Hi folks,

Tonight we have our first TOR session. We're beginning with character generation, and hoping to have time to start playing 'The Marsh Bell'.

I have one question regarding company creation. The rules state that the company starts each session with as many Fellowship Points as there are members of the company, but I see references to hobbits adding two points rather than one - so a company of five, with one of those a hobbit, would have six Fellowship Points. But I don't see that in the rule books, nor does it seem to be referred to in the extended index. Help please!

Thanks,
Phil

It's the Hobbit cultural blessing (AB pg.62)

... Yeah, my Fellowship of four hobbits have a Fellowship Pool of 8!

The little blighters!

Ah, thank you! The mystery is solved!

philhendry, have fun! If you haven't tried this, one of the greatest tools created for TOR is the character generator by Azrapse. If you choose to use it, it will do a couple of really useful things for you:

• First, it will help you take players through the character creation process and will save their character on a server that they can update and print out, etc.
• Second, you will have access to the characters as a Loremaster at any time and can make sure everyone is getting their stats right and info updated, including extensive histories or Tales of Years.

Besides these benefits, you also open up the possibility of playing online if you ever want to (there is an online dice roller and chat window). These sessions are recorded and you can copy the text afterwards to edit and post.

Thanks JRB. We are aware of Azrapse's character generator, but thought that we'd gain a better understanding of the system by doing it 'manually' the first time.

Another great benefit is with the data included within Azrapse's site, players don't need to refer to the AB constantly. So if the group has access to a couple of laptops, tablets or smartphones, multiple players can create their characters at the same time. Increasing the pace of character generation substantially.

Players might still need to refer to the glossary or to spot check rule mechanics to make sure they understand an aspect of play. But the process is much more fluid and obvious with the program assisting. Not to mention it's patience is indefatigable for try this, no try this, no try this, no try this.... type of experimentation.

The online TOR character generator speeds up character creation enormously, even if you then transcribe it all to a regular "paper" character sheet like I did. Plus, the little question marks that provide popup info on everything allow you to make informed choices without having to find each skill or trait in the rules.