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

Game Master Tarondor

"Once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen), I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend... I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama."
J.R.R. Tolkien - Letters: 144-145, 1951

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

It is the year 3016 of the Third Age. The kings have been gone for more than a thousand years. It has been more than two hundred and fifty years since Bullroarer Took defeated the Great Goblin at the Battle of Greenfields and seventy-five years since that queer Mr. Bilbo Baggins came back from foreign parts with his pockets stuffed full of gold and his head stuffed full of elvish nonsense and fifteen years since the extraordinary birthday party when he and the wizard Gandalf disappeared, seemingly for good. In the Shire, all has been blessedly free of such doings ever since.

Beyond the Shire, Eriador is changing. Wolves have come down from the hills in great numbers, harrying the small communities spread across what was once the kingdom of Arnor. Trade, which once ran along the Dwarf Road from Ered Luin to the Misty Mountains and along the Greenway from Bree and the Shire into the distant south, is now almost completely curtailed. Rumors abound of trolls and walking trees, of goblins from the mountains and strangers upon the roads

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RULES AND CHARACTER CREATION
1. This game will use The One Ring RPG rules.

2. Experienced players may create their characters when ready. I will be happy to walk through the process with inexperienced players. It appears dense and confusing at first blush, but is really rather easy when you understand it. Compared to Pathfinder, this is very simple.

3. There will be no more than six player characters, chosen from among the following races:

* Dunlendings
* Dwarves of the Blue Mountains
* Silvan Elves of Lindon (adapting Wayward Elves of Mirkwood rules)
* Sindarin Elves of Lindon (adapting Elves of Mirkwood rules)
* Hobbits of the Shire
* Men of Bree
* Men of Minas Tirith
* Riders of Rohan
* Woodmen of the Emyn Vorn (adapting Woodmen of Wilderland rules)

and

* High Elves of Rivendell (no more than one)
* Rangers of the North (no more than one)

(Advanced Cultures (Rangers of the North and Elves of Rivendell) will use the same advancement chart as everyone else. They're not -that- much more powerful and if forced to use the charts designed for them, they will fall behind quickly.)

4. Each character will start the game with FOUR (4) previous experience points to help round out your past.

5. Each character should have a link to a picture of their character.

6. Each character should be formatted in a manner substantially similar to Galadhon here, including having your Endurance, Hope and Parry on the Class/Level line.

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HOUSE RULES

A. Everyone should try to post at least once a day on weekdays. If you’re going to be away for a while, just let us know.

B. I reserve the right to change, do away with or screw up the rules in the service of story.

C. Fun > Story > Plot > Mechanics

D. I expect YOU (yes, you!) to move forward the story. Stagnation is everyone’s fault.

E. If you are not having fun, it is your job to tell the GM and give him a chance to improve.

F. If you know the rules better than the GM (pretty likely, actually), feel free to pitch in with a rule suggestion. The GM will make the final call, however.

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A NOTE ON MIDDLE-EARTH LORE

One of the great attractions of the Middle-Earth setting is its dense history and lore. Tolkien scattered bits of story or names on maps like so much tantalizing birdseed thrown to the wind. One of my goals will be to bring in obscure bits of lore and visit interesting places only referred to tangentially in his many books. If you know nothing of Middle-Earth lore, that’s okay. You can learn some of it along with your character. If you are a Tolkien scholar who knows the lines of the kings by heart, well, hopefully I don’t screw anything up too badly.

However, be aware that I intend to break canon pretty regularly by adding to the lore in ways I hope are non inconsistent with what Professor Tolkien wrote.

I'd like to get started in a few days. Please discuss and create your characters. Please note #6, above.

If you need help creating a character, please let me know. I'll walk you through it.

The One Ring Character Creator is a great tool. The one thing it won't do is apply XP to advanced cultures (Rangers of the North and Elves of Rivendell) according to our house rules, so don't use it for that.

Double checking: four experience points as per the Experience Points used during character creation, or four experience points as per the stuff you use AFTER character creation to purchase weapon skill / Valor / Wisdom?

Also, I think I'm going to start designing a Dunlending. I'm thinking this character used to be a part of a raiding clan, one of those that forays into the area around Bree. Potentially, they may have even fought someone (or the whole of) in our fellowship and lost, but were given a second chance and allowed an opportunity to stray from the dark and into the light.

