some that already have the slipcase set.  I know that my copies have binding issues, like many, and while the pages are all attached with the string, the glue has completely failed.  Functional, but not very pretty.  I'm not sure if I'll personally pick this one up since I have limited funds, already own the core books, and plan on purchasing books for other games, but it would definitely be nice to have.

Ruins of the North looks absolutely phenomenal, because Cubicle 7 has set a strong precedent with Tales from Wilderland.  I typically don't run published adventures, though I will occasionally mine ideas from them, but this adventure anthology is top-notch.  I've read through the whole thing twice already just for pleasure, without intending to actually run it.  I've also run pieces of a couple of the adventures in the book, but even without running it I'd say I've gotten my money's worth.  In short, these adventures do a great job of showcasing how to effectively roleplay in Middle Earth.  Everything from the tone, the style of adventures, and the description.  Middle Earth is a tough setting to GM for, but Tales helps get you in the right frame of mind for it.  I expect Ruins will be just as good.  I've never been this excited about a published adventure before.

The Adventurer's Companion will probably be the best "bang for your buck" for players.  Really, TOR hasn't had any supplements that cater particularly strongly toward players, with Lake-Town being the closest but still mainly a GM resource.  I expect it'll fill the niche of "PHB2" quite well, and it's probably a great way to go about adding more Cultures as opposed to handing them out piecemeal over several GM sourcebooks like the Men of the Lake and the Dunedain.  It'll also be a really quick way to expand the game geographically all in one fell swoop, essentially adding most of the "missing" Cultures from all over Middle Earth.  I honestly didn't expect Bree-folk to be in the same supplement as Riders of Rohan and Men of Gondor, and I didn't expect Dwarves of the Blue Mountains or Elves of Lorien at all!  I'm personally holding out hope for the Druadan, and possibly the Dunlendings, as these would be little-represented Cultures from the legendarium that have a lot of potential for being fleshed out, much like the Woodmen.

The Horse Lords of Rohan will scratch an itch felt by a LOT of TOR players, as Riders of Rohan are easily the most-requested playable Culture based on online discussions.  Granted the Culture itself will be in the Adventurer's Companion, but a GM-targeted regional sourcebook is arguably just as valuable.  All the more so since it also covers Fangorn and Isengard.  I found Heart of the Wild to be absolutely brimming with potential seeds, and I suspect this book will as well.

Overall, it's a very exciting time to be a fan of The One Ring!  While many fans have felt a bit boxed in by the game's restricted support for just Wilderland, it sounds like it will be expanding to the far corners of Middle Earth pretty rapidly!  I was one of those players who actually thought Wilderland was perfect for Middle Earth roleplaying, but I admit that recently I have been itching to explore west of the Misty Mountains lately, and I look forward to how the game handles mounted combat with the addition of the Rohirrim.  I'll also be interested to see how they handle the power level of Rivendell and Lorien Elves, as I initially suspected that they wouldn't be playable Cultures.

Review: Heart of the Wild

Introduction

Heart of the Wild is the most recent supplement for The One Ring.  It's essentially a gazetteer to western and central Wilderland (the Vales of Anduin and Mirkwood; which is to say everything except the Dale-lands, Lake-Town, and the Long Marshes).  The yet-to-be-released companion volume, Darkening of Mirkwood, is a plot point campaign sourcebook that requires Heart of the Wild (though you can use HotW just find without Darkening).  It's most useful for Loremasters as a setting reference and a source for new Adversaries and NPCs, though there are some player options sprinkled throughout it.  You can purchase the book here, and it's also available for sale as a PDF.

Production Value

This is the first hardcover product in the line, and it makes all the difference.  Previous softcovers (including the core rulebooks) had issues with the binding (my copies included), which is a sore point for an otherwise beautiful set of books.  The hardcover format seems to have eliminated this problem, as the binding certainly seems as solid as any other RPG book I've owned.  At 128 pages it's a little short for the price point.

Layout

The book is divided into 3 main sections (plus an introduction, an updated map, and an index), the Vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Adversaries.  The two major regions are divided up into various sub-regions, which are treated separately.  The subregions correspond to those on the maps, and while this makes the book convenient to reference if you're interested in a specific place on the map, it can be a little repetitive to read this way, especially with all of the similar-sounding regions (west upper vales, east upper vales, west middle vales, east middle vales, etc. through Anduin vales and nether vales).  This is exacerbated by the fact that each region is given entries for wildlife, inhabitants, notable characters, and notable places.  The wildlife entries in particular are tiresome, as most of them include the expected bears, deer, squirrels, etc.  There are a few notable details like the swarms of insects that beset travelers in the East Nether Vales, which the wandering Erringmen fend off with fire-pots full of incense, but by and large I think that space could have been saved by detailing the general wildlife in the introductory section to the two major regions, and then if there are interesting wildlife for a given sub-region mentioning those in its summary.  This is the one part of the book that feels like it was placed in to pad page count, which is all the more noticeable with only 128 pages.

The art lives up to what we've come to expect from this line, which is to say that the style fits the setting very well.  You get a mix of paintings and, for some specific NPCs, pencil drawings.  There is at least one piece of recycled art (the portrait of Thranduil), but the vast majority of it is new.  My one complaint is that a lot of the Mirkwood pieces look really similar, and don't seem to depict anything besides "ooooh, scary trees!"  Given that similar pieces are found in the core books, it's tough to really appreciate some of the Mirkwood stuff.

Sidebars abound in this book, and they run the gamut from new player options, to interesting details about characters ("Thranduil's Ring" and "The Crown of the Elvenking" being particularly nice touches), to short little stories that better demonstrate locations or situations ("A Campfire Tale," "Forgotten Treasures"), or advice about keeping already-visited locations fresh ("Strange Faces in Familiar Lands").  This is a great way to maintain the consistent region to region structure while still allowing for unique details to be given, and it visually informs the reader that something here is different, important, or is getting a different style of treatment.  My only gripe is that while the sidebars are in the index, there is no notation that indicates they're sidebars (a minor gripe, to be sure).

Content

As a setting reference this book does what it needs to do, without over-detailing things.  A description of the landscape for each sub-region, and a handful of versatile NPCs with motivations and personalities that seem relevant to the interests of adventurers.  Some might end up as adversaries, some allies, while others could go either way.  Concepts are generally not repeated, so you're getting something new and interesting with each NPC.  The entries are short and to the point, with an attribute level given, Traits, Endurance, and ranks in any skills that the NPC is likely to demonstrate.  One nice touch that updates Tolkien to the sensibilities of most modern gamers is that about half of the NPCs are female.

A lot of the descriptions (of both NPCs and specific locations) act as hooks, to spark curiosity and inspire GM creativity.  Personally, this is the type of published material that I tend to get the most use out of as a GM.  A little "seed" that I can take off in my own direction.  I supply most of the details and plotlines, but I wouldn't have ever thought of it if I hadn't read that interesting little initial description.  For this reason I anticipate that Heart of the Wild might be sufficient for my GMing needs, in that Darkening might provide too much detail for my tastes.  In other words, Heart of the Wild will probably still be useful to GMs who don't like running published adventures (which I don't).

A few locations are given a more detailed treatment, to the extent that they're mapped out.  These are the Halls of Thranduil (a much better version than the one from Karen Wynn Fonstad's "The Atlas of Middle Earth," though doubtless that's because more liberties were taken), Dol Guldur (an overhead view of the exterior with important features labeled), Beorn's house, and the three Woodmen settlements in Mirkwood (with a note that Mountain Hall is mapped out in Tales from Wilderland).  Actually, there are a few locations where only a very short summary is provided, and the entry otherwise says "refer to Tales/Loremaster's Book."   For example, Beorn doesn't get much treatment since the LMB goes into a lot of detail on him.  This attempt to keep the book "dense" and not reprint information may be a pro to some, and a con to others who would rather have a more complete reference in one book.  Going back to the maps, these hit a pretty sweet spot of providing enough detail to get a sense of how the place is laid out, but not going so far as to count individual houses and whatnot.  For me as a Loremaster, this level of detail is enough to keep my description of the place consistent, but it's not so rigid that it locks me out of options.

I think the biggest missed opportunity in this book is that there are no hazards provided at all.  I thought the region-specific hazards in Tales from Wilderland were a very nice touch, and I expected an abundance of them in Heart of the Wild.  Again, considering that the book only clocks in at 128 pages it's a bit mind boggling why these were neglected.  The few general hazards listed in the LMB can get stale really fast, and while you could do a quick scan through the area's description to adapt them to a sub-region in a pinch, there's not a lot of ease-of-reference there, and there might not be something immediately obvious.

Adversaries

At just 11 pages the Monsters of the Wild chapter is much shorter than the other two, but considering how limited the selection from the LMB is it is a pretty decent expansion to the number of foes available.  Obviously Tolkien doesn't have the menagerie of monsters that a game like D&D does, so it's a fine line between giving the Loremaster enough options to keep his players interested and providing so much that it no longer feels like Middle Earth.

