The Attention of Sauron (Zed's new EoM)

[Glorelendil]

The next cool quest would be to recover the 7 rings and the 7 hoards from the 7 great wyrms throughout the North.

I think the next quest is just to watch a cut-scene and then click through dialog with Galadriel as fast as you can. She makes you hoof it to Rivendell to talk to Elrond and he sends you back to Lorien again. No flying mounts SUX.

[zedturtle]

Once I went to Valour + Wisdom, I increased the margin to 12 at minimum. I wanted only heroes that had nigh maximum to start an Adventuring Phase immediately threatened by a Revelation Episode. But Majestic's margins seem a bit too generous. Either Eye Awareness needs to not reset between Adventuring Phases or the threshold needs to go down, or Eye Awareness needs to increase at a faster rate.

Or this is all in my head, and it's just a small sample size that's making me rethink things too soon.

[Majestic]

I guess that's another reason High Elves attract attention fast. They've got an 'Enemy of Sauron' specialty that helps them hunt down things like Nazgul and other powerful servants.

It can be a useful skill when you get those quests like "Collect 9 Nazgul Rings" as part of the quest chain for your legendary weapon. Heck, you can do it while waiting in the queue for some PvP.

Don't forget to bring your auto-fire weaponry, to smoke their mounts out from under them for the lulz!

Once I went to Valour + Wisdom, I increased the margin to 12 at minimum. I wanted only heroes that had nigh maximum to start an Adventuring Phase immediately threatened by a Revelation Episode. But Majestic's margins seem a bit too generous. Either Eye Awareness needs to not reset between Adventuring Phases or the threshold needs to go down, or Eye Awareness needs to increase at a faster rate.

Or this is all in my head, and it's just a small sample size that's making me rethink things too soon.

I'd hold off and get more results first. If I'd remembered to add some in for moving into nasty territories it might have even triggered an event.

[Angelalex242]

...I love how you guys take offense to common sense and standard medieval warfare tactics. Shooting the horses out from under cavalry was not exactly uncommon.

[Glorelendil]

...I love how you guys take offense to common sense and standard medieval warfare tactics. Shooting the horses out from under cavalry was not exactly uncommon.

I can't really speak for others, but I for one wasn't offended, just amused.

Here's what I'm picturing:

LM: "In between lightning flashes you see a dark figure on a dark horse is thundering down the road in your direction. You feel that same sense of dread and unease that you've learned to associate with Nazgul. What do you do?"

Player: "I shoot his horse out from under him!"

LM: "Um, ok. There aren't really rules for that, but go ahead and roll..."

Player: "Gandalf Extraordinary Success!"

LM: "Right...I guess he gets a Protection roll, I'll give him 3 dice....Gandalf. Ok, so the horse rears up with a scream, and then crashes forward into the dirt, dead before it even lands. From the wreckage the dark figure emerges, and you see a smoldering glint from beneath its hood, a fiery red that feels like rage. The moon reflects off a long, pale sword that he draws as he comes toward you. Gosh, he moves fast when he's pissed."

Player: "I quickly mount my..."

LM: "I'm not done yet. You feel a wave of terror washing over you. Roll Valour."

Player: "Gandalf again. Great, so I jump on my horse and..."

LM: "Well, your horse is screaming with terror and trying to rear up. You've tied him securely, but he is thrashing wildly, totally out of control. In fact he's in danger of hurting himself."

Player: "I try to calm him down."

LM: "Roll Insight."

Player: "Drat...7. What was the TN?"

LM: "Six. You sense from the horse's panic that there's no way you're going to calm this animal down before the Nazgul is on you. The horse is really freaking out as the thing bears down on you, kicking and rearing and screaming. He's in serious danger of hurting himself now."

Player: "Crap. I cut him loose and draw my Numenorean longsword to deal with the Nazgul. Attribute Level 6! Ha! I spit on Attribute Level 6."

LM: "Your horse, frothing at the mouth, goes galloping off into the darkness, straight toward the rapids and waterfall you passed a half hour ago. You turn to face the Nazgul and he's gone. Completely vanished. The storm rages on."

"By the way, since you've been taking reduced Fatigue while Traveling, I'm assuming that means you keep your supplies on your horse, right?"

(Aside: the Nazgul knows of some trolls that live in this neighborhood. He's on his way to go roust them to do a job for him, after he drives the hero's horse over the waterfall.)

[Angelalex242]

Well, at least the player can replace the horse more easily then the Nazgul can. Might be worth the loss of his equipment in the short run to slow the thing down for months at a time.

Or so I'd see it. YMMV.

Which is a bit off topic, so yeah.

Speaking of which, I'd considered if there should be an inverse to the attention of Sauron...the attention of the White Council, perhaps, that rises as heroes do deeds of great renown. Do enough bad things to Sauron's forces, and you might just get Elrond's attention. Or Gandalf. Etc.

[Glorelendil]

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this: Elrond, Aragorn, and Gandalf certainly know a thing or two about warfare, but I don't recall them chuckling over Frodo's tale and saying, "All you have to do is shoot their horses, silly Hobbit."

Nazgul are things of terror, not merely mounted combatants represented by a stat block. Can you shoot their horses? Sure (despite lack of rules for it yet). But to keep it Tolkienesque, and not D&D-esque, doing so should not necessarily resolve the tension and horror.

Google "16 hit point dragon". THAT's how Nazgul should be played. To do any less is to sell the Nazgul...and your players...short.

[Angelalex242]

I remember the 16 HP dragon.

But that's a different system.

Anyways, the GM I had when I came up with the idea said the Nazgul dismounted and attacked.

He was fairly terrifying. Basically, of the party of 5, two immediately dropped unconscious to black breath. The Woodman and Dwarf held on, and my high elf stared him down. (Yay, cultural blessing)

The Dwarf and I proceeded to use Awe (For him) and Sing (for me) to drain his hate away. We didn't physically attack him till he was hate 0. The Woodman killed a warg that happened to be there.

Basically, the Nazgul (the messenger...he was only attribute 4 with 2 attack dice) ignored the other two and focused his attention on me. Which cost him, cause the dwarf had a magic weapon. Now, I typically prefer 'evade and counter' tactics from defense, but my High Elf had enemy of Sauron, and so fought in Forward the whole time. Took a lot of damage, but he was made weary on the first hit and had to go all out.

Anyways, we drove him off, and I never actually attacked his horse. I fought him with the music of Arda and then followed it up with stabbing. Since the things can't be killed, the best you can do is leave him 'requiring a new shape to wear and a beast to ride.' We achieved the new shape to wear part, even with two party members 1 hit KOed. But I didn't think to take his horse out till later.

[zedturtle]

A new version of the rules, with lower Thresholds and a bit different rules on the geographical areas.

Please let me know what you think!

[Falenthal]

Sorry but what are the changes regarding the geographical areas? I can't see that.

As for the Thresholds, I can't give an opinion not having played with the EoS rules, but it seems logical from a thematic point of view that a Noldor with Valour and Wisdom 6 (or even 5/5) would be inmediately noticed by Sauron and his minions. That's one reason why Elrond and Galadriel didn't leave their havens and need their rings for concealing (among others). Also, this tells us that Glorfindel was, at most a Valour 5/Wisdom 4 or the like.