Eye of Mordor from the ground up

[Rich H]

Great comment and points, Seosaidh.

Every hero has an Eye Awareness score and a personal Hunt Threshold. This Hunt Threshold is equal to:

Mirkwood Elf: 12
Middle Man: 14
Hobbit: 16
Dwarf: 14
Ranger: 12
High Elf: 10

At the beginning of an Adventuring Phase, your personal Eye Awareness starts at your Permanent Shadow score. Each Eye rolled on a Common Skill task increases Eye Awareness by one. After 2951, entering a Shadow or Dark region also increases Eye Awareness by one. Each region can only ever add one point per session, however. So if you enter a region, leave it, and enter it again in the same session you only add to Eye Awareness the first time.

When your Eye Awareness hits your Hunt Threshold, you trigger a Revelation Episode for the company. After the Revelation Episode, your Eye Awareness resets to your Permanent Shadow score.

What do people think?

Not sure about the numbers but I think it's an interesting idea. Do any other elements add to Eye Awareness or the starting/initial EA of each character?

[zedturtle]

Magic. Either the official rules from Rivendell, or mine.

[Wbweather]

I do think it fits into the theme of Tolkien's books. Sauron knows to look for a hobbit. When a group with 4 of them travels outside of the Shire, it really draws his attention. In fact, it is because Sauron does focus on individuals that Frodo and Sam are successful. When Pippin looks into the palantir, Sauron directs his focus on him. Gandalf takes him away to draw attention away from the others. When Aragorn declares himself as Isildur's heir and challenges Mordor, it further directs Sauron's attention from the ring bearers.

How this would play out in a game of TOR though I don't know. You don't want to be splitting up a company to avoid revelation episodes.

[zedturtle]

I think, although there's definitely a need for testing to be sure, that the other inherent disadvantages (reducing the fellowship pool, not having your fellowship focus to hand) would sufficiently penalize players who decided to split up.

[zedturtle]

Another idea, should Despicable Acts raise Eye Awareness? Eg 1 point of Eye Awareness, no matter how much Shadow gained?

[Glorelendil]

Another idea, should Despicable Acts raise Eye Awareness? Eg 1 point of Eye Awareness, no matter how much Shadow gained?

Works for me!

[zedturtle]

Another idea, should Despicable Acts raise Eye Awareness? Eg 1 point of Eye Awareness, no matter how much Shadow gained?

Works for me!

Cool. What do you think of the overall idea? Does it meet your requirements?

[Glorelendil]

Another idea, should Despicable Acts raise Eye Awareness? Eg 1 point of Eye Awareness, no matter how much Shadow gained?

Works for me!

Cool. What do you think of the overall idea? Does it meet your requirements?

I'm still digesting it. If high wisdom/valour and magic weapons also increased starting score, it could work. The change on zone transition feels a bit kludgey to me, but maybe Perfect is just not possible.

[zedturtle]

Cool. What do you think of the overall idea? Does it meet your requirements?

I'm still digesting it. If high wisdom/valour and magic weapons also increased starting score, it could work. The change on zone transition feels a bit kludgey to me, but maybe Perfect is just not possible.

You could increase the Thresholds, so that it could be Permanent Shadow + highest of Valour or Wisdom and +1 for each Famous Weapon or Armour. You just want to make sure that you can't quite hit the Hunt Threshold out of the box.

I welcome any better ideas on the 'zone problem', I was trying to prevent a recalculation event when changing zones, which is my only other way to approach it.

[Wbweather]

Despicable acts increasing eye awareness seems counter-intuitive to me. If opposing the shadow is what draws attention to the group, then acting under the influence of the shadow would seem to "camouflage" the group in my mind. At least the Enemy would be less concerned with an individual that was aligning with the shadow than with one fighting it. But then you wouldn't want folks doing evil just to fit in with evil men either.