If anyone's interested in working with that idea, please let me know. I don't mind if someone wants to have been the person that defeated my character originally should I go with this idea, or that saw it best to give them that second chance.

Four extra XP to use -after- character creation.

K. I've settled on a Ranger of the North.
I'll use that online character creator and bug you if I have any questions.

I will be working on a Hobbit lass with the Wanderer calling. A close combat hobbit fighter could be interesting. Is anyone else considering a mainly ranged fighter?

Hey guyyyyyyys! :)

I was actually considering kind of plugging in the gaps, so to speak, of the combat roles. So if no one else finds archery or the like appealing, I can head that way. Also, may I suggest we all read THIS HERE (for those of us that have not)? Good resource.

Dotting in, working on my Noldor now! Her social skill focus will I believe go into Awe, and she will likely be focused on using a Spear in combat.

So equal parts Awe and Song, I guess.

Okay, have the crunchy bits for Elarinya done, now working on background.

Who needs some coaching? Let me know.

I've got my background sorted out, and why she's in Bree. Now to fit it in the system and get the crunch done.

Edit:I'm planning on taking cooking and hunting at least 2 points in each. She's a basically a runaway bride so there won't be any points in battle at the beginning.

@Inlaa Here's an idea for connection between your character and mine. Hobbit lass (haven't decided on the flower her name will be yet) is traveling to Bree on her own. She is captured by your group. Your heart is softened in some way toward her. Maybe my story or you couldn't condone killing someone that is child size or maybe you've never seen a Hobbit and think she's a child. Together we escape and continue to Bree.

If you don't like the idea. No worries.

Dotting for now.

As far as combat roles go: my character will definitely be a frontliner. I'm going to start off by putting points into Great Axe and using that as well as a spear (which I'll use for opening volleys), and using the Dunlending special great axe that can be held in one hand along with a shield. Later on I'll take that one ability that makes me do more damage when fighting in a Forward stance.

I think I'll make this character a Leader and use the traits Herb-Lore and Tracking.

@Inlaa Here's an idea for connection between your character and mine. Hobbit lass (haven't decided on the flower her name will be yet) is traveling to Bree on her own. She is captured by your group. Your heart is softened in some way toward her. Maybe my story or you couldn't condone killing someone that is child size or maybe you've never seen a Hobbit and think she's a child. Together we escape and continue to Bree.

That sounds like a great idea! He cut her bonds and they stole away in the night, and they've been traveling together since.

I also like how this actually goes counter to one of my character's personality traits (Hardened) while working with the other (Wild, which has a line that says "you trust your instincts" basically). My character is familiar with the harsh realities of the world and has slain Men and taken captives in the past with no remorse, but had a gut feeling that your character shouldn't be harmed. So, he set her free.

Gonna start working on the crunch in full now.

I might make a Woodman archer.

Here's Miss Primrose Bunce. Runaway bride from Over Hill which is north of Hobbiton. Let me know if she looks ok.

I just want to say that Small Folk is a magnificent choice for a melee Hobbit. The one thing I'd recommend is maybe making Wits your most favored attribute, giving you a Parry of 8 before factoring your Buckler (and 9 afterwards). Witty Hobbits are dangerous Hobbits.

(*Did a LOT of research on this matter when designing Brandy*)

I don't think your Cap of Iron actually gives Parry, though - I think it gives you a bonus on Protection Tests?

Anyway, this is Lothac. I've elected NOT to spend the 4 experience you've given us, Tarandor, because I want to save it to purchase Champion of the Hillmen as soon as we hit the next Fellowship Phase (to make using Advancement Points easier). For now I have the Cultural Virtue "Grim Aspect," which basically means Lothac can negotiate with bandits, orcs, and other such opponents so long as the elves and dwarves of the party are either bound as "prisoners" or are not visible.

Lothac is not a combat beast by any stretch of the imagination (I'm having too much fun in THAT department in the other game), though eventually I plan to grab the Wild Onset cultural virtue and use him to fight dangerously in a Forward Stance (perhaps with two-weapon fighting, since I'd be using favored Body for both my damage score with both weapons?). I may eventually use a Great Forest Axe (great axe that can be held while wielding a shield), but I'd like to see if I get lucky and get any cool weapon treasures first.

