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.