One Ring 2E - Who's Doing What With It?

[Aldarc]

Also, Mrs Santa has been good to me this year:
[The Silmarillion]

I hope your TOR 2e characters will bring their scuba gear.

 

[Laurefindel]

IME Eriador is just as much of a terra incognita. How many places could your average person name in Eriador? The Shire, Bree, and Rivendell? Possibly the Grey Havens? That's pretty much what most people knows or thinks about this area. Most forget the dwarves of the Blue Mountains, the ruins of the Noldor city of Eregion, the northern kingdom of Arnor, its successor states, or Angmar.

Heh, true. I think I was Just sold on Rhovanion and felt I haven’t exploited that to its full potential yet.

although, I did like the proximity of elves, dwarves and men in Rhovanion, and the proximity of big bad evil and bastions of goblins/orcs. Eriador has all that too, and then some. More further appart and scattered perhaps, but the potential is great.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Heh, true. I think I was Just sold on Rhovanion and felt I haven’t exploited that to its full potential yet.

I imagine a campaign in Eriador is more likely, since that's the region they're emphasising in the core.

My understanding is that Eriador was chosen partially because it could lead to Moria, much as the Fellowship traveled.

This all actually connects into the original plans that were announced way back when TOR was brand new and not even on the shelves yet. The original plan was to publish three separate core sets, each one covering about 20 years of the time in between The Hobbit and LotR, and to shift locations with each set. We got the first with all the books set around Rhovanion. Then the second set was to move over to the Eriador region, and the third was never announced where it would cover. When they scrapped the slipcase boxed set and went all hardcover for everything, it seemed they were going to streamline all of that too, but with TOR 2E, it looks like they are still using the 20 year advancement of time and the change of primary location. I really wish that C7 had not shut down their forums a few years ago or maybe all of this would still be documented somewhere.

 

[damiller]

I am currently running a game set in Eriador. The players are trying to deal with the new troll "breed"(?) that have appeared in the woods about Rivendell. The main goal is to deal with that hybrid troll which has been corrupted by Dread Elven Lords from the South in Ost in Ethel. The ultimate goal of the campaign, should it go long enough, is to deal with the Steward of Angmar and the recovery of the Iron Crown.

We play every other week and we have about 8-10 sessions in. I've played ever edition of the game, and I like 2e the best. The rules are very streamlined and easy to find/use. I've particuarly been pleased with the skill endeavour rules. The fact that extra successes can be scored helps to keep it from being very much like D&D skill challenges.

 

[Scars Unseen]

It's time for me to brush up on my knowledge of LotRO, which I played a lot after its initial release.

I tried to play the game a bit last night, and hoo boy, I need to look into UI mods for that game. The stock UI scales down with resolution, and as it stands, I'd need to play the game at 720p just to be able to tell what I'm looking at.

 

[DarkCrisis]

So much happens not in the books. Same with Dragonlance.
What I find hard to get passed in DL is using stuff like Beholders and Demons etc. I’m sure they exist it’s just no DL book I’ve ever read mentions them.

 

[Fenris-77]

My first adventure path is going be The Crown of the Wight King (working title) and sent the fellowship north, eventually to Carn Dûm. They will have to deal with escalating raids from brigands and orcs, scaling up to some serious undead hunting. That's about as far as I've gotten so far.

Apropos of nothing in particular, using my back-of-napkin math skills to work out the bell curve for Feat+2 Success dice is a pain in the rear end.

 

[Fenris-77]

OK, things are starting to gel, here's the outline for what should be several years of in-game adventures:

Cauldron of the Wight King​

Spring is late, cold winds from the north, sleet and ice. Dark things gnaw at the borders of the Free Peoples of Eriador. Farmers are worried about getting their first crops in and rumours of wolves and bandits nipping at the edges of the Shire and Breeland are rife.