Out of combat, I plan for Lothac to take the role of Scout, though he can also take the role of Huntsman when needed (he has 3 in each skill). His traits should let him be useful in a variety of situations (Grim and Leadership for social stuff, Herb-lore and Tracking for wilderness-related things, Wild for... Well, a variety of different situations, given its text). I was going to choose Hardened instead of Grim originally (and I think that would be the "better" choice mechanically as it expands the realm of what my traits can affect), but I decided Grim fit the character more and meshed really well with Grim Aspect.

Any thoughts, folks? I'm curious if anyone has any ideas as to what I should do.

(And yeah, I'm pretty sure the horribly low Endurance of the Dunlendings is going to bite me in the butt later. Fierce Folk should mitigate my issues, and I could use a Leather Corselet, but a Leather Corselet AND travel gear appropriate for the season would put me at 15-16 Fatigue... and I only have 22 Endurance. A shirt will have to do for now. I swear, Dunlendings have horrible stats, but their cultural virtues and cultural blessing are all SO GOOD.)

EDIT: I COULD take Misty Mountains Lore or Storytelling instead of Herb-lore, perhaps. But I don't think we'll be interacting with the Misty Mountains much? And Leadership already covers a fair bit of what Storytelling would be good for.

EDIT 2: Also, Cari, could you make sure Lothac's background works for you at the part where it starts mentioning Primrose?

@Lothac I love the part of the background with Primrose. Now that I have a name and some idea of how our meeting went, I'll finish my background to Bree.

I'll double check the helmet. I have it right on the paper character sheet. It was late for me so I might have put it on the Paizo character sheet incorrectly.

I'm not clear about the wits comment. Are you suggesting I choose a different background that has a higher base wits score? I went with Tookish blood as the background, and it started me at a 5. I took Wits as my first favored attribute I see what happened. I copied Mar's sheet and didn't get everything transferred correctly.

The helmet adds to Protection Tests.

I think I might wait a bit; depending on how the Ranger goes, I might roll a Dwarven crafter...we'll see. If no one else goes with an archer I'll do one though.

I don't want to copy Brandy but I kind of do; Hobbits get SUCH GOOD ARCHERY STUFF that it's just silly.

I know. I'm thinking about taking hobbit bow as a reward at some point. I wanted the armour first for the melee fighting. Primrose does have two dice in bows. So she won't be terrible at it for opening volleys.

Maybe the dice gods will like me enough to let me roll for some good treasure, and I'll be blessed with a fancy bow in some treasure.

Primrose's background is done, and I think I've fixed the character sheet errors.

I'll wait to see what Spazmodeus and Ariarh come up with, and make something to fill in the gaps. I kind of am actually thinking of a Rohirrim, now...gotta look them up.

Tarondor, would a mounted combatant be viable? Not to get too into spoilers, but will we be out in the open more often or are we going to be going into the forgotten tombs and fallen ruins of Eriador and have a large mount be more of a hindrance?

Being a complete novice with The One Ring system I'm struggling and have sought Tarondor's help. My initial concept was a lady of Bree, a relation of Rowlie Appledore. I was going to make her a ranged fighter - using a bow - but even the guide link provided by Elegantly Wasted (thank you for that) is not really helping me get a grasp of how to create my character. So, please bear with me as I find my feet. I'll post more once I can figure things out.

I found the online character generator linked by Torandor a great help, most items have a little tooltip for more details....though I could you a primer on how to spend XP ...

The character creator is great. I'm also very conversant with the system and happy to help. Spaz, you can find how to spend Experience in the core book. You could raise either your Valour, Wisdom, or a Weapon Skill to rank 2 with 4 Experience, or you could bank it.

Ariarh, I'm happy to help. Anything specific you need help with? You basically choose your culture, choose Traits, choose your Background Package, choose more Traits,, choose your starting Weapon skills, record your starting Common skills, pick a Calling, decide whether to start with Valour or Wisdom at 2 and choose a starting Reward or Virtue, then spend your Previous Experience. After ALL that you'll have 4 Experience Points to spend, and you can do what I listed for Spazmodeus with them.

I'm happy to help with specifics.

I don't want to copy Brandy but I kind of do; Hobbits get SUCH GOOD ARCHERY STUFF that it's just silly.

Why not check out the Bardings of Dale? Men of Dale are amazing archers in a different way: where Hobbits are super accurate shooters that focus on inflicting Piercing Blows, Men of Dale are focused on inflicting incredible amounts of Endurance damage. (They get a cultural virtue which lets them use their FAVORED body for damage with great bows, which translates to "That one generic virtue that increases a Favored stat by 1 makes you murder stuff REAL GOOD at the same time.")

