King Arthur Pendraken/The One Ring

[TheMonarchGamer]

Anyone thought of using the flaws and virtues from King Arthur Pendraken in The One Ring? And the backstory generation system? I feel like both would fit pretty well, at least in my view of Middle Earth.

For those not familiar, the way it works is that characters have opposing character traits,like:

8 Lust / Chastity 12
13 Greed / Generosity 7
4 Cowardice / Valor 16
9 Ferocity / 11 Mercy

Whenever characters come upon a situation where they would be tempted to act one way but want to act another, the GM would have them roll (on a d20) equal to or less than their virtue. If they failed, then they succumbed to their flaw. An common example (I believe used in the rules, actually) is one of a knight who comes upon a beautiful young maiden bathing in a river. He knows, however, that the river is rumored to be home to harpies. He must make a check rolling equal to or less than his Chastity rating, or be drawn to join her.

In King Arthur Pendraken (KAP), your ratings (there are a lot more) are decided by your culture and modified by your religion. That would be pretty easy to convert to Culture and Calling in The One Ring (TOR). You could make the roll re-roll-able by spending Hope Points. Maybe even make it a balance between 6 success dice, so "2 success dice Lust, 4 success dice chaste." TN is 14 as usual.

The background system in KAP is also pretty neat. You go through a bunch of tables, almost Mongoose Traveller style, that determine your family lineage and history, and their interaction with events that occurred in the past (invasions, famous battles, royal successions, etc.)

Thoughts?
-TMG

[Blubbo Baggins]

That would be pretty cool, and it I wonder if Francesco did not try something like this in his initial designs, given the big influence Pendragon has on TOR.

[Terisonen]

I have already played a campaign in Middle Earth with Pendragon System, and it fit nicely. However, trying to mix TOR and Pendragon IMO not a good idea. Use either Pendragon or TOR but not try to mix it for it can destroy the balance of game.

If someone interested I have already work on this subject and about cultures in Middle Earth for the Pendragon system, I can post some of my work.

[Falenthal]

I guess that the "opposing traits" system is, somehow, simplified but adapted by the Traits/Flaws mechanic of TOR.

In a way, adding this rule from Pendrake could be redundant. See that Greedy, Cowardice, Ferocity,... are already Flaws gained by Bouts of Madness due to the Shadow Weakness of the different Callings.

Another option would be to substitute entirely the Tratis/Flaws from TOR for this mechanic.

[TheMonarchGamer]

I guess that the "opposing traits" system is, somehow, simplified but adapted by the Traits/Flaws mechanic of TOR.

In a way, adding this rule from Pendraken could be redundant. See that Greedy, Cowardice, Ferocity,... are already Flaws gained by Bouts of Madness due to the Shadow Weakness of the different Callings.

Another option would be to substitute entirely the Traits/Flaws from TOR for this mechanic.

That's a really good point. I might end up doing this, since my players pretty much constantly forget (as do I) to use their traits/flaws. I pointed them out this last session, and a few of them even forgot they had them!

I suppose the shadow weaknesses and such could be applied as modifiers to the traits?

Who would be interested in helping with some background tables for the family history of each culture?
-TMG

[Falenthal]

I suppose the shadow weaknesses and such could be applied as modifiers to the traits?

Good idea!

To keep the rule in the frame of TOR, instead of giving points over 20 (15 vs. 5, 11 vs. 9, etc.), I think I'd do it over 10 and use just the Feat die:

An Eye makes the "bad" side win, a Gandalf the "good" side, even if the Opposing Traits are 0 vs. 10.

A Flaw from a Bout of Madness could give a permanent -2 to a certain bad Trait: Cruel for Slayers in opposite to Merciful, for example. Thus, the hypotethical fifth Bout of Madness, that takes a character out of the game, would mean that he is at 0 for the good side of a Trait and beyond hope of redemption (as much as anyone is "beyond redemption" in Middle-Earth).

Also, Cultures should have different beginning opposing Traits, like Beornings having 7 Ferocity/ 3 Mercy, Dwarves 7 Greed/ 3 Generosity, Hobbits 1 Ferocity/ 9 Mercy, Elves 9 Lust/ 1 Chastity , ... and so on.

Maybe this should go to the House Rules Thread before developing even more...

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=4214

[Grands-Pas]

It's funny you posted that topic as I was just thinking how Pendragon could benefit from a journey system ala TOR. It's always one of the most difficult part for me to GM: make the journey's interesting, seem like a long voyage and potentially perilous (depending on where and the era).

[Terisonen]

It makes travel an integral part of the gaming experience, as the interaction system. It is really brilliant ideas.

[TheMonarchGamer]

Agreed.
-TMG