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Capturing the "feel" of Tolkien.
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7947126" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I don't get where this stuff about "railroading" and "canned adventure paths" came from. Can we go back to talking about Tolkienesque RPGing?</p><p></p><p>In my case, I started the session at Rivendell and got each player to establish a reason for leaving. The ranger had heard of orcs re-entering Angmar; Gandalf had hear rumours of a palantir discovered in the north.</p><p></p><p>The growth of the Doom Pool is something that is managed mechanically. As I already posted, part of what led it to grow was Gandalf cutting loose with Narya. The rules of Cortex+ Heroic enable the GM to spend 2d12 from the Doom Pool to end the scene. Which is what I did, to give the growth of the shadow a concrete meaning (ie a group of orcs carrying the palantir south).</p><p></p><p>What worked was that Gandalf was able to drive off Nazgul - which seems right - but that in doing so, he alerted the shadow to his presence which therefore stepped up its efforts (ie the orcs carry off the palantir). I personally feel this produces a better narrative "flow" than a wandering-monster style framework, where there are more obstacles immediately in front of the PCs but it's pure GM fiat whether or not the palantir is still in the north once the PCs overcome those extra obstacles.</p><p></p><p>I think I already mentioned what came next - the situation being one of uncertainty and the ranger resolving the doubt (mechanically, by eliminating the salient Scene Distinction). The group therefore set off in pursuit of the orcs. In this pursuit Gandalf used his magic to reach out to the palantir and infuence it to slow the orcs and sow dissension among them. This succeeded. (It also reminded me of Gandalf tricking the trolls in The Hobbit.)</p><p></p><p>I don't know how The One Ring handles this sort of thing, but I feel that a system that works in terms of scenes, - for pacing, for effects, for consequences - is probably better for producing LotR-ish action than one that is based more on range of effect, causal immediacy in consequences, etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7947126, member: 42582"] I don't get where this stuff about "railroading" and "canned adventure paths" came from. Can we go back to talking about Tolkienesque RPGing? In my case, I started the session at Rivendell and got each player to establish a reason for leaving. The ranger had heard of orcs re-entering Angmar; Gandalf had hear rumours of a palantir discovered in the north. The growth of the Doom Pool is something that is managed mechanically. As I already posted, part of what led it to grow was Gandalf cutting loose with Narya. The rules of Cortex+ Heroic enable the GM to spend 2d12 from the Doom Pool to end the scene. Which is what I did, to give the growth of the shadow a concrete meaning (ie a group of orcs carrying the palantir south). What worked was that Gandalf was able to drive off Nazgul - which seems right - but that in doing so, he alerted the shadow to his presence which therefore stepped up its efforts (ie the orcs carry off the palantir). I personally feel this produces a better narrative "flow" than a wandering-monster style framework, where there are more obstacles immediately in front of the PCs but it's pure GM fiat whether or not the palantir is still in the north once the PCs overcome those extra obstacles. I think I already mentioned what came next - the situation being one of uncertainty and the ranger resolving the doubt (mechanically, by eliminating the salient Scene Distinction). The group therefore set off in pursuit of the orcs. In this pursuit Gandalf used his magic to reach out to the palantir and infuence it to slow the orcs and sow dissension among them. This succeeded. (It also reminded me of Gandalf tricking the trolls in The Hobbit.) I don't know how The One Ring handles this sort of thing, but I feel that a system that works in terms of scenes, - for pacing, for effects, for consequences - is probably better for producing LotR-ish action than one that is based more on range of effect, causal immediacy in consequences, etc. [/QUOTE]
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