Cool. Were the heroes more advanced than starting out heroes? Or was it just good luck/dice rolls to win the contests? (Did Garrett run it with the competition characters and comparing total number of successes?)
What did not work for you?
(P.S. Sorry for all the questions... don't feel you have to be in a rush to answer them)
UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Jacob Rodgers, occasional nitwit.
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barefoottourguide
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Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Thank you to everyone who played in my One Ring: Theft of the Moon game last night. I was blown away by the quality of your roleplaying— and that so many of you wanted to explore Middle Earth in the midnight game.
SPOILERS
My personal fave moments involved the dwarf going into the marshall’s tent to investigate. Previously, the Marshall had mentioned he had a prized collection of award-winning jellies in there. The dwarf rolled the Eye of Sauron and busted the jellies collection, which he cleaned up by eating. He went through the rest of the session known as Jelly Beard.
I peppered the journey with encounters, such as the crazy goatherd and the woodmen couple of merchants who got their boat stuck, plus Beorn’s charge (the angry spear lady) at Gelivra’s Longhouse. Oh, the hazards rolled involved the river hobbit encountering the pack of wolves who slaughtered his family. Revenge was kinda his. The others in the fellowship did most of the work. And while fishing by the river, a large bear showed up and joined in the fishing. They threw the bear a fish, and later in the fishing episode the bear caught a fish and threw it at the fellowship. Nice scene.
I was very surprised by the quantity of Eyes of Sauron rolled. If I hadn’t forgotten to track them in the first quarter of the game, we sure would have had a revelation episode. Anyway, the group took out Cenric with ranged attacks while the dwarf distracted the thralls and Cenric. Jarn showed up and challenged the group to a battle of champions, a duel. The hobbit took the Moon from the fallen Cenric while everyone was watching the duel. The thralls then noticed the Moon was gone and prepared to attack the party. But another Eye was rolled, and I threw an orc hunting party into the mix. Everyone united , as the High Elf gave her word the thralls would be set free and allowed to move to the village occupied by escaped slaves from Dol Guldur.
Despite having 7-8 players, it went very smoothly. Everyone got to act and have the spotlight. There was some good humor to be sure, but everyone took their characters seriously and respected the tone of the material. All in all, a wonderful showing for the One Ring.
As for the competitions, I altered things slightly by having the first TN numbers in the first two rounds... but I had opposed rolls with the best loremaster competitor in the third round. Some of the characters were on fire with the Gandalf rune early in the game, but as I said Sauron caught up to them quickly. They were all starting characters, but as said, I used a High Elf and a Ranger to see how it would go. It didn't feel like there was a balance issue. The biggest challenge in the final encounter was for the group to form a plan. Once they had it down, did the distraction and used ranged attacks to take out Cenric, the rest as written was fairly easy, so I threw in the duel thing since it seemed honorable and brought things to a more climatic end than 7 characters and thralls vs Jarn. I really liked having it written in that the thralls should be saved and not forced on the group as enemies. That really captures the uniqueness of this system. We finished in three hours forty minutes, including a fellowship phase which I ran more as an epilogue to bring closure to the story and hint at what the characters were wanting to do next time. The Beorning was training to do better against the bull next time.
Garrett
SPOILERS
My personal fave moments involved the dwarf going into the marshall’s tent to investigate. Previously, the Marshall had mentioned he had a prized collection of award-winning jellies in there. The dwarf rolled the Eye of Sauron and busted the jellies collection, which he cleaned up by eating. He went through the rest of the session known as Jelly Beard.
I peppered the journey with encounters, such as the crazy goatherd and the woodmen couple of merchants who got their boat stuck, plus Beorn’s charge (the angry spear lady) at Gelivra’s Longhouse. Oh, the hazards rolled involved the river hobbit encountering the pack of wolves who slaughtered his family. Revenge was kinda his. The others in the fellowship did most of the work. And while fishing by the river, a large bear showed up and joined in the fishing. They threw the bear a fish, and later in the fishing episode the bear caught a fish and threw it at the fellowship. Nice scene.
