Forced Hope Claiming

[Angelalex242]

Has any player ever actually DONE this?

The RAW says you can take hope points from the fellowship pool without consent of the fellowship, but gain 1 shadow for every point so taken.

Has that rule ever been used or enforced?

[Falenthal]

Not in my game.
Everyone is very generous with the Fellowship Pool.
In fact, I think that in 4 adventures, the FP has never been depleted.
I need to rise the TNs!

[Majestic]

None of my players have refused use of Hope from the pool, though in our last adventure one player argued against it. He wished to save the pool for later, in case it was needed, feeling that the player asking for it should wait until he was down to 0 himself; he was outvoted.

I strongly doubt that any of my players would choose to take a point of Shadow in this way unless they were very desperate.

[Murcushio]

Not in my game.
Everyone is very generous with the Fellowship Pool.
In fact, I think that in 4 adventures, the FP has never been depleted.
I need to rise the TNs!

... wait, what?

Are your players not tapping the pool dry at the end of every session? If not, they're either not playing smart, don't know that that's an option, or are spending Hope so rarely they don't need to.

None of those situations sound ideal.

[Morgoth]

My group usually figures out who needs it the most at the end of the session and agrees on how to split it. No one's ever taken it without the entire groups consensus. For the most part, the players have been generous: "No, you need it more than me... you should take it instead" kind of thing.

[Falenthal]

Not in my game.
Everyone is very generous with the Fellowship Pool.
In fact, I think that in 4 adventures, the FP has never been depleted.
I need to rise the TNs!

... wait, what?

Are your players not tapping the pool dry at the end of every session? If not, they're either not playing smart, don't know that that's an option, or are spending Hope so rarely they don't need to.

None of those situations sound ideal.

Agreed. The option that applies to my group is the last one. There's always one of them who is good at the task at hand and the others don't need to spend Hope points.

I've been "analyzing" the first adventures and I must say that there were'nt lots of skill checks and I tend to plan the hazards so that the players can succeed. On the other hand, my first adventures had the background idea of introducing the players to the setting and mechanics, to establish relations with NPCs, and to have adventure in a peaceful land. Next adventure they'll be crossing Mirkwood through the dangerous Old Forest Road and Darkening will beginn shortly after. This should become more difficult and -I guess- Hope should be spent more often.

But yes, I have to force them spend some more Hope points for the Hope/Shadow mechanic to work. As for now, only the Dwarf is having problems with it.

[Angelalex242]

I think that if it ever were used, it'd be more an IC punishment for OOC actions.

"You didn't chip in for pizza, so we don't consent to you taking any hope from the fellowship pool. You can, of course, take it anyway, but shadow for you if you do!"

[Majestic]

My players wouldn't penalize each other for anything OOC. They might joke about it, but would never actually do it.

In our games, the Fellowship pool has never been tapped all the way. In the current adventure (which they're most of the way through), they haven't even touched it yet. They tend to save it for emergencies.

[Murcushio]

Agreed. The option that applies to my group is the last one. There's always one of them who is good at the task at hand and the others don't need to spend Hope points.

Hmm. There really should be a fair number of checks that apply to the entire party and thus can't be dropped on any one individual.

The obvious candidates there are Fear and Corruption checks. Those tend to be party-wide, and usually at least some people will fail them. The consequence of either tends to be severe (dumping Shadow is legitimately hard, you have to spend a Fellowship phase doing it) so people tend to spend hope.

Situations where everyone needs to pass an Athletics check (climb the cliffside! Ford the river!) are also good ones. So is everyone needing to pass an Awareness check or being at some kind of disadvantage re: some kind of hidden trap or hazard.

Also, Hope should really be spent in combat a lot. Ideally, players will want to spend Hope to transform failed rolls with Tengwars into Great or Extraordinary successes. Hobbits should want to spend Hope to transform hits into Piercing Blows.

[Falenthal]

The obvious candidates there are Fear and Corruption checks.

Situations where everyone needs to pass an Athletics check (climb the cliffside! Ford the river!) are also good ones.

Both things have happened... and the dwarf always failed both! First thing he did when he got enoug APs and EPs was to rise his Athletics and his Wisdom. And his first Fellowship Undertaking was spent to Heal Corruption. He's already afraid of the Shadow, and we still haven't left the safe zone of Dale-Esgaroth and its surroundings.

Either way, I must say that none of the characters is at maximum Hope. They all have lost some and, as I said before, the current 4 adventures have been more or less easy. From now on, things will get a bit more complicated.