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Was using Foxit, some of the PDF layers didn't load right before I killed the process and restarted the program. Just restarting it didn't do the trick so it's probably Foxit being a bad reader.

I'm a bit worried about the new Taking Courage rules and the impact of Courage Points on play. It effectively gives the Companions a pool of renewable Hope every game session. It also would seem to promote the idea of a player holding on to his experienced Companion for awhile when other players opt to retire their characters.

Those sound like features to me, not bugs. Why wouldn't a company with experienced members benefit from that?

Why would a bunch of newbies end up being ultra brave and competent just because they are adventuring with an experienced companion?

The trip from Bree to Rivendell comes to mind. I think things would go much easier for the hobbits in the RPG if they all had an extra half dozen or courage points every session.

Well, just to take your own example, think about the confrontation on Weathertop. You really think they all would have passed their fear tests without this effect in play? Seems pretty straight forward to me, and something I have experienced first hand even (being inspired/drawing hope from having someone experience at your side, not confronting Nazgul).

Yeah, I think it's freakin' brilliant. Anything that makes it easier for new characters and "high-level" characters to adventure together, without the newbies feeling like total baggage, is a good thing IMO.

And please bear in mind that we have folks complaining about Sombre Legacy on one hand, and Taking Courage on the other hand. There's a whole set of trade-offs for naming an Heir, both good and bad, and I think that Taking Courage will most often come up in those sorts of scenarios (unless you have loads of player churn in your game... which does happen with online games).

I am not complaining about or opposed to the rule, just concerned about it's effect on game play.

cuthalion wrote:Well, just to take your own example, think about the confrontation on Weathertop. You really think they all would have passed their fear tests without this effect in play? Seems pretty straight forward to me, and something I have experienced first hand even (being inspired/drawing hope from having someone experience at your side, not confronting Nazgul).

Possibly. I'm not so sure they would have passed the tests with this effect in play. Then again, from a strictly rules/gameplay point of view there is really little reason why the Nazgul couldn't have just taken Frodo at Weathertop. Aragon might have put up a decent fight, but couldn't hold off multiple many wraiths. The hobbits were pretty much dead weight.

But back to the Taking Courage rule, if ONE experience character has such a dramatic effect on the newbies, then adventuring with several experienced characters should produce an even greater effect.

It also raises the question as adventuring with an experienced NPC in the fellowship. Frankly, I'd feel a lot better to have Gandalf for a companion than any of the rest of the Fellowship. And I'd certainly Take Courage from having him with me. Seemed to work out that way in both books. I think that in such a situation, probably assume the rule would apply to Gandalf.

Rich H wrote:Wonderful art as always and Naomi's work is an excellent addition; more of her pieces please!

I'm afraid I do find it disappointing that around approximately 1/3rd of the book's content has been presented previously in other sources though. I appreciate it can be useful to consolidate but if another supplement later adds further cultures or undertakings then the content here quickly gets out of date. I get the decision to do this but I don't agree with it, sorry. Still, the new content is invariably pretty groovy so I'm fairly happy with it on the whole.

Just for the convenience sake of locating things all in one place, I really like the new book although as you said this will become obsolete again when more books come out. But that's a reason to have an Adventurer's Companion part two! I wish they would consolidate the monsters all in one book, but I can also see some good reasons why they might not want to do that.