I was very surprised by the quantity of Eyes of Sauron rolled. If I hadn’t forgotten to track them in the first quarter of the game, we sure would have had a revelation episode. Anyway, the group took out Cenric with ranged attacks while the dwarf distracted the thralls and Cenric. Jarn showed up and challenged the group to a battle of champions, a duel. The hobbit took the Moon from the fallen Cenric while everyone was watching the duel. The thralls then noticed the Moon was gone and prepared to attack the party. But another Eye was rolled, and I threw an orc hunting party into the mix. Everyone united , as the High Elf gave her word the thralls would be set free and allowed to move to the village occupied by escaped slaves from Dol Guldur.
Despite having 7-8 players, it went very smoothly. Everyone got to act and have the spotlight. There was some good humor to be sure, but everyone took their characters seriously and respected the tone of the material. All in all, a wonderful showing for the One Ring.
As for the competitions, I altered things slightly by having the first TN numbers in the first two rounds... but I had opposed rolls with the best loremaster competitor in the third round. Some of the characters were on fire with the Gandalf rune early in the game, but as I said Sauron caught up to them quickly. They were all starting characters, but as said, I used a High Elf and a Ranger to see how it would go. It didn't feel like there was a balance issue. The biggest challenge in the final encounter was for the group to form a plan. Once they had it down, did the distraction and used ranged attacks to take out Cenric, the rest as written was fairly easy, so I threw in the duel thing since it seemed honorable and brought things to a more climatic end than 7 characters and thralls vs Jarn. I really liked having it written in that the thralls should be saved and not forced on the group as enemies. That really captures the uniqueness of this system. We finished in three hours forty minutes, including a fellowship phase which I ran more as an epilogue to bring closure to the story and hint at what the characters were wanting to do next time. The Beorning was training to do better against the bull next time.
Garrett
Read my campaign's journal entries at https://the-company-of-the-whiskey-drin ... ortal.com/
Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Ok. cool. It sounds like you had a big group! At the risk of annoying you, some further questions:barefoottourguide wrote:<snip awesome feedback />
1. Was there a particular reason for not using the pregen characters? It seems like you didn't have any problems with the Trials (or the Journey or the Combat) so it certainly didn't hurt the adventure, other than I wasn't really thinking about Rangers and High Elves and what-not.
2. How did the Encounters with the 'suspects' go? Was there any awkwardness about the PCs getting involved?
3. It sounds like you did an awesome job of expanding out the Journey. Do you think that the Journey as written is flat or was just a good group and fortuitous improvisation?
4. You mentioned that the combat went very easy. Did you scale up the thieves, due to the nature of your characters or leave them at the default amount? The orc hunting party was a nice touch, it helps with the thralls allying with the heroes and allows the goblin the thieves caught earlier to be a foreshadowing.
5. How much teaching did you have to do along the way? It sounds like y'all moved at a brisk pace, to fit so much stuff in...
6. Did you hit any stumbling blocks along the way? Did anything shake out in play different from what you expected in preparation?
Thanks!
Jacob Rodgers, occasional nitwit.
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Otaku-sempai
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Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Garrett did provide pre-gen characters, but mostly ones he had generated himself as he wanted a slightly odd-ball mix for his game. They ran the gamut from a River-Hobbit treasure-hunter to a Ranger of the North and an High Elf.zedturtle wrote:Cool. Were the heroes more advanced than starting out heroes? Or was it just good luck/dice rolls to win the contests? (Did Garrett run it with the competition characters and comparing total number of successes?)
What did not work for you?
(P.S. Sorry for all the questions... don't feel you have to be in a rush to answer them)
We rolled for success for the contests and there was some Hope spent to win some of them. Yes, if I remember right, Garrett did compare the number of successes.
I was using the Ranger and I should have thought to invoke Foresight of their Kindred at some point during the adventure, but that was my error. I played the Ranger as pretty serious-minded; I almost wish I had chosen another Hero. Garrett actually gave me the option of using one of the characters I had on me myself. I wonder how things would have proceeded if I had instead brought out Brillamar "Brillo" Stoutfellow, my Shire-Hobbit treasure-hunter based on a MERP PC I had written up ages ago.
"Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he."
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barefoottourguide
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Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
1. Was there a particular reason for not using the pregen characters? It seems like you didn't have any problems with the Trials (or the Journey or the Combat) so it certainly didn't hurt the adventure, other than I wasn't really thinking about Rangers and High Elves and what-not.
