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[Mild spoilers for Ruins of the North]

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So here's the thing: The Company I'm LM'ing has been captured by Orcs while infiltrating Mount Gram, and the Orcs have handed them over to Mormog, the Ogre-Captain. This was a cliffhanger on which we ended last session. One player, a Hobbit, managed to escape and presumably will get help, but he has to brave the Lone-lands or the Ettenmoors on his own first.

The way I see it, the rest of the Company will spend a few months as Mormog's prisoners, who will question them on the movement of the Dunedain and the hidden fastness of the Elves. All in all, bad living conditions and quite possibly a fair but of torture, which is something I'd much rather darkly imply than focus in on.

My question is, how should I tackle this game-wise? I was thinking of a Prisoner Fellowship Phase, in which some rolls are made to determine to what extent the horrible confinement and torture will affect them in the long term. Think shadow points, shadow flaws, reduced endurance, I don't know. Any suggestions?

Honestly I've typically found that these kind of sessions are unpopular with players. You also have the issue with the Hobbit having escaped.

I would tend to go with this:

Ask the Hobbit whether he intends to try and free them or go to get help.

If he tries to free them immediately then I would play it out. If not then I would abstract the time passed into a brief description of the type of situation they're in, perhaps a couple of options for what they try to do to keep their spirits up (uses of Inspire and Song, for instance) and rolls for Shadow gain and maybe even Hope and Endurance loss before the Hobbit returns.

You may want to look at a section of Those Who Tarry No Longer for ideas.

Best of luck with the adventure!

EDIT: Edited for clarity

Between sessions ask what the player of the Hobbit is going to do; if he says he is getting help then let it happen. If it doesn't then the campaign for the captured PCs is basically over which I presume you don't want to be the case. I'm assuming that there's no possibility of escape, if there is then you'd need to run with this and develop some more traditional adventure ideas as to what the possibilities are and how they could succeed.

So, if they can't escape... Personally, this seems like a great opportunity to let the players with the captured PCs use new characters for the express purpose of rescuing their captured ones. That way, they are invested in the process and know that the longer they take the more at risk their beloved characters are of being tortured etc. I wouldn't play out the torture or anything, purely focus on the rescuing characters and the events/scenario regarding them.

Depending on how quckly and effectively the 'new' characters meet the objective of rescuing the original ones, I'd then let each player roll for their old character to see how they fared during the time of their capture. This could range in TN and the type of rolls depending on how long they are imprisoned. Based on those rolls, I'd describe the results - eg, Endurance loss, Wearied, Miserable, etc; making it clear from the outset that their performance in rescuing their own characters will determine what happens to each of them. That way, they feel agency in resolving the dire situation.

Did Bilbo spend months getting help when the Dwarves were in the Elven-king's dungeons? Did Sam go back to Faramir for help when Frodo was taken by Orcs?

Or, as John Belushi once said, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Seems to me you have the perfect opportunity for the Hobbit to be a hero.

Thanks for the replies all!

I don't intend to let this be the end. They allowed themselves to be captured so the Hobbit and a few prisoners they came to rescue could escape (a turn of events that caught me off-guard). He will undoubtedly come back to rescue them, and in doing so, both the Hobbit and the captured PCs will play a big role in which way the allegiances of the more reticent Hill-man tribes of the North swing (they hate the Dunedain, but there also Trolls, who they also hate). It is the darkest bit before the dawn.

I guess my question is more along the lines of how you would reflect brutal imrpisonment for a month or so on the character sheet. A shadow point at the very least.

Ernst-Jan wrote:I guess my question is more along the lines of how you would reflect brutal imrpisonment for a month or so on the character sheet. A shadow point at the very least.

In my house ruled game that's a perfect opportunity to roll Vigour (as trait used in similar ways to Valour and Wisdom). Failure would result in physical and mental conditions or penalties being applied. But depending on how hard you want to be it could include one, some, or all of the following:

Endurance loss or Fatigue gain
Hope loss and/or Shadow gain
Wearied condition applied
Miserable condition applied
Wounded condition applied

It really is up to you how far you want to push this, how brutal the imprisonment and how far you think your players will be okay in you applying such things to their characters. If I was in this situation, then I'd let them decide; usually my players end up being harsher than I do!

I agree that a character emprisonned and tortured during a long period would have some physical loss (endurance,...). But for heart and spirit, it could also be for him a "discover of himself" and an opportunity to grow up. Eg a character who resist torture could gain spirit strengh, a character longly emprisonned could spend his time alone in thinking about his friends and family and, after escaping, be changed in his heart for the best.
Now how to implement this...
PS: sorry for my bad english

Yeah, I agree with the others. If the heroes volunteered to be captured, then give each of the players a minute or two to summarise their experiences among the orcs and assign themselves a penalty. It sounds like your players will run with it and make it great.

And then the Hobbit and the prisoners can find some unexpected allies and come back and bust everyone out.

Or maybe the Hobbit can find a Wonderous Artefact of Stealth, just when he needed it. No strings attached, nope not at all. Certainly not Cursed.

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'll go with letting my players suggest what hardships they may have endured. this Capaign (And Darkening before it) has benefitted massively from their input. Don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place.

Yeah, let them narrate their experiences of confinement etc and apply appropriate penalties to their characters. Maybe it could lead to them each being able to select a temporary trait to assign the their character as well, until the next year end Fellowship Phase?