EDIT: To give an example: a Barding archer (Body 6/9 Heart 6/8 Wit 2/3) with Fierce Shot and the Grievous reward deals 9 damage with his bow normally, or 18 on a Great Success or 27 on an Extraordinary Success. That's doable at the get-go of this campaign.

Barding is not available :3

I'm fairly new to the system. I find them simple but deep if that makes sense. I don't think you can make a "bad" character. You can tell us what you think you'd like your character to be like, and Wasted or Taronder can make suggestions of how to best fit it in the system.

The character creator helped a lot. Meaning did most of my creation for me. I picked what I thought made sense for the character I was envisioning.

The 4 XP that took some digging in the book to figure out the first time.

Barding is not available :3

...Whoops.

Yeah, then I don't blame you if you choose to do a Brandy thing.

I don't think you can make a "bad" character. You can tell us what you think you'd like your character to be like, and Wasted or Taronder can make suggestions of how to best fit it in the system.

Yeah, there's some general advice to be offered on building your character, but folks here should be able to help out.

Primrose's background is done, and I think I've fixed the character sheet errors.

Awesome - and glad you liked the backstory interaction, by the by. If Wasted makes a Hobbit, I wonder if he could tie that into your story somehow (if you're both from the Shire).

Also, let's start talking about overland travel roles. So, Lothac can handle the Scout role with his 3 in Explore; and Elarinya has 2 in Travel and Awareness and so can be the Guide or a Lookout. Primrose has Hunting, so she's probably the Huntswoman... We've got everything covered, so new characters can take whichever travel role they prefer with that setup?

I found the online character generator linked by Torandor a great help, most items have a little tooltip for more details....though I could you a primer on how to spend XP ...

I forgot to talk about this.

So, you buy Wisdom or Valor with XP, as Elegantly Wasted noted. To bring one of those from 1 to 2 costs 4 XP, so generally a smart choice would be to spend your XP on getting the stat you didn't increase at CharGen. Doing so also gets you a Reward or Virtue, depending on which you increased (Virtue for Wisdom, Reward for Valor).

You can also increase weapon skills. In the core rulebook (if you have access to it), that process has a table listed on page 196. This mostly makes it easier to hit things in combat.

You can also bank XP for use in things like treasure rolls, Fellowship Phase actions, or to buy a Rank 3 Valor or Wisdom. This is what I'm doing: saving my XP for potential treasure rolls and so I can purchase a cultural virtue I REALLY want (Champion of the Hillmen).

This week has been filled with taxes (mine and my mother's), making offers on a house and my oldest son's fourth birthday (today). So, no appearances from me until tomorrow, probably.

Sounds like two painful things mixed with some exciting stuff. Happy birthday to the young one. Four is an awesome age.

Wow! Good luck on the house! I've been there more than once, it's pretty stressful but pretty great.

When you get back, I'm considering a Man of Minas Tirith; but their Cultural Blessing, I think, could maybe be house-ruled. I'll send you a PM discussing it further.

I know I already said this in the other thread - but I hope your son enjoys his birthday, and I hope you do too. Lord knows it can be a lot of work depending on how you're doing the birthday, but it can be really rewarding.

Again, best wishes for your eldest's 4th birthday, GM.

My character, (Matilda) Tilly Appledore, is going to take the Scholar role, if that's okay. I have her stats mostly done. I just need to find a suitable image and write up her backstory. Sorry, very busy time for me at the moment. I'll be ready soon.

The 4 XP that took some digging in the book to figure out the first time.

The difference between Advancement Points and Experience Points eluded me for quite a while.

Tarondor, would a mounted combatant be viable? Not to get too into spoilers, but will we be out in the open more often or are we going to be going into the forgotten tombs and fallen ruins of Eriador and have a large mount be more of a hindrance?

I can't answer that because I haven't written out the campaign like a Pathfinder Adventure Path. I think you will spend a great deal of time outdoors, but I'm not conversant with the mounted combat rules.

Quote:

I don't think you can make a "bad" character. You can tell us what you think you'd like your character to be like, and Wasted or Taronder can make suggestions of how to best fit it in the system.

Yeah, there's some general advice to be offered on building your character, but folks here should be able to help out.

I've uploaded a document that may help folks understand character creation. It's HERE

When you get back, I'm considering a Man of Minas Tirith; but their Cultural Blessing, I think, could maybe be house-ruled. I'll send you a PM discussing it further.