A. I didn't find your pregens when I downloaded the adventure. I thought maybe they weren't ready when you released the module. I also like to use cons as experiments in trying different types of builds and enjoy creating original backstories for the pregens so I usually make my own anyhow.
2. How did the Encounters with the 'suspects' go? Was there any awkwardness about the PCs getting involved?
Half the group wanted to go hunting while the others interrogated. I let them follow the tracks to the edge of the clearing where they found human sized tracks coming from the wilderness to meet up with the ones that came from the marshal tent. I had a lot of fun with the encounter with the Unfriendly. Our Ranger rolled an Eye of Sauron during the interaction, and she walked off to her son and asked, "Bring me the big hammer," which she threatened the Ranger with if he didn't leave her alone... but they soothed things over.
The encounter with the marshal was brief as they were quickly able to determine what he said was accurate based on their investigation of the crime scene. The encounter with the guilty one happened after the others, so they had lots of evidence to use against him and were quick to make him break.
3. It sounds like you did an awesome job of expanding out the Journey. Do you think that the Journey as written is flat or was just a good group and fortuitous improvisation?
It isn't flat at all. It's a solid base. I believe written modules are frameworks for the Loremaster to build on, and you provided more than enough of a foundation with great suggestions and depth. I just wanted to break into my Heart of the Wild and use some of the things from there to flesh out the journey. After all, in Tolkein, the journey is the adventure. And I wanted that to be reflected in this con game with many who've never experienced the One Ring before.
4. You mentioned that the combat went very easy. Did you scale up the thieves, due to the nature of your characters or leave them at the default amount? The orc hunting party was a nice touch, it helps with the thralls allying with the heroes and allows the goblin the thieves caught earlier to be a foreshadowing.
I didn't have to do anything with the thieves. The group's recon and interviews with locals whom had seen the thralls and Cenric pass knew the bulk of the group were thralls. The fellowship's plans involved sparing them if they could talk the thralls down. When Jarn showed up, he tried to motivate the thralls to have honor by upholding their end of the deal, and so it was a battle of words tug of war over the thralls... which felt very Tolkein. So, the group used distraction and ranged to take out Cenric, and I knew it would be equally quick with the thralls on the fellowship's side for fighting Jarn, so I improvised the duel for the Moon. The thralls only threatened to fight when they realized someone had lifted the Moon off of fallen Cenric, but the fifteenth Eye of Sauron triggered the orc attack to force the group to secure a deal with the thralls so they could fight united nd prevail against the orcs. I only used 4 goblin archers and four goblin soldiers, who all dropped quickly as the party's dice were on fire by that point. I didn't want to do an overwhelming amount of orcs, since it was just an Eye of Sauron trigger and not a plot point.
5. How much teaching did you have to do along the way? It sounds like y'all moved at a brisk pace, to fit so much stuff in...
6. Did you hit any stumbling blocks along the way? Did anything shake out in play different from what you expected in preparation?
I felt a little unsure about the chase rules presented so I didn't use them. The group tried to use forced march at the beginning of the journey and realized the consequences of failure pretty quick. By helping out the woodsmen merchants and revealing their mission, they gained a few boats on lease from the merchants to aid in their journey, which allowed for some fun Athletics rolls as they tried to brave the rougher waters to gain ground faster. The dwarf fell out of the boat, but the Lady of Lake Town had the swimming trait and was able to rescue him.
I'm also used to more gung-ho groups, but these guys got the feel and themes of the gang... so I was a bit surprised they made such great efforts to help the thralls go free. I was anticipating a bigger battle and had to think on my feet to keep things from being anti-climatic.
Garrett
A. I didn't find your pregens when I downloaded the adventure. I thought maybe they weren't ready when you released the module. I also like to use cons as experiments in trying different types of builds and enjoy creating original backstories for the pregens so I usually make my own anyhow.
2. How did the Encounters with the 'suspects' go? Was there any awkwardness about the PCs getting involved?
Half the group wanted to go hunting while the others interrogated. I let them follow the tracks to the edge of the clearing where they found human sized tracks coming from the wilderness to meet up with the ones that came from the marshal tent. I had a lot of fun with the encounter with the Unfriendly. Our Ranger rolled an Eye of Sauron during the interaction, and she walked off to her son and asked, "Bring me the big hammer," which she threatened the Ranger with if he didn't leave her alone... but they soothed things over.
