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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7947768" data-attributes="member: 42582">Here <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/capturing-the-feel-of-tolkien.670913/page-3#post-7946598" target="_blank">are</a> <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/capturing-the-feel-of-tolkien.670913/page-4#post-7947078" target="_blank">some</a> <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/capturing-the-feel-of-tolkien.670913/page-4#post-7947126" target="_blank">more</a> bits of actual play mostly cut-and-pasted from the other thread: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.A Doom Pool die was spent to have a second Nazgul turn up - Adunaphel joined Khamul (I was using the ICE identities for the Nazgul). Just as in LotR, so in the game, we didn't need to investigate the precise causal mechanism whereby the shadow's influence operates.Gandalf used fiery blasts from Narya, plus Glamdring, to drive off the Nazgul. But once the party got to Forochel, orcs from Angmar had already carried off the (newly rediscovered) Palantir of Annuminas. In mechanical terms, the Doom Pool had come to include 2d12. The rules of Cortex+ Heroic enable the GM to spend 2d12 from the Doom Pool to end the scene. Which is what I did.The growth of the Doom Pool is something that is managed mechanically. The size of the Doom Pool was in part due to the Limit on Narya The enemy seeks it ("unless you are performing a recovery action you must spend 1 PP to include a Narya power in a pool, in which case both 1s and 2s on your dice count as opportunities"). So Gandalf cutting loose with Narya increased the rate of Doom Pool growth.What worked about all this, I felt, 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). Spending 2d12 to end the scene gave the growth of the shadow a concrete meaning (ie a group of orcs carrying the palantir south).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.</blockquote>

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