JOURNEY TASKS
Guide – In charge of all decisions concerning route, rest, and supplies. Guides rely on Wisdom and Survival proficiency.
Scout – In charge of setting up camp, opening new trails. Scouts rely on Stealth and Investigation.
Hunter – In charge of finding food in the wild. Hunters rely on success with Survival checks.
Look-out – In charge of keeping watch. Look-outs rely on their abilities in Perception.
The Hunt Score
Highest base proficiency modifier: +3
Dúnedain: +2
Other Men: +1
Silvan Elf: +1
Legendary Item (Bregghar): +1
Special: +3
The Veil Score
Highest Wisdom modifier: +3
Travel through Dark lands: -2
Company is known to the Shadow: -4
The Eye Awareness Check (Rivendell Region Guide, pg 113)
Whenever the Hunt score is increased the Company must make an Eye Awareness check. Events other than the Hunt intensifying can trigger this check; if the narrative demands that evil things might take notice of the heroes the Loremaster can ask for this check. To make an Eye Awareness check, the Company as a group rolls a d20 and adds the Veil score to the result. A companion can spend Inspiration to grant Advantage on the check. The DC for the check is equal to the current (perhaps newly raised) Hunt score. If the check is failed, the Shadow will move against them — the Company has been revealed to the Enemy. The
Loremaster will now introduce a Revelation episode, a dangerous event reflecting the actions of an increased hostility of the game world towards the members of the Company.
GM Therenger's Manifesto:
I will endeavor to follow these commandments.
Three player qualities in particular will be lavishly praised and rewarded: Consistency, Ingenuity, and Fearlessness. Most of us on this campaign are able to post daily. If you want to post more frequently, say to engage a NPC in 1-on-1 dialog, I am totally game. I have a home office and I write business reports for a living, which frequently allows for 15 seconds to 5 minutes of not-exactly-downtime while queries execute. If I'm not already doing something else, I will check these games for new activity. Also, if you'll be offline for a few days, please let us all know. I have a two-day rule: no new activity or heads up for 2 days and I'll look to push the action. We'll see how that works.
Regarding Ingenuity, if I don't explicitly mention Chekhov's gun, that doesn't mean it's not there. We're playing (mostly) written material, which I consider the framework only of an expansive and infinitely detailed world which we all share responsibility to create. Expect to be rewarded with XP and/or Inspiration for posts which uniquely and intriguingly enrich the roleplaying experience. I will never tl;dr your prose, and walls of text are not forbidden here.
As for Fearlessness, I roleplay by one mantra: Never Tell Me the Odds / I Don't Believe in a No-Win Scenario. Generally speaking, if your inclination is to Go Boldly, that is exactly my style. Acts of great bravery, so long as it is not blatantly reckless or endangers other party members, are appreciated and may also be rewarded with bonus XP. This pairs nicely with Ingenuity; leverage the environment, be creative, and don't shy away from risk. And I do understand reserved characters - everything is relative.
Finally, a mechanical comment specific to this campaign: I like the feeling that I am improving at something. In game terms that translates to XP. The group will earn XP at appropriate opportunities. As noted above, XP may be rewarded for excellent and clever roleplaying, a purely subjective metric. That means some players will advance slightly more quickly than others (and that's the way it was and we liked it!). Please don't take offense, and please contact me via PM if you have any concerns or frustrations. About anything.
P.S. Characters will incur Exhaustion according to the rules. Fair warning. ;)