Aside from basilisks, grim hawks, and wood-wights, all of the adversaries are more or less variations on stuff that the players have likely already come across.  There are enough mechanical differences to be noticeable, though.  There are some specific "boss" orcs (including one with a named weapon), forest goblins, a warg "boss," hill-men, wild men, a new type of spider, and a trio of...nah, I'm not going to spoil that one ;)

Player Options

The most significant options for players are new Fellowship Phase Undertakings, though these will largely be linked to a very specific location, so your options are unlikely to be greatly expanded during any one Fellowship Phase.  Some of them are interesting new twists on what can be gained from an Undertaking, with some being fairly generic (Hunt with the Woodmen) and others being very unique (Taming the Steed of the Moon).  There are 14 altogether, and with so much variety they can easily be used as examples to inspire Loremasters to create custom Undertakings using the same or similar mechanics with tweaked or substituted details.

There are 2 new "sub-cultures," which are the Wild Hobbits of the Anduin Vales and the Woodmen of Mountain Hall.  The entries are disappointingly sparse, with some starting skill ranks being switched around and new Cultural Blessings being granted (though in the case of the Woodmen it's as simple as switching the wording of Woodcrafty from "in a forest" to "in the mountains").  Unlike the Men of the Lake from the Lake-Town book, there are no new cultural Virtues or Rewards, and no new backgrounds.  What makes this especially puzzling is that for the Hobbits in particular, a lot of the options from the core rulebook don't fit thematically at all.  Again, I stress that at 128 pages there could have been more here.

Woodmen and Elves also get one new Cultural Virtue each.  River-blooded represents a Woodman who has River Maiden ancestry, whereas The Call of Mirkwood can be taken to show how an Elf PC is beginning to fade.

Final Thoughts

Overall I'd say this book is well worth it for GMs, and for anyone who wants a fairly comprehensive reference book on Wilderland.  Though it's worth keeping in mind that as a reference book, it's not strictly canon as many liberties were taken to make it appropriate for use in an RPG.  I still think it's a great read for getting a sense of what these lands are like, and what life would be like there.  If you're just a player with only a casual interest in Tolkien lore you might not find much of use here.

By and large it's a great addition to the TOR library, though it's not without its flaws.  A lack of new Hazards, player options that could have been done in more detail, and a short page count for the price (but hardcover is awesome!) keep this from getting a perfect rating, but they're pretty minor issues and shouldn't get in the way of purchasing this book if you're on the fence.  The book is absolutely stuffed with "seeds" that will provide GMs with inspiration for many adventures and campaigns, and it makes a great reference for adding color and detail to travel through these regions.

Adapting Ally Rolls to Other Systems

I recently posted an article on the Ally Roll table in The One Ring.  Interestingly, it was pretty similar to an improvised mass combat system I'd come up with for 13th Age, with inspiration from Dungeon World.  The concept itself has a lot of potential for general applicability, with the gist being that a single die roll is used to represent a group of allies fighting a group of enemies, with a scale of outcomes tied to the results.  These outcomes need not be written out as a table ahead of time, but they certainly can be.  At minimum your spectrum of outcomes should include bad stuff (allies losing ground) on low rolls, neutral results (or success with complications) on middle rolls, and good stuff (allies gain ground) on high rolls.  The One Ring makes it easy to include really bad stuff and really good stuff at the far ends of the spectrum due to the Eye of Sauron or Gandalf Rune being rolled, respectively, but this could easily be represented by lowest and highest numerical results as well (fumbles and crits, in d20 terminology).

What Die Type Should Be Used?

This question is, of course, system-dependent.  For The One Ring (TOR) the Feat Die (the special d12) was the obvious choice, and the precedent for the mechanic already exists in a published adventure.  A d20 might be appropriate in d20 systems, though I chose to instead opt for 2d6 with 13th Age (13A).  As it turns out, I have some further ideas for modifying the ally check which become more interesting with 2d6 compared with a d20, which I'll discuss later.  But what about a system with non-standard dice, like Edge of the Empire (EotE)?

The similarities between TOR's Feat Die and the Force, Challenge and Proficiency dice of EotE made using the Force Die or the red/yellow d12s pretty tempting.  Theoretically the blank face and the Triumph/Despair could stand in for the Eye of Sauron/Gandalf Rune, with Success/Failure and Advantage/Threat standing in for good or bad results (faces with both being neutral).  On the Force Die the applications of light/dark side pips should be pretty easy to guess.  The ultimate problem with such a system is that the results of the roll aren't easily or intuitively as modifiable as a numerical system.  This presents a couple of big problems, the first being that you can't "custom fit" the probabilities to account for the difficulty of the odds your allies are facing, and second being that bonuses or penalties (due to PC intervention, terrain, narrative changes, etc.) are tough to apply.  It's easy to just say "use a regular d12, or 2d6 just like the other examples!" but ideally you'd use a die or dice that are already used in the game, since not all players can be expected to have a set of standard RPG dice (ok, ok, so most probably have a couple of d6s from board games or whatever).  Thus the obvious choice becomes the d% dice.

You'd basically treat the Ally Roll like you would a roll on the critical injury table (again, you can pre-make a custom table or just wing it).  Off the top of my head, I'd probably break the results down into 1-5 very bad (Eye of Sauron), 6-40 bad, 41-70 neutral, 71-95 good, and 96-100 very good (Gandalf Rune).  The odds are stacked against the allies with the bad range having a 35% chance of being rolled, neutral a 30% chance, and good 25%.  The percentile roll provides a lot of granularity for adjusting based on the difficulty/conditions of the battle, and of course you need to leave PCs the opportunity to be the real heroes by making it an uphill fight.

Oh, and while we're at it I'll note that in the 2d6 system I employed for 13th Age the equivalents to an Eye or Gandalf would be double 1's or double 6's, respectively.  While this makes these results less likely to trigger than in the other examples, it also has the advantage of simplicity.  GMs can get around the reduced probabilities by interpreting those results with a heavier hand, but the probabilities are also a little more malleable when the roll is modified (see the "Game Specifics" section).

Allowing for Player Interaction

There can potentially be problems associated with running different sections of the battlefield with differing degrees of abstraction.  On the one hand, the PCs and their immediate foes will be operating on the scale of individual actions, individual Hit Points/Endurance/Wounds/etc., and individual initiative slots.  The allies all get lumped into a single roll which represents how both sides are faring in relation to each other, and the results are more often than not going to be much more narrative with much less bookkeeping.  While you can add some bookkeeping (see the unit strength idea that I presented in the original 13th Age post, which was the second link at the top of this article), my personal preference is to reduce that level of tracking and instead focus on the broad needs of the plot.  The PCs shouldn't care about too much detail, because in-game they have their own problems, and so they'll be perceiving their allies in broad strokes (besides, this keeps the game moving more quickly, with less time spent on the GM "fighting themselves").

But what happens when a PC wants to interfere?  This is best handled by a modification of the Ally Roll.  Here are 4 distinct examples.

1. A PC kills the foe he was fighting, and wants to effectively "join" the ally group.  Simple enough, just pick out a single opponent or two (or a mook/minion group, if the game supports that), pull them out of the ally roll and into a new personal combat with the PC, using PC scale actions, HP, etc.  If it makes sense that the enemy would already be a little wounded, go with whatever feels right.  To represent the loss of some enemy forces, you could grant a bonus to the Ally Roll (magnitude dependent on the strength of the foes that the PC "drew out").
2. A PC blankets the enemy forces with an area effect (grenade, fireball spell, etc.).  Depending on the size of the enemy group and their durability, this might result in bonuses to the Ally Roll, or perhaps even an automatic positive result.  This is most likely the case if your positive result reads that an enemy/enemies are wounded or slain, and it makes sense that the area attack would have wounded/killed some enemies.  If the PC spends his entire turn and what is probably a limited resource (grenade or daily-use spell), yeah the effect on the Ally Roll should probably be pretty huge.
3. A PC wants to use a skill to bolster the allied forces.  An obvious choice would be Leadership (EotE), Inspire (TOR), or a Cha check with applicable background (13A).  Again, if the PC is using their action to do this then the results should be pretty big.  For some systems that call is automatic (for example, in EotE using a skill is almost always an action), but for others it'll be up to GM discretion (13A and TOR).  GMs might even want to give players a choice of doing things quickly and getting a simple bonus, or spending their action/turn and getting a more significant bonus (a bigger numberical bonus, or perhaps even an automatic "good stuff" result depending on the nature of the action).  
4. A PC wants to command a specific ally to act upon something outside of their own conflict.  For example, commanding an allied archer to shoot the enemy Wizard, or ordering a rebel soldier to fire at the Moff at the computer terminal.  A successful check should allow that ally to be "pulled out" of the ally group for a turn or more, letting them act as an individual at the same scale as the PCs (this is basically example 1 in reverse).  The price you'll pay for this is that you'll probably add a penalty to the Ally Roll, since without that individual's aid the other allies will have a tougher time of it.  Perhaps with a really good roll (Great/Extraordinary success in TOR, Advantage/Triumph in EotE, or a Natural 16+ in 13A) this penalty can be reduced or eliminated.

Game Specifics

Ok, so with the general principle and some examples laid out, let's provide a summary of some baseline mechanics that a GM can draw upon.  Keep in mind that this stuff is still mostly theoretical, as I've minimally playtested it with 13th Age and The One Ring.  Not only that, but because there is so much variance in specific conditions this is designed to be modifiable and somewhat improvisational by the GM.

