Things missing from the 1 Ring

[Stormcrow]

The Ringwraiths are not dependent on their steeds for shape, only for senses in the mortal world. When the Nazgul entered Bree, and when they confronted Frodo on Weathertop, they did so on foot.

Tactics like shooting the Ringwraiths' horses ignore the fact that the Nazgul are not combat monsters. They avoid direct conflict until war begins. They rely on fear and darkness. They get agents to do their dirty work for them.

[Rocmistro]

I'm just imagining the Nazgul walking the East-West road, on foot. With backpacks to carry their food and stuff. Complaining to each other about how much it sucks to walk.

[Glorelendil]

I'm just imagining the Nazgul walking the East-West road, on foot. With backpacks to carry their food and stuff. Complaining to each other about how much it sucks to walk.

I'd love to see their Hazard table.

[Angelalex242]

Hazard table for Ringwraiths?

Eye: Bilbo or Frodo, depending on what year it is.
Gandalf: ...Gandalf.

1-5: Helpless NPCs
6-10: People badass enough to actually fight them.

[jamesrbrown]

I'm a GM[.]
SJE

See, that's the real issue! You need to be an LM to enjoy The One Ring. Lol.

I'm just being light-hearted. But, seriously, I think the comment that was particularly hard to swallow was this:

...and the game is a failure if it cant model what occurs in the books let alone what happens between players at a typical table.

That one went right to the heart, because of all the things that could be said about The One Ring, the greatest compliment has always been it's love for the source material and for Tolkien.

I love the books, and if we're just having a friendly conversation and not an argument, I would point out I can't recall any scenes of combat between heroes on a personal level. The scene you mentioned about Boromir and Frodo wouldn't qualify as combat at all, in my opinion. Boromir springs at Frodo a couple of times to grab him and take the Ring, but he was not himself. He was driven by madness. In the game, this is handled by the rules written for a Bout of Madness, which the Loremaster controls. Boromir was not at all happy with his actions. So, the game mechanics support the book. Here's a quote from that scene with Boromir:

‘Miserable trickster!’ he shouted. ‘Let me get my hands on you! Now I see your mind. You will take the Ring to Sauron and sell us all. You have only waited your chance to leave us in the lurch. Curse you and all halflings to death and darkness!’ Then, catching his foot on a stone, he fell sprawling and lay upon his face. For a while he was as still as if his own curse had struck him down; then suddenly he wept.

He rose and passed his hand over his eyes, dashing away the tears. ‘What have I said?’ he cried. ‘What have I done? Frodo, Frodo!’ he called. ‘Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back!’

Additionally, I would say that roleplaying games in general do not cover every situation that could possibly occur. Players are expected to be creative and fair, using the spirit of the existing rules as a guideline to come up with a solution for the proposed actions. In the case of player-on-player combat, it would be very simple to resolve with a little imagination. Its definitely NOT a design flaw to not cover it, since it is unlikely to occur in game - especially if the players are familiar with the actual source material.

[MattG]

Well said, James.
One thing is for sure. The game isn't missing the love for the books and the loving fans.

Even the Professor was editing already published books and tried to answer the questions or introduce ideas or explain them after the material was released. I was missing mounted combat but it's coming. PvP is madness. Smeagol wasn't himself killing Deagol. Should player want to fight another player the rule says LM is up to use any rule or change it for his group as he sees fit. I am not surprised the authors didn't want to promote this kind of non Tolkien behavior in the game by providing direct mechanics for a ways to harm friends. It doesn't mean LM can't rule as he wish, and then it is still within the rules.

[Angelalex242]

Well, the 3 virtues any hobbit must have for surviving the war of the ring to make any sense whatever are Small Folk, Tough in the Fiber, and Brave at a Pinch.

Presumably, Boromir attacked Frodo twice with his grapple skill (dagger, which he probably hadn't spent much XP on) and Frodo has a parry of 8 or 9 thanks to Small. Probably 8. He'd never have survived carrying the Ring with anything less then heart 7. Boromir just clean missed.

[Glorelendil]

Good post, James.

[Cawdorthane]

...and the game is a failure if it cant model what occurs in the books let alone what happens between players at a typical table.

I would hate to think pvp behavior occurs between "players at a typical table", but maybe that's just me and where I am now with roleplaying. Roleplaying has become a very broad church and each group should be able to find the particular rules set that suits their preferred style. I strongly suspect SJE is looking in the wrong place if his group enjoys or regularly engages in pvp - more power to them if they do, but I doubt that TOR can be readily made to fit that particular bill with any ease. Much as SJE is absolutely entitled not to like TOR, others are just as entitled to bristle more than a little bit when he writes that TOR is broken, just because it does not suit the particular style of him and his group.

cheers
Mark

[Deadmanwalking]

PVP is actually trivially easy to introduce to the rules if you want to.

You and your opponent have a base TN of 9 + Parry, if you assume Forward Stance both you get -3 to that,if you assume a Defensive Stance, both get +3. These stack. Alternately, the attacker gets to pick what stance you both count as in. Alternately, you don't get to pick Stances and both use Open automatically (or Forward, or even Defensive...maybe the LM picks for you based on situation).

Those are off the top of my head, mind you (okay, I think I saw something about the first one on the forums some time a while ago). Which makes complaints about it being a fundamental lack seem pretty hollow to me. It's a very niche situation in the source material and intended style of play...a lack of explicit rules for it is no more strange than a lack of rules specific to underwater combat, and no harder to introduce.