Tier One: Hints of Dark Deeds

Bree-land

• Bree, the Prancing Pony, the Fellowship
• Wolves killing a farmer’s sheep

Midgewater Marshes

• Brigands rob a merchant on his way to Bree carrying important letters (among other things)
• Farmhouses are robbed and burnt to the ground
• Bandit camp is in the Marshes somewhere
• Clues point to Fornost (link to something rotten, competing merchants perhaps)

Fornost

• Something is rotten in Fornost
• Raids on merchants and outlying farms
• Raids near Bree

North Downs – the bandit stronghold

• Robbers and Brigands and orcs, oh my
• Bandits have taken over a village in the Downs, holding the populace hostage
• barrow of a hero (See Tier Two)

Tier Two: Congregation of Evil
Fornost

• raids from the north – orcs mostly, troll and wight sightings
• a legend is told – a hero, a sword and a lost barrow

Lake Everdim and Annuminas

• the lore leads to Annuminas
• Wardens are hard pressed – something in the dark
• An island lost in the mists

Barrow Downs – we’re going to need bigger swords

• The lore expands, a band of brothers, a hidden barrow in the Barrow Downs
• Searching the downs – Knights of the Cauldron - frozen wights on pale steeds
• The Barrow and a battle

Epilogue – trouble brewing in Angmar – the Cauldron revealed

Tier Three: Into the Frozen North
Angmar

• Orcs
• Trolls
• Hill-men

Carn Dûm

 

[Arilyn]

I'm waiting for physical copies before diving in. Loved the first edition and am looking forward to to delving into the new one.

 

[Harlath]

Fenris-77, that looks like an excellent outline! You build the pace nicely there. Know your likely cast of PCs yet so you can build a Treasure Index?

You mentioned needing a hand on probabilities, hope the links below help:

The One Ring | Vin's T&T TrollBridge

Have just acquired this in PDF form as part of a preorder. It's set 5 years after the Hobbit and based in the lands around the Lonely Mountain. Characters are supported from 6 different culture

trollbridge.proboards.com

AnyDice - You can customise this to show not just the probability of passing at a given dice pool + TN, but also the probability of getting 6s for varying degrees of success.

I really liked 1e, but I think 2e is a significant improvement. I like that attributes matter more in 2e and that hope replenishes more quickly. Little things like patrons having a small mechanical benefit and useful items/mounts making treasure more meaningful mechanically help make 2e a richer, more interesting game without making it more complicated. I think they've done a good job of integrating High Elves and Rangers of the North in to 2e and making them still feel special mechanically without making them a slog to play, which they could be in 1e due to their restrictions.

For adventures: might stick with the 1e materials (easy to convert stuff, another thing to like about 2e) and run Darkening of Mirkwood using 2e rules. Also considering an Eriador sandbox campaign using the upcoming published material and some homebrew stuff, subject to having time and energy available! Raids from Mount Gram and then mounting daring expeditions to strike back against it really fire the imagination.

 

[Fenris-77]

Thanks! Im still working on characters. It my collection of teemage sons I'm running this for but they are proving difficult to wrangle. I can always use the prep for a different group, so I'll soldier on.

 

[Laurefindel]

It my collection of teemage sons I'm running this.

Ah, a brood of wizards are they?

 

[Fenris-77]

Ah, a brood of wizards are they?

Har har. My sausage fingers and touchscreen typing don't mix.

 

[aramis erak]

I've given up on it already; the preview edition left me worse than cold about it.
I plan to put my preorder in a safe spot and sell it off later. If I run TOR, I'll run 1E and only 1E.

 

[Harlath]

Plus there's the solo material ("Strider mode" as it has entertainingly been dubbed) and Ruins of the Lost Realm coming up soon (a book of landmark adventure sites plus some plots/schemes to tie elements together). Both should help generate ideas.

Speaking of generating ideas: we were discussing on The One Ring's discord that the Forbidden lands adventure site images are good for sparking ideas for loremasters and for PCs during play: Fria Ligan | Forbidden Lands.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I've given up on it already; the preview edition left me worse than cold about it.
I plan to put my preorder in a safe spot and sell it off later. If I run TOR, I'll run 1E and only 1E.

You’re the first person I’ve seen say that 2E isn’t an improvement to 1E.

 

[aramis erak]

You’re the first person I’ve seen say that 2E isn’t an improvement to 1E.

You missed a huge thread in FL's forums during the playtest, then. About 15 of us.

