GM Tarondor's The Queen of Shadows - The One Ring

Game Master Tarondor

Ok, so I have a few general game questions.

Is the base DC 14 to succeed at something? That number seems pretty hard even with a skill at 2.

How do you regain hope? Saving people seems like the good thing to do and I have high Wits so if I spend Hope to succeed on this is it something that for all intents and purposes I will never see again?

Never! Mwu-ha-ha!

Oh, okay.

Heroes may recover Hope during a game session spending Fellowship points, and possibly through their Fellowship focus.

Since this is a learning game, I've been introducing concepts slowly and The Fellowship is one that I've yet to introduce. But yes, you can recover Hope during a game session. Also, at the end of an adventure or a season, the characters go home and enter the Fellowship phase, during which there are opportunities to recover Hope. Generally, Hope is a scarce resource, but not impossible to recover.

As for the TN's, you're right, it is hard to accomplish. The idea here is that success is difficult. You're not meant to be Pathfinder superheroes, but people of above-average ability slowly rising towards legendary status. But don't forget that many of you have means of automatic success (I'm no longer reminding you of that all the time). Also, success sometimes just takes time. Would a trained fireman running into a burning building automatically find someone in the building? No - fires often end in tragedy for the victims despite the best efforts of heroes.

Happy Belated B-Day Tilly!

It’s still the 23rd in the northern hemisphere, so I can celebrate in both hemispheres! ;)

Thanks kindly, Waylon. :)

Happy Birthday Tilly!!

On a different note this weekend I was in a new gaming store this Sunday, and they stock the One Ring Hardbacks. I'm going to be saving my pennies to pick some of those up.

Thanks, Primrose! :)

I'm glad you like them. I recommend the Adventurer's Companion.

There is a lot of adventure-related stuff I'll be stealing in The Darkening of Mirkwood and especially Ruins of the North, so beware!

Ok. I'll be careful of reading spoilers in those. :)

I’ll be away on and off for the next two weeks.

May 25-28 Paizocon
May 29-May 31 Regularly scheduled programming
June 1-June 5 on vacation.
It is incredibly unlikely that I’ll be able to post each day during the con and the vacation. Please don’t let me slow the games down, and feel free to bot me. I’ll check in as I can.

Sounds like fun!

Have fun, Primrose. :)

Just a quick, courtesy heads-up: I'll be away from the boards from Monday 28th May to Monday 4th June (1 week) as I'll be busy finalising prep for my son's 21st birthday party (and then actually having the party). We're having out of town relatives staying with us over this period, too, so I'll be crazy busy.

Please bot Tilly where needed during next week. Thanks kindly. :)

Have a great party, Tilly!

I'm going to be hugging my toddlers and pretending they'll never grow up. At least until they squirm out of my grasp.

Indeed, have a great party, Tilly and Tilly's son!! :)

I'm in the same boat GM, the little ones grow up too fast!

Today after his bath, my three-year old asked me what the Golden Rule meant. I told him it meant we should be nice to people and try to help them. He said "Okay, I'm going to help my brother get his pajamas on!"

Whereupon he escaped from my towel, ran naked and wet down the hall, tackled his big brother and tried to pull on his pajama pants.

@Tarondor: Haha. Your boys will be a handful when they're older. ;) Good luck!

And, thanks everyone for the good wishes. I blinked and my toddler grew up, hit 21 and will soon graduate from university. Wow. That makes my head spin as I still remember him being a baby like it was yesterday.

So as I was sitting here at work not doing much I thought I would look over the fight and I do not think I should be Weary. I took off my armor during the mud wrestling to keep it clean so my Encumbrance of 12 from that should be gone giving me a lot less fatigue.

True! Unfortunately, that also dramatically reduces your Parry.

I thought Parry was Wits plus Shield? How does the armor add in to that?

No, you're right. I'm guilty of posting with a migraine. My cognitive abilities take a nose-dive when that happens...

That sucks. I hope you feel better soon. I was sort of hoping that I had missed something and had a better parry. :D

GM, what must I roll to break free of the warg?

A successful Athletics roll (TN 13) will do it.

My apologies, but I have to head out of town early tomorrow morning for a serious family emergency. I may be able to post again on my Saturday (your Friday), so I’ll be off the boards until then. Thanks for your patience.

Take care of yourself and your family Tilly.

God bless, Tilly. Family and health always come first.

Which brings me to where I've been. It's true that I'm super busy and it's true that my personal life has been nuts. But that's not why I've been a bit slow lately. The truth is that I've unsure where to take this game next.

See, I've always been a big-picture guy when it comes to gaming. I love world-building and figuring out the cool secrets that would make a good story, but when it comes right down to it, it's a little harder for me to create the actual stories that flow from those cool secrets. Here, the level of difficulty is much higher because of my deep love of Middle-Earth and how much I want to create a story that feels like it belongs in Middle-Earth.

I don't really feel that I've been living up to my own expectations in that regard. The story feels a bit more Pathfinder-y than I'd prefer for this setting. So I've taken some time to try to figure out where to go from here. Option A was to continue on as before, but with more detailed planning so things feel smoother, if only to me. Option B was to just run published TOR adventures. They're pretty good, if not particularly epic in feel. Option C was to chuck the whole thing, apologize and invite you all to play something I felt more comfortable with: Pathfinder or Traveller or Star Trek Adventures.

