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It seems that you're trying to reproduce the Lord of the Rings Online crafting mechanic in The One Ring. If that's what your groups is looking for and it works for your group, that is fine. I don't think I'll be utilising the mechanic though. I think that the Heal Corruption undertaking and the Rewards (Fell, Grievous, Keen) simulate this enough for my game.

Yes, it's partly inspired by Lord of the Rings Online, at least initially. But it evolves as I'm working on it, it seems, at becomes less LOTRO and more The One Ring, so to speak. Feels like I'm onto something now, and I'll test it with my group on Sunday.

E.

Good luck with the play-testing

So, I've revised my "crafting rules" and come up with something that I think work better within the boundries of the rules in TOR. I also had the chance to let my players test them last night, and the player playing the Hobbit in the group used his Fellowship Phase at the Easterly Inn (which they previously opened as a Sanctuary) to make Provisions.

The idea here is that spending a Fellowship Phase "crafting", can sometimes give bonuses on the next Adventure Phase, or small, but permanent bonuses from gear.

"Crafting Projects (looking for a better name, as many of them uses other skills than Craft) are based on either Craft, Song, Persuade or Lore. Also, most have a Speciality tied to them, and without it, the TN goes up two degrees. They have a Distinctive Feature and a Sanctuary. Having the Feature bumbs the TN down one degree, and having the Sanctuary opened and spending the Fellowship Phase there (representing skill, assistance and know-how) bumps it down another degree. That said, the TN goes from 12 for very simple things, to 20 for really good stuff. Great and Extraordinary Successes can give substantial but non-permanents bonuses.

In addition, rolling and Eye of Sauron when crafting can actually give the Companion, or even the entire Fellowship different penalties.

This is the current list of "Crafting Projects" (looking for a better name, as many of them uses other skills than Craft):

Armour & Shields (Craft, Smith-craft, Determined, Erebor)
Axes & Mattocks (Craft, Smith-craft, Hardy, Erebor)
Blades (Craft, Smith-craft, Hardy, Dale)
Bows & Arrows (Craft, Woodwright, Patient, The Elven King's Hall)
Clothes & Leather (Craft, no speciality, Patient, Elven King's Hall)
Merchandise (Persuade, Trader, Fair-spoken, Lake-town)
Music & Poetry (Song, Minstrelsy, Fair-spoken, Rivendell)
Maps & Lore (Lore, speciality varies by lore or region, Clever, Rivendell)
Provisions (Craft, Cooking, Patient, sanctuary depends on what you're trying to make)
Spears (Craft, Woodwright, Patient, The Elven King's Hall)
Toy's & Trinkets (Craft, no speciality, Energetic, Erebor)

So, that's it. It's still a work in progress, but they players liked it.

As an example, here is Provisions, which we playtested yesterday. Let me know if anyone's interested in checking out any of the others from the list above.


PROVISIONS

Skill: Craft Speciality: Cooking

Distinctive Feature: Patient

Sanctuary: Special

Required Standard of Living: Frugal

Target Numbers: Provisions are made for the whole Fellowship, and can give two different types of advantages. The first is a bonus to Fatigue Check that is shared by the whole Fellowship. The second type is a number of times members of the Fellowship can ignore the Fatigue increase from failed Fatigue Checks or other circumstances. This number is shared by the members of the Fellowship. If two different types of Provisions are combined, count only the highest bonus and highest number of ignored Fatigue Increases.

TN 12: Trail rations (+1 to Fatigue Checks)

TN 12: Spice-wine (Ignore the Fatigue increase from two failed Fatigue Check)

TN 14: Pipe-leaf (Smoking, The Easterly Inn: +2 to Fatigue Checks)

TN 14: Honey-mead (Beorn’s House – Ignore the Fatigue increase from four failed Fatigue Checks

TN 16: A Hobbit’s Trail Provisions (Herb-lore, The Easterly Inn: +2 to Fatigue Checks, ignore the Fatigue increase from eight failed Fatigue Checks, +2 Encumbrance)

TN 18: Lembas (Elven-lore, The Elven King’s Hall: +4 to Fatigue Checks, ignore the Fatigue Increase from six failed Fatigue Checks)

Ordinary Success: Bonuses as listed

Great Success: Increase the number of ignored Fatigue increases by one. If the base Provision has no ignored Fatigue Tests, it now has one.

