Question: Elvish longevity vs. other races?

[Bradge]

I have recently picked up "The One Ring" books but have yet to lead or participate in a game, though I look forward to that. I wondered if someone could clear up a question of mine...

Is there any balancing mechanism for players who choose to play long-lived elves vs. players who choose shorter-lived races? What I refer to is the reality that elves can continue to progress indefinitely while other races will grow old and be replaced I presume by grown children or other characters. Wouldn't that give a gradual progression advantage to elves?

[shipwreck]

Just means the Loremaster needs to target elves first.

[Yepesnopes]

Longevity will hardly play a role in any game. Typically it is irrelevant if your player character gets old at 60 or at 6000 years.

[shipwreck]

It also seems that TOR has a certain soft cap to it. In other words, those extra couple dozen experience points aren't going to make or break a character. Besides, as I implied before, there's just a much chance of an elf being killed as anybody else.

One other thing to consider is the timeline of your campaign. For example, all of Darkening is only 30 years of world time (2947-2977 TA). Even if a Man started a bit older, in Medieval/Dark Age terms, say in his early 20s, he would still only be in his 50s by the end of the campaign. Granted, Tolkien's Middle-earth is different from our own history so men grew to be a bit older in Arda.

Point being, I don't see the eternal youth of the Elves as too much of an advantage, more of a cool RP opportunity. Think of what it would be like to stay young while all of your friends grow old around you!

One other note and then I'll shut up: I don't have the book in front of me to refer to, but I believe the Elves have the lowest starting Hope, right? If so, there is more of a chance for Misery and Madness and an 'early retirement' to the Grey Havens.

[zedturtle]

I think Dwarves have less.

But I do think that it's not an issue, if you work to create the right feel. Elves are good characters for the Tolkien enthusiasts to play and keeping the game focused on the present challenges.

If a player wants to play an 'experienced' elf there are ways to make the fiction serve the needs of the mechanic. Rivendell offers alternate mechanics as well or you can just simply declare that the Elf's traits have been the focus of his or her long life, exposing why other skills are atrophied.

[Looping]

Yes, in the game Elf characters can theoretically reach a point where they have maxed out several skills and weapon masteries. Theoretically, there is a chance for the elves to become statistically super-powerful (oh, [insert name of character] was a master archer and master swordsman and master axeman and master riddler and master healer, etc.) while mortal characters can generally only hope to be remembered as entries in history books.

However, and as other posters have highlighted, the mechanics and realities of the game should be enough to solve the issue.
In my experience, Several things tend to happen
(1) The more you play a character, the more likely it is that it will suffer a terrible (but possibly heroic) death! If the Loremaster presents the players with adequate challenges (and doesn't fudge dice rolls), it is likely that fate or bad choices will kill off an adventuring character no matter its power. (This is why so many people were outraged when Sauron and Morgoth got stats in MERP--though I do have a friend who was psyched beyond belief. After all, a critical failure is always a critical failure.)
(2) Given that players come and go, even in the longest-lasting campaigns, a very advanced character is likely to be retired in some fashion and incorporated in the overarching story. One of my long-lasting characters retired and opened a successful inn (good outcome); another went mad and miserable and wound up murdering a friend of his (not such a good outcome).
(3) Sometimes players simply grow tired of playing the same character.

Additionally, it is the responsibility of the LM to maintain an internal balance within a group, too. Nothing is more challenging for a player than tagging along in an adventure that is too far above the abilities of his/her character.

[Andrew]

Don't forget Shadow - with that long life span, Elves are more likely to succumb to Shadow and Madness (or, in their case, a longing for the West) than other cultures. Especially High Elves, whose only recourse to removing Shadow is to permanently impair their skills when they're outside their havens.

[Falenthal]

I don't think it would be overpowered to give the "long living races" (elves and dwarves) more starting points (maybe 14 instead of 10), but to raise the cost to improve skills (multiples of 5 for normal Common Skills, multiples of 4 for Favourite).

This would reflect that they have had more time to learn, but also that the "long living races" tend to take things easy and need more time until they finally change.

[Majestic]

I would imagine it might not be a bad idea to start such a character (from a long-lived race) with a few points of Shadow that they've accumulated along the way, as a way to partially balance the extra skill picks.

[Falenthal]

I don't think it would be overpowered to give the "long living races" (elves and dwarves) more starting points (maybe 14 instead of 10), but to raise the cost to improve skills (multiples of 5 for normal Common Skills, multiples of 4 for Favourite).

This would reflect that they have had more time to learn, but also that the "long living races" tend to take things easy and need more time until they finally change.

Everyone has his own way, but I wouldn't do that. Remember that, even if an elf starts at age 200, he is a young one (fresh and full of hope) for his racial standards. He, the same as a human 16 years old, has probably not seen much of the world outside his safe home.
To me, the increase in the cost to raise skills is enough to compensate for the startig boost.