One of the most prolific fans of 1E has decided, like me, to walk away. Rich. I know he's on RPGGeek these days.

It has ONE improvement: the travel rules.

Everything else is not as good. At least, not in beta. I've not gotten my books nor my final PDFs, the latter despite complaining to them.

• Difficulty as adjusting number of dice means having to reveal difficulty to players before they roll,
  • and prevents them from having correct dice pool in hand/dice-cup before their turn
  • And the TN being fixed by doesn't speed up things when they can't be ready to roll without GM attention
• Song rules turned from multi-task to monotask
• too easy to regain hope in 2E. Overshoot.
• Weapons lose one stat, "Edge" - which was "What does my natural roll need to be to threaten a wound."
• No cultural weapons. Those added flavor
• Didn't fix the problems with the Rivendell treasure system, and made it standard rather than optional, this...
  • upped the number of magic items in the party
  • upped the treasure gained by the party
• Made the Eye of Sauron core... but didn't fix it. My party, after 3 adventures, was having revelations EVERY TIME THEY LEFT RIVENDELL!
  • It's still per party, no correction for how many members.
  • It's pretty steep due to the much increased amount of magical treasure.
• Monsters have trouble hitting PCs.
• PCs have little difficulty hitting anything short of the toughest monsters.

If you find that better, enjoy. They lost me at the beta. And already have my money. Still, I know the dead tree will appreciate in value.

 

[Harlath]

That's a shame! Although as a longstanding 1e fan I think 2e is a significant improvement, I can see there are people who prefer 1e and I'm glad it is still there for them.

i agree that 2e's journey rules are lot better.

Some of the changes in the final 2e may well address some of your concerns.

• Flavour from cultural weapons: these can now be unlocked by deeds during play instead, and then selected with valour. See p188 for an example (this chapter wasn't in the alpha).
• Magical treasures being too frequent: Core rules assume 6 treasure rolls across a 2-3 sessions adventure and a 1/6 chance of a treasure per roll. More likely to discover an treasure per adventure than not, but sometimes 0 and sometimes more than 1. But it will frequently "just" be a Marvellous Artefact/Wondrous Item rather than a Weapon/Armour.
• Core song rules: can now be used to avoid the affects of Weariness across combats/councils/journeys.
• Eye of Sauron: is explicitly an optional rule. It has been tweaked a bit, but there are some parties that will still have constant revelation events unless hidden by spells etc (this feels appropriate to the source material). In the published rules, after 3 adventures even if a company was fortunate enough to have discovered 3 famous weapons/armours in its opening three adventures is looking at 9 Eye Awareness, so they won't be triggering Revelation Episodes all the time. Starting Eye scores are lower as now you just check the highest Cultural score in the group and make other adjustments. In the Alpha you'd add up for each character, so a 2e Alpha Ranger, Barding, Dwarf, Elf party is 3+1+1+2 = 7 while in the published rules it would just take the highest number, 3.
• PCs hitting all the time: against an Orc solider with a Strength 5 Barding you're TN 16 in 2E and TN 13 (open) or 16 (defensive) in 1e. It's pretty similar?
• Enemies missing: Enemies in 2e can spend Hate/Resolve for +1d on attacks unlike in 1e. I find they hit often enough for my liking, but this is an easy way to make enemies more dangerous in 2e.
• "Edge" rating for weapons: Spears and arrows got a buff in published 2e, getting a larger bonus to the "Pierce" combat option than they enjoyed in the Alpha. Albeit I still think Axes are pretty strong relative to other weapon types. I miss Edge too, although the special combat options for 6s helps capture some of the 1e element and I'd love to see the list expand a little without overwhelming the game.

I like the pace of hope regaining in 2e:
- Hope isn't as reliable now (spent before a roll rather than after), but can generate a 6 (as it is an extra rolled dice rather than a static bonus. This can make for dramatic moments!).

 

[damiller]

I found the rules in 1e disorganized and hard to remember. 2e is a vast improvement.

 

[Harlath]

I found the rules in 1e disorganized and hard to remember. 2e is a vast improvement.

That's very true too, Material gains in organisation continue: the 1e hardcover was an improvement on the initial 1e material, and 2e is a further improvement.