Extraordinary Success: Increase the number of ignored Fatigue increases by two. If the base Provision has no ignored Fatigue Tests, it now has two.

Failure: No bonuses are received.

Eye of Sauron: The Fellowship suffers a -1 on all Fatigue Checks the next Adventure Phase, due to the lower quality food.

Looks good although will have to see how it plays out (don't want this to replace Rewards completely). I am definitely interested in seeing the others in full. By the way, I have a list of additional specialties which I suggested in the old forum but did not get much interest, I am resurrecting it here:

New Specialties

Acrobatics/Circus Performer/Jester/Musician
Acting/Dancing
Administration & Law
Alchemy
Archer/Marksman
Art (Painting etc.)
Astrology/Astronomy
Beekeeping (especially for Beornings)
Camouflage
Cartography/Geography
Disguise (could be lumped in with acting)
Fortune Teller/Foresighted
Gamester/Gambling
Geology & Mining
Heraldry
Historian/Scribe
Horse Archer (see below re riding)
Hypnosis
Interrogation/Torturer
Linguist (could be with historian)
Lip reading
Quick Draw
Riding (I notice previous treatment has made this a virtue, but in my view s/be a specialty)
Sea-craft (sailing etc.)
Strategy & tactics (military)
Teamster
Trapping (this is a specialised skill as distinct from Hunting in general)
Unarmed Combat (especially for the monks!)
Weather Watching

New Distinctive Features

Ambidextrous
City Dweller (means not used to rural)
Fell-Handed (like Helm the Hammerhand)
Flamboyant
Hidden Strength
Lucky (careful with this one as open to abuse)
Phobia (plenty to choose from!)
Rustic (not used to towns/cities)
Strong Willed
Tiresome (tough one to play in a Fellowship)
Tolerant
Weak-willed


So for example a PC with Historian/Scribe might have something like: you are skilled in the lore of the past, of written records and scripts.

Robin S.

This is not meant to replace Rewards in any way. The stronger bonuses that some of them can bring into the game are not permanent, and involves some risk in time and even penalties if an Eye of Sauron is rolled.

Permanent gear have smaller bonuses than that of Rewards, and even to get them, you'd need a Great or Extraordinary success. For example, getting a Great Success on making a weapon, gives +1 on attacks with this weapon. An Extraordinary Success gives +1 on attacks and -1 Encumbrance. An ordinary success gives only a regular weapon. A failure gives no product and an Eye of Sauron gives a weapon that dulls easily, but can otherwise be good (if even with the Eye of Sauron, the TN is reached).

Here are the writeups for some more. I didn't want to invent new Specialities or Features, so I worked with what I had:

AXES & MATTOCKS

Skill: Craft Speciality: Smith-craft

Distinctive Feature: Hardy

Sanctuary: Erebor

Required Standard of Living: Martial

Target Numbers: If needed, whetstones can be made for the whole Fellowship by increasing the TN by one degree. These also work for swords and daggers.

TN 12: Whetstones
TN 14: Axe
TN 16: Mattock
TN 18: Great Axe
TN 20: Long-hafted Axe

Ordinary Success: Common Quality (no bonuses)

Great Success: Good Quality Axe (+1 to attack rolls), Good Whetstones

Extraordinary Success: Excellent Quality Axe (+1 on attack rolls and damage rating), Excellent Quality Whetstones

Failure: Nothing is produced.

Eye of Sauron: The blade of the weapon is especially prone to dulling, and needs to be sharpened more regularly. The Damage and Injury Ratings of the weapon are at two lower than normal. This penalty can be offset by having whetstones with the same Quality as the weapon.

BOWS & ARROWS

Skill: Craft Speciality: Woodwright

Distinctive Feature: Patient

Sanctuary: The Elven King’s Hall

Required Standard of Living: Martial

Target Numbers: Arrows only give bonuses when the Crafting Project is a Great or Extraordinary Success, and only for the next Adventure Phase. An adventurer can attempt to make arrows or bowstrings for the rest of the Fellowship by increasing the TN by one degree, thus granting any special bonuses to his Companions too for the next Adventure Phase

TN 12: Extra Bowstrings
TN 14: Bodkin arrows
TN 16: Bow
TN 18: Broadhead arrows
TN 20: Great Bow

Ordinary Success: Common bows and bowstrings. Arrows grant no special bonuses.

