Companion Rules for Solo/Duo Play

[Glorelendil]

Let's talk about LMC companions for games with 1 or 2 players (plus LM).

In another thread somebody suggested that Bilbo was a solo player in the Hobbit, making not only Gandalf but the 13 dwarves LMCs. I actually sort of like this as a case study:
- In some of the most significant scenes: riddles with gollum, spiders in mirkwood, Elven-king's halls to Laketown, both conversations with Smaug, Bilbo was effectively alone
- If the 13 dwarves had all been rolling dice for everything the "game" would have crawled to a halt

Using Hound of Mirkwood as the archetype, what are some ways that LMCs could be created so that they're not just "heroes played by the LM" but rather contribute to the story without taking first-person roles (by which I really mean, "don't roll dice for anything")?

- They could provide passive bonuses to certain skills
- They could cover for and automatically succeed at certain Journey Hazard categories (if AiMe-like rules are adopted this would need to change)
- They could change Tolerance in Encounters
- They could keep adversaries busy in combat:
- When the players roll well their companions defeat adversaries
- When the players roll badly the companions suffer something (maybe lose one of their other abilities each time, until a rest where Fatigue would be recovered?)

And of course LMC companions can both:
- Be the deus ex machina when things go badly for the hero
- Get in trouble and need to be rescued by the hero

That's all I got for now...mostly because my 3 year old is telling me to put my computer away.

[Falenthal]

That's all I got for now...mostly because my 3 year old is telling me to put my computer away.

* LMC characters can hinder the Hero's actions if against their Calling.

[Glorelendil]

Oh, I forgot the key idea: players can invoke traits of their companions for their own benefit (but not AP). "Ori uses Fire-starting to give us a warm fire every night, so we all pass our Fatigue test."

[zedturtle]

Yeah, let's explore the idea of The Hobbit, as a game of modified TOR:

Companion characters need to be very simple. They have a name, an Attribute level (which begins at 3), and either one positive Trait (Balin) or two positive Traits and a negative Trait (Bombur, Thorin). They may possess a single common skill, which begins at a rating of 1.

A lone hero does not receive a Fellowship Pool based on the companion characters. Instead, either the player or the loremaster can provide a free point of Hope by endangering or disabling one of the companion characters. The player can only do this once per session and gets one point of Hope, or two points of Hope if they use of the companion character's Traits in narrating the event (Bombur's girth, Thorin's pride, etc.).

Companion characters should be distinguished from Loremaster characters. Balin was a companion character, Gandalf was a loremaster character.

The player can invoke a companion character's Trait for an automatic success, but not for Advancement points or to use a skill in an unexpected way. {Those are brilliant restrictions, GE}

During a Fellowship Phase, the companion characters can also complete an Undertaking, the most likely of which is for one of them to change out a Trait. They may also spend Advancement points to improve their skill. The player-hero may use their own Advancement points to improve a companion character as well, but individual companion characters may not share Advancement points. You may spend a companion Undertaking to have one companion character's skill become Favoured, but note that you only receive one Undertaking for companions, no matter how many companions are present. For example, if you have 13 companion characters and take a Fellowship Phase in Rivendell, you may do an Undertaking for your player-hero, and one Undertaking for your companions (for example, to make Balin's Awareness Favoured).

Companion characters can take on a Journey role, rolling as normal if presented with a challenge. Companion characters earn Advancement points for their skill, much like heroes do.

During an Encounter, companion characters affect Prejudice but do not impact Tolerance unless the Encounter rules specify such an impact (for example, if the loremaster character increases Tolerance because the companion character is a dwarf then Tolerance would go up). A companion character with an appropriate skill can participate in an Encounter, the player rolling and narrating for the companion.

In a combat, companion characters are assumed to be engaging other enemies, and the Loremaster should describe any combat as such. A player may choose to narrate that a companion has suffered a grievous loss in order to gain two points of Hope. Such companions are no longer available, for at least the duration of the adventure (and perhaps forever, if they were killed).

— • —

That's all I've got for now; this is pretty interesting stuff and I might try to do a more formal write-up later.

[Glorelendil]

Interesting ideas. I particularly like the idea of a negative trait being worth one additional positive trait. But I might start with a base of two traits per...13 companions is not going to be the norm!

Maybe the way the Hope pool could work is that you get to spend one point of Hope per companion, but you can't invoke that companion's traits for the rest of the session. Or something like that. I'd stop before "player gets to narrate something bad happening to companion".

I was starting from the principle of "never roll dice for companions", and while that rule could be changed I think it should be a last resort. I don't believe we're there yet; we haven't exhausted the possibilities.

Something else to consider vis a vis Journey hazards: if the task falls to an NPC, and the NPC fails the test, it usually means the loss of Endurance or gain of Fatigue or something. But if we're not tracking NPC Endurance and they never roll dice that doesn't matter. Rather than layer on more rules my inclination is to find some solution other than "NPC attempts Hazard." So something that evokes the narrative potential of Hazard, but is resolved entirely differently, and is driven by the player's actions not the NPC's. I don't know what that solution is, though.

More thoughts to come.

[zedturtle]

Yep, I was very reluctant to add the skill on there. But I was also having a hard time allowing for interesting results, because the other thing I was coming up with was just to spam traits and auto-succeed.

[Glorelendil]

On further reflection, I think that companions could simply add 1 to the Fellowship Pool. That's simple, it leaves the action to the player, and I don't think it's overpowered.

And here's an idea for combat: companions could have a variety of special abilities that apply to different situations. (Again, sort of like Hound of Mirkwood.) One might be good at distracting enemy archers, another when fighting single, large adversaries, another when the heroes are outnumbered, etc. The desired result is that the player gets to choose what the companion does for the combat ("Go harass the troll...") and the choice has some nuance so that it becomes an interesting decision, not a default.

[atgxtg]

Companions don't really need an attribute level.

Another source of inspiration for companions could be servants from the Lakemen's Merchant Prince cultural virtue. Servants have one or two significant skills (depending mostly on how useful /important the skills are), and the character gets to roll an extra Fate die and take the better of the two.

[Glorelendil]

Maybe each companion gets one "superpower" that can be used once per session, but doing so would consume the point of Hope that would otherwise be contributed to the pool. So the hero has to decide between using the superpower or having a point of Hope.

And further extending that algebra, maybe the hero can "buy" additional uses by spending Hope....

[Wbweather]

For hazards, ideally the player would make all the rolls. Of course, the player isn't filling all of the travel roles and will have weaknesses that will prevent him from doing well at them. Perhaps a solution is that the player has to assist the targeted companion. So for example, if the hunter gets a hazard, the player might be able to assist with a different skill(craft to help make a trap, awareness to notice some game), perhaps invoking the companion's traits for a bonus die? Maybe that doesn't work, but I agree that companions shouldn't be rolling dice.