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Proposed House Rules

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 4:08 am
by Angelalex242
So, I've thought of a couple house rules today and I was wondering what people thought of them.

First rule is 'Hope Refresh to max at Fellowship phase.' This assumes fellowship phases spent at Rivendell or Lothlorien would've refilled the company of the Ring to full power. Of course, whether that should be a general rule or limited only to places where one of the 3 elven rings are present is up for debate.

The other rule I was considering was 'double tap.' If you deal a piercing blow in two separate ways, (Usually meeting the edge of the weapon AND a racial virtue or racial reward), the TN of the injury roll doubles. This allows double taps to injure 'boss monsters' pretty consistently. While Maia (Balrog, Wizards, Sauron) and Nazgul are normally immune to protection tests, a double tap can wound then normally (But no doubling of the TN).

The only ways to get a double tap at the moment are King's Blade+Feat die for Hobbits, Stinging Arrow+Feat die for Elves, and Blade of Numenor+Feat Die for the Dunedain. I may consider an epic feat (Rune of Gandalf+at least one 6 on the die) to also be double taps.

If there were ever a way to get a triple tap, it would be an instant kill against normal foes and double TN protection test for Maia. This would require an epic feat+one of the 3 virtues above, so other races would never be able to triple tap.

Of course, it's only fair of enemies get to double tap too. But they can only do so with epic feats for bad guys (eye of sauron+at least one 6 on the die). This threat is what keeps Gandalf and Radagast and so on on their toes.

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:25 pm
by Beleg
Personally I think Hope should only refresh to full in VERY special circumstances... like if the company spent 2 years hanging around in Rivendell reading or something. Otherwise it makes a Fellowship Phase very much a case of 'let's have one now, then go and deal with that troll, cause then we'll have full Hope'

Equally, I think that combat is probably deadly enough as it is, and the idea of a 'double tap' would either make it incredibly deadly for the players, to the extent they get annoyed, or more likely, far too easy

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:14 pm
by Angelalex242
Doubletap/tripletap are meant to simulate amazing 'critical hits.' Most doubletaps would occur when Dunedain/Elves spend hope, or Hobbits get lucky with King's Blade. Triple taps are statistically highly unlikely, but they're the only real method of confronting the nastiest things in Middle Earth, normally far beyond the reach of your average Player.

Also, players don't decide when Fellowship phases are, last I checked.

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:30 am
by Stormcrow
Angelalex242 wrote:Also, players don't decide when Fellowship phases are, last I checked.
Sure they do. "Let's drop everything and all go to our respective homes. We'll meet back here in the spring." The referee would be wrong to say they can't have the benefits of a fellowship phase here.

I agree completely with Beleg's post. And beware the tendency to change the game solely in favor of the players.

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 2:55 am
by Angelalex242
Well, I did say enemy 'doubletaps' were possible if they rolled an eye and at least one 6 on their rolls.

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:31 am
by Corvo
I'm in a hurry now, so forgive me for my brevity, but I want to chime in.
Full disclosure: I'm all for house rules. I change every game I play with ease. Yet here I think you are hitting on some hidden snag.
1- about hope refresh. Changing the refresh rate is an huge house rule, believe me. Till they spend hope, PCs are all-powerful, really, to the point that most challenges are moot. I'm playing with the regular refresh, and despite some tense moments in Mirkwood (as it should be), the heroes are back in full hope points (15 sessions in the campaign). In my experience maybe they refresh too much hope already!
2-with a bigger refresh falling to the shadow is almost impossible. Now it's already very difficult.
3-with bigger refresh you are deflating the usefulness of hobbits racial virtue and of beornings cakes.
4-double tap is far too easy. You can have an automatic penetrating hit with a called shot or with prepared shot, to the point that an elf with stinging arrows can get 4 penetrating hits with an arrow. Really, 2 wounding hits are an easy feat with arrows or spears.

Sorry for the clipped, short, style. Not native, in a hurry, from mobile etc :p
Obviously you can change your game as you like, but I thought that maybe you missed some consequences of this houseruling.

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:34 am
by Angelalex242
Looks like these are terrible ideas. Have to let 'em go. Oh well.

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 3:34 pm
by James Harrison
On the plus side that's what forums are for! Sometimes you hit on great ideas without knowing it... and sometimes something that seems great isn't, discussion helps highlight these things!

Re: Proposed House Rules

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:08 pm
by Corvo
James Harrison wrote:On the plus side that's what forums are for! Sometimes you hit on great ideas without knowing it... and sometimes something that seems great isn't, discussion helps highlight these things!
Yeah. And nobody recognize the sheer genius of my "active defense" house rule for combat. Weird, innit? :D