Great Success: Good bow (+1 to attack rolls), Good Bodkin Arrows (-1 to Edge of the bow used in the next Adventure Phase), Good Broadhead Arrows (+1 to Damage and +2 to Injury Rating for the bow used in one Adventure Phase), Good Bowstrings

Extraordinary Success: Excellent Bow (+2 to attack rolls), Excellent Bodkin Arrows (-2 to Edge for the bow used in the next Adventure Phase), Excellent Broadhead Arrows (+2 to Damage and +2 to Injury Rating for the bow used in the next Adventure Phase), Excellent Bowstrings

Failure: Nothing is produced.

Eye of Sauron: The bow has a tendency to wear out its bowstring more quickly than other bows. This incurs a -2 to the Damage and Injury Rating of the bow. To counter this, bowstrings of at least the same Quality as the bow must be carried by the adventurer.

When rolling an Eye of Sauron while making arrows, the arrows produced are badly balanced or even too heavy. Arrows like these gives a -2 penalty to attack rolls for the next Adventure Phase. This penalty is combined with the bonuses from Great or Extraordinary Success if the attempt still was a success.

MUSIC & POETRY

(This represents the Companion composing or writing songs and poems he performs while travelling)

Skill: Song Speciality: Minstrelsy

Distinctive Feature: Fair-spoken

Sanctuary: Rivendell

Required Standard of Living: Martial

Target Numbers: Music & Poetry gives the Fellowship bonuses to certain Skills for the next Adventure Phase. On an ordinary success, this is gained only by Companions of Culture listed. In addition, each Companion who benefits from this bonus during an Adventure Phase may spend it to gain the bonus on a single Fear or Corruption Check. However, after spending the bonus in this way, it no longer benefits the character in any way.

TN 14: Bardic Hymn (Inspire +2)
TN 14: Beorning Boast (Awe +2)
TN 14: Dwarven Chant (Battle +2)
TN 14: Elven Lay (Lore +2)
TN 14: Hobbit Walking Song (Travel +2)
TN 14: Lake-men Ballad (Song +2)
TN 14: Woodmen Poem (Insight +2)

Ordinary Success: For the next Adventure Phase, the bonus only applies to Fellowship members of the Culture the song or poem comes from.

Great Success: Half of the bonus is gained by the other members of the Fellowship for the next Adventure Phase, regardless of what Culture they belong to.
Extraordinary Success: The other members of the Fellowship gain the full bonus to the skill, regardless of the Culture they belong to.

Failure: No bonuses are granted.

Eye of Sauron: If an Eye of Sauron is rolled when composing a music or poetry, and this results in a failure for the skill check, the bonus becomes penalty to the skill listed for the next Adventure Phase. This penalty can be removed whenever a Fear or Corruption Check is called for, and voluntary taking -2 to this check.

MAPS & LORE

Maps and lore can be researched can be researched from old, dusty tomes and libraries. Having a detailed map of a region gives the traveller great advantage in finding good routes and to avoid potential dangers. However, maps of many regions have become very rare, and are hard to find even in the best stocked libraries and archives.

Books, scrolls and manuscripts of lore can also be of great advantage when adventuring in the Wilds. These can be of many different topics, but all are prized by serious scholars.

Skill: Lore Speciality: Special

Distinctive Feature: Clever

Sanctuary: Rivendell

Required Standard of Living: Prosperous

Target Numbers: Maps can be researched during a Fellowship Phase. Each map is for a specific region, as indicated on the Loremaster’s Map (i.e. Map of the Northern Mirkwood). Once researched, a map provides the Fellowship the advantage of having travelled the route in the past. That is, characters travelling the rout gain their Attribute bonus to their Fatigue Checks without having to spend a point of Hope. The Speciality tied to the researching of maps is the Region-lore for the region the map covers. If a Great or Extraordinary Success is rolled when researching maps, maps of adjacent regions are found.

