When to refresh fellowship pool?

[Rich H]

In play by post, such as rpol.net, the opposite tends to happen...

However, hope tends to be scarcest in such format, as fellowship pool refreshes may have months...literally...between then.

In such case the house rules I put together work far better than session refreshes.

[Rich H]

I'll take a look at those house rules, they might be useful for us Thanks for that link.

The LM will have to put a little more work into the game/scenarios as they'll need to establish points within the narrative where a Fellowship Pool refresh occurs and also focus on events/elements that could lead to character(s) being inspired but it's generally easy to recognise places in an adventure where a refresh should occur (eg, after a successful battle, making significant progress, completion of an objective, etc) and those points of inspiration can be added using reference to Tolkien's work. In my experience the pay off far outweighs the effort.

[Deadmanwalking]

There's also always the simple solution: Refresh Fellowship Pool every two sessions, since 2-3 hours is half the length of a more typical session.

The House Rules suggested above are also obviously an option, and not auto-refilling Hope completely should help, but simple solutions should never be overlooked.

[Rich H]

There are other issues with refreshing the fellowship pool at the end of a session other than replacing hope too quickly due to short session lengths, for instance:

1) It's narratively odd or lacking - not all session ends are aligned with an appropriate narrative point in an adventure; leading to questions like "...just why does it refresh at such a strange point in the adventure?"

2) Players knowing when the session end is going to happen then drain the fellowship pool, thereby partly/wholly refreshing their hope for no narrative in-game reason and no concern because "we know the session is ending soon so can take this hope without any risk". There's no dramatic tension to this at all.

Simple solutions are fine, when they work; for me, they don't in this case. In general I take issue with any game mechanic, of any game, that ties itself to an out-of-game-world device (ie, the end of a session) in order to drive/set an in-game resource (replenishment of fellowship pool). It's a pet hate.

[Majestic]

Yeah, I'm with Rich. I don't care much for artificial mechanics like this that are tied to out-of-game issues, especially when different groups have vastly different ways of handling things.

There's also always the simple solution: Refresh Fellowship Pool every two sessions, since 2-3 hours is half the length of a more typical session.

Except the RAW seem to suggest that 2-3 hours IS the "typical" length. On p. 213 (Revised) it reads "if your games tend to be played in long single sessions (4 hours of more), cutting the number of sittings down to approximately half our average".

That is why I had to adjust everything for my group, being as we play more in the 4-6 hour range, as opposed to the RAW expectation of 2-3 hours.

[Deadmanwalking]

Simple solutions are fine, when they work; for me, they don't in this case. In general I take issue with any game mechanic, of any game, that ties itself to an out-of-game-world device (ie, the end of a session) in order to drive/set an in-game resource (replenishment of fellowship pool). It's a pet hate.

Oh, totally. I just always feel the need to point them out when people come asking about a very specific problem.

Except the RAW seem to suggest that 2-3 hours IS the "typical" length. On p. 213 (Revised) it reads "if your games tend to be played in long single sessions (4 hours of more), cutting the number of sittings down to approximately half our average".

That is why I had to adjust everything for my group, being as we play more in the 4-6 hour range, as opposed to the RAW expectation of 2-3 hours.

Huh. Interesting. Especially since the group I'm in has been going through adventures from ToW at the suggested three sessions per adventure rate (or pretty close to it) despite going 4 hours or so a session.

Maybe hours of play isn't the best metric for a 'typical session'. Number of rolls makes a larger difference in Hope expenditure rates, just for example. And even that isn't perfect, I mean there's still the matter of xp...

Just going by '3 Hope Refreshes and 7-8 xp per adventure' seems a workable rule of thumb either way, though.

[Majestic]

Just going by '3 Hope Refreshes and 7-8 xp per adventure' seems a workable rule of thumb either way, though.

You might be right. We seem to go through an adventure (like the ones from Tales) in one to two sessions, with longer sessions. So we don't quite get 3 Fellowship Pool refreshes (more likely 2) and it ends up being more like 6 XP per adventure.

[Rich H]

Simple solutions are fine, when they work; for me, they don't in this case. In general I take issue with any game mechanic, of any game, that ties itself to an out-of-game-world device (ie, the end of a session) in order to drive/set an in-game resource (replenishment of fellowship pool). It's a pet hate.

Oh, totally. I just always feel the need to point them out when people come asking about a very specific problem.

Specific problems can often have other underlying root causes; often best to look deeper and discuss the specific issue in more detail to make sure.

[DavetheLost]

Let us take an example from the novel and see how it feels. The attack on Weathertop.

Option 1, it occurs mid-session, the Fellowship has spent some of their hope, but has hope remaining for the encounter and may for the flight to the Ford following. The session ends with Frodo's collapse at teh Ford after dramatically telling the Nazrul exactly where they can put the Ring.

Option 2, the attack occurs at the begining of the session and the Fellowship has a full hope pool including the bonuses from 4 Hobbits!

Option 3, The LM chooses to end the session with the cliff-hanger of the Nazgul closing in, or Frodo falling, struck down by the Enemy. A dramatic and tense ending until the players realize that their Fellowship Hope Pool will refresh at the start of next session, just in time for Aragorn to discover the nature of the Morgul blade, Frodo to start to fade, and the flight to the Ford. All with the Fellowship pool bonus provided by 4 Hobbits!

Option 3, which in my opinion should lead to the strongest drama actually leads to a weakened drama as the battered Fellowship suddenly finds all their Hope refreshed as they deal with the aftermath of the Nazgul attack. Yes, they did succeed in driving off the fell creatures which should result in some recovery of Hope, but Frodo lies struck down with a wound that is beyond the skill of Aragorn. The Nazgul are gathering for a counter attack, and everyone is full of Hope again?

Worst case for me would be the session ending in the middle of the attack. The players spend what ever little Hope remains in the Fellowship pool at that point to refresh their personal pools, then at the begining of the next session (same battle continuing) the Fellowship pool refreshes. To me that would throw off the dramatic pacing and feel like a reminder that we are playing a game.

Also, as others have pointed out session length and frequency can really change the dynamics. Do you play twice a week for two hours at a go, or once a week for four hours? Same play time, but one way you get double the Hope to spend.

[Falenthal]

I play once a week for 3 hours. We fulfill most ToW or DoM adventures in 2/3 sessions.
Most of the time, I only allow for FP refreshment once (every 1.5 session, so to say), and only if there's a suitable moment for it: they manage to escape some enemies and find a refuge where they can rest and recover, something magical occurs (they find elves that offer their protection for one or two days in the road), a great Evil has been defeated and the world seem better for the time being, etc.