The One Ring - You'll be using the Feat Die for the Ally Roll, usually with a spread of Eye (really bad), 1-4 (bad), 5-7 (neutral), 8-10 (good), and Gandalf (really good).  Bonuses/Penalties to the Ally Roll should generally be between 1 and 4, with +/-2 and +/-4 being good starting points thanks to the Complications Table (pg. 48 LMB, GM Screen).  Keep in mind degrees of success, with a simple success on any PC's skill check to interfere providing a modest bonus, and Great or Extraordinary successes have better results.

13th Age - Use 2d6 for the Ally roll, with 6 or less being a bad roll, 7-9 as neutral, and 10 or more being a good result.  Optionally, double 1's can be very bad, and double 6's very good.  While simple numerical modifiers certainly work for bonuses or penalties (I'd use the range allowable by Backgrounds: 1-5), I really like the idea of successful skill checks adding a die to the pool to provide a functional "re-roll."  In other words, roll 3d6 and keep the highest 2 values.  Severe penalties could go the opposite way (roll 3d6 and keep the lowest 2 values).  This boosts the low probabilities of the double 1's/6's for very bad/good results, and in my opinion is a more satisfying impact for players than a straight modifier (a modifier can't save a horrific roll, but a re-roll very well could).  Optionally, a 16+ on the PC's roll can add the extra d6 in addition to a numerical modifier.  The base dice pool of 2d6 works really well here because re-rolling the entire Ally Roll comes across as a bit too powerful to me.

Edge of the Empire - Using a d% for the Ally Roll this system potentially offers the most granularity, but realistically things should probably be kept to intervals of 5%.  As I stated before, the baseline breakdown might be as follows: 1-5 (very bad), 6-40 (bad), 41-70 (neutral), 71-95 (good), and 96-100 (very good).  A bonus of 10% per success on a PC's skill roll seems about right, though with checks that have a goal other than simply boosting the Ally Roll, allowing Advantage to be spent to also boost the Ally Roll by 5% per Advantage seems reasonable.  Additionally, keep in mind that with EotE the minion rules already provide an easy way to adjudicate battles between small groups of allies and enemies, and so GMs should consider carefully when using these Ally Rolls is really appropriate.  Probably only with large squads that would result in unwieldy dice pools if treated as minions, or if the GM wants the combat to run especially quickly and doesn't want to deal with actual dice pools and minion tracking.

Miscellaneous Note on Cumulative Bonuses

Sometimes it makes sense for a bonus to an Ally Roll to last more than a single round.  For example, if you give the roll a penalty for one of the ally combatant being wounded or killed, then that penalty should probably stick around until the playing field is even with an enemy being wounded or killed.  If the Ally Roll gets a bonus because the enemy leader was taken down, that drop in enemy morale should probably last for the entire battle.  

Some player actions will result in advantages of variable duration.  If a PC rolled to inspire his allies, how long does that bonus to the Ally Roll last?  It could be just 1 round, it could be longer for a higher degree of success.  Maybe it simply lasts until a low roll comes up (bad or very bad) and the allies are demoralized again.  Go with what makes sense.  Some "tactical" rolls where a PC tries to direct allies to a better fighting position should obviously last as long as the allies hold that position.  You might even alter the outcome of a roll (on the fly, even if you're using a pre-made table) so that a bad result, which would normally wound or kill an ally, instead drives the group off of this position, nullifying the bonus.  

Ultimately, one last thing to keep in mind is to go with what makes sense in the moment.  This house rule isn't designed to be an in-depth new mechanic tacked onto the game, and doesn't need to strike a perfect balance.  Rather, it's designed to provide some structure for handling groups of allied combatants narratively.  It's for when "making it up as you go along" feels too arbitrary.  It's there as a baseline, to get your creative juices flowing, and to basically provide a status update on how those other guys are doing, especially during rounds where the PCs aren't direction involved with that side of the battle.  If you use it in a game, let me know how it goes.

Ally Rolls in The One Ring

It's funny what kinds of rules gems you can find buried in unexpected sources.  In the second adventure of Tales from Wilderland (Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit) there is a scene where the PCs are supposed to make a stand in a defensible position (the ringfort) with a handful of allies.  Enemies swarm the ringfort, and the battle description contains a table that describes how the allies fare in battle.  This "Allies In Battle" table (pg. 34) keeps things moving quickly, preserving a narrative focus and making it unnecessary for either the Loremaster or the PCs to take control of extra characters.

In the play-by-post (PbP) game that I'm currently running the PCs ambushed a large orc camp backed up by 2 units of Elven cavalry, a handful of Barding archers led by the Barding PC, and a handful of Bardings disguised as orcs led by an exiled Dwarf PC who escaped a brutal captivity in the hands of orcs.  Obviously that's a LOT of individuals to keep track of, and the need to abstract the mechanics for the battle were even greater considering that Legolas himself led one of the Elven units, and I didn't want to open up a can of worms by statting him out.  Remembering that table from the short campaign that I ran for my regular gaming group (relevant posts under the TOR-C2 tag), I decided to adopt it for this battle.  

While the table from Tales from Wilderland offers specific results for the battle that it applies to, it was immediately apparent that the results could be tweaked on the fly to apply to virtually any combat, with any number of allies and enemies.  Here are the basics, in a nutshell:

The Loremaster rolls a Feat Die (the special d12; for those using regular dice, the 11 counts as an Eye of Sauron and the 12 is a Gandalf rune).  

• If the Eye is rolled something really bad happens.  For a smaller number of allies this will usually mean that one of them is slain.  For larger "units" this could mean that multiple individuals are slain, the leader is slain, etc.  Whatever is dramatically appropriate.
• On a roll of 1, 2, 3, or 4 the enemies are doing better than the allies.  This might be represented by one of the allies suffering a wound (or being slain for larger groups), one or more enemies slipping past them to attack a priority target (probably one of the PCs, even one in Rearward stance), or a change in the tactical landscape.  For example, if there are any modifiers in place due to the Complications table (pg. 48 of the LMB, or the GM screen), these can change to favor the enemy.  Additionally, a 1 should probably have worse effects than a 4 (in TfW bad stuff triggered if you rolled under the number of allies, but obviously this wouldn't work for larger groups).  
• On a roll of 5, 6, or 7 the allies hold their own, but don't necessarily gain any ground.  Nothing particularly interesting happens in this round, or if you'd prefer to narrate changes in the battle they should be net zero.
• A roll of 8, 9, or 10 mirrors 1-4 in that now the allies are doing better.  Depending on how many enemies are present and/or how fast the LM wants the pacing of the battle to be, this could mean that an enemy is Wounded, an enemy is slain, or the allies gain some sort of tactical advantage (there should always be a good narrative description for this, but it can be mechanically represented with that Complications table).
• If a Gandalf rune is rolled, the allies are doing extremely well.  Perhaps an unwounded enemy is instantly slain, multiple enemies are slain or flee, an important enemy (perhaps a leader) is slain, or in some circumstances the LM might allow one or more PCs to regain a point of Hope as the tides are turned (though this should be used very sparingly, and you should have a good reason for doing so!).  

Some Notes

These numbers are consistent with those from the table in TfW, with the results more generalized.  But these can easily be changed based on the details of the battle.  Are the allies severely outnumbered or in a rough spot?  Maybe the numeric results are broken down like this:  1-6 is bad, 7-8 is neutral, 9-10 is good.  In fact, it's worth pointing out that the originally published values are skewed toward the enemies (1-4 being bad vs. 8-10 being good), and I think this is important.  Since the allies are statistically in a position to lose the fight, it drives home the fact that it's ultimately up to the PCs.  They're the heroes, the stars of the show.  

Along those lines, it's a good idea to offer the possibility of adding modifiers to the roll.  These can absolutely be player-driven.  A successful Battle roll might allow a PC to direct his allies to higher ground, providing a +1 bonus to the Ally Roll.  A Great Success on an Inspire roll might give the allies a second wind, with a +2 modifier to the roll.  A Healing roll might allow a PC to bring wounded ally back into the fight.  Conversely, you can add a penalty to the roll to represent a new advantage gained by the enemy.  If a PC is knocked out and their opponent(s) join the fight agains the allies, that might be a -1 penalty.  The same logic obviously applies to reinforcements.  And if you're stuck on how to adjudicate an Eye result by a player taking a risky action, why not make the allies pay for it?

Finally, you can give the battle some tactical "texture" by having multiple groups of allies (as is the case in my PbP game), with each group getting its own Ally Roll.  This can give PCs an interesting choice to make as they need to decide which ally group to aid, if any, and it allows the victors from one group to affect another group, or the PCs and their foes.  It's perfectly reasonable for a good result on an Ally Roll to result in a combatant breaking off from that "unit" and joining the PCs with its own individual stat block (this is especially useful if one of the PCs is knocked out, as it can give that player an ally to control).

On Prolonged Actions (Or Repeated Skill Checks)

I was playing Edge of the Empire with my group yesterday, and after several sessions of being unable to catch a breather and repair our ship's Hull Trauma, the party finally scrounged together some funds and some downtime.  Naturally, our Wookiee Mechanic wanted to assist the repair crew that we hired since his Solid Repairs talent would essentially let us repair a "free" point of HT, which is crucial given that we're strapped for credits.

