Erebor and Dale Undertakings

[Falenthal]

Hall of Shields- In my campaign Erebor sports a "Hall of Shields".
One of the tasks my Fellowship undertook was to find the character's missing family "Crested Shield" specifically made to adorn this spot, and restore it to it's proper place. (This required an adventure),
Effect: Restores family honor, possibly increase Standing for a Dwarf character.

I like this one, it's very original.

As soon as I can, I'll post the Undertakings we've created over at the spanish forums. Mostly they're adaptations to the dwarven culture of the exisiting ones, but at least dwarves feel they have something special to do in their hometown, and can roleplay their returning home in winter.

[midnightyell]

Several of these seem good. Anyone volunteering to hack them together in an properly ordered PDF?

[SirGalrim]

My personal take on the proposed undertakings earlier in the thread. Use or throw as you like.

• Pay respects to the tomb of Thorin, Dwarves only, Erebor, Anytime
  Restoring a Lower Section, Dwarves only, Erebor, Anytime
  Spend Time at the Toy Market, Anyone, Dale, Anytime
  Work with Dwarven Craftsmanship Master, 2, 3 or 4 ranks in Craft, Dale, Anytime

Pay respects to the tomb of Thorin
A Dwarf character can spend time in the tomb of Thorin to remember and reflect on past deeds, and to tend and admire the chamber. Roll the feat die. On an Eye, recover 1 Hope point and gain one Shadow point. On a Gandalf rune, recover 2 Hope points. Everything else, recover 1 Hope point.

Restoring a Lower Section
A Dwarf character can spend time to help restore Erebor to its former glory. Make a Craft test TN “14 + current Standing”. Success rewards 3 points towards raising your standing, greater success results in 6 points towards standing and extraordinary success awards 9 points towards standing.

Spend Time at the Toy Market
A Companion may spend time at the toy markets enjoying the marvellous toys and all the excited children of all ages. If the Companion has no permanent Shadow points she recover a point of Hope. If the companion has permanent Shadow points she must roll a feat dice. On a Gandalf rune she recovers one point of Hope. On a Eye she gains one Shadow point instead. Everything else, no effects.

Work with Dwarven Craftsmanship Master
A Companion with 2, 3 or 4 ranks in Craft may spend time learning from the Dwarven Master Crafters in Dale. For the following Adventuring and Fellowship phase Craft becomes a favoured skill and the Companion gain the Stone-craft or Smith-craft speciality. If he already has the chosen speciality then he may gain two benefits out of a single Trait invocation (for example, he could automatically succeed at a roll and gain an Advancement point).

[Falenthal]

Andraxx, a friend from the spanish forums, gave form to some of this ideas and we discussed them there.
I'll try my best to translate them here:

Restore the Lower Sections
Dwarves only, Erebor

Roll Craft (TN14). After that, roll the Feat die, adding +1 if the character possesses the Tunneling trait, and another +1 if he possesse the Stone-craft trait. Add also a +2 if the Craft roll was a great success, or a +4 if it was an extraordinary success.

Eye: You've entered a zone still blighted by the dragon's presence. Gain 1 Shadow point.
1: Cul-de-sac. Useless work, without any reward.
2-3: Habitable zone: Gain 1 Treasure. Gain also 1 Status only for the next Adventure phase.
4-5: Open the entry to unexploited mines: Gain 2 Treasures.
6-7: Discoverd ancient storehouse: Gain 3 Treasures.
8-9: Recover a forge: Gain 1 Advancement point in the Vocation group, and 6 Treasure points.
10: Restore a Great Hall: Gain 1 Experience OR Hope point, and 8 Treasure points.
Gandalf: Chose any result except 10, or roll again.

For this Undertaking, we took a look at the Guard the Old Ford from the Beornings (HotW, p. 41). They could gain up to 5 Treasure points, being a Martial folk. Dwarves should be able to gain more than that, being Rich. In fact, changing what I've written to 2/4/6/8/10 Treasure points shouldn't be unreasonable, either.

Hire a Raven
Dwarves only, Erebor

A Dwarf can use a Raven from the Lonely Mountain only during the next Adventure phase. The raven allows to roll the Feat die and keep the best result in Awareness, Explore and Search tests. As fee, the Dwarf has to pay 1 Treasure point when choosing this Undertaking.

This Undertaking was based, again, in the Beornings. This time, Befriend the Beasts (HotW, p. 42)

Honor Thorin Oakenshield's tomb and the Arkenstone
Dwarves only, Erebor

This Undertaking can only be chosen once in the lifetime of a Dwarf.
Roll for Wisdom (TN14).

