Crossing Mirkwood - corruption dice storm

[gentlemansavage]

First off let me state I have yet to play a game of TOR. I'm currently trying to understand all the rules as I will be filling the role of Loremaster. I would appreciate your input to help me determine if I'm interpreting the rules correctly.

I ran a hypothetical journey on paper today that involved going from Dale to Rhosgobel via the Old Forest Road in spring. I broke the journey into three legs (Dale to Old Forest Road, Crossing Mirkwood, and to Rhosgobel). I understand this a long journey and potentially very stupid for my heroes given the nature of these lands (lots of Shadow lands and Dark lands). Still, I wanted to see how it played out.

For the crossing Mirkwood section on the Old Forest Road, my calculations yield a distance of 21 hexes/210 miles of which 1 hex is Shadow lands, 7 hexes are Wild lands, and 13 hexes are Dark lands. Since the majority of this leg of the journey is in Dark lands, I apply the Severe terrain modifier (per the rules stating that any path or road in Mirkwood should be classified as such) which multiples the length of the journey by three. On foot, the heroes can cover 20 miles/day or cross Mirkwood in 33 days (11 days x3).

I can live with 7 fatigue tests at TN 20 (though it IS awful), but according to the blight places rules (even the revised rules, should an Eye icon show up), the heroes would need to make two Corruption tests per day. That's 66 Corruption tests over the course of this leg of the journey! I shudder to think of their Shadow scores after that trip.

So that just seems insane, and what's more - impossible to cross Mirkwood. Am I applying the RAW correctly? If so, what the hell and what is the consensus favorite house rule to mitigate this insanity?

Thanks for reading and helping a new LM.
-Keith

[Stormcrow]

As per the official ruling, not every Wild, Shadow, and Dark Land location calls for regular corruption tests. The Loremaster decides whether characters are traveling through a blighted land.

For instance, perhaps the Loremaster has decided that evil creatures have begun to haunt the Beacon Tower on the Old Forest Road, described in The Heart of the Wild. The tower and its immediate surroundings may be considered a blighted place. The Loremaster decides that this evil part of the forest calls for a corruption test: once when the company moves through this area, and twice a day more, because the tower is in Dark Lands, if they linger here (for instance, if they have an adventure here).

Thus, blighted places only exist where the Loremaster says they do.

[Angelalex242]

I could see some places being permablighted...

Mordor, for starters. The whole place. Poor Frodo and Sam. Good thing they had wisdom 6.

Moria, before Gandalf deals with Durin's Bane.

Dol Guldur zone, particularly while Sauron is still in residence. I could see Angmar zone being permablighted too, thanks to the Witch King.

Erebor while Smaug lives.

Isengard, once Saruman turns to the Dark Side.

There are just some places in Middle Earth only the Wisdom 6 should even think about entering.

[Rich H]

I can live with 7 fatigue tests at TN 20 (though it IS awful), but according to the blight places rules (even the revised rules, should an Eye icon show up), the heroes would need to make two Corruption tests per day. That's 66 Corruption tests over the course of this leg of the journey! I shudder to think of their Shadow scores after that trip.

Hi Keith, like Stormcrow replied, you've misread the Blighted Places rules so bear that in mind.

The following from my "Journey's End..." adventure may also be useful.

Shadow Lands and Dark Lands
Shadow lands are treated in all respects as Wild lands until 2947.

Dark lands are treated as Wild lands until 2947, then Shadow lands until 2951.

Corruption Tests
Certain areas along the Forest Road, particularly south of the mountains should be considered blighted areas and therefore the company should make Corruption Tests every day while travelling through them as the darkness of the forest weighs heavily on the company’s spirits. The Loremaster should subject the company to such blights
sparingly – used to increase tension or if the journey is proving too easy (eg, no fatigue has been gained).

... The latter backing up Stormcrow's post.

Suffice to say, a Journey across Mirkwood via the Men-i-Naugrim should not be undertaken lightly and the fact that there are so many fatigue tests (and x number of Corruption Tests for Blighted Places along the way) reinforces that so apart from you slight misunderstanding of the Blighted Places rule I think you're spot on as per the rules.

[Stormcrow]

I could see some places being permablighted... Mordor, for starters. The whole place.

Only the areas around Mount Doom, Barad-dur, the Morannon, and Cirith Ungol. The lands to the south are farmed by slaves of Sauron and are habitable, if not pleasant.

Poor Frodo and Sam. Good thing they had wisdom 6.

No way. Wisdom is favored, certainly, but they are not among the wisest of the Children of Iluvatar. Mordor had a strong effect on both of them in game terms; they failed a lot of corruption tests once they entered. The real miracle was Frodo not rolling an Eye and suffering a bout of madness until standing at the Crack of Doom.

[Angelalex242]

They had to be wisdom 6, or they never would've made it.