One of the other players asked "is that +1 per day of repairing the ship, or just +1 to the total?"  This player's system-of-choice is Pathfinder so he tends to lean toward system mastery (gaming the system), and I immediately replied that while it's not spelled out exactly in the rules and thus is open to GM interpretation, repairing the ship should be a single "action" regardless of how many days it took (which the GM agreed with).  The answer was pretty reflexive to me, but it got me thinking about the deeper issue at hand here: I really dislike the concept of repeated skill use in an RPG.

This includes things like making a skill check for each hour of work on a multi-day repair job.  Failing a Lockpicking check (in D&D, usually) and immediately saying "can I try again?"  Encountering a room full of half a dozen traps and being tasked with rolling to disarm Each.  One.  Individually.

The One Ring actually has a rule for this, called Prolonged Actions.  It's always been one of my least favorite rules in the game, to the point where I've never even considered bringing it up.  Here's the justification in the rules (pg. 22 of the LMB, emphasis mine) - "Prolonged actions are particularly suited to evoke an atmosphere of tension, but may also be employed when the acting characters want to tackle a difficult task with caution, and have the time to do it."  Basically, they're rules on how to take a single skill check and break it into multiple skill checks.

I would argue that such a game mechanic is completely and utterly pointless.  Why would it benefit cautious players to attempt Prolonged Actions?  Because the result is not at the mercy of a single die roll, but rather the more rolls you make, the closer your end result is likely to be to the average.  At that point, why not just "take 10" (to use a D&D term) and dispense with the skill check altogether?  After all, by allowing multiple rolls you're already establishing that the situation is one in which there is plenty of time for "repeated attempts," so you're going to make it anyways.  Why not just cut to the chase?

There's a fundamental rule that's usually called out in most RPG books but is easily forgotten by some players, and that is that a skill check should only be rolled when there is a risk for failure or when there would be some otherwise dramatic consequences.  If you can try something as many times as you want, there is implicitly no risk for failure.  Let's go back to the examples above.

1. So the Wookiee helps repair the ship, along with a retinue of professional mechanics in a proper facilities.  Is there any question that the ship will get repaired?  No?  Well, there's not even a roll required (in our game, the GM wisely did not ask for a Mechanics check for that very reason).  It's worth keeping in mind that the talent doesn't give you +1 HT for each Mechanics check made, but rather "whenever he repairs a vehicle or starship."  That's whether or not a roll is required.
2. If the Rogue (or insert similar archetype based on the game in question) goes up to a lock to pick it, just let him do it if there's a reasonable chance of success.  Because he'll just try again anyways.  Now, it's another story if there are alert guards standing just on the other side of the door (for example), in which case failure on the first attempt probably means that too much noise was made in the attempt.  That's FAILURE, as opposed to "I didn't quite get it...this time."
3. There's nothing that annoys me more than a dungeon crawl where the Rogue scouts ahead and there's 20 minutes of the GM saying "make a Perception check.  Ok, you see a trap there, roll to Disable it."  And the room is full of traps.  It's boring, even if it means the Rogue is filling his niche.  I'd rather a single Perception check notice all of the traps, with a single roll to disable ALL of them (unless there are different types of traps of varying difficulties, that are described narratively to keep things interesting).  Honestly I'd rather go the old school route of describing all of your actions in detail (because skill checks didn't exist yet) and succeeding when your idea made sense.  Potentially tedius in a different sort of way (stopping every 10 ft to probe with your wooden pole, anyone?), but at least the game tends toward more immersive detail.

I would be remiss if I didn't make note of a possible exception to my aversion to Prolonged Actions (in whatever form they take depending on the game), and that is the classic Time Limit (though there may be other situational exceptions).  For example, you've got 4 rounds to disable this trap and then open that lock and get through the door, while being attacked by zombies, GO!  Stressful situation + time limit means that every roll has an implicit drama attached to it.  You fail a check, that's another round that you have to deal with complications.  Or someone less skilled has to drop what they're doing to make an attempt.  The results are interesting.  Ultimately, go with the Rule of Cool whenever possible.  If something is so routine that the results aren't all that interesting one way or the other, let it happen.

Heart of the Wild!

After much waiting, the preorder for Heart of the Wild, the next book in the TOR line, is live.  This release has been much anticipated, especially given that we haven't gotten any new material (nor definitive news of new material) since the release of Lake-Town and the announcement of the delays on the upcoming books.  And as a bonus, the book will be hardcover!

There's a lot of upcoming RPG products so I'm not sure if I'll preorder this one or wait until later (13th Age and Edge of the Empire are both being released this month), but it definitely has me intrigued!  It's basically a source book for Wilderland, which will undoubtedly be chock full of random ideas that I can incorporate into future campaigns.  I was extremely impressed with Tales from Wilderland (and I don't generally like published adventures), so I'm sure this will be top-notch as well.  The game certainly needs some new variety of adversaries, and I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the new playable cultures (River Hobbits and Wayward Elves!).  It'll be especially interesting to see how the Stoors differ from the Shire-Hobbits, especially since iirc in the canon it's unclear whether they still frequent Wilderland at all, in which case they're probably just small, secretive bands of those who haven't quite cleared out yet.

In any case, thought it was worth mentioning since I haven't talked too much about TOR recently.  I haven't played it with my gaming group(s) for several months, though I am still running a PbP game on Roleplay Online and I'm liking the way the game complements the PbP format (if you're interested in lurking, just click on this link and request lurker status).

Anyways, after Heart of the Wild will be Darkening of Mirkwood, which is the big plot-point campaign that's been in the works since the game's release (hints of it are in the core book).  I'm guessing that'll be available this year as well.  After that there will be a Rivendell book, and that's the last we know anything about.  Looking forward to seeing how the line progresses, especially after the fiasco with the PDFs (presumed to be a licensing issue).

D&D Next March Playtest - Exploration

I'll start off by referring you to this thread on RPG.net, which inspired me to write about Exploration next.  It also inspired me to convert the rules to 13th Age, which highlights one of the mechanic's strengths - it's fairly edition-neutral.  My "conversion" was mostly condensing all of the information so that it would only take up a single page.  Really the only changes I made were:

• replacing the Readiness DCs with the standard tier-based 13th Age DCs
• adjusting the max distance per 1 day turn to better reflect my real-world experience as a backpacker (increasing mileage)
• requiring an Int check for mapmaking to grant the navigator a -5 to the DC
• clarifying Searching as an umbrella term for hunting, tracking, exploring, etc.
• adding the option to make a Con OR Wis check when attempting multiple actions (depending on the nature of the second action)
• and finally adding a d8 roll to determine random encounter difficult in lieu of a specific wandering monster chart (1-2 is an easy encounter, 7-8 is probably too tough to take on, and the rest is a balanced encounter). 

Obviously some of this is pure houseruling for personal preference; really as long as you translate the DCs to your system of choice you're good to go.  Fortunately the modifiers (for terrain and such) work just as well with 13th Age as they do for Next, but for some systems you may need to tweak those too.

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It's tough for me to not reflexively compare these exploration rules with the Journey rules from The One Ring, which I purchased a little over a year ago.  Those rules are probably the most well-designed of any exploration mechanic that I've encountered in a tabletop RPG.  One of my favorite aspects of these rules is how well they balances light and heavy armor.  A character with a high Fatigue rating can be made Weary very quickly, and that results in a significant decrease in overall effectiveness.  In short, it definitely pays to travel light, with lighter armor having an edge unless you're defending a fortified location (and thus unlikely to accumulate travel Fatigue, and with ample opportunity to get bed rest). 

Unfortunately, there's really not a good way to replicate that in D&D.  Part of the reason why this works is that heavy armor in TOR just gives you more protection against Wounds, with most hits simply dealing Endurance damage.  Your stance also determines how hard you are to hit; a lightly armored character in defensive stance can be pretty hard to touch most of the time, even if he is susceptible to a lucky hit. 

In D&D your AC is just your AC, and based on whether you're expected to be in melee combat it's usually assumed to be a certain value.  Case in point is Barbarians, who don't wear heavy armor, instead having a class feature that buffs up their AC roughly to parity.  Tweaking with armor can throw combat assumptions really out of whack.  It's also tougher to emulate Weary as presented in TOR; ignoring low rolls out of a dice pool still allows a lucky character to function at full effectiveness, whereas numeric penalties don't accomplish this.  Instead of simply being less likely to succeed, your ceiling actually drops.

Finally, the hardships of the journey simply isn't a major focus of D&D.  TOR has those mechanics because it's a huge theme in Tolkien's works.  A huge theme in D&D is looting.  Fatigue would work inconsistently in such a system by punishing it early on, making it trivial once you grab yourself a Bag of Holding, and punishing those classes who need to wear heavy armor in order to be effective.

That said, while the existing mechanics don't offer any obvious suggestion for a Fatigue system, I wouldn't mind an optional module being offered as part of an "advanced" exploration package.