Failure + Eye: Gain 2 Shadow points. The Arkenstone fills your dreams with greed and desire.
Failure: Gain 1 Shadow point. You doubt that it was such a good idea to bury the Arkenstone.
Success: Gain 1 Shadow point AND recover 1 Hope point. Thorin fought for the Dwarves, but he also died in the end.
Great Success: Recover 1 Hope point.
Extraordinary Success: Recover 2 Hope points AND reduce your Shadow score by 1.
Gandalf + 6 or 66: Recover 2 Hope points AND reduce your Shadow score by 2.

This Undertaking is interesting, because a Dwarf has to carefully choose the moment of his pilgrimage. He should have a decent Wisdom, so as to represent that he is "prepared" to do it. Also, those with Stiff Neck can see the higher results as not so positive. And those without Shadow might lose the benefit of it if their rolls are lucky.

Hope you like them!

[Majestic]

These are good. I wonder if C7 has plans to do some Dwarf-centric Undertakings eventually?

[zedturtle]

Gandalf + 6 or 66: Recover 2 Hope points AND reduce your Shadow score by 2.

We call these Great Gandalfs or Extraordinary Gandalfs, as appropriate. They are fun when they occur; I think in two years or so of pretty steady play we've had two Extraordinary Gandalfs; one was a critical moment, the other was an everyday sort of thing.

[Glorelendil]

Gandalf + 6 or 66: Recover 2 Hope points AND reduce your Shadow score by 2.

We call these Great Gandalfs or Extraordinary Gandalfs, as appropriate. They are fun when they occur; I think in two years or so of pretty steady play we've had two Extraordinary Gandalfs; one was a critical moment, the other was an everyday sort of thing.

I think I got one of those.

"GG" and "ExG" for forum shorthand?

EDIT: Maybe another way of crafting that undertaking would be:
For each Success, either reduce Shadow by 1, or restore 1 Hope. On a Gandalf, take both.
That makes the top end slightly better, but as Zed points out it's ridiculously rare. (I'll sim the odds in a sec and get back to you.)

Here are the approximate odds (I believe) of getting an Extraordinary Gandalf:

Code: Select all

Wisdom: 2, odds: 418:1
Wisdom: 3, odds: 162:1
Wisdom: 4, odds: 92:1
Wisdom: 5, odds: 60:1

[Falenthal]

Edited the first post, so that a list of Undertakings are available for those that find this thread looking for them.

[Falenthal]

...and now, everything can be moved to the House Rules thread without shame.

[aramis]

Gandalf + 6 or 66: Recover 2 Hope points AND reduce your Shadow score by 2.

We call these Great Gandalfs or Extraordinary Gandalfs, as appropriate. They are fun when they occur; I think in two years or so of pretty steady play we've had two Extraordinary Gandalfs; one was a critical moment, the other was an everyday sort of thing.

I think I got one of those.

"GG" and "ExG" for forum shorthand?

EDIT: Maybe another way of crafting that undertaking would be:
For each Success, either reduce Shadow by 1, or restore 1 Hope. On a Gandalf, take both.
That makes the top end slightly better, but as Zed points out it's ridiculously rare. (I'll sim the odds in a sec and get back to you.)

Here are the approximate odds (I believe) of getting an Extraordinary Gandalf:

Code: Select all

Wisdom: 2, odds: 418:1
Wisdom: 3, odds: 162:1
Wisdom: 4, odds: 92:1
Wisdom: 5, odds: 60:1

Gandalf = 1/12
6t = 1/6

1d : 1/6. X1/12 for the needed gandalf = 1/72 = about 1.3%

on 2d, to get 1+ 6's: 1-((5/6)^2) = 1-(25/36)= 11/36
multiply that by the needed gandalf: 1/12 = 11/432 = 2.5% on 2d6.

on 3d... the odds of not rolling a 6 are (5/6)^3, so of rolling 1+ 6's are 1-(5/6)^3=1-125/216= 91/216
again, times the needed gandalf 1/12 ... 91/2592 or about 3.5%.

on 4d... 1-((5/6)^4) = 641/1296. x1/12 = 641/15552= about 4.3%
on 5d 1-((5/6)^5 = 4651/7776 ... x1/12 = 45651/93312 = about 5%
on 6d: 1-((5/6)^6)) = 31031/46656... x1/12 = 31031/559872 = about 5.5%

THe less rounded numbers:
1d12 & 1d6: 0.013888888888888888 or about 71:1 or 1/72
1d12 & 2d6: 0.02546296296296296 or about 38:1 or 1/39
1d12 & 3d6: 0.03510802469135803 or about 27:1 or 1/28
1d12 & 4d6: 0.04314557613168724 or about 22:1 or 1/23
1d12 & 5d6: 0.049843535665294925 or about 19:1 or 1/20
1d12 & 6d6: 0.05542516860996799 or about 17:1 or 1/18