Researched Lore gives the character lowers TN with one degree for either one, two or three Skills when used in conjunction with the Speciality it is tied to.

TN 12: Map of the (Free lands)
TN 14: Map of the (Border lands)
TN 16: Map of the (Wild lands)
TN 18: Map of the (Shadow lands)
TN 20: Map of the (Dark lands)

TN 14: Beast-lore (Awareness, Hunting, Stealth)
TN 14: Herb-lore (Awareness, Healing, Search)
TN 14: Enemy-lore (Awareness, Insight, Stealth)
TN 14: Elven-lore (Lore, Song, Battle)
TN 14: Folk-lore (Song, Courtesy, Riddle)
TN 14: Old lore (Lore, Riddle, Battle)
TN 14: Rhymes of Lore (Song, Riddle, Lore)

Ordinary Success: One map, one skill

Great Success: Two maps, two skills

Extraordinary Success: Three maps, three skills

Failure: Nothing useful is learned.

Eye of Sauron: If an Eye of Sauron is rolled when researching a map, it leads the Fellowship astray and into danger. Double the amount number of travel Hazards encountered in the region.
If an Eye of Sauron is rolled when researching lore and the roll fails, the TN for these skills increases by one degree for the next Adventure Phase.


CLOTHES & LEATHER

(Making outfits of better quality gives a small bonus to some skills, but

Skill: Craft Speciality: None

Distinctive Feature: Patient

Sanctuary: The Elven King’s Hall

Required Standard of Living: Special

Target Numbers: (a Companion can only get the benefits from one outfit in an adventure phase, and they last until the skill is increased, or the outfit is changed...)

TN 16: Traveller’s Outfit (Frugal - Travel)
TN 16: Hunter’s Outfit (Frugal - Hunting)
TN 16: Craftsman’s Outfit (Martial - Craft)
TN 16: Burglar’s Outfit (Martial – Stealth)
TN 16: Minstrel’s Outfit (Prosperous - Song)
TN 16: Courtier’s Outfit (Prosperous - Courtesy)
TN 16: Nobleman’s Outfit (Rich - Inspire)
TN 16: Lord’s Outfit (Rich – Awe)
TN 18: Leather shirt
TN 20: Leather corslet

Ordinary Success: Common Quality Armour (no bonuses), Common Quality Outfit (no bonuses)

Great Success: Good Quality Armour (-1 Encumbrance), Good Quality Outfit (+1 to skill until skill is increased)

Extraordinary Success: Excellent Quality Armour (+1 Protection, -1 Encumbrance), Excellent Quality Outfit (+2 to skill until skill is increased)

Failure: Nothing is produced.

Eye of Sauron: The armour is ill fitted and Encumbrance is increased by two points in the first Adventure Phase they are used. The increased Encumbrance decreases by one point the next Adventure Phase, and is removed after that, when the wearer has become used to wearing his new protective gear. This penalty comes on top of any bonuses from Good or Excellent Quality gear.

If an Eye of Sauron is rolled when making outfits, the character wearing gets a -1 penalty to the listed skill in the next Adventure Phase, as it takes him some time to discover that his new outfit isn’t very effective (or out of fashion). This penalty can be combined with bonuses from Great or Extraordinary Successes if the roll still succeeds when rolling an Eye of Sauron.

Also, here is the text I've written as general guide on how the system works. I've changed the way Specialities, Distinctive Features and Sanctuaries work. Instead of lowering or raising the TN, they add bonuses or penalties.

So, here we go:

Companions often spend their Fellowship Phases in towns and Sanctuaries with facilities for crafting, art and lore. In places such as these, the Companions can commit to Projects like crafting, studies and works of art, to help them in their further adventures.

There are several different forms of Projects a character can commit to. The only requirement for a Companion, who wishes to commit to any of these Projects, is having at least one rank the Skill listed. However, all Projects have other elements that help a Companion to create works of greater quality.
An adventurer can attempt no more than one Project per Fellowship Phase.
Each type of Project has different elements. Below is a description on how they work together.

Skill: This is the base skill needed when committing to a Project. A Companion needs at least one rank in this skill to be able to succeed.