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Despite these rules lacking my favorite feature from TOR, I do really like them.  One thing they do better than TOR is emphasize navigation in a more structured way.  The d4 roll is a simple and effective way of adjudicating how lost a party gets, and the tradeoffs of the different Travel Paces give the players a lot to consider.  Though I usually don't bother in my games, tracking Rations would be desirable to generate enough pressure to temp players into choosing faster paces.  Encounters that deplete rations (They got spoiled in a swamp!  Raccoons rifled through your packs at night!) likewise have more of an impact, perhaps being enough to completely change the goals of the PCs.  Even without Rations though, Wandering Monsters might be enough of an impetus to travel quickly, especially in dangerous areas.  The more quickly you cover a given distance, the fewer encounters you'll generate.

The granularity in the time scale is a nice touch, and feels like a logical expansion of the 6 second combat turn.  It provides enough structure for long-distance exploration to provide meaningful choice without being too stifling.  It's tough to wing it for things like travel pace, and usually my players will say something to the effect of "I'm going as fast as I reasonably can while still doing X."  Great, but without a baseline I'm forced to improvise, and the players usually try to tweak their wording to get more of a benefit or eliminate tradeoffs.  I think these exploration rules hit the sweet spot in codifying that baseline enough to generate predictable results and provide meaningful choices, all without being too crunchy to become unwieldy or to stifle flexibility. 

Finally, the very existence of these rules - the fact that space was dedicated to exploration - is a signal to players that it won't be a waste to invest in it, and more importantly gets them thinking about it ahead of time.  On the other side of the screen, because they're there, written down, DMs might be more likely to put some focus on exploration.  Sometimes "it takes you 3 days to get there" just isn't very satisfying.

End of a "Campaign"

So I've spent most of this year out-of-state, and therefore haven't gotten much time to run my (very intermittent) game of The One Ring.  Well, one of my three players is moving to CA, so tonight was our last session.  Pity, really, as I had planned on starting up Tales From Wilderland.

I spent as little time as possible tying everything in and getting the players to the Easterly Inn (since I'd already borrowed a lot of stuff from Don't Leave the Path, the idea was to start with Of Leaves and Stewed Hobbit).  Unfortunately, getting through the entire adventure in one night was a futile endeavor.  Finished up the battle at the Ringfort, but with about a half hour left to play I decided to just cut it off there.  One of the players wanted the group to go out in one big fight, another wanted to survive, but because this was going to be our last session for the forseeable future I had a Mountain-Troll stumble upon their camp and it killed them all.  Keep in mind that the Dwarf had previously rolled 4 Eyes in a row and I hadn't made good on a single Hazard, so this wasn't even completely outside the realm of fairness.

In any case, I ended the campaign with a feeling of frustration more than anything.  The guys in this group aren't really huge Tolkien fans, and they weren't playing to theme all that well.  The Dwarf's Treasure Hunter calling was played as a very one-dimensional "all I care about is getting gold!" as if he'd had 4 flaws already.  Not ideal in a system where gold is de-emphasized to the extent that it's counted in abstract "treasure points."  The Beorning was constantly making un-heroic comments and decisions to the point where I eventually just started throwing Shadow points at him for misdeeds.  While I LOVE the system, I don't think I'd recommend playing it with the "wrong" group. 

Some end-of-session discussion of the system as a whole occurred afterwards, and while the players enjoyed the game I got the sense that they were ready to move on.  They were starting to get up-in-arms about the way that skills were sometimes used; for example, when I told them that they needed to use Stealth to squeeze their way through the tunnel in the Ringfort I got a lot of backlash.  They were taking the skill names more literally than the system intends.  Stealth is at the intersection of Movement and Wits, and so "moving carefully" can cover maneuvering through a tight space just as much as it can cover moving without being detected.  Finally one player said he'd probably be fine with it if they just labeled it differently.

They also mentioned that combat was a little overly simplified for them, but they understood when I reiterated that the system assumes more narrative engagement then they were giving me.  I felt the same with skills as well; at one point the Barding said "I'm using Courtesy."  I asked "what exactly are you saying?" to which he replied "I don't know, I'm introducing myself in an appropriate way."  Perhaps I'm just being spoiled by my Play-by-Post game (which I think the system is really well-suited for). 

The biggest complement about the system was the way that Hope worked.  Oddly enough, they weren't as keen on Shadow, and I think it's largely because Shadow is dependent on roleplaying the internal struggle of the character which they just weren't interested in doing.

Next week I'm starting up a 13th Age game with this group (so I'll be running 2).  I'm think that this group might actually benefit from a few sessions of Dungeon World, but then again that might end up being a disaster.

Review: Lake Town Book and Loremaster's Screen

I got this product for Christmas and I think I've had enough time to digest everything by now.  You can purchase it here.

Loremaster's Screen
This is the first GM screen that I've ever purchased.  I've seen other screens (the 3rd and 4th edition D&D screens), and from what I can remember they were not as high-quality as this one.  The material is heavy and sturdy, and it folds up really well.  The player side of the screen is a big panorama of Lake-Town with Smaug's ribs sticking out of the water in the background.  Superb artwork, as we've grown to expect from The One Ring.  Unfortunately, I'll most likely use the screen by laying it down, tables-side-up.  We usually play on a carpeted floor and so this will make a great surface to roll dice on.  Besides that, I usually don't feel the need to conceal rolls from my players. 

The tables themselves are a mixed bag; some are so obvious that IMO they didn't merit inclusion (ex. the TN Difficulty Table), but most will be very much appreciated in my group.  The one I like the most is a table of the Adversary Special Abilities.  Knowing I would need these referenced, I'd been using a sheet of notebook paper where I'd hand-copied everything.  Given the legibility of my handwriting, it wasn't a perfect solution.  Glad I can toss that in the recycling now.  I've also had to look up the rest and recovery rules several times in-game, but those are conveniently on the screen now.  The situational tables such as falling and fire damage are great because they don't come up often enough to have memorized, and now they won't need to be looked up.  There are also tables which I don't even remember being in the book, like cursed treasures and general examples of bouts of madness.  A general table on evaluating the outcome of encounters is provided, and it uses the structure found in Tales from Wilderland.

Further page numbers are provided for other important topics that obviously wouldn't fit on a screen (skills, virtues, etc.).  Off the top of my head, about the only thing absent that I would have liked included would be tables on how to spend Experience and Advancement Points.  I suppose those things only need looking up when there's already a break from the narrative anyways, and players are often looking up new virtues or rewards at the same time.  Can't include everything, though, and I think the screen hits the really important tables.  There's 24 tables in all (not including additional page reference tables), so they've clearly squeezed a lot of information onto this screen!

Lake-Town Sourcebook
At 33 pages the book is slim, but it's packed pretty densely with content.  Despite being a stapled softcover, the production value is every bit as high as the core books.  The pages are thick, high-quality glossy paper.  Stats are given for all kinds of generic LM Characters such as town guards, dwarf smiths, raft elves, etc.  These are accompanied by descriptions, and provides a good overview of the types of people you're likely to encounter in Lake-Town.  There's a lot of variety here!

The center pages are a full 2-page map of Lake-Town.  It's an overhead view painting with numbers marking various features, and an inset in the corner provides a more schematic map that shows how the city is divided into its 7 quarters.  There's enough detail that players can get a good sense of what the place looks like, while still showing the whole city and how everything is spatially laid out.

There are several new Fellowship Phase undertakings, and they're more cleverly designed than the somewhat bland options from the core book.  You can go to the Market Pool to pick up high-quality items that give you bonuses to certain skills, you can collect marsh herbs which will benefit you in various ways during the next Adventuring Phase, and you can receive a title of Burgess which gets you a house in the city, and causes your Standing to apply to Esgaroth as well as your home town.  Very neat stuff!

The festival of Dragontide is detailed, as well as its archery contests.  These work much the same as the games from the Crossings of Celduin adventure.  Side bars clarifying the Blighted Places rules, and an optional rule for converting treasure points to coins, are also neat additions.  Finally, new monsters from the Long Marshes are also provided (3 of them, to be precise).

The book also details the new Men of the Lake culture, of course, and personally it's one of my favorites (2nd only to the Woodmen for me).  The cultural blessing lets you earn experience when bad things happen to you (costs Hope), and a new Specialty (Minstrelsy) is present on their list.  Their cultural skills are very well-rounded, with many skills at rank 2, only two skills at rank 1, and no skills at rank 3.  The Lake Men are cosmopolitan, almost jack-of-all-trades, and this leaves a lot of room for customization.  The backgrounds have Heart as their best attribute on average, with Wits as their lowest (but they can get a lot out of using shields, so it should even out).  Endurance and Hope uses the Barding values, and they also use the list of Barding names.

The cultural virtues and rewards are very well-crafted and evocative.  Virtues can improve your skill with a bow (not surprising), gain you a servant, allow you to make a good impression during encounters (increase tolerance), make you better with a shield, and demonstrate your balance thanks to a life on the water.  Personally, my favorites are Shield-Fighting and Water Legs.  The first provides some serious offensive punch (presumably you're shield-bashing), while the latter lets you play around with bonus success dice in interesting ways (such as those from a Battle roll), and will even give you a free one in certain situations.  The rewards are pretty awesome as well, and normally the cultural rewards don't really do much for me.  The armor seems a bit risky (bonus to protection rolls against certain weapons, but penalty against others), but the Keening Bog-stone oozes with flavor and minor magic, and the Serpent Scimitar basically lets you bypass enemy shields.

