Darkening of Mirkwood

[Beran]

No spoilers please. This primarily is a mechanics based question.

I was wondering how people are finding running a multi generational (ie reeeaaalllyyy long time frame campaign) in TOR? Have any issues been brought to light? Any house rules used to iron out things a bit?

[thewisewizard]

My beorning player wants to play his character as long as possible. I'm putting penalties on his body related skills as he gets past his prime.

[Yusei]

Maybe raising the TN of action rolls by 1 for every 5 or 10 years would be appropriate after a certain age.

[Michebugio]

I was wondering how people are finding running a multi generational (ie reeeaaalllyyy long time frame campaign) in TOR? Have any issues been brought to light? Any house rules used to iron out things a bit?

One of my players asked exactly the same as the Beorning of thewisewizard, so I had to develop a HR to cover this. Here it is:

Age 16-35: no penalties.

Age 36-50: +1 to TN of Body-related Common Skills, -1 to melee Damage score, -1 to Resistance.

Age 51-60: +2 to TN of Body-related Common Skills, -2 to melee AND ranged Damage score, -2 to Resistance.

Age 61+: +3 to TN of Body-related Common Skills, -3 to all Damage scores, -3 to Resistance.


In case you also want to roleplay a very young character, here are the rules:

Age 11-15: +1 to TN of ALL Common Skills, -1 to melee Damage score, -1 to Resistance.

Age 6-10: +3 to TN of ALL Common Skills, -3 to melee AND ranged Damage score, -3 to Resistance, Small trait.

[Shane]

My approach to this (I was thinking about it being in the early years of the DoM) would be to take a leaf from the way Shadow Weaknesses work, by applying age-related flaws at certain ages. I would then use the trait in the same way a flaw is used; for re-rolls or failure aggravation. It is consistent with the current rules, and allows flexibility in it's application to ensure that minor and unimportant stuff aren't affected. After all, Theoden wasn't a young 'un, but still kicked botty on occasion.

As for the flaws, either apply the Aging flaw a number of times (so at age XX you have Aging 3, and the LM can use Aging to provide dramatic complications 3 times per scene) or have different flaws for the age s. I prefer the Aging X approach.

Regards,

Shane

[Rich H]

Agree with what Shane has suggested here, age related traits is the best way to go. I'd certainly steer clear of raising TN for Common skills as (a) someone has to remember to do that and (b) age affects attributes and so it would be more applicable to alter those, not TNs.

[Angelalex242]

It is statistically unlikely the Beorning will go unscathed long enough for aging to apply more then once. Unless you're running the easiest campaign ever.

That'd be 19 (or 20?) adventures in a row without dying or being Shadowed out. Besides, a character with 20 adventures should essentially be a 'god' character with 260+ xp, considering the book recommends 13 per year.

[poosticks7]

Age related traits off the top of my head.

Bad back

Failing memory

Arthritis

Poor hearing

fading sight

grumpy (that one is a joke)

[Michebugio]

My approach to this (I was thinking about it being in the early years of the DoM) would be to take a leaf from the way Shadow Weaknesses work, by applying age-related flaws at certain ages.

Sounds a great mechanic, Shane, I really didn't think about that. And I love the consistency with the RAW.

So to further develop your idea, there could be 4 steps for "Aging Weakness" (just like the other Shadow Weaknesses), based on age. I'm just brainstorming:

1 - Middle Age (36 to 50 years old): a LM can force a re-roll or impose a failure aggravation on Common Skills related to Body, but only to those actions that would need an excellent or near-optimal body condition.

2 - Old Age (51 to 60 years old): a LM can force a re-roll or impose a failure aggravation on Common Skills related to Body, to all actions except simple or routine efforts (like riding, marching, swimming calm waters, jumping very short distances)or actions that require only a small exertion from the character.

3 - Very Old Age (61 to 70 years old): a LM can force a re-roll or impose a failure aggravation on Common Skills related to Body to all actions except the simplest ones (like walking quickly, or riding at slow speed). He can also force a re-roll or impose a failure aggravation on Weapon Skills.

4 - Venerable (71+ years old): a LM can force a re-roll or impose a failure aggravation on all rolls that may add Body to the result (Body-related Common Skills, Weapon Skills and Protection rolls). He can also force a re-roll or impose a failure aggravation on other Common Skills, whichever he deems appropriate for the character.

[Beran]

Besides, a character with 20 adventures should essentially be a 'god' character with 260+ xp, considering the book recommends 13 per year.

This is what primarily worries me with the TOR system in a multi generation game. I am currently running DoM as a PbP game (as such it probably won't last until the very end) and I have two Ranger PCs. I've been thinking, from what I know of the system, that if I were running a table game with the same characters the two Rangers would probably be considerably tougher characters then Aragorn by the end.