Speciality: Specialities works different for Projects than for regular skill rolls. If the adventurer lacks the listed
Speciality, he suffers a -4 penalty to the attempt to complete the Project.

Distinctive Feature: Distinctive Features also works a bit different when used in Projects. If a Companion has the listed Distinctive Feature, he receives a +2 bonus to the attempt to complete the project.

Sanctuary: Some places in Middle Earth are known far and wide for the quality of their facilities. If the adventurer has access to the listed place as a Sanctuary, and spends the Fellowship Phase in this place, he receives a bonus to the attempt to complete the Project. This bonus varies between +2 and +4, and represents the use of better facilities and even help and insight from masters of the crafts and trades.

Required Standard of Living: Crafting Projects requires resources, and an adventurer has to live at a certain Standard of Living to be able to see the Crafting Project Trough. If his Culture is at a lower Standard of Living, he must spend the required amount of Treasure Points for the duration of the Fellowship Phase.

Target Numbers: This is where any specific modifiers to the TNs or other variant situations for the Crafting Project are described. Below are the specific TNs for the Project.

Ordinary Success: This describes the result of the project on an ordinary success. In most cases, an ordinary success grants no bonuses weapons and armour, and only small bonuses from other projects.

Great Success: This is the description for what bonuses or extras that are gained if a Great Success is rolled.
Extraordinary Success: This is the description for what bonuses or extras that are gained if a Extraordinary Success is rolled.

Failure: This is a description of what happens when a Project fails.

Eye of Sauron: This describes any penalties or disadvantages that are incurred when an Eye of Sauron is rolled. In most cases, an Eye of Sauron counts as a zero on the Fate Die, and can therefore be combined with a Great or Extraordinary Success if the die result is otherwise high enough. In some cases, rolling an Eye of Sauron can result in dramatic penalties and disadvantages.

HOPE

Hope can be used a normal to add the Body, Heart or Wits to the roll for completing Projects. This point of Hope must be taken from the Companion, as Fellowship Points cannot be used in this way.

COOPERATION

Companions may work together on Projects. One Companion is the selected as the head of the Project, and the roll is bases on his or her Skill, Speciality and Distinctive Feature. For each Companion who helps out, reduce the TN for the Skill check by one degree if. In addition, Specialities and Distinctive Features can be pooled when cooperating, so that each Companion brings his own Specialities and Distinctive Features towards meeting the any requirements.
The head of the Project may benefit from a maximum number of assistants equal to his rank in the Skill the Project is based on.

Wow. I'm amazed by the amount of work you've put into this Ferretz. One thing is confusing me though. Why bother with whetstones or bowstrings? Have you made a house rule that states that blades dull and bowstrings wear through? Cause I don't recall reading anything about that in the RAW

Beleg wrote:Wow. I'm amazed by the amount of work you've put into this Ferretz. One thing is confusing me though. Why bother with whetstones or bowstrings? Have you made a house rule that states that blades dull and bowstrings wear through? Cause I don't recall reading anything about that in the RAW

Ah, they have a function in the system I'm making, but they won't come into play often. When rolling an Eye of Sauron on Projects for metal edged weapons (axes, swords etc), you'll most likely fail. But let's say you roll an Extraordinary Success, and you have enough bonuses from Sanctuary and Distinctive Feature to beat the TN anyway (remember, the Eye of Sauron count as a zero), you may want to keep the weapon anyway, as it is a bit better than regular weapons. However, rolling an Eye of Sauron means that the weapon dulls easily, and to counter this, you need to craft and carry with you whetstones. You only need to craft them once, but they need to be at least the same Quality as the weapon they are used with (so a Sword crafted with an Extraordinary Success, i.e. an Excellent Quality Sword, needs whetstones crafted with Extraordinary Success).

For bows, it's basically the same. You roll an Eye of Sauron, but still want to keep the bow? Craft bowstrings to negate the penalty.

What happens when you roll an Eye of Sauron is described under each Project type. Check out Music & Poetry, for example. You don't want that Dwarf who is bad at singing, going around chanting dwarven war songs all the Adventure Phase.

Ah, ok, thanks. I just wondered why you had use for them