The book ends with a new pre-gen, Frida, Daughter of Finnulf. 

Conclusions
To be quite frank, the price tag is a little steep, at least coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't normally use GM screens.  That's actually why I waited to see if I got it for Christmas instead of going with the pre-order (ok, so the lack of PDFs is also a strike against the pre-orders now).  That said, what content that's present is genuinely good stuff.  Most groups will spend a lot of time in Lake-Town.  There's probably more dollar-worthy, useable stuff here than in an "X Power" D&D book 5 times its length.  Which is a good way of looking at it.  I'll only ever use 15% of the content of many of the D&D splatbooks I've bought, but I'll use almost 100% of the stuff from the Lake-Town book at some point or another.  And now that I have the LM Screen, even if I lay it flat and don't use it as a proper screen, my games will run more smoothly.

I'd call it a near-must for anyone who finds themselves in the Loremaster's seat, but if you're just a player it's probably only worth it if you're really interested in the Lake Men culture (but it would make a great gift for your LM).  Yes, The One Ring has been beset with delays and legal issues, but if they keep pumping out consistently high-quality products like this one and Tales from Wilderland (coming from someone who doesn't normally purchase published adventures either, lol), then I'll remain a loyal customer.  This stuff is worth the wait.

New Products

I know it's been a while since I've posted; unfortunately my internet access will be spotty for the next few months so I won't be able to update this blog as often as I'd like.  Still, I'd like to highlight a few upcoming products for several different game systems.

The One Ring Covers
The covers for Heart of the Wild and Darkening of Mirkwood have been spoiled.  Heart of the Wild will be a setting sourcebook for Wilderland, while Darkening of Mirkwood is the first campaign guide.  Given the quality of Tales From Wilderland, an anthology of 7 adventures (and I'm usually not a fan of published adventures), I'm really looking forward to these releases!  As much as I like coming up with my own material as a GM, I've found it to be quite challenging in Middle Earth, and I think these two upcoming books will be a boon.

13 True Ways Kickstarter
13th Age hasn't been released yet, but there's an active Kickstarter for its first supplement, 13 True Ways.  Though the supplement lacks focus, I think it will complement the core book quite nicely.  I've grown quite fond of this game's design, even more than I was when I wrote my initial review of the core book. 

Star Wars:  Edge of the Empire (FFG)
I meant to post this a while ago, but I preordered the Beta version of Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight Games.  It arrived a day before I moved for my seasonal job, hence the delay in posting about it.  Unfortunately the beta is sold out, but the final product will be released next year.  I've had a chance to read through the entire book, and I'm extremely impressed with the system.  A more comprehensive review will be forthcoming, but there are a lot of really cool mechanics that set this game apart, and character generation looks to be extremely flexible. 

Out of Mirkwood

It's been a while, but thanks to a brief respite between out-of-state jobs I was able to run another session of my TOR campaign.  Here's a recap of what happened last time.  The Fellowship has just gotten through the worst part of their journey, the Mountains of Mirkwood.  But the dangers of the forest are still very real, and the remainder of the journey was through lands heavily tainted by the Shadow. 

Note that this post contains some minor SPOILERS from Tales from Wilderland.  While the adventures are of my own creation, I've lifted some elements from that book.

 The Forest Maze
After a day and a half of steadily decreasing elevation, the trees start to become very thick again.  All 3 PCs are miserable after the Mountains, and I call for an Awareness test.  Lowthesis fails with an Eye of Sauron, gaining his second flaw.  Mirkwood is proving to be a very dangerous place for fairly inexperienced characters.  Thinking he can hear the clanking of coins behind him, the dwarf turns around to see a chest of gold in a thicket of undergrowth.  Ranulf, the only PC to pass his Awareness test, notices that the trees are starting to hem in Grimwine ahead of him, and Lowthesis (now dashing for the treasure) behind (bout of madness).  Lowthesis lands with a thud as the illusory treasure wisps away, realizing that the vegetation is moving to hem him in, a shadow hanging among its branches.  By now everyone knows what's going on, and rolls a Corruption test.  Grimwine fails with an Eye.  Yeah.  The orc-slayer hears the sound of his hated foes marching ahead (away from his companions), and he hacks his way through the vegetation toward them.  Ranulf, meanwhile, is the only one left to desperately try to keep the dwarves together (to no avail, with just a small dagger to slash through vegetation with).  Lowthesis tries to Search for gaps in the writhing branches, roots, and vines, but always notices them too late, when they're already closing up.  The clearing he's in is constantly moving, as if the trees are corralling him somewhere.  The separated companions can soon hear a humming and whistling in amongst the leaves, which weaves itself into a melody.  Lowthesis and Grimwine use Riddle to decipher the eerie song's meaning, Grimwine failing and Lowthesis realizing that the melody predicts the movement of the plants (allowing him to predict gaps and force his way out).  Ranulf sings along with the song, trying to understand it, realizing that he can pick up on the emotions that the trees are communicating to each other. 

Grimwine simply muscles his way forward toward the orcs, eventually breaking out into a narrow stone path that leads to a clearing with a well in the center.  I used the well from Don't Leave the Path (Tales from Wilderland) for this scene, so SPOILERS will follow.  He can hear what sounds like an orc lair in the well, and after suffering some taunts from them he jumps in after them.  Meanwhile Lowthesis makes it out of the maze, using Explore to orient himself.  While walking back roughly toward the path, his mind grows increasingly occupied by the thought of treasure which he's sure is nearby.  He too comes upon a well, with a glint of gold shining from within.  He jumps in. 

Ranulf begins singing in opposition to the trees, a counter song which neutralizes their attempts to enclose him, and also gives him insight into the malevolent spirit in the center of the maze.  He senses that it's claimed two of his companions, and rushes toward it.  When Lowthesis and Grimwine enter the well, Ranulf is hit with a flash of the spirit's triumph and knows which direction to head.  When he reaches the well he sees Grimwine and Lowthesis both approaching it, apparently completely unaware of each other, and then both of his companions jumps in.  The sight is following by a sick squelching noise coming from within the well, as of mud being sucked through a vacuum.  Ranulf rushes forward.  Upon hitting the bottom of the well Grimwine and Lowthesis break free of their madness and realize what's going on.  The well's tentacles attack all 3 companions, seizing Grimwine and later strangling him with a massive amount of force (if I remember correctly, I rolled an extraordinary success here).  Ranulf aims at a tentacle with his bow, and then fails with an Eye of Sauron.  Yes, the entire fellowship suffered a bout of madness already, and Ranulf's caused him to simply walk away from the battle with disinterest, finally succumbing to the creature's spell.  Lowthesis landed a rare hit on the tentacle that was gripping Grimwine (extraordinary success for massive damage), severing the tentacle and freeing the Beorning.  As the two fought bravely in the well, Ranulf heard footsteps running toward him out of the forest.  Balin and Dwalin had found him, and hearing Grimwine's scream asked what was going on.  Dwalin slapped Ranulf out of his stupor, and the Barding and Dwarves helped finish the monster off. 

The fellowship spent a day searching for and locating Ori and Oin, and then the rest of the journey through Mirkwood proved uneventful.  They met up with Gimli in the Long Marshes, and then headed north toward Esgaroth. 

Fellowship Phase
Each companion spent theirs in a different city: Grimwine in Esgaroth, Lowthesis in Erebor, and Ranulf in Dale.  The PCs each independently pursued the Meet Patron undertaking.  Lowthesis spent a lot of time in Erebor's Chamber of Mazarbul looking for leads on where to find treasure.  He came to know the expert scholar in that field, a dwarf by the name of Regin, very well.  Grimwine searched for a sparring partner in Esgaroth, and ended up meeting the Beorning mercenary Gerold (from Tales from Wilderland).  The two trained together extensively during the ensuing months (justification for Grimwine buying another rank in Axes with his experience).  Ranulf hung out around the Merchant's Quarter of Dale, just looking for excuses to travel afield to new lands.  He spent a lot of time at the tavern with Keilbrun, a retired merchant who still worked the streets of Dale but was too old to travel far enough to acquire any valuable items. 

The players were all upset with how expensive it was to gain new ranks with attribute points, but it's starting to make sense to me.  Experience cost tends to be cheaper because everyone needs Valour, Wisdom, and Weapon skills.  Moreover, Rewards and Virtues represent interesting choices for characters to make.  These things are the primary measure of a character's power level.  If Common Skills increased at this rate, it would be too easy for characters to just be good across the board at everything.  Making advancement points work more slowly maintains the level of specialization within the fellowship.  The side effect of this is that I'm less thrilled about so many of a character's skill ranks being determined by culture. 

The Gathering of Five Armies
The month of November saw the city of Dale preparing for the upcoming festivities.  With lodging being increasingly harder to come up, Grimwine took up residence at Ranulf's home.  The fields around the city became a tent suburbia, and Gandalf showed up again, always in too big a hurry to provide any details of his adventures dealing with the Nazgul.

