The High Pass as an Adversary

[Rocmistro]

Hello.

One of my PbP campaigns will be crossing the High Pass soon. I'd like to set this up as more of an adversary, a foe who sets his will against the fellowship, similar to how Caradrhas almost had his own 'spirit' that was being called upon to defy the Fellowship of the Ring. I was inspired to do this from the new Revelation rules in Rivendell. Here's what I've come up with:


Cirith Forn-en-Andrath

Attribute Level: 10 Hate: = to Fellowship’s current Hunt Level upon first entering the High Pass.
Endurance: 100 Protection: n/a Parry: n/a

Personality: 3 Survival: 1
Movement: 1 Custom: 3
Perception: 5 Vocation: 2

Basic Attacks: (the first attack is free; the mountain can pay 1 point of hate to produce a 2nd attack in the same round.)

-Set my will against thee! (next round of Travel TN’s increased by +2)

-Ire of the Mountain (the next player to fail a Travel automatically produces an "Eye" result (hazard)

-Dreadful weather (force immediate blighted land corruption test, TN: 14, or pay 1 additional hate to increase TN to 16.)

-Foundations of Stone (the Mountain does not attack, but instead recovers <Feat Die> in Endurance Damage and 1 point of Hate.)


Crossing the High Pass:
-Players do not make fatigue tests per the normal schedule. Instead, the LM and players go into a sort of "combat round" sequence. At the beginning of the Round, each hero indicates what “Path” he is taking on the High Pass. (Low, Middle, or High). This sets the TN’s for Travel (14, 16, 18 respectively) and also the “damage” they can inflict to the mountain for successful Fatigue (Travel) checks.

-The LM then declares which of his “Basic” attacks he’s going to make (if any). He can make a second “attack” (but no more) in a round by spending a point of hate. (There is no limit for Hazard Attacks, whose expenditure is triggered by Hazard Episodes).

-Once he has done this, and that is resolved, the players then roll their Travel checks. For each success, they do a number of “Endurance” damage to the Mountain according to the chart below (Note: a successful fatigue test always does at least the amount of damage shown in the regular “Success” column.) Failed Travel tests accumulate Fatigue gain, per normal, and “Eye” rolls generate Hazard episodes (but see below)

Path..........Success..........Great Success............................Extraordinary Success
Low Road.....2 damage ......1 + Travel Ranks..........................2 + Travel Ranks
Middle Road..4 damage.......Travel Ranks + Heart...................Travel Ranks + Favored Heart
High Road.....6 damage.......Travel Ranks + Heart + Valor.........1 + Travel Ranks + Favored Heart + Valor

-Once the Mountain reaches 0 Endurance, the party has successfully crossed to the other side.

-If the Mountain ever gets to 0 Hate, it is considered to now be dormant. All TN’s for Travel Checks and hazard episdoes are decreased by 2. No further blighted land Corruption tests are required, as the mists disperse and the sun comes out. The mountain will sleep until the next New Moon, at which point it will awake again with its full compliment of Endurance and Hate.

Hazard Episodes:
If the Heroes trigger a hazard, resolve the hazard as normal, but the Loremaster is free to spend as much of his remaining hate as he wants (per any conditions below) to affect the outcome of the Hazard.

-The Mountain is free to spend 1 point of Hate to increase the TN of the Hazard by +2, multiple times, to a max of TN: 20).

-The Mountain may spend hate to put into “reserve” This reserve is set before rolling the Feat Die per the Hazard results on page 161 of the Core Rules. After rolling the Feat Die, the Loremaster may then modify the result of the Feat die by an amount in either direction up to the amount of Hate he put into reserve. (Example, after a Hazard, the Loremaster puts 2 Hate into Reserve. The feat die results in a “5” (Add Fatigue again, twice again on an “Eye”). He doesn’t like this result so he spends his 2 Hate Points held in reserve and changes it to a “3”, which makes the Hero miserable for the remainder of the Journey.)

-Rouse the Fleas! In addition to the Hazard, the Mountain opens cracks and chambers within its sides that allows Orcs and Goblins to spring forth. Down! Down! To Goblin Town! For every 2 points of Hate that the Loremaster spends (to a maximum of 6), he may select a number of total Orcs, Goblins, Wargs or Trolls’ attribute rating equal to the current Hunt Level of the party. For example, if the current Hunt Level of the party is 9, the Loremaster can pay 4 hate and attack the party with 2 Orcs of Mount Gram (4x2=8) and 5 Goblins of Carn Dum (5x2=10). (10+8=18 attribute levels of Orcs.) Against this type of orc ambush, the heroes are considered to have been Ambushed, and the TN to escape this combat is 12+highest attribute rating. (This should be the culminating event of such a Journey phase.)

