I have been slowly putting together material for an upcoming TOR game I plan to run. Among the creations and work is this rules addendum which adds the Cultural Virtues I posted two weeks (or so) ago, along with some new combat stances, some weapons I felt were missing, a couple of example "magic" items, and a small talk on the nature and recovery of Hope. It has been written for my players, but I figured there might be another TOR LM or player out there that might get a bit of use from this, so here it is (provided I have worked Dropbox correctly).

Please, feel free to critique and comment; criticisms are wanted and welcome, as are suggestions -- those go much further than blind adolation and random compliments. That said, compliments are always wonderful to hear, too!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41208443/Woven%20S...%20Addendum.pdf

Enjoy!

Doc

Wow,

This is really well done! Thank you.

(Consider it burglarized)

Glad you like it! Please, let me know how the burgled stuff works out.

Nice work.

I just noticed, however, that you don't list called shot effects for javelins and thrown daggers. What should they be?

Javelins are Spear weapons, as such they would have the spear's Called Shot (the Penetrating attack, I believe). Daggers have no given Called Shot, presumably because they are meant to be purely support style weaponry and not intended for decisive tactical influence; I kept the throwing knife the same way. I could, however, easily see the application of a bows and spears Penetrating Called Shot on daggers and throwing knives.

Just wondering how you chose to balance the new weapons.

I can see why you made the club (aka the stick) poor, and I like how the quarterstaff is not very damaging but has a great called shot.

But the mace is in all ways worse than a short sword, and both your 2-handed weapons do much less damage than the published 2-handed ones.

The existing ones are similar in damage but the better the edge, the easier the injury roll. Spears get particularly low injury TNs but the best called shot ability.

I'd suggest the schtick of hammers and maces should be that they batter down your enemy without woundin them (ie. they're the opposite of spears). Give them higher damage but an edge of gandalf rune and low injury TNs.

Something like:

Mace
Damage 7, Edge G, Injury 12

Great Mace
Damage 11, Edge G, Injury 14

War Hammer
Damage 6, Edge G, Injury 14

Maul
Damage 10, Edge G, Injury 16

(I based these on axes, giving maces +2 damage, -6 injury, and hammers +1 damage, -4 injury - I figure the hammers don't need to be so different from axes because they have a different called shot ability).

Anyway, just my tuppence after spending a while thinking about how they fit with the existing weapons.

Cheers

vs

Nice.

Nice stuff here, Doc.
And very nicely laid-out with great use of quotes etc.

I also felt the lack of clubs and staffs. I think you've done right, and I do like the Trip effect.

I wondered about maces and warhammers, but then reminded myself that they evolved as armour-piercers specialised for use against people in plate armour. Still, many cultures used weapons that were big-lumps-of-metal-on-the-end-of-a-stick -- without flanges or spikes, but still with a better (Edge and/or) Injury rating than a lump of wood.

I do like the way Francesco had kept ranged combat 'purist' with just Bows and Spears.
But without wanting to encourage PCs to have pap-fantasy knife-throwing or thrown axes as their main schticks, I did feel the lack where daggers and axes weren't covered for throwing, even in rare last-ditch actions.
I'm afraid I think specialised 'throwing knives' aren't very Rhovanion...
'Throwing spears' are a good addition. (I can't bring myself to call them the poncy un-Middle-earthy 'javelins'.) But wouldn't an Enc of 1 represent a mere 'dart' or 'plumbata' type weapon? On reflection, I think throwing spears should be Enc 2, and regular spears should be upped to Enc 3. <gasp!>

Dual-wielding. I'd question the assertion that elves commonly do this; I fear that's probably a carry-over from generic fantasy thinking that's not supported in the Tolkien sources.
The Dual-wielding idea I've had in the back of my head is that it should 'unlock' its own Called Shot effect: if you succeed in a Called Shot, instead of having your primary weapon's normal called-shot effect, you can (?spend 1 Hope to?) have an immediate followup attack with your secondary weapon in the same round.
I like the idea that a second weapon offers some advantage in Defensive Stance. But if you use an Enc 2 off-hand Sword in Defensive Stance, should it give you as much Parry as an Enc 3 Shield?! I think I'd go with a flat +1 Parry in Defensive Stance.

The rest I'm still inwardly digesting for a while...
Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
--Os.

Nicely done with some good ideas. Beautifully presented.

I had a similar idea to you with some of the extra combat maneuvers - great minds thinking alike

A couple of the virtues are weaker than similar cultural virtues (eg Stiff neck of the Dwarves is much better than Sly Fingers). That may be as intended.

Thank you very much for sharing.

The historical use of maces was to overcome armor. I'd suggest giving them lower End damage than axes, and higher wound TN. That would accurately represent, at least in my mind, a slower weapon that hit home harder.