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

[Lidgar]

Mine is supposed to arrive on Sunday. I'm considering throwing an Unexpected Party for it.

 

[Wolfram stout]

I just got my tracking email (USA, TN). Once that arrives I start obsessing over the last of the forthcoming PDFs, then what new stuff they want to sell me.

 

[Reynard]

My books finally arrived today. YAY!

I won't get to run anything with it for a while, but I am slowly building a saga focused on the Black Arrow that felled Smaug and how different factions of both good and evil will be seeking it as a tool during the coming darkness.

 

[Crusadius]

Those who have received yours: Do you receive a notice and tracking number when it's been sent? I've still heard nothing about mine.

I have got an email from DHL with the tracking number.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Those who have received yours: Do you receive a notice and tracking number when it's been sent? I've still heard nothing about mine.

Notice and tracking number received here. Should be delivered this weekend.

 

[Harlath]

Skill Endeavour / Council rules have broken math in that with higher dice pools it is actually easier to do supposedly harder (longer) challenges.

Also the sweet spot of these challenges is fairly narrow so you can easily end up with very small odds or virtually automatic odds depending on the swing of d6 modifiers. This is true for 2e in general with using d6 as modifiers but is exaggerated in Skill Endeavours and Councils because they count extra Tengwars.

I'm a big fan of 2e broadly, but I agree with this point. I've noted it in the FAQ/errata thread. I think it is relatively easily fixed by making "required successes" scale up faster than "attempts allowed" (which is what Savage Worlds does with a similar mechanic).

Skill Endeavours/councils: I've found testing a range of scales and often having a scaling approach to successes (extra successes beyond minimum required produce something good) works really well. For example, you save more people from the burning building in a Skill Endeavour, or you get more support from the Council you were entreating with (material resources, a supportive NPC accompanies you, larger rewards, I can grant an extra Patron benefit as if the other party was an additional Patron etc).

 

[killerklyde1021]

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

This is a great outline! Have you outlined anything further into the Tier Three? I'm thinking of running something very similar with my current group!

 

[Fenris-77]

This is a great outline! Have you outlined anything further into the Tier Three? I'm thinking of running something very similar with my current group!

I haven't touched it sadly. I wrote this to run for my kids, but that fell through. I may be resurrecting it for play over discord, so it's neat that you brought it back up. What sorts of things would you add to tier three?

Edit - re-reading it I'm feeling a little inspired. I'm still on vacation, so I have to time to dig back in.

 

[John R Davis]

My books finally arrived today. YAY!

I won't get to run anything with it for a while, but I am slowly building a saga focused on the Black Arrow that felled Smaug and how different factions of both good and evil will be seeking it as a tool during the coming darkness.

I wrote an adventure years back where unknown to him Smaug had a dwarven ring embedded in his scales, and that slowly drew trouble to the area

 

[Emirikol]

Mine is sitting on a shelf. Our Loremaster decided not to run it and so Ill probably give it away to the next kid at the game store I hear quote a line from the movies. (I'm bitter)