A Matter of Fellowship

[zedturtle]

So, in my big PbP game we're losing one of our long-term players to burnout. Not a problem in itself, I understand things happen. But the "session" is about to end, and I've been given permission to send the character out in dramatically appropriate fashion. So she will end the game session poisoned, possibly dying (we're running The Crossings of Celduin right now).

But... the character is also the Fellowship Focus for about half the party (I believe four PCs have her as FF). So that means that I would be intentionally introducing Shadow for those PCs in my plot to get the character off-screen. Is that right? Or should I just have the poisoning happen but not count it as Poisoned, since the Fellowship is changing for non story reasons?

[damiller]

I would say no shadow points because as a GM you are just narrating an ending for an exiting player. If you just stopped mentioning the character because they were done playing would you give them shadow point? I would hope not, now all you are doing is telling the players what happened to the character.

Or you could just ask them what they think would be cool.

d

[Rocmistro]

I say pile on the Shadow Points, Zed!

Ok but seriously, 1 shadow point is really not going to hurt people too much. If anything, I'd say you've been very light-handed, one might say a feather-weight with respect to having our group make Corruption rolls, Zed.

And of course, Amroth will not get a SP

[Glorelendil]

Morgul-knife. Wraith. LM Character.

[Yusei]

I say pile on the Shadow Points, Zed!

Agreed.

I faced a similar dilemma when I decided to kill a NPC that was the fiancee of a PC. I didn't want to give him Shadow points because he didn't have a choice, but then it felt wrong, and the player agreed later that he would have been fine with even a forced Bout of Madness.

(BTW, I improvised a house-rule that worked well: he got full Hope, but he had to use it during the scene. Kind of a bout of madness that allows you to kick ass for a while.)

[Andrew]

The PC's still leaving, right? So the rest of her company should be torn up about it! And nothing will make them more torn up than a heap o' Shadow Points

[Blubbo Baggins]

Unless you're a High Elf, Shadow points are quite easy to get rid of. Pile them on!
A real part of the fun of TOR, especially for the LM, is a well-timed bout of madness!

[zedturtle]

I say pile on the Shadow Points, Zed!

Ok but seriously, 1 shadow point is really not going to hurt people too much. If anything, I'd say you've been very light-handed, one might say a feather-weight with respect to having our group make Corruption rolls, Zed.

And of course, Amroth will not get a SP

I was going to ask you for examples of me missing Corruption Tests (since I'm not very good at seeing them afore time) but then I realized that everyone who went Spirit-hunting should have got one.

Other than that, y'all have avoided several other opportunities to get SPs, just by dint of your choices.

[zedturtle]

Also, to everyone thank you for your responses! I have opened up the question to my players as well.

[Majestic]

It sounds like you've probably decided, but for what it's worth I agree that you should give them Shadow Points. I had a big talk with my players right when we started up our game again about how Shadow Points are NOT the same as Dark Side Points (in our Star Wars game, which has the same players). In SW, it's only misdeeds and negative choices that lead to DS points. But in this game, it's just part of the way Middle-earth works (in addition to things like Misdeeds, which are similar to DS points). Some places are just heavy with the Shadow, or you can get them just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So far that's worked really well with my group, and they've totally understood when Shadow has been allocated.