Middle Earth/LotR RPGing using Cortex+ Heroic

[pemerton]

A few years ago I started a Cortex+ Heroic Fantasy mini-campaign, using my own hack of Marvel Heroic RP inspired by the Cortex+ Hacker's Guide.

I've now had the idea of using Heroic Fantasy to do Middle Earth/LotR. For translating JRRT into RPGing my main inspiration is Burning Wheel's elves and dwarves, but I'm also taking some inspiration from The One Ring (read bits of it, but probably never going to play it on account of seeming rather fiddly).

I think the Doom Pool (renamed Shadow Pool?) is a natural device for handling that aspect of Middle Earth RPGing - ie the growing weight and dread of the shadow. I think that Scene Distinctions would have to play a very big role in using this system for Middle Earth - so that a lot of the action in Action Scenes would be about overcoming Scene Distinctions - eg if you're travelling through Mirkwood you don't make it out until you eliminate the Thick Forest All About Scene Disintction - and these would always potentially be changing into Complications (like Lost in Mirkwood). And some of those Disinctions would need to have actions associated with them (there are models of this, mechanically, in some of the MHRP materia. For instance, with Thick Forest All About the Doom Pool might make an area attack action adding the Scend Distinction to the pool at the top of each action order, to inflict physical stress - representing the exhaustion of travelling through Mirkwood.

Obviously items would in many cases be, or perhaps add to, Power Sets, but I haven't written any up yet.

At this stage I have written up the elf PC - file attached. The idea of the third power set is taken from Doctor Strange - Essence of the Earth is a source of stunts as much as basic pool dice. There is a lot of adding to the Doom Pool, which seems appropriate for when the Noldor leave Rivendell or Lorien to perform mighty deeds.

As I write up other PCs and/or have other ideas for it I'll post them in this thread. I'm envisaging a dwarf, a dunadan/ranger, and Gandalf.

 

[pemerton]

Here's Gandalf the Grey - perhaps a bit more effective overall than the elf, though not as strong in combat because having no durability or reflexes for defence.

EDIT: As per the post below, a change to the name of the reroll SFX.

 

[pemerton]

Here's a Ranger of the North, though with no milestones as yet - it's my bed time! I drew heavily on The Punisher's datafile to help with this one.

EDIT: I revised the file to change Return Unlooked For from physical to mental or emotional stress. A bit weaker but a better fit, I think.

 

[pemerton]

Here is the Ranger of the North with milestones, and also twos SFX renamed: Honed Awareness to "Will you aid me or thwart me?" - because that's one of my favourite lines from Aragorn (when he meets the Riders early in Book 3); and Resourceful to Foresighted (because that's the cultural blessing for rangers in The One Ring Rivendell supplement, and seems fitting).

 

[pemerton]

Probably the affiliations should be renamed - Alone, Companion, Company or perhaps Fellowship - but from the point of view of game play the existing labels are familiar to my group at least (and I didn't think of rewriting my character template until this morning!).

 

[pemerton]

Here's a dwarven traveller. This actually turned out to be the hardest to get into (what I hope is) a satisfactory state, even though I had a template to start from (the troll in our early Heroic Fantasy campaign).

I think this character can be effective, but may be quite tricky to play.

 

[pemerton]

I think the starting Doom Pool for this game should be 2d8 - d8 because high stakes, but not yet catastrophic; but not 3 or 4 because not yet global in scale (contrast, say, the War of the Ring) let alone cosmic in scale (which would be, say, the assault of the Valar on Morgoth at the end of the First Age).

Once the players choose their PCs, they need to set out (probably from Imladris) on their mission. That is something we would need to work out as a group, but I would like it to involve Weather Top and maybe the mountains, because I think they have good potential for Scene Distinctions. Dol Guldur could also be good - I've only seen two of the three Hobbit movies, but one of them - the second, I think - had some good scenes with Gandalf in ancient tombs and in Dol Guldur.

I need to stat up some orcs, wolves and Nazgul and think a bit more about those sites..

 

[Arilyn]

These are great. Thanks for posting. Since I can't dash off to Australia and join your group, this is an idea I'm definitely going to steal.

 

[pemerton]

Thanks @Arilyn - steal away! And if you do use them, please post!

 

[pemerton]

Here is a write-up for Nazgul - it's generic but with a couple of notes for Adunaphel and Khamul. (I'm using the old ICE MERP names for the Nazgul other than Khaumul and the Witch-King, because I'm familiar with them from MERP books and the old Middle Earth: The Wizards CCG.)

They aren't weak but not overwhelmingly strong either, which fits Gandalf's remark (in Book 2) that "on foot even Glorfindel or Aragon together could not withstand all the Nine at once."

(EDITed to better respect the system's Mental Assault/Mind Control differentiation.)