TOR - the next generation

[Dunheved]

I was looking at the adventuring ages for Mannish cultures in TOR. They are all 16 to 30 years.
So, near the end of Darkening of Mirkwood (and I am barely started on this, so I am WAY ahead of the game in that sense), an adventurer retires and passes on their story to a younger relative. (I am going to assume a shortcut and say that a Man passes on his thirst for adventure to his daughter: but we can all work out the alternatives.)

What might the hero pass on to his daughter? His trusty Great Spear? That reinforced shield? Unlike the Birthright Virtue of the Bardings, this situation can only be the product of one ADVENTURING generation on to the next.
My question is - how far can I (or we) go with this? What is reasonable for a child to receive as part of their childhood?

I might consider related tales of experience with an enemy type as free Enemy:Lore; How about descriptions of Region:Lore? The daughter could be given details of a route through Mirkwood. She might get a brooch that identifies her as an Elf-Friend.

Now where should I draw the line? How much free stuff can this daughter get in addition to her 'normal' starting Experience - I don't want to break the game system - any advice or some of those excellent opinions before my son returns from college and TOR (DoM) resumes?

[zedturtle]

This is explicitly dealt with... check out the Heroic Heritage rules [RE 282]. Those bonus Experience Points represent the gifts (and uh.. experience) that might be passed from a father to a daughter (or any other heir).

[Dunheved]

Hi zedturtle.

I agree entirely with you: additional experience points will be passed on.

However, the actual player has gone through a lot with the original character and it seems reasonable to me (and my son who asked about this) that instead of XP which can translate into Weapon Skill, Wisdom or Valour, specific knowledge i.e. Lore would be transferable. But of course page 282 etc does not suggest that Specialities can be passed on as part of a heroic heritage: and this is my question - how much does it bend the rules to allow some of these things to become inherited as well?

If that step is taken, is it then unreasonable to pass on the benefits of your parent's Rewards instead?

(Realistically, the PLAYER is aware of some of the dangers of a region and will have learnt tricks like when to wield a flaming torch against Denizens of the Dark, etc. The player cannot really unlearn them so I guess I'd like to try to take that into consideration.)

[Glorelendil]

I think this is a tricky thing. On the one hand, you don't want to insta-powerlevel a new character. But if normal Mannish cultures are playing with Dwarves, Hobbits, Elves, and Dunedain, the situation could arise where this new character is in a fellowship with others who have 4ish in Valour, Wisdom, and Weapon Skills, plus tons of AP.

One answer is that it can be fun to play with a group of differing levels, but when the newcomer keeps failing every Corruption and Travel check because the party is adventuring in dangerous places, and getting whacked by Attribute 6 adversaries, it can be less fun.

To then also not be able to contribute much because you fail the tests and miss the adversaries seems a lot.

So depending on the circumstances I could see handing down one, maybe two heirlooms in addition to the heroic XP.

[zedturtle]

And it's worth consideration that this is a Dark Ages inspired setting... you're not an only child, no way.

As for Lore and what-not... hmmm. I think maybe a swap (i.e. taking away a trait and putting in one you don't officially have access to) would be acceptable.

But, I also think about my own life experiences... while he shared a lot of things with me, some stuff that he would have found easy are a challenge to me (for example, on Friday I had to desolder three bad microswitches from a circuit board and three good ones from another board, and then put the good switches on the original board. That would have been nothing for my dad, but it was a bit of a challenge for me.) and vice-versa (he's never really got past QuickBASIC, and his foray into VisualC had me troubleshooting a program for a calibration stand for high-speed laser scanners... a bit intense).

So my rambling example means that, no matter how many electronics kits he bought me as a kid and no matter how much programming I've tried to teach him, we have influenced each other but we haven't passed exact skills across generations.

[Pangea]

no matter how many electronics kits he bought me as a kid and no matter how much programming I've tried to teach him, we have influenced each other but we haven't passed exact skills across generations.
Isn't that all covered by the same Craft skill? xD

To O.P. : an adventurer retires and passes on their story to a younger relative
Since you said you are talking about a theoretical question, that would occur far in the gaming-future of your group, I am sure you will just work it out if/when the question arises.
Mechanically, there are the rules about "passing XP on", and I would consider adding to that if the characters were already quite advanced and you were going to have them move on to even harsher enemies etc. ; but you could also do it differently if it is more of sandbox game and thus having a PC with less XP/AP could be managed.
Also, you'll decide what weapon or armor or such to pass on in how the character RPs it. For me, if the character has been RPing his family, going back to see them during Fellowship Phases, following his daughter's growth and such, then, if he decides to retire one day and entrust his sword in which he invested all his 3 or 4 Valor bonuses in, it would seem to be logical and fit his story and all.
Maybe not so much if the player suddenly decides, after months of playing, that he must have a kid - only because he wants to keep the sword.
All this to say that, for me, it would depend on how advanced the other characters are and what you'd need to give for the new one not to be "useless", which depends on what type of events you have planned ; and it would depend on how this whole retirement and passing of the flame is narrated.
For example, for me as an ST, I could see myself even giving a player up pretty much up to full XP / AP / items / treasure to do this change if it were truly brought on by RP reasons of someone wanting to play a lineage etc. and doing so when he could just go on with the first PC.

[Woodclaw]

This is really a tricky subject and I had similar discussions with my players once or twice. The big issues here is that rewards aren't just "better equipment", but rather something that is integral to a character's identity. On one hand I can see that a character might be unwilling to part ways with his old and trusty spear that accompanied him in so many adventures, on the other I can see that one might want his heir to be equipped with the very best gear avaible before letting him/her walk out in the wildlands.
On some bits and pieces of equipment that isn't that much of a issue, in my opinion. Weapons and armors of superior quality are, more often than not, tailored on the specific build of the user. A towering beorning might have his axe handle tailored to allow him to put as much strength as he can in his swings, but his shorter and stockier son might find this handle to be less than optimal and he would need to get it reworked (i.e. spending his own Reward on it). With other qualities it's harder to justify this kind of situation (e.g. Reinforced).

I don't know if this is the case, but maybe the Rivendell treasure rules might help here.