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Hmm....I'm with Rich: I think the concept is cool and in-flavor, but it conflicts too much with the existing mechanics. I totally agree that they should have low Hope, but the idea that they then spend it as fast as they can in order to trigger something at Zero, and then lose it as soon as they get a point of Shadow...that just feels like it's getting too contrived.

I was also toying with something along the lines of: Whenever they fail a Fear or Corruption test, if the number on the Feat die is higher than their Hope they get....something. In other words, give them a bonus for having low Hope without actively encouraging them to get there.

Elfcrusher wrote:Hmm....I'm with Rich: I think the concept is cool and in-flavor, but it conflicts too much with the existing mechanics. I totally agree that they should have low Hope, but the idea that they then spend it as fast as they can in order to trigger something at Zero, and then lose it as soon as they get a point of Shadow...that just feels like it's getting too contrived.

I get the feeling that I'm doing a terrible job of explaining this. The character would not lose the benefit when they had a positive Shadow rating. Positive Shadow rating would just mean they're at danger of having a bout of madness. It would be up to the player how much he or she wanted to take chances... do you dare take your Hope down to zero in order to get rid of your Weariness but risk having a bout of madness? Or do you keep your Hope above your Shadow score and stay Weary?

I was also toying with something along the lines of: Whenever they fail a Fear or Corruption test, if the number on the Feat die is higher than their Hope they get....something. In other words, give them a bonus for having low Hope without actively encouraging them to get there.

Hmm... still seems like it would encourage Hope expenditure, but only if they want to take chances. Feels like it might be worth an XP or something similar... it shouldn't come up too often (you'd have to clarify that only the first Fear test for Thing of Terror would count).

Dunheved

I agree with the others that in principle your idea is a good one but game-mechanics wise has problems.

However, one way around this problem is to discuss with your player what a 'Bout of Madness' actually means - if you read the descriptions, IIRC I saw one that seemed to be very similar to your 'Fey' idea anyway. As LM it is just a matter of discussing how such a character would actually behave

Robin S.

Robin Smallburrow wrote:I agree with the others that in principle your idea is a good one but game-mechanics wise has problems..... Robin S.

Thanks for all the ideas and comments from everyone.

I also don't want to have a different flavour to a new culture that twists the game mechanics out of shape. So I've come up with this instead, can anyone see if this new suggestion has too much impact?

Fey: Whenever one of the Rohirrim is Miserable they pass/ignore all Fear tests (i.e. he/she cannot be Daunted).

I don't know how often your PCs get miserable, but I'd hope that this variation means that (a) the effect is not popping up too many times (b) displays a resilient nature (c) makes the Rohan culture just a little bit unique

Dunheved wrote:Thanks for all the ideas and comments from everyone.

I also don't want to have a different flavour to a new culture that twists the game mechanics out of shape. So I've come up with this instead, can anyone see if this new suggestion has too much impact?

Fey: Whenever one of the Rohirrim is Miserable they pass/ignore all Fear tests (i.e. he/she cannot be Daunted).

I don't know how often your PCs get miserable, but I'd hope that this variation means that (a) the effect is not popping up too many times (b) displays a resilient nature (c) makes the Rohan culture just a little bit unique

Yeah, that's interesting. It would encourage Rohirric characters to keep higher Shadow scores (so that they could make themselves Miserable at need) but the effect that it would allow (spending Hope in the presence of Fear causing enemies) is self-regulating (since it makes becoming un-Miserable harder if you spend Hope). Nice... I wonder if it's too weak, but I'm not sure.

What about "When your Hope is less than twice your Shadow you don't feel the effects of Weary" and give them low starting Hope?

Dunheved wrote:Thanks for all the ideas and comments from everyone.

I also don't want to have a different flavour to a new culture that twists the game mechanics out of shape. So I've come up with this instead, can anyone see if this new suggestion has too much impact?

Fey: Whenever one of the Rohirrim is Miserable they pass/ignore all Fear tests (i.e. he/she cannot be Daunted).

I don't know how often your PCs get miserable, but I'd hope that this variation means that (a) the effect is not popping up too many times (b) displays a resilient nature (c) makes the Rohan culture just a little bit unique

I like that. Similar in how 'Stiff Neck' tempts players with dwarf characters to maintaining a high(ish) Shadow score, this would do the same. It feels like it's a nice thematic fit to Rohirrim as well but doesn't require using up all a PC's Hope which is too precious and difficult to recover.

Nobody seemed to like my earlier suggestion that it triggers when the Fellowship Pool is drained, and admittedly it doesn't fit the text for Rohirrim as well, which only really refers to their own hope. But in general I like the concept of triggering off an empty Fellowship Pool, just because it's an opportunity for a new mechanic that hasn't so far been used (except for a specific case I can think of in TfW).

Elfcrusher wrote:Nobody seemed to like my earlier suggestion that it triggers when the Fellowship Pool is drained, and admittedly it doesn't fit the text for Rohirrim as well, which only really refers to their own hope. But in general I like the concept of triggering off an empty Fellowship Pool, just because it's an opportunity for a new mechanic that hasn't so far been used (except for a specific case I can think of in TfW).

I agree; I do really like the idea, missed reading it until you've just pointed it out, but could be mechanically and thematically more suited to something else.

Elfcrusher wrote:Nobody seemed to like my earlier suggestion that it triggers when the Fellowship Pool is drained, and admittedly it doesn't fit the text for Rohirrim as well, which only really refers to their own hope. But in general I like the concept of triggering off an empty Fellowship Pool, just because it's an opportunity for a new mechanic that hasn't so far been used (except for a specific case I can think of in TfW).

I felt that most Fellowships would empty the pool before allowing any PC to become Miserable anyway - or am I just being too nice here? So I guess that Fey would (by default) also be when the pool was empty.


Actually I like both ways of triggering the action for a Rohan PC: becoming Fey through being Miserable (Rohan) or when the fellowship pool becomes zero.
Elfcrusher - would you want any character to have access to this ability whenever the Pool is drained or keep it specific to Rohan?


I'm not sure that many PCs would deliberately 'burn' Hope just to trigger this effect. Unless somebody was a bit Fey themselves?
Have there been many Spent (zero Hope) characters for other people?