Gerold was training for the upcoming Contests, and filled Grimwine in on the details (minor SPOILERS from The Crossings of Celduin follow).  The PCs were all eager to enter the Contests themselves, with Ranulf being eliminated in the second qualification round for both Archery and Horseback Riding, and Lowthesis losing in the first round of both Strength and Horseback Riding (the latter was entered just out of spite, and he ended up embarrassing himself spectacularly for the second time that day).  Grimwine just entered the Strength contest, but made it all the way to the Final Round where he lost to Gerold.  I ruled that it was good enough to get into the Grand Melee, and he lasted through the first 2 waves of enemies quite handily.  Finally it was down to just a few warriors, with the group of dwarves being too distant to engage, and a choice between facing down Gerold or Elstan.  Grimwine charged toward Gerold while Elstan, seeing this, lead his troupe toward the dwarves.  Once again, Gerold whooped him good.  His Terrible Strength ability gives him a pretty big advantage, though Grimwine did beat him earlier when we played out their initial sparring match during the Fellowship Phase.  Elstan ended up victorious, and Ranulf lead the crowd with a spectacular Song roll celebrating his victory. 

With Grimwine unconscious (and Lowthesis moping in his room back in the Lonely Mountain after the previous day's failures), Ranulf was the only PC to see Gandalf approach the crowd, frantically looking for someone.  When Gandalf spotted Ranulf, he sent him to gather Lowthesis while he grabbed the fatigued Grimwine; he had a mission for them.  Ranulf and Lowthesis soon met Gandalf, Grimwine, and Elstan in front of the fountain of Smaug's Fall outside the Royal Palace. 

It was here that we ended this session.  Unfortunately, we won't be able to resume the campaign until December, but I'm still glad that we got this one session in.

Choice in Games

Another short post linking you guys to something else, but this is why I really like both the Virtues and Traits (Specialties and Distinctive Features) in The One Ring.  It's also why I think 13th Age might have the best skill system (backgrounds) of any game I've tried yet.

Humans in Fantasy RPGs (or RPGs in general)

I don't claim this to be any more than a personal anecdote, but I thought it was interesting the other day that while perusing the Races section of 13th Age I had absolutely no interest in reading about humans.  Similarly, more often than not I tend to avoid humans while building characters for D&D as well.  Now, this was interesting because just a few days earlier I was working on a character for The One Ring, and I found that I was drawn most strongly to the human cultures (Bardings, Beornings, and Woodmen).  Granted, I'd also LOVE to play a Hobbit in that game, but I digress.

Perhaps the broader issue is a desire to have tangible ties to the greater world in the game.  The human cultures in TOR exemplify this beautifully, not surprisingly, as they're all very much a part of Middle Earth.  They're all human, yes, but they all have different mechanical bits to distinguish them from each other (which also happens to fit their flavor exceptionally well).

In D&D, 13th Age, and most fantasy RPGs for that matter humans are typically generic.  Their schtick usually seems to be "they're diverse and adaptable," and while this opens you up to a lot of different possibilities it also gives you absolutely nothing to go on.  You're starting from scratch, as it were, which is fine if you have a very specific concept in mind, but that starting point is sometimes quite useful.  If I decide to play a Wood Elf I know that I'll likely be a sneaky, perceptive guy who lives harmoniously with nature and is either very long-lived or outright immortal.  If I'm playing a Dwarf I'm an ale-swilling tough guy with a Scottish accent who is really proud of his beard.  Etc.  Even if you decide to play against type to create an interesting and memorable character the fact still remains that the stereotype is a starting point.

What it boils down to is as soon as someone says they're an Elf I have an immediate image in my mind of the culture that that character comes from.  Same with a Dwarf, and same with a Beorning, Barding, or Woodman.  But a generic Human?  Not so much.  For a genre that's so heavily influenced by archetypes, this is significant (whether that's a good or bad thing will depend on the player, though!).

How Hard Should It Be?*

Another excellent article by Chris Perkins.  This week he tackles encounter balance, and specifically the question of whether a DM should throw over (or under) leveled encounters at his players.  For most of 4E's life I've adhered to the encounter-building guidelines in the DMG, and I'm starting to question the wisdom of that.  In my TOR game Grimwine's player has consistently refused to run away from combat (incidentally he's the only one who has almost died twice), and it's been bringing to mind the philosophy of "oh, the DM wouldn't put it here if we couldn't beat it."  Ultimately, I think that breaks immersion because the characters would be completely unaware of any encounter-balancing mechanics, and should behave with their own survival in mind, without constantly being the most powerful presences around.  Obviously with "all balanced encounters" being the norm a DM needs to be explicit up front about his intentions to populate the world with all manner of threats, some of which the PC's cannot reasonably expect to defeat.  It's also important that the DM always keep in mind alternative "outs," whether those be escape routes or motivations for the over-leveled threats that makes the PCs more valuable alive (captured) than dead.

Another interesting anecdote is that while all of the published 4E stuff is balanced for the party's level, there have been several combats in the published TOR adventures that assume the players will run away.

*That's what she said.

Session Summary: The Old Forest Road

We finally got to play again two weeks after our big cliffhanger (sort of) during the last session.  I should note that this summary will contain some spoilers from Tales From Wilderland, so if your group is planning on playing through the adventures in that book then avoid reading the sections marked as spoilers.  Essentially what I've done is taken some elements from the first adventure, which is a journey down the Elf-path, and transplanted them onto the Old Forest Road.  Again, such spoilers will be clearly marked.

The Nazgul has been chased off, but the party is now on their own, without the talents of a Wizard to fall back on.  Lowthesis being the only member of the company to resist falling into a swoon from the Black Breath, he watched over everyone else around a small campfire until they recovered.  Even after regaining consciousness they were quite drained, and so decided to remain at this camp to recuperate a bit.  Two lookouts were now posted while the others rested.
Dreams
The company was plagued by nightmares while they slept.  The details are as follows:

Grimwine: Two bears, one of average size and one extremely large walk along the bank of a swiftly-flowing river under a clear night sky. A light frost crunches underfoot. At a fork in the path ahead the smaller bear without thinking about it heads down the path ahead toward a towering mountain. Upset, the larger bear cuffs him and turns down the other fork, to the left. When the smaller bear doesn't follow, the larger runs back and fights more violently with the smaller bear. Before the conflict is resolved the scene fades to darker thoughts of trees and spiders, and one nightmare after another bleeds into the next.

Ranulf: King Bard sits alone on his throne, a look of despair on his face. You call out his name but he doesn't answer. Hearing a clamor of angry voices outside you slowly walk over to an open window, when all of the sudden the shaft of sunlight disappears as the day turns instantly to night. South of the Royal Palace you see that some of Dale's buildings appear to be on fire, and Elves and Dwarves fight openly with each other in the streets while Bardings barricade themselves in the intact buildings. Your remaining dreams are dominated by frantic searching, though you cannot remember where.

Lowthesis: You can feel the oars you hold cut across the still water of Esgaroth, the Long Lake, and you admire your home, the Lonely Mountain, in the distance. You soon find your self inexplicably deep in the Mountain's winding halls, focused intently on the burning forge before you. This is a joy you've long been deprived of, but it's soon cut short. Your thoughts turn to a great jewel, skillfully carved, and you hear muffled shouts, curses, and threats. As the shouts become clearer your vision of the jewel becomes more and more blurred. You suddenly find yourself startled awake as the jewel fades to nothingness. Ranulf and Grimwine twitch uneasily in their sleep nearby. On the other side of the fire you can hear the four Dwarves all awake, softly arguing in the Dwarven tongue. The mood is tense and secretive.

Lowthesis decides to join the other Dwarves, not bothering to wake his human companions.  This sounds like Dwarven business, after all.  As he approaches he learns that Balin is eager to press on and search for the pony.  They still have a mission to accomplish, after all, and he doesn't want to return to his king as a coward.  Dwalin and Oin are both less sure of the wisdom of continuing onward, as they'd planned on having Gandalf's assistance and they've already encountered a Nazgul; who knows what other evil creatures lurk amongst these trees?  Ori is quiet, and seemingly undecided.  Lowthesis is eager to press on as well, not being one to back out of a challenge (Bold), and tries to Inspire the others.  He convinces Ori that Balin's is the better course of action, and while Dwalin and Oin still have their doubts, they will accept the majority vote and follow their leader.

Mirkwood's Western Eaves

The argument resumes in the morning when Ranulf and Grimwine wake up.  Grimwine is ready to go, but Ranulf voices his doubts and advocates strongly that they turn back.  Lowthesis ends the discussion by reminding him that this has already been decided last night, and that he can go back by himself if he so desires.  Ranulf grudgingly follows.