The encounter with the marshal was brief as they were quickly able to determine what he said was accurate based on their investigation of the crime scene. The encounter with the guilty one happened after the others, so they had lots of evidence to use against him and were quick to make him break.
3. It sounds like you did an awesome job of expanding out the Journey. Do you think that the Journey as written is flat or was just a good group and fortuitous improvisation?
It isn't flat at all. It's a solid base. I believe written modules are frameworks for the Loremaster to build on, and you provided more than enough of a foundation with great suggestions and depth. I just wanted to break into my Heart of the Wild and use some of the things from there to flesh out the journey. After all, in Tolkein, the journey is the adventure. And I wanted that to be reflected in this con game with many who've never experienced the One Ring before.
4. You mentioned that the combat went very easy. Did you scale up the thieves, due to the nature of your characters or leave them at the default amount? The orc hunting party was a nice touch, it helps with the thralls allying with the heroes and allows the goblin the thieves caught earlier to be a foreshadowing.
I didn't have to do anything with the thieves. The group's recon and interviews with locals whom had seen the thralls and Cenric pass knew the bulk of the group were thralls. The fellowship's plans involved sparing them if they could talk the thralls down. When Jarn showed up, he tried to motivate the thralls to have honor by upholding their end of the deal, and so it was a battle of words tug of war over the thralls... which felt very Tolkein. So, the group used distraction and ranged to take out Cenric, and I knew it would be equally quick with the thralls on the fellowship's side for fighting Jarn, so I improvised the duel for the Moon. The thralls only threatened to fight when they realized someone had lifted the Moon off of fallen Cenric, but the fifteenth Eye of Sauron triggered the orc attack to force the group to secure a deal with the thralls so they could fight united nd prevail against the orcs. I only used 4 goblin archers and four goblin soldiers, who all dropped quickly as the party's dice were on fire by that point. I didn't want to do an overwhelming amount of orcs, since it was just an Eye of Sauron trigger and not a plot point.
5. How much teaching did you have to do along the way? It sounds like y'all moved at a brisk pace, to fit so much stuff in...
6. Did you hit any stumbling blocks along the way? Did anything shake out in play different from what you expected in preparation?
I felt a little unsure about the chase rules presented so I didn't use them. The group tried to use forced march at the beginning of the journey and realized the consequences of failure pretty quick. By helping out the woodsmen merchants and revealing their mission, they gained a few boats on lease from the merchants to aid in their journey, which allowed for some fun Athletics rolls as they tried to brave the rougher waters to gain ground faster. The dwarf fell out of the boat, but the Lady of Lake Town had the swimming trait and was able to rescue him.
I'm also used to more gung-ho groups, but these guys got the feel and themes of the gang... so I was a bit surprised they made such great efforts to help the thralls go free. I was anticipating a bigger battle and had to think on my feet to keep things from being anti-climatic.
Garrett
Read my campaign's journal entries at https://the-company-of-the-whiskey-drin ... ortal.com/
Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Otaku-sempai wrote:<more awesome feedback />
Awesome. Thanks for taking time out of your convention weekend to provide this excellent feedback!barefoottourguide wrote:<even more awesome feedback />
The document was missing the pregens for a good bit of its life, since I didn't want to include them until we all were satisfied with them.
I'm glad Ethal the Unkind was a hit. Let's just say that she's based on someone I know in real life,
.I do really like the orc patrol. I might try to work that into the adventure, at least as a suggestion. There will be a big edit coming up soon with a special surprise attached, so I have one more opportunity to change things up and then I want to leave it fallow... otherwise, I will never know what people mean when they tell me about their Theft of the Moon experiences. (I knew you were at least a version behind, because Jarn has had a name change in the latest revision.)
Jacob Rodgers, occasional nitwit.
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barefoottourguide
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Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
It was a great con adventure, and I eagerly await the sequel. I would gladly beta test it for you.
garrett
garrett
Read my campaign's journal entries at https://the-company-of-the-whiskey-drin ... ortal.com/
Re: UBCon XXVI: April 17 - 19
Look for more news on that front soonish... the next adventure is a bit more complex, but follows the plots and ideas of Theft up.barefoottourguide wrote:It was a great con adventure, and I eagerly await the sequel. I would gladly beta test it for you.
garrett
Jacob Rodgers, occasional nitwit.
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