After much reflection, I still think the issue is me, not the game, and I believe I can do this. I'm a very experienced GM with dozens of games and four decades of GMing under my belt. I just need to find my stride with that Tolkien feel.

That said, Tolkien told the archetypal epic tale, with huge battles and fantastic locations and he himself constantly tinkered with the characters and setting for more than fifty years. And anyone who thinks his characters were all black and white has really not read the story recently.

So what is the "Tolkien feel"? It's hard to define. To me, the soul of The Lord of Rings is bound up in one exchange between Gandalf and Frodo:

Frodo: "It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill him when he had the chance."

Gandalf: "Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."

To me, the dominant theme of The Lord of the Rings is sacrifice. Frodo sacrificed himself for the good of everyone. Sam sacrifices himself for Frodo. Gandalf sacrifices himself in Khazad-Dûm. Aragorn sacrifices leading his kingdom in order to do (in the Paths of the Dead) what only he can do. He later willingly sacrifices all the last strength of the Men of the West to buy Frodo a little more time. You get the idea. Fearful odds and all that.

But at the same time another dominant theme is the Hero's Journey - leaving the familiar to do the impossible in strange lands and return again to find that you have changed too much to ever feel the same at home.

Where, you would be forgiven for asking, does all this leave us? Well, with me trying to plot things out a little better and still planning to run this game. Option A, in other words. I'm going to take another day or so and continue some of the thought-sessions I've been having. A few small tweaks of the "big picture" have really made this a potentially finer story, in my opinion.

I welcome your comments.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Thanks, Primrose and Tarondor. :) I'm back on the boards and will try to catch up today.

And, I, too, am eager to see what you come up with GM. I may then be able to provide a comment.

Yeah, hope all is well Tilly.

GM, I have all the confidence in the world in you ability to spin a tale for the ages !!! No pressure... :D

Thanks for the confidence.

I will begin again tomorrow.

A story of sacrifice sounds good. Lead on!

With end of financial year happening this week (30th June), work is super hectic. Also, my aunt in Canada passed away a few days ago, and, between the two, I haven't been in the right mind to post/play in the games on the boards. So, please accept my apologies. I will try to catch up soon.

As a courtesy heads-up, I'll be taking a short trip for the hubby's birthday on 1st July. We'll be gone until the 4th July. I will not be checking the boards over this period (as we both need the rest), so please bot Tilly as required over this period. Thank you, kindly.

Take care of yourself Tilly. I hope your holiday is lovely.

Still here until the 1st July. But thank you, Primrose. :)

Sorry to hear about your Aunt, Tilly.

I've been wrapped up with celebrating the birthday of my youngest son, now 4. We're going to do it all over again on Saturday when we take all his friends to a local indoor playground. Yikes. They won't let me lace the juice boxes with tranquilizers.

Condolences, Tilly.

I feel your pain GM, three girls here, 6,4,and 2....the new normal is exhaustion :)

Thank you, GM and Morwenn.

Happy Birthday to your younger son, Tarondor. Hope party #2 isn't too stressful. ;)

I'm sorry if this is a silly question, but how long does the Weary condition last in this game? Does Tilly need a full night's rest or longer?

Not a silly question at all. You cease to be Weary when your Endurance level is higher than your Fatigue level. Its one reason to take off your helmet during combat. You could actually relieve yourself of the Weary condition by removing your armor because that will lower your Fatigue level.

Have an awesome time at the parties.

Suggested Plan:

It appears we need to rest. We can either look for a better place or try to make what we've found safe enough for the night.

Are there watches in this game and will that affect whether we are weary, fatigued etc?

Well, watches are more an element of roll-playing. But you all know this city is a terrifying place during the day. Few of you really wish to spend the night.

In our journey through the city have we seen anything that looks like it was in better repair or stood out with lights or other signs of being inhabited (beyond the place that just burned down anyway)?

Are any of the people we met still around or are they all gone?

We can fall out of the city to camp if we need to. But since the wargs know we were here and some escaped we might be on a time limit for actually saving people.

I am just not sure where we would go to do it. We could try tracking the wargs, but if the city is still paved I am not sure how we would pull that off.

The city is all ruins. The roofless area I mentioned is probably the best shelter you've seen, but of course it's a large area and you've only seen a little of it.

The hillmen seem to have fled.

What do you guys want to do?

I suggest we try to leave the city. It must be safer outside it's walls.

I'm okay with trying to leave the city. I thought we had some mounts earlier on? If it helps with her fatigue, Tilly will remove her cap of leather and iron ...

As per my earlier notification, I'm off on my trip early tomorrow morning and I won't be back until the 4th July. GM, please bot Tilly where needed. Thanks kindly!

Hi guys, going up to a cottage for a week and I'm unsure about how much connectivity I'll have, so please bot as needed.

I've seriously hurt my back and leg and sitting isn't comfortable nor recommended. I won't be on the boards for the remainder of the week (will be back to posting on my Sunday (your Saturday) if the recuperation goes well). Thanks for your understanding. Please bot Tilly as needed until then.

Ouch! Hope you feel better soon, Tilly!

Out with pneumonia. Will be out for a few days.

Yikes....both of you, take care !!!

Thank you, Tarondor and Morwenn.

And GM, take care of yourself, please.