Corruption Tests and Shadow

[mica]

Having started Tales of Wilderness with modestly experienced characters and now into the last adventure I am finding that even substituting the odd troll for orcs, the characters are still finding things too easy. (I have already commented on skilled characters only ever using Defensive Stance in a previous thread)As for corruption tests - walk in the park.

The party consists of 3 bardings and due to the nature of scenarios, usually a couple of NPC redshirts.
Each now has attained 4 valour/wisdom.

Anyhoo, the main point, with 4 valour, 6 heart, an average corruption roll will be 19 and even a poor result has to date always been converted to a success with a point of hope. As a result the characters have happily been without shadow now for months of gaming (beyond the odd point for misdeeds).
3 characters in a blighted place for 5 days and not a single shadow point between them!
Even the Lord of the Nazgul would be hard pressed to make his sorcery stick.

Has anybody else encountered this? How have others dealt with it?

[Rocmistro]

Wow. How long have you been playing that your players got to 4 heart and 4 valor?

That represents a minimum of 36 XP to get that; completely disregarding weapon skills and other XP expenditures such as spells and other 1 pointers you can spend for virtues and such. So probably more like 52 to get 1 weapon to rank 4.

I've played through all published material up to the end of TfW in sequential order and we didn't have that much XP at conclusion, let alone during it.

My guess and only comment is that you are "leveling" too fast.

[Rich H]

My guess and only comment is that you are "leveling" too fast.

An average 8 experience points per adventure, as per advice in RAW on page 213, means that it only takes ten adventures to accrue 80 XP. Five adventures will net 40 XP.

... Doesn't seem too much of a stretch to get 4 Valour and 4 Wisdom (total of 36 points), with points to spare on weaponskills.

[Rocmistro]

Eh. I suppose. There are various different benchmarks and hints seeded throughout the books about how much XP one should be getting. I've always based this sort of the thing on the 6.5 per adventure mark x 6 adventures = 39 XP. So, yes, it's possible, I suppose. Then again if they pumped up Valor/Wisdom, then I would think their weapon skills should be lagging and they should be susceptible to getting worn down in battle. I'm simply trying to find the problem.

Mica are you adding attribute levels for favored skills to attack rolls and such from Orcs/Trolls, etc? Granted that won't help with Fear/Corruption tests and stuff, but like I said, if they have V/W of 4, their weapon skill i can't imagine is over 3. If they are 3 WS, I would further imagine they spend most of their time in Open stance and hitting (and getting hit) or in Defensive Stance and missing a lot (unless they are using hope, which, of course, carries its own issues).

[Corvo]

Hi Mica.
I encountered the same "problem" with my all-Barding fellowship.
They never failed a Valor check I think, and few corruption rolls.
They played some 11 adventures, and they are paragonable to yours characters, stat-wise.

Yet...
Given the Darkening campaign's geographical size, the same players have another set of characters, all Woodmen and Beornings, that are going through different adventures... And these are failing A LOT of Valor and Corruption rolls. The players realized that Bardings are particularly... Stalwart is the right word? Not strong or crafty as others, but damn courageous and resistant to the shadow's powers.

[mica]

Played just under 2 years, weekly (give or take a few holidays), about 5 hours per session, so around 80+ sessions. So a minimum of 80+ experience...

I agree about the other aspects - blundering their way through the wilderness etc.

With respect to hill trolls, orc soldiers and orc guards, they don't get their attribute bonus as it is not underlined, so they rarely hit against the defensive stance with a reasonable parry. The Gibbet King made a difference with its special ability for a couple of rounds before he was dunked.

[Rich H]

Played just under 2 years, weekly (give or take a few holidays), about 5 hours per session, so around 80+ sessions. So a minimum of 80+ experience.

... About how many adventures has that been, Mica?

[Rocmistro]

Mica:

My observatoin is that TfW is not written for 80 xp Heroes. It's really is designed I think to take you more from 5-50 XP (by the last adventure).

[mica]

How many adventures - with various side plots and other bits, probably around 11 taken at a leisurely pace. This is probably where the 1xp per session plus 1 per achievement means going slower gives bigger dividends - something I have commented on to the players. Not that they agreed.

I am also beginning to feel that the game is definitely not geared towards 80+ xp characters or the 1xp per session should not be standard. In fact I would go so far as to suggest that it should be 1 advancement point per session or, if they hit a benchmark, 2xp instead. Then if they only hit a benchmark ever few weeks due to procrastination (and burning down Stonyford lest we forget), they are not getting xp for nothing. I am hoping that the Eye will put a little edginess into the game especially now that one character is carrying a hunted cursed magical blade into the Withered Heath.

[Rich H]

How many adventures - with various side plots and other bits, probably around 11 taken at a leisurely pace. This is probably where the 1xp per session plus 1 per achievement means going slower gives bigger dividends - something I have commented on to the players. Not that they agreed.

Well, the new Revised Rules address this commenting on how peoples' game sessions can vary and how many XP should be accrued per adventure rather than per game session. It's what I referred to in my first post in this thread. You're actually pretty spot on based on the in-book advice where it suggests, on average, about 7 or 8 XP per adventure per character. If you've played through about 11 adventures then that should work out at between 77 to 88 XP in total. Your 80 XP is therefore pretty much on the money.

I am also beginning to feel that the game is definitely not geared towards 80+ xp characters.

I've looked at it in a different way... There aren't enough things to spend XP on, not that XP accrual is too fast.

So, in my campaign there are other options to spend XP:

* Might - an extra characteristic similar to Valour and Wisdom
* Traits - players can purchase further traits (specialities and distinctive features) rather than swap them in and out
* Languages - cost XP to increase
* Holdings - cost XP to increase

I think the official rules are also looking to address this as well with regard to spending XP on Artefacts and Famous Weapons and Armour, etc. Obviously, peoples' games play at a quicker rate than official material appears though.