I understand that the Loremaster decide when a place is to be considered Blighted, regardless of terrain type, but i was thinking about a sending my players on the Old Forest Road (where some parts are in Dark Lands and others are in Wildlands) and remembered that in Don't leave the Path the players must make a Corruption test every week while traveling in the Forest, see Tales from Wilderland page 12(TN 12 while on the Elf Path or 14 otherwise).

So, if ALL this region is considered Blighted(even on the Elf-path), so must surely be the Old Forest Road. But if we follow the table about Blighted Places, the players should make 2 corruption tests per day! And it will take more than 20 days to go through all the forest, so more than 40 rolls...

If I don't consider this part of Mirkwood to be Blighted, then why should I consider the Elf-path's region blighted?

Can someone share is view on that subject?

Quite a while ago, I believe Francesco stated that the table is merely a guide, and that places should be blighted due to current circumstances. For instance, if there were a lot of spider activity in a particular area, that place would be considered blighted, whereas when the spiders went on holiday to sunnier climes in the south the previous place would no longer be blighted.

I think that's the idea anyway. I haven't really used the blighted mechanic much with my group to be honest

Beleg

If the problem is the number of corruption rolls, you can always make them pass 4 Corruption rolls, gaining 2D6 corruption points in each one if failed.

Francesco provided some clarifications on the rules for Blighted Places (see also on first page of forum):

Blighted Places Clarified, by Francesco:
http://cubicle7.clicdev.com/f/index.php?tr...&showtopic=2947

These are also in the Lake Town Sourcebook, p.21:

"the original intent of the rule is that it is always left to the discretion of the Loremaster to determine whether a place must be considered blighted or not".. if the Loremaster isn't sure he can roll the Feat die a number of times based on the region type - once for Free/Border lands; twice for Wild lands; three times for Shadow Lands and four times for Dark Lands. If the Feat die produces an Eye result the area is blighted and the Company is required to make Corruption tests."

As you can see from this clarification, the number of rolls required is significantly reduced, although the Loremaster can always require Corruption tests in special cases, such as an area (like Mordor) that has been inhabited by minions of the Dark Lord for a long time. The Sourcebook gives other examples as well!

Robin S.

Thanks for the answers guys.
I know about the rule clarification found in the Lake-Town sourcebook.

What is troubling me, is that if ALL the Elf-Path is considered Blighted(see the Don't leave the Path scenario) then surely MOST of the Old Forest Road(it is close to the Mountains of Mirkwood and is considered a Dark Land) must be Blighted too, which is no problem for me, but following the rule when you traverse a Dark Land Blighted Place you must make 2 corruptions tests per day and just to go through half the Old Forest Road will need at lest 40 tests!

Of course, the Loremaster can always reduce the number of rolls and make TN more difficult but thats not main concern.

Why should the Elf-Path be considered Blighted and not the Old-Forest Road?

It think you're getting too hung up on the mechanics of this. At the end of the day the rule is said to be open to the individual interpretation of the Loremaster.

If you want the Old Forest Road to be more or less dangerous than the Elven Path, it's your call.

I get what you are saying. I originally interpreted the corruption rule to be to specific areas. I was glad to see Francesco's update prove me correct. But then I got the Tales of Wilderland and saw that the Elf Path still was a blighted area. I think this was written before the update. The question should be then, should the Elf Path require corruption tests? And if so, how nasty is the Old Forest Road? You will notice that the corruption roll was easier while on the road then the forest. You cold do something like that for the Forest road.

Guess it really depends on wither your group has done Don't Leave the Path yet or not. If so, it would be weird to not have test on the Old Forest Road. I would make them take test as you see fit. You could have to road broken up into pockets of severe blight. Easy going for a while than BAM, nasty corruption roll required.

Personally, I have interpreted almost all of Mirkwood being blighted to some degree or other. With the exception of the elf kings home and surrounded lands. This makes sense in lore if you ask me. Especially as the woods darkens. You might even make the Old road WORSE than other areas. Who knows who or what has been using it lately. Has someone successfully traveled the road in recent memory?

Thats exactly what I was thinking.
I will surely make the Old Road a Blighted Place(at least the part that is in a Dark Land) but the frequency of the Corruption Tests wont be twice a day. Probably more like once a week but TN will be at 14 or maybe even 16.

Get a copy of The Hobbit and look at the map of Wilderland. Notice in Mirkwood there are pictures of spiderwebs. Consider each one of these to be the territory of a spider colony, and each feature that touches it is blighted due to the presence of spiders and worse. These areas can grow or shrink depending on the strength of the Shadow.

I'm a little surprised the spider colonies didn't make it into the maps in The One Ring.

Interesting, very interesting. Thanks for the idea!

Note to self:

"Cut, paste, send to Jon Hodgson and Paul Bourne..."