Adventurer's Companion - Speculation

[Otaku-sempai]

I've never been much of a fan of the term 'Gondorean' - I can never find where Tolkien actually used it.

Besides, if the parallel with Numenorean were accurate then we would also have Arnorean. Which just sounds dumb.

I have to take back what I posted; I found Gondorian in Unfinished Tales. The pronunciation, though, would be virtually the same.

What's wrong with Arnorean (Ar-NOR-ee-an)? Or would you place the emphasis on the third syllable?

[Andrew]

He never uses it in The Lord of the Rings, then?

[Terisonen]

They just seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity to include another Culture is all.

Is more (always) better? I can see the benefit for players who have a character concept for a Breelander that they are itching to play, but I wonder...in all RPGs including this one...if there is such a thing as too much choice. How much design space is available, before the cultures begin to blend into each other?

The same question could be asked of weapon choices. For both, I tend to err on the cautious/conservative side.

I've gotta half-agree here. You can't add an unlimited number of Cultures and have it work well. That said, I think any number up to about 20 is okay, and we need Men of Gondor, Rohirrim, and Elves of Lorien, just for thematic reasons.

For similar thematic reasons, I'd really like to see a 'Clubs' type weapon group, with three or four weapons in it, and maybe another weapon or two (a Greatsword or Lance seems possible). But yeah, much beyond that seems a bit excessive.

And Equitation for Rohirrim? Skill (new) or Traits?

They aren't gonna add a new skill. I'd imagine a Trait, a Cultural Blessing, and probably a Virtue or two will be involved.

Not fair for other culture. Skill will be more accurate, perhaps with cultural reward specific to Rohirrim. Let's see where they can fix that.

[Halbarad]

@Terisonen

I'm not sure why you think that fairness to other cultures should limit the ability of the Rohirrim to ride and fight from horseback. Mounted Warfare is what defines the Rohirrim and makes them different from the, otherwise similar, Bardings. I have created two, slightly different, mounted cultures, The Leofrings(from TOR supplements- see the Houserules forum) and the Marhathiuda(see Other Minds issue 14).
There are several things I considered when creating them.

1) There are some cultures where horses are rare and those there are, are usually workhorses.
2) There are some cultures where there is an equestrian class, capable of limited mounted combat.
3) There are some cultures where mounted combat is the preferred method of warfare.
4) There are the Riders of Rohan, who are probably similar, but slightly better than those at 3.

I created several Traits for the first group to facilitate non combat riding, several Mounted Combat Masteries for the second group and a whole bunch of Cultural Blessings, Rewards and Virtues for the third. This represented a scaled increase in horsemanship and mounted combat ability. I suppose that my take on it is that if you are not a trained rider, you have no business being on horseback when the sword swinging starts. Leave cavalry actions to those who are trained in it, or born to it.

I will be very surprised if the official Rider Culture does not have a Mounted Cultural Blessing as well as several Rewards and Virtues.

[DavetheLost]

Hunting, Battle, weapons and other skills can probably already be used from the saddle. You don't suddenly forget how to do something just because you are sitting on a horse. The Rohirim are just better at it. Sounds like a Cultural Blessing to me.

The other half of the equation is the horse. It takes considerable trianing to produce a horse that will even stay in battle, let alone contribute. Your average riding nag will be heading for the hills when the orcs charge.

[Deadmanwalking]

And Equitation for Rohirrim? Skill (new) or Traits?

They aren't gonna add a new skill. I'd imagine a Trait, a Cultural Blessing, and probably a Virtue or two will be involved.

Not fair for other culture. Skill will be more accurate, perhaps with cultural reward specific to Rohirrim. Let's see where they can fix that.

The existing skills are designed in a very specific manner (6 groups of three). Adding any would screw things up quite a bit (you'd need to add 6 to make it work at all, and it'd be awkward even then), so that's not gonna happen.

That said, to clarify, I imagine the Mounted Combat/Riding rules will be generic, and usable (via existing skills...most likely Athletics and Travel) by anyone. But only the Rohirrim will have a Specialty to auto-succeed (though others could retrain and grab it), their cultural blessing will enhance it (and provide a horse...something I suspect will require being Prosperous otherwise), and pretty much only they will have Virtues focused on it.

None of that is unfair any more than only Men of the Lake getting Virtues to explicitly help with trading (or being the only ones with the Minstrelsy Trait) or only Dwarves having a Cultural Blessing that aids in wearing heavier armor.

[Glorelendil]

I would bet against a new skill being added. Doing so would require changing too many other things.

[Terisonen]

Why not, but when you tap at the Tolkien source, you can see:

-Legolas horsemanship is natural;
-Dwarves not even think to ride on four-legged living beast.

I dismiss Aragorn for he his not a typical Ranger. However, people of Gondor seems to have messenger riding hard and fast, so horsemanship is known to her. Not to talk about people living between Mirkwood and the Sea of Rhun and beyond.

[Glorelendil]

So here's a solution:

Horsemanship is assumed. Generally it's part of "Travel" skill. As needed, it could also be Athletics, Inspire/Awe, Battle, etc.

Rohirrim cultural blessing is that any common skill used in the context of horsemanship gets Advantage (roll Feat die twice, keep higher.)

[Otaku-sempai]

He never uses it in The Lord of the Rings, then?

Apparently not. I was mistaken in that belief. Tolkien did, however, use Númenórean for the Men of Númenor.