So, it's finally out, and I love it. Being a fan of Tolkien's books, and a roleplayer for 20 years, I've been waiting for this game. I played the previous rpgs based in this setting, but they didn't reach this quality by far.

I have a few rules questions:

1. Horses. Will there be rules for horses in the game at some point? How should we handle them?

2. The hound of the Woodmen. Am I right in thinking that it needs no stats it self, and it supports the character only the way it's described in the Virtue?

3. I know that one player in my group will want to have his character use a weapon in his off-hand. As there are no rules for this (yet..), how could this be handled? My first thought would be to use add such maneuvers to the genious Called Shot rules. Any thoughts?

Again, thanks for a great rpg. I dare say it's my favorite so far, after my 20 years of gaming. Big hopes for lots of support and good releases!

-Eirik

1. You mean in combat? There is some discussion on acquiring horses and their use in journeys.

2. Yes.

3. I am not touching two weapon wielding with a barge pole. Any attempt to make it work I have seen tends to fail miserably, and it remains one of the hardest mechanical issues to solve

Actually, try this:

- only allow it for daggers and shortswords.
- if a shortsword, allow it to be used as a buckler for +1 Parry.
- add a Called Shot option adding the off hand weapon damage to the main hand weapon damage.

Horses in Combat:

I guess we have to Muster the Rohirim, for these rules to show up. ;-) Honestly... is there any one else fighting from Horseback in Middle-Erath? I always assumed you used the Horse to get to the battle, then dismounted and Fought. The way real men do it. Dark Age style.

Dual-wielding:

I would try to use it as "flavour" thing-only, giving the advantage of a Buckler (+Parry). But that's me.

/wolf

Well, I don't think that since a thing doesn't happen in the books, or aren't done by any of the characters, the player-heroes shouldn't be able to do it.

For instance, wielding two weapons should be allowed in my opinion, and not only for player-heroes, but also for orcs and such. A cave troll with two great clubs would be a scary thing indeed.

How about using stances to regulate off-hand weapons? For instance, in Forward Stance, the off-hand weapons damage becomes a bonus to the damage. In Defensive Stance, it gives a small parry bonus and so on.
Any one-handed weapon could be used, but the TN for any attack increased by the Encumbrance rating of the weapon.

As for horses in combat, mounted warriors are used by the Rohirrim, of course, but also by Gondor. I don't see why the Bardings too wouldn't use them.

For this I would love to see rules similar to the Woodmen Hound, with "abilities" for the mounted warrior to use instead of statistics for the horse.

-Eirik

I' m sure mounted fighting has not been forgotten about, it' s just, say, delayed until the later publications, where the Rohirrim are covered. I suppose it is just not the focus of the Wilderland-book. The focus of this part is Mirkwood (and alright, some of the surrounding area), but that is not a good place to start fighting on horseback.

I agree, and believe me, riding in thick forests is not to be taken lightly. Not only can low branches be a hazard, but the horse sees every piece of vegetation around it as food, especially in summer.

But I'm not complaining. I believe that this rpg is my new favorite, and I eagerly await more releases.

I listened to an interview, and it was said that a Loremaster's Screen, with a booklet on Lake-Town is coming too. Nice!

-Eirik

I love screens!

And I suppose it' s quite easy to substitute some kind of mounted assault. Just say, during opening volleys instead of making a ranged attack, any mounted fighter makes a melee attack using the numbers for a forward stance (6 that is). After that, fighting continues as usual, with the only additional rule that a Sauron rune hits the horse instead of the fighter, with all the same rules concerning the woodmen-dog.

That's a good one. Also, the horse counts as another fighter to help screen those Rearward, again, like the dog. It's also possible to add different "extras" for different types of horses. A pony would act different in combat than, say, a huge warhorse.

I really like that the rules are open enough to let us throw in our own rules while waiting for it to come in future releases

-Eirik

Yes, everything is very simple to modify or improvise. That' s something about great rules, not to take your freedom away with every single detail and suppressing your own ideas, but to encourage creativity and presenting a base to build upon. And still I don' t feel like missing something