Character Backgrounds

[Majestic]

Good choice; I think having at least one Hobbit character is a must, being as you're considering this for conventions. The Hobbits were really the 'point-of-view' characters in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so often, so I would imagine you'll have lots of players wanting to play one.

And Glorelendil's point about the Splitting Axe is a very good one; while for a long campaign a player can have the patience to reap that big reward (when the Gandalf is rolled), in a convention appearance the odds are that a player won't roll twelve times, so you'd often have a person never getting to ever pull that one off.

[CorTOR]

Culture: Hobbit of the Shire
-Common Skills-
Awe: 0

Awe as favoured skill for a Hobbit but no point in the skill ? That seems a bit weird; I'm not saying a Hobbit couldn't have the skill as favourite, just that having it without any point doesn't make much sense for a Convention pre-gen from my point of view. Not sure how the Awe as favoured came from, but you might consider to put it in Inspire or Persuade if it's a Personality skill coming from the background choice.

[zedturtle]

Culture: Hobbit of the Shire
-Common Skills-
Awe: 0

Awe as favoured skill for a Hobbit but no point in the skill ? That seems a bit weird; I'm not saying a Hobbit couldn't have the skill as favourite, just that having it without any point doesn't make much sense for a Convention pre-gen from my point of view. Not sure how the Awe as favoured came from, but you might consider to put it in Inspire or Persuade if it's a Personality skill coming from the background choice.

An unintentional side-effect... here's another shot at the same guy:

Name:

Culture: Hobbit of the Shire Standard of Living: Prosperous
Cultural blessing: Hobbit-sense
Calling: Treasure-Hunter Shadow weakness: Dragon-sickness
Specialties: Gardener, Herb-lore, Burglary
Distinctive features: Nimble, True-hearted
Body: 4 Heart: 5 Wits: 5
Body (favoured): 5 Heart (favoured): 7 Wits (favoured): 8

-Common Skills-

• Awe: 0 Inspire: 0 Persuade: 2
• Athletics: 0 Travel: 2 Stealth: 3
• Awareness: 2 Insight: 2 Search: 2
• Explore: 0 Healing: 0 Hunting: 0
• Song: 2 Courtesy: 3 Riddle: 2
• Craft: 0 Battle: 0 Lore: 0

-Weapon Skills-

• Bow: 3
• Dagger: 1
• Short sword: 1

-Rewards-:
-Virtues-: Fair Shot
-Gear-

• Bow damage: 5 edge: 10 injury: 14 enc: 1
• Short sword damage: 5 edge: 10 injury: 14 enc: 1
• Dagger damage: 3 edge: G injury: 12 enc: 0
• Helm enc: 6

Endurance: 21 Starting Endurance: 21 Fatigue from Encumbrance: 8 Fatigue from Travel: 0 Total Fatigue: 8
Hope: 17 Starting Hope: 17 Temporary Shadow: 0 Permanent Shadow: 0 Total Shadow: 0
Armour: 0 Headgear: 4
Parry: 5 Shield: 0
Damage: 0 Ranged: 0
Wisdom: 2 Valour: 1
Experience: 0 Total Experience: 0
Fellowship: 0 Advancement: 0 Treasure: 0 Standing: 0

[Glorelendil]

Ok, here are my recommendations for starting virtues/rewards to make the first session fun. I tried to find virtues/rewards that would have a high chance of making an noticeable difference in one game session.

Barding:
Fierce Shot, if the Barding is going to be one of the archer choices. Then put his +3 Favoured Attribute on Body. Chances are he'll get at least one Tengwar and feel like Legolas, albeit with a short lifespan.
Swordmaster otherwise, with Swords: 3. With a Great Shield in Defensive stance it will take 20+ to hit him, despite being witless.

Beorning:
Twice-baked Honey Cakes: It will help draw attention to two important mechanics in the game.
Noble Armor: Rocks for Encounters
Your point about Great Strength is accurate, but it's a leveler; it don't think it will feel "cool".

Dwarf:
I think you said you want the Dwarf to have the spells, but otherwise I'd go with Helm of Awe and give him Awe: 3. He'll have fun popping that in the big fight.

Elf:
Ewww. No good choices. I wouldn't make the Elf one of the archers, so that leaves Spears. Bitter Spear is actually a great weapon, but not for this adventure. If you are counting your bandits as "Evil Men" then give him Shadow Bane and use Envoy of the King for the Background. With Spears: 3 he'll have fun rolling all those dice.
Otherwise just give him a Keen Great Spear. Pierces are fun. Fell is better statistically, but I think you want to increase the chance of Pierces happening.

Hobbit:
Fair Shot for the archer.
Small Folk (With Favoured Wits 9) for swordsman. He'll only need Short Sword: 2 because he can hang out in Forward stance; if he takes any damage he can switch to Defensive and basically be unhittable. So you can pump up some of his social skills because you'll have extra points.

Woodman:
Shepherds Bow (Great Bow) if ranged. One or two Tengwars and he'll love it.
Hound of Mirkwood only shines after a few Fellowship Phases, and the odds of this particular character getting hit by a Pierce are low.
Alternately, if not one of the archers, give him/her Feathered Armor and Stealth: 3. That's always a fun role to fill, and useful in this adventure.

[zedturtle]

Wow. That's a lot of good stuff... I'll have to look at everyone with those in mind and see what I can swap in.

Out of curiousity, why do you not advise the Elf to be an archer? 1 Hope for a piercing blow... I guess it's that Injury 14, right?

[Glorelendil]

Wow. That's a lot of good stuff... I'll have to look at everyone with those in mind and see what I can swap in.

Out of curiousity, why do you not advise the Elf to be an archer? 1 Hope for a piercing blow... I guess it's that Injury 14, right?

Because I think Dalesman, Woodman, and Hobbit all make "better" archers out of the gate.

And, yeah, Injury 14....useful for killing goblins but not the things that are worth spending Hope on.

[zedturtle]

Okay... I think we'll keep Roderic and give him the Feathered Armour. I've also changed Biarnor and Dhuoda and am debating on changing Luthwen... but I kind of like her having magic, I guess I could give her The Speakers or Elvish Dreams instead.

We'll get rid of Sigdan, since she's rather duplicated by Egil. That means that we need a new female, so Roderic will become Radegund the Silent.

And that leaves one slot for a Hobbit, who no longer needs to be a Treasure Hunter, and needs to have a name that starts with S-Z.

Suggestions highly welcome.

[Rue]

Sedgewick Brandybuck
Tobias Hornblower
Walfred Took

[zedturtle]

Sedgewick Brandybuck
Tobias Hornblower
Walfred Took

No Brandybucks! (We've got 7 Brandybucks in Wilderland right now, between both games and The Easterly Inn)

[Glorelendil]

Can you give us the full roster, with what is missing (e.g. name, character details, backstory) for each?