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Glorelendil wrote:Players could perhaps be able to invoke the LMC's traits as if they were their own. At least in some situations.

That's surely the most sensitive solution, like having Fellowship Traits.

Personally I'd like a bit more of detail related to the LMC's Skills, but they aren't that needed.

I like that idea. Honestly, I know there's a ton of stuff for the writers and designers to do already (Bree, Gondor, and Lothlorien cultures, maybe Moria) but some sort of system for less than 4 players would be nice to see in an official format.

If you want to keep things rules legal, at the moment, the only real help is to add a Ranger Guide with the virtue to swap in for an empty roll, or else reserve some hope, and use the rules for a vacant fellowship focus.

Reading the above posts, one may get the impression that the One Ring is not suitable for smaller parties of 2-3 players, but my experience proves otherwise. Travel is more difficult / dangerous but this may lead the fellowship to try and find help before starting their journey, or to accept a certain level of weariness or hope expenditure. All of which can make for more intense / dramatic moments sooner in the game.

Nice feedback, tomfish.

In fact, less players also means less Travel rolls and, therefore, less chances of rolling an Eye.

If the LM also tries to include once in a while some LMC that might help the group in tight spots (Gandalf had the help of Balthi when travelling to Dol Guldur, for example), it surely can even add to the enjoyment and the involvement with the world and the people the Fellowship is struggling to protect.

Yeah. With only two companions, you should only be getting a hazard once every 6 fatigue tests, and slightly less than half of those will hit empty roles, requiring hope expenditure to fill an empty roll. So, on average (although there will be streaks, of course) only once every twelve fatigue rolls will it cost the two person fellowship hope just to get a chance to avoid a hazard. That's really not so bad. Possibly more importantly, with only two PCs, archery is nigh impossible (unless the archer is a woodsman or Rohirrim with the right virtue), and you will need to be careful of pre written encounters that say things like 'these two named NPCs, and two bad guys per companion.

With 6 PCs in my game, I have to scale combat the opposite way.

Since Hazards usually only affect one companion the fact that their frequency is proportional to fellowship size means that their impact is (mostly) invariant.

Oh, I don't have hazard issues with a big group. But the extra hope to fill empty roles might still be something to keep in mind for smaller than 4 fellowships.