Responded in PM.

Here’s what I’m seeing so far:
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Elarinya - Elf of Rivendell - Scholar (outstanding skills: Lore 3. Spears 3)

Primrose Bunce - Hobbit of the Shire - Wanderer (outstanding skills: Courtesty 3. Search 3, Stealth 3)

Lothac - Dunlending - Leader (outstanding skills: Explore 3. Hunting 3)

Tilly Appledore - Lady of Bree - Scholar (outstanding skills: Persuade 3, Insight 3, Courtesy 3, Riddle 3)

??? (Spazmodeus)(Maybe a Ranger of the North)

???(ElegantlyWasted)(Maybe a Man of Minas Tirith)

Lothac and Primrose, I commend you on joining your backstories. I encourage everyone to find a connection with at least one other player character, and preferably two. When the trouble starts, you're going to want to at least have an idea who your companions are.

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Today is April 13th (at least for those of us in the Western hemisphere). Let's aim for getting our characters all worked out and ready to roll no later than Monday the 17th.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Once you're ready, why don't each of you tell me (below your character sheet) the following, from your character's perspective:

1) What is your near term goal in life?

2) What long-term goal do you envision pursuing if adventure doesn't sweep you away?

3) What do you think about adventures in general?

4) What is most precious to you?

5) What would cause you to give that up?

6) Are you married? Do you want to be?

7) Goblins, wizards and walking trees? Do you think they really exist?

8) You carry an item that is precious to you. What is it?

Oops, I didn't realise Elarinya chose Scholar. Should I choose another Calling for Tilly or is it okay for two scholars among the party?

Elarinya and Tilly may have crossed paths perhaps and the Elven scholar has passed along some knowledge to (tutored) the eager/curious Breelander?

Tilly may also have crossed paths with Primrose, being she is friendly with the Small Folk and Bree is east of the Shire. Maybe Primrose has some family in the village of Staddle?

I am open to anyone who wants to connect stories.

Congrats on the character creation primer. That was really helpful to read. Primrose hasn't been to Staddle much. Her family comes from North of Hobbiton.

She is supposed to have an uncle living in Bree, but he's not there when she finally arrives Dundlending in tow or maybe he's towing her. I don't think either one knows for sure quite yet. Anyway the Uncle hasn't been there for years, and the last letter her Ma got was over 15 years ago.

I've left why and where he's gone deliberately vague so the LM can use it if he wishes.

Edit: Tilly is a Gate Warden, correct? Does that mean she could have been at the gate when Primrose arrived? I would have asked after Bungo upon arrival. Maybe you could have taken me to the Hobbit section of town, or walked Lothac and I to the Prancing Pony for the night. She's chatty so she could have had your life history out of you in a flash. It's a stretch. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion for a connection with them.

I don't see why there couldn't be two scholars among the party.

Edit: Tilly is a Gate Warden, correct? Does that mean she could have been at the gate when Primrose arrived? I would have asked after Bungo upon arrival. Maybe you could have taken me to the Hobbit section of town, or walked Lothac and I to the Prancing Pony for the night. She's chatty so she could have had your life history out of you in a flash. It's a stretch. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion for a connection with them.

I don't see why there couldn't be two scholars among the party.

Yes, that could be a great tie-in. Tilly and some of her cousins are Gate Wardens...and I like that. Tilly would certainly help guide someone around/through town (whether the Hobbit section or the tavern) and a chatty/friendly Hobbit would certainly put a wary Tilly at ease. Maybe after her shift at the gate, Tilly could have returned to the Prancing Pony and continued talking with Primrose and the Dunlending.

I think Primrose and Tilly also share a love of gardening, yes? Tilly could show the Hobbit her family's apple orchard ... or send her off home with a basket of fresh, juicy apples!

This is EW, checking in with Berethor. Working on your questions now, Tarandor :)

I'm always up for character links! I can see Elarinya Scholar-ing out with people.

Hm. Berethor, you and I could have a less favorable tie-in together, perhaps? Might he have fought a battle or two near one of the border towns of Gondor before being selected to join the Tower Guard? He could have been a part of a raid that went south across the Andorn river (though his clan normally sticks to the north) and the raid could have been fought off by soldiers of Gondor. Perhaps he and Berethor even traded blows before the Dunlendings fled?

Well, time to answer these questions and add 'em to my Alias page.