Ori and Grimwine scout out ahead to look for the pony.  After following his tracks to a point where the stop, with signs of a scuffle, Grimwine determines that the pony was eaten and that they should turn back and tell the others.  [LM note:  the pony was captured, yes, but was still alive wrapped up in a web nearby.  I never described any blood splatters or anything, and honestly I expected Grimwine to try a little harder.  Oh well, that's just fewer supplies that they have now, and they're suffering more Fatigue because of it].  The remaining week in the western eaves of Mirkwood are relatively uneventful, though several ruins are discovered and explored.  Low on water, the party is quite thrilled to discover and old well, though after lowering down a bucket it's obvious that something metallic is down there.  Ranulf lowers himself down to investigate, and finds an old skeleton covered in spider webs.  An elven dagger lies on the corpse's lap, with no webs around the dagger's perimeter.  Ranulf finds that the dagger cuts webs like butter, and cuts off a broach with an unfamiliar family crest from the tattered remains of clothing.  [LM note: There were some other goodies in this area, but nobody found them].  A larger ruin of a small village was discovered a few days later, and it appeared to be some kind of trade center based on the numbers of different coins present.  Some representatives included old Elven and Dwarven coins, as well as unfamiliar old coins with Dalish runes, and coins with horses on them.  More treasure points were acquired.  The first treasure found was a chest located by Ranulf, though he couldn't unlock it and called Lowthesis in to assist him.  Lowthesis easily opened the chest, but claimed all of the treasure inside for himself (earning a Shadow point since a cut of that loot was rightfully Ranulf's; he's definitely living up to his "Grasping" flaw).  The final ruins encountered was the wall of a large waystation, and atop it was a large boulder carved in the likeness of the Eye of Sauron.  Lowthesis and Grimwine devised a lever that they used to topple the abominable carving (incurring Shadow points for approaching it), and by doing so allowed everyone else to pass by without making Corruption tests.  Lowthesis may be greedy, but that doesn't mean he can't also be heroic.

The Mountains of Mirkwood
The players seemed to go out of their way to surprise me here.  As the elevation increased and the terrain became more rocky, the forest soon became dominated by dark, twisted fir trees.  Early on this leg of the journey a gorge was encountered with a 40 foot span, and a raging river 200 ft. below.  A ruined bridge crossed over the gorge along the road, but about halfway across a large chunk had fallen off so that by the far end it narrowed to only 3 feet wide.  [LM note:  I fully intended for the party to head upstream to find a way around this gorge].  Lowthesis wanted to make a rope bridge across the chasm, but it meant that someone had to cross on the bridge first (at least to test its stability).  The Adventurous Ranulf volunteered, and roped off though he was it was obvious that the bridge was unstable, and an unsuccessful Stealth roll made it obvious that he wasn't able to cross it.  Thinking he could do better, Grimwine roped himself up and got an extraordinary success on his Stealth roll (easily an AP thanks to his Bold trait).  I had him get nearly to the end, and then said that the only way further was to attempt a jump to the other side; I was quite clear that this was a one-shot deal, that a great roll was needed, and that a failure would most likely result in death.  [LM note: this is usually a good way of telling your players "I'm not going to stop you, but this isn't a very good idea.]  I think he had to blow a point of hope, but he ended up passing the daunting difficulty and made it safely to the other side, collapsing the ruined section of the bridge in the process. 

WARNING:  SPOILERS FOR DON'T LEAVE THE PATH!!!!

A few days after the incident at the bridge I had Balin go down to a stream to fetch water as the company was making camp.  They all heard a "yelp!" and Ranulf and Grimwine rushed down to see what happened (one of the two, I think Grimwine, noticed that Balin had left his axe at camp).  They found muddy Dwarf tracks followed by a set of spider tracks, both of which led to two trees with broken strands of webbing between them.  Grimwine shouted for everyone to follow him, and he proceeded to track for several hours in the dark.  Finally they came to a moonlit clearing, in the middle of which stood a ruined castle covered with spider webs.  The defensive walls and outbuildings had long since crumbled to the ground, but a single tower still stood, as well as two sections of the keep's wall which formed an L-shape, above which was suspended a wriggling mass of webbing (Balin).  Ranulf used his dagger to cut some webs off of the wall, noticing that the blade was glowing blue.  When he climbed higher to continue cutting webs, he failed his roll and fell to the ground, sustaining some endurance damage and cracking a rib (failed protection test resulted in a wound).  Grimwine tried next, but luck was against him and he too fell and was wounded.  Ranulf then proceeded to tie a large knot in the end of his rope and toss it up the wall to stick onto the webbing.  The impact caused the webs to vibrate, and Ranulf's dagger to glow brighter blue.  First one spider jumped down amongst them, though it was easily dispatched by Grimwine in one hit.  One of the players asked "do you think there'll be more of them?" to which Oin replied "there's always more."  Using the general guidelines in Tales from Wilderland I had an increasing number of spiders appear each round, though in rounds 4 and 5 I substituted an attercop for a great spider.  Several companions and Dwarves (I had each player running one of the Dwarves in combat) ended up ensnared by spider webs.  My misinterpretation of the poisoning rules almost resulted in an insta-death for Grimwine, until I went back through the rules and realized that a player needs to roll an Eye to trigger a called shot (I had the called shot trigger off of the monster's Eye roll).  The stalwart Beorning was still on the ground dying, even if he wasn't dead-dead, and Ori did get poisoned.  Again this group demonstrated its reluctance to back down from a fight, so after both great spiders were killed (even despite Holding Spells on Grimwine, which was moot now, and Lowthesis) I had the remaining attercops flee.  By the end of the fight 11 attercops and the 2 great spiders were dead, so I just had one of the survivors hiss "dinner isn't worth this!"  Aside from opening volleys Ranulf didn't really get a single attack in, spending all of his actions to either cut allies loose from the webbing with his spiffy new dagger, or singing his battle chants to restore their endurance.  The company quickly rescued Balin (and Ori, who had been dragged up the wall after succumbing to the poison's paralysis), constructed a quick stretcher for Grimwine, and then booked it out of there.

Two days after this a torrential thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere, and Ranulf after heading out to find shelter encountered a hollowed-out tree with a plume of smoke coming from it.  He called everyone else there, and after squeezing inside it became obvious that someone was living in here.  Grimwine took some pheasant meat (he'd bagged them the previous day) and started cooking it on the fire, and soon they heard a scratching outside and a head poked in.  The hermit was extremely surprised, and couldn't be quelled by Ranulf's botched attempt to courteously calm him down (too bad the Tolerance was only 1 here).  Refusing to listen to reason and shouting about how he wouldn't be taken back he started stabbing his spear at Grimwine.  Grimwine was starting to grow extremely angry, but a lucky hit (coupled with Grimwine's extremely low Endurance) knocked him out.  Lowthesis was the next target of the Hermit's ire, having previously tried to wrench the spear from his grasp, but it was ultimately Ranulf who was able to restrain him.  The hermit flung insults at Lowthesis, betraying his contempt for Dwarves by comparing them with orcs (though my personal favorite improvised insult was "may your beard become infested with insects!").  Lowthesis tried to offer him some treasure in exchange for letting them stay here, but he shouted about how the Shadow lives in things and would consume them all.  Finally the hermit was placated by a promise to leave his "house" if he didn't attack them when they untied him.  Grimwine's player admitted that if he'd been conscious he would have killed the hermit, Shadow be damned.  

END OF SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
The rain continued on for several days, and soon the company came upon a roaring stream, flooded by the recent downpours.  Ranulf constructed a boat (Boating and Woodright), but as he came close to the water he began to feel drowsy as the spray hit his skin.  The Dwarves warned the company to avoid the water, because they didn't want to carry anyone around like they had to for Bombur!  After plans to swing Tarzan-style across with rope didn't pan out (partially due to the extreme reluctance of Lowthesis to attempt such an insane maneuver), Grimwine concentrated on felling trees to make a bridge across.  He got some high enough to avoid the spray, but when Ranulf attempt the crossing he failed (despite help from a rope handrail), falling into the stream (as well as a deep, deep sleep).  Ultimately Grimwine conceded to go along with the plan that Lowthesis had advocated all along; to simply wait until the water levels went down.  After 4 days (2D6) they were able to boat across, and Ranulf woke up shortly afterwards.
The next few days were some of the worst of their entire journey.  I didn't go into specific detail, instead simply reading this short description:  

It's a dark section of the wood surrounded by knife-edged rocky ridges. The talus from these cliffs has carpeted the ground in razor-edged shards and gravel, and a slight thinning of the tree canopy has encouraged the growth of stiff shrubs covered in 3-inch thorns. The howling of wargs has become a regular occurrence, and the occasional giant spiderweb or troll track across the path has you on edge. Though you see no signs of orcs, their refuse is everywhere. Everything from grotesque stone carvings, to vast burnings and garbage piles, to the skeletons that betray their propensity for conflict. From the rare trickle of a stream you detect a faint tang of oil in the air. If the Forest Road is ever to be re-claimed, it will take a great cleansing to restore this section.

Nobody triggered any hazards so I simply left it at that, except for the 2 Fatigue tests at TN 20 and the 6 Corruption tests (only Ranulf passed some of these, and only 2).  So now everyone is good and miserable (as they should be after trekking across the Mountains of Mirkwood).  The players objected strongly to this many corruption tests, so I revealed that I was going easy on them, and that by the original (un-clarified) version of RAW (rules as written), a journey across Mirkwood would take 40 or 50 something corruption tests.  The Shadow's been banished (for now), so while there are still some strongly blighted places in the forest I figured the Road is as safe as it'll ever be until after the end of the War of the Ring.
And this is where we left off for now.  The company has made it through the worst of what Mirkwood has to offer, but the northeastern edge of the Heart of Mirkwood still remains, as well as the Long Marshes (where they're scheduled to meet Oin's nephew, Gimli).