[artaxerxes]

Epic stuff!

[Murcushio]

This seems unduly harsh for the high pass, given that the Beornings supposedly work really hard to keep that place open and safe for transit and are apparently pretty good at it.

[Mytholder]

Oh, this gives me an idea for Yet Another Variant Set Of Journey Rules.

Model it off combat. You've got Journey stances - say, Hasty, Marching, Cautious and Leisurely, corresponding to Forward/Open/Defensive/Rearward. You model regions as monsters. The region's Endurance is how long it takes to cross it; Wounds are obstacles that must be overcome. The journey roles etc correspond to Weapons. So, a Guide helps you cover lots of ground, so that translates to high-damage, low-Edge. An Explorer's better at finding a way around Obstacles, so it's low-damage, high-Edge. Look-outs are like armour - they protect you against enemy hazards. Hunters are ranged weapons - they can live off the land, so they can't be attacked as easily or something.

Hazards equate to Piercing Blows struck by the enemy. And you've already got the Eye of Sauron/Hate equivalency in Rivendell...

[Falenthal]

Impressive!

Just yesterday I was reading DoM, the adventure related to Beorn's Quest where the players have to walk with him into the Misty Mountains to meet "the Hunter". I think this rules would fit very nicely in there.

Otherwise, I agree that I wouldn't use it normally to cross the High Pass, but they can be used for the Grey Mountains or in some kind of mystical travel (like the one in Beorn's Quest).

I've made a copy+paste of the text in my The One Ring folder.

[Rocmistro]

This seems unduly harsh for the high pass, given that the Beornings supposedly work really hard to keep that place open and safe for transit and are apparently pretty good at it.

Thanks Murcushio, you're probably right, though I did intend for the difficultly to level to be directly related to the Hunt Level. Ie, the more "powerful" the races crossing, the more the mountain wakes up and attempts to hinder them. Thus, high elves and rangers with their +2/+3 hunt levels will bring far more "hate" to the mountain than a bunch of hobbits or men trying to cross.

[Rocmistro]

Oh, this gives me an idea for Yet Another Variant Set Of Journey Rules.

Model it off combat. You've got Journey stances - say, Hasty, Marching, Cautious and Leisurely, corresponding to Forward/Open/Defensive/Rearward. You model regions as monsters. The region's Endurance is how long it takes to cross it; Wounds are obstacles that must be overcome. The journey roles etc correspond to Weapons. So, a Guide helps you cover lots of ground, so that translates to high-damage, low-Edge. An Explorer's better at finding a way around Obstacles, so it's low-damage, high-Edge. Look-outs are like armour - they protect you against enemy hazards. Hunters are ranged weapons - they can live off the land, so they can't be attacked as easily or something.

Hazards equate to Piercing Blows struck by the enemy. And you've already got the Eye of Sauron/Hate equivalency in Rivendell...

Yep, that was the intent. The low, middle, and high roads are alternate footpaths that go through the High Pass (anyone who's ever been mountain climbing realizes there are tons of actual "paths" that make up a single "path"), so that was the idea here. Go with safer paths that allow lower Travel TN's, but do less "damage" to the Mountain (damage being defined here as an exertion of one's will over the mountain's will in the form of mastering it's heights).

[Rich H]

... I think this is one of the cleverest ideas I've read on this forum, Rocco; it's really cool. It doesn't mean you have to use it every time someone crosses the High Pass, just when it's narratively appropriate. It feels like something the FATE system would do, which is good. FATE's a cool system too.

I like Gareth's ideas too.

[Rocmistro]

Impressive!

Just yesterday I was reading DoM, the adventure related to Beorn's Quest where the players have to walk with him into the Misty Mountains to meet "the Hunter". I think this rules would fit very nicely in there.

Otherwise, I agree that I wouldn't use it normally to cross the High Pass, but they can be used for the Grey Mountains or in some kind of mystical travel (like the one in Beorn's Quest).

I've made a copy+paste of the text in my The One Ring folder.

Thanks, and yes, I think that works too, Falenthal. Any time or place where the idea of the "land" being an adversary in it's own right, I think it could work; the Grey Mountains, the Ash Mountains, the plain of Gorgoroth, etc.

[Rocmistro]

... I think this is one of the cleverest ideas I've read on this forum, Rocco; it's really cool. It doesn't mean you have to use it every time someone crosses the High Pass, just when it's narratively appropriate. It feels like something the FATE system would do, which is good. FATE's a cool system too.

I like Gareth's ideas too.

All I can do here is quote Faramir: The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards.

Thanks Rich. These comments have given me the inspiration to refine this even more.