New Loremaster looking for some tips

[Hermes Serpent]

My players are just leaving Lorien and heading for Isengard. If you see an Elf, a Dwarf, a Beorning and a Lakeman on the way that's my group

[Rich H]

We'll be in different instances unless we group up!

[Havinor]

Yeah the guys are well up for it. I have already had to install a ban though. My Mate Dougie plays a Dwarf warrior in EVERY fantasy game he every plays (ironically it's 6ft, skinny and blond). RPG and online gaming.... he can't help himself!! So he has been banned from Dwarves in this game. Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with

Supplement wise, Darkening of Mirkwood and Rivendell will be my next acquisitions I think, but what I have will definitely be enough to get us going in the meantime. Ooh and a pre order for the Maps and Journeys!!!

[Falenthal]

So he has been banned from Dwarves in this game. Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with

A bearded beorning with a Great Axe, of course!

His Specialties could be Mountanieer and Story-telling, and his Reward a Splitting Axe.

[Rich H]

Yeah the guys are well up for it. I have already had to install a ban though. My Mate Dougie plays a Dwarf warrior in EVERY fantasy game he every plays (ironically it's 6ft, skinny and blond). RPG and online gaming.... he can't help himself!! So he has been banned from Dwarves in this game. Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with

Ouch, he's not going to like you for that - especially if someone else plays one as they are pretty cool! One of my players has a dwarf character, Thogrim, who's a walking tank; all heavy armour, full helm and a huge great axe. He gets wearied quite quickly but it doesn't seem to affect his tactic of sitting in forward stance and hammering everything. Like Falenthal said above though, Beornings are a lot of fun as well - the other side of the coin to dwarves really; unarmoured nutcases!

Supplement wise, Darkening of Mirkwood and Rivendell will be my next acquisitions I think, but what I have will definitely be enough to get us going in the meantime. Ooh and a pre order for the Maps and Journeys!!!

I'd actually recommend Journeys and Maps (or JaM as I like to call it) before Rivendell if you're looking at using Darkening of Mirkwood and Heart of the Wild. It would nestle nicely between those two lovely slices of bread! The extra Hazards alone are worth the price of admission as they really help illustrate what can be done with that part of the journey rules - some of them are little adventures in their own right. And then add to that things like the content on ruins and you really have an invaluable supplement for LMs to breath additional detail into their adventures.

[Havinor]

Hahahaha I hope Doug doesn't see this thread or he'll be Beorning-bound before teatime!!

That's a great suggestion Rich H, I may well do that!

Right now the boys are in the middle of a 40k Dark Heresy mission (yes a slight change from Middle Earth lol). I'm tempted to have them sucked through a warp hole into the Eye of Terror, just the end the game quickly. Does that make me a bad person

[Rich H]

That's a great suggestion Rich H, I may well do that!

Best 20 squid I've spent on the game, which is saying something considering the quality of the products, but it's packed with ideas and useful stuff that can be used wherever you set the location of your campaign.

[aramis]

This is interesting because I'd have thought the sequence would have been....
for example, Fellowship have initiative.....

Forward Stance: Fellowship then enemies. the most aggressive stance.
Open Stance: Fellowship then enemies. the tactical stance.
Defensive Stance: Fellowship then enemies. the reactive stance.
Rearward Stance: Fellowship then enemies. looking for a clear shot, now that opening volleys are resolved.

Again, I haven't played it yet, but when I was getting into the combat section, I kind expected this layout and was surprised when the process was as it is in the book. I'm guessing it must work well as it is, because I haven't seen any threads saying 'this doesn't work'.

It works well, if differently, either way.

In the standard, the only time it really matters is when ganging up.

So when would you have the Hill-Troll attack, if he is engaged by one player in Forward and one in Defensive?
I think it only works as per RAW.

Cheers

I'd have him go in the one who targeted him first... who is likely to be, but may not always be, the forwardmost one.(It's possible that the forwardmost at declaration moved back, and someone further back moved forward.)

In fact, I have used that mode... because the players that session asked if we could try it that way. It's slightly more complex, but not much more complex; I paired the first attacker and the critter on the stance mat, and the secon attacker (and sometimes third) in line with, but in their own stance tier, the initial pair.

Note that I use 8mm cubes on the stance mat... numbered or lettered... (For D&D, I use them on a 12.7mm grid...) so there is plenty of room on the mat.

[Havinor]

DISASTER!!!

I just popped on to order Darkening of Mirkwood and the Maps and Journeys..... Darkening is unavailable!!!

I'll hang fire till more are available on the site. Fingers crossed not too long lol!!

The players are busting to get going, but this gives me time to finish the core book and give Marsh Bell a look

[zedturtle]

I haven't tried doing so, but is there a way to backorder the book thru C7? That way you should get the PDF with a quickness and the physical book as soon as it becomes available again.