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From the thread about Deadly Archery we see that combat hindraces are seldom applied. I am one of those that doesn't use them as much as they should be.

In fact, one of my weakest spots is that I have a terrible eye for distances. Therefore, I can never imagine if an enemy is 20 meters ahead or 50. And this leads to great difficulties when deciding if a warrior with a Great Bow can shoot at something while the fighters with Bows cannot.

Luckily for me, we have noone in the group with a Great Bow who complains that his weapon has a longer range than Bows and Spears and, therefore, should be able to shoot first or something like that.

But, nonetheless, I've been giving it a thought.

I think Opening Volleys could be divided in six moments or phases: Long Distance, Medium Distance, Short Distance, Close Distance, Melee Distance (temporary names). They should not be confused with Long Range, Medium Range, Short Range from the weapons.

At Long Distance (40-50 yards), only Great Bows can shoot with a +4TN, and this goes before other volleys.
At Medium Distance (30-40 yards), Great Bows can shoot with a +2TN, Bows can shoot with a +4TN.
At Short Distance (20-30 yards), Great Bows shoot without penalty, Bows can shoot with a +2TN, Spears can be thrown with a +4TN.
At Close Distance (10-20 yards), Great Bows and Bows don't have any penalty, Spears have a +2TN.
At Melee Distance (5-10 yards), all weapons can be shot without penalty.

The interesting thing is that those who fire in one of this phases, do it so before those who fire in lower phases, with the possibility of killing them (or Wearing them) before they're shot back.
Bows would still have only 2 shots, and Spears 1, but the archer/spearman can choose when to do them.
The only restriction is that the two bow shots can't be done at the same distance (to represent the recharging time).

Optional rule: The archer/spearman can shoot every other Distance.
For example, a Great Bow can be shot at Long Distance with a +4TN, and then again at Short Distance and also at Melee Distance, both without penalty. (Maximum of 3 shots if the situation allows for it, one of them at +4TN))
A Bow can be shot at Medium Distance with a +4TN, and again Close Distance without penalty. OR at Short Distance with a +2TN and again at Melee Distance without penalty. (Maximum of 2 shots, one of them at least with a +2TN)
A Spear can be thrown at Short Distance with a +4TN, and another one at Melee Distance without penalty.

Examples:

Our Fellowship has a Hobbit with a Bow and a Woodman with a Great Bow.

1) They encounter a group of Attercops in the forest. The LM says they've seen each other at Medium Distance.
Knowing that the Attercops don't have missile attacks, the Hobbits decides to fire his two shots at Close and Melee Distance, without penalties. The Woodman decides to do the same with his Great Bow.
Optional rule: If the optional rule is used, the Hobbit could decide to fire at Short Distance (+2TN) and at Melee Distance (+0TN). The Woodman could fire at Short Distance and at Melee Distance, both without penalties.

2) They encounter a group of Goblin Archers in the open valleys of the Anduin, who ready their Horn Bows (ranges as Bow).
The Woodman decides to try to reduce their strenght before the Goblins have a chance to shoot.
He fires at Long Distance with a +4TN, before anyone else has a chance to shoot.
The Goblin Archers, with just 2 ranks, will wait until they don't have any penalty to shoot (Close Distance).
The Woodman decides to use his second shot at Short Distance (just before Close Distance), without any penalty.
The Hobbit can risk shooting at Medium (+4TN), and again at Short Distance (+2TN), trying to weaken or kill some Goblins before it's their turn to attack.

With these rules, the -3TN of a Bow of the North Downs, or the possibility of adding Attribute bonuses to the attack roll (Deadly Archery), or the "fly up to twice the its normal range" of Stinging Arrow, gain some importance.

And again, this is the kind of granularity and complexity that TOR always tries to avoid.

But as a guideline to remark the advantage of Great Bows over other missile weapons, it might be useful.

Measuring distances doesn't feel very TOR-like. I'd try to find something that doesn't use yards (or meters* or ells or fathoms or whatever). Some ideas:

A) Call it "talking range", "shouting range", and "beyond shouting range".

B) Have Jon draw some scenes that illustrate various ranges & situations, and use that to visualize the difference.

C) Relate it to movement and rounds. Number of rounds until close combat (assuming enemies are rushing at you):
1: Everybody can shoot
2: Everybody can shoot, but Spears are at TN +4
3: All bows can shoot, but Bows are at TN +4
4: Only Great Bows can shoot, at +4

The last option could still benefit by illustrations.

The advantage of using movement and rounds is that the LM can then tie it to the terrain. I.e., on a moonless night or Mirkwood you just can't see enemies beyond a distance that it would take one round to cover, so you never get second shots (unless you have a Woodland Bow, of course). In less dense woods, or a light fog, it might be two rounds.


*On a totally unrelated note, just think how much easier physics class would be if the relationship between our standard unit of measure (d) and our standard unit of time (t) was such that gravity at sea level = 1.0 d/t^2

Glorelendil wrote: C) Relate it to movement and rounds. Number of rounds until close combat (assuming enemies are rushing at you):
1: Everybody can shoot
2: Everybody can shoot, but Spears are at TN +4
3: All bows can shoot, but Bows are at TN +4
4: Only Great Bows can shoot, at +4

Although I wrote down the distance in yards to reference the weapon ranges, that was a mistake on my part.
I consider the Distances as conceptual, not a measure, exactly as you pointed out.

It's more like "Out ahead in the distance, I see a shimering light", or "They're already upon us!".

The LM just has to decide at what Distance the approach begins:
"You're at Medium Distance from the Uruks. Two of them carry Great Black Bows and seem proficient with them.
Those of you with Great Bows or Bows, what will you do?
**After the first shots at Medium Distance have been solved**
Now you all are at Short Distance, Spears can be thrown with a +4TN, Bows at +2TN. The Uruks fire their first volley without penalty. What will you do?
**And son on until everybody has done his two shots (one with spear)"

Your option seems also right. As I understand it, the penalties are either +4TN or none, right?

Glorelendil wrote: C) Relate it to movement and rounds. Number of rounds until close combat (assuming enemies are rushing at you):
1: Everybody can shoot
2: Everybody can shoot, but Spears are at TN +4
3: All bows can shoot, but Bows are at TN +4
4: Only Great Bows can shoot, at +4

This seems like a better option, although I'd even simplify it a bit more, referencing the steps of the Opening Volleys phase:
Step 1: Great Bows can shoot before everyone else, at +3TN (average of long and medium range, for easiness)
Step 2: Great Bows can shoot again, without penalty. Bows can shoot before Spears, at +3TN.
Step 3: Everyone can shoot without penalty (Spears can only be shot once. Why should they attack with a penalty if noone is attacking after them?)

Again, the LM should determine first if the distance allows to begin at Step 1, 2 or already at 3 and, therefore, also the number of volleys that bows can make.

Woodland Bow would allow for one additional shot at Step 2 or 3, player's choice, if distance allows.

The problem I encountered with trying to use both +2 TN and +4 TN is that you end up with too many range increments. Which you seem to have addressed by averaging them.

Glorelendil wrote:The problem I encountered with trying to use both +2 TN and +4 TN is that you end up with too many range increments.

Fully agreed.