The areas they were going through were TN 20 (At least!) corruption tests BEFORE you add the Ring in. With the Ring, that jumps to TN 30, minimum. If not higher.

With the hobbits, Wisdom 6 doesn't signify being Elrond Jr., it signifies being corruption resistant enough to GET to Mt. Doom.

Remember, had Elrond himself been transporting the thing, he'd have been screwed. The Big Shots of middle earth, one and all, would never have gotten there. Only the Hobbits could do that, and then it takes Wisdom 6 Hobbits. They're the wisest possible hobbits, not the wisest possible anything.

[Rich H]

No way. Wisdom is favored, certainly, but they are not among the wisest of the Children of Iluvatar. Mordor had a strong effect on both of them in game terms; they failed a lot of corruption tests once they entered.

Yeah, completely agree... Thinking it through, if Frodo and Sam were PCs then they'd have taken a Fellowship Phase in both Rivendell and Lorien. By the time they were journeying through Mordor, I can see Frodo's Wisdom being 4, but no higher, and I think Sam would be more likely to have a Valour of 4 with a lower Wisdom.

[Rich H]

The areas they were going through were TN 20 (At least!) corruption tests BEFORE you add the Ring in. With the Ring, that jumps to TN 30, minimum. If not higher.

Why?

... The way I'd GM that would be Corruption Tests vs the One Ring and separate Corruption Tests vs the land of Mordor.

Remember, had Elrond himself been transporting the thing, he'd have been screwed. The Big Shots of middle earth, one and all, would never have gotten there. Only the Hobbits could do that, and then it takes Wisdom 6 Hobbits. They're the wisest possible hobbits, not the wisest possible anything.

That's more to do with those of great power being corrupted by the One Ring as the temptation is greater - eg, "they'd wish to use it for good and it cannot be used so". As GM I'd certainly have some trait of the ring that added complication penalties to any Corruption Tests for those PC/NPCs of power that a simple Hobbit (or other innocent) wouldn't be subject to - could even go so far as saying any other race besides Hobbits, to simulate that desire/seduction as it is evident in the books. I could even envisage some bonus modifiers to aid a character's resistance if they had a particular Distinctive Feature; nothing too huge but quite conceivably a +2 bonus.

[Stormcrow]

Hobbits get to roll the feat die twice on a Wisdom roll. They also provide extra Hope: if Frodo and Sam are considered a company, then together they have 4 points in their Fellowship Pool. They were probably spending all their Hope on Heart bonuses to corruption tests. And remember, in the end, Frodo failed in his task: he succumbed to corruption. I also suspect Sam was using some trait for automatic actions on corruption tests.

And, as Rich says, the Ring itself forces corruption tests.

Wisdom 6 for a hobbit is the same as Wisdom 6 for an elf, as Wisdom 6 for a wizard, as Wisdom 6 for a Maia. for Elrond, remember that they didn't send a hobbit because he could best resist the Ring—that's a movie-ism—they sent him because he was small and unlikely to be noticed by an Enemy looking for a hero or wizard who would claim the Ring and attack Sauron. This is why Aragorn was able to dupe Sauron: he made Sauron believe through the Palantir that he had claimed the Ring, so Sauron focused all his attention on destroying Aragorn. It's not until the very moment that Frodo puts on the Ring at the Crack of Doom that Sauron senses him there and suddenly realizes he made a stupendous blunder.

[gentlemansavage]

The following from my "Journey's End..." adventure may also be useful.

Shadow Lands and Dark Lands
Shadow lands are treated in all respects as Wild lands until 2947.

Dark lands are treated as Wild lands until 2947, then Shadow lands until 2951.

Corruption Tests
Certain areas along the Forest Road, particularly south of the mountains should be considered blighted areas and therefore the company should make Corruption Tests every day while travelling through them as the darkness of the forest weighs heavily on the company’s spirits. The Loremaster should subject the company to such blights
sparingly – used to increase tension or if the journey is proving too easy (eg, no fatigue has been gained).

... The latter backing up Stormcrow's post.

Suffice to say, a Journey across Mirkwood via the Men-i-Naugrim should not be undertaken lightly and the fact that there are so many fatigue tests (and x number of Corruption Tests for Blighted Places along the way) reinforces that so apart from you slight misunderstanding of the Blighted Places rule I think you're spot on as per the rules.

Thank you all for the clarifications. Where is the "Journey's End..." adventure found?

Seems like the take-home point is that blighted places are largely arbitrary and at the LM's discretion, though of course more frequent in more dangerous lands. I find this a bit unsatisfying, however, because it feels, well, arbitrary for me as the LM and makes journey-planning quite difficult for the players who won't know what to expect as to Corruption tests other than that Dark lands are really bad, etc. I think that makes some sense for new adventurers who haven't seen much of the world, but what if the players have relevant lore traits for the regions to be crossed? Seems like that could force the LM to provide detailed information on blighted places.