Question on cursed items....

[Shincan]

One of my players found a cursed dagger...not long after, another member of the fellowship who knew the dagger was cursed used his burglary trait to steal, then bury the vile weapon. This was done to protect the finder, not to come back later and get the dagger for hmself.

However, I intend the curse to remain (on both characters who held it) unless the specifics for removing the curse are 1) discovered and 2) met. Does that make sense, or am I missing a rule which indicates that I've bungled this one? Of course, removing the curse would leave a great magical dagger available....

Oh, one more thing, the original finder does not yet know that his dagger is gone...the theft just took place hours ago in the game world.

Help?

[Otaku-sempai]

It's hard to comment much without knowing the details of the curse. Some cursed items in TOR only affect the bearer while the object is in his possession. Some curses are only activated under specific circumstances (such as a curse on a weapon that lies dormant until the weapon draws blood). Did the Burglar take any precautions such as being careful not to handle the dagger with his bare hands?

Remember that a cursed item is not innately evil, it has just come to bear a trace of darkness. It might be cleansed, though the curse might just make it more interesting!

[Falenthal]

As Otaku said, it's difficult to give an exact option without knowing the details. For example, how did the burglar know that the dagger was cursed?

But the first idea that came to my mind is that the hero who gained the magical dagger might get upset or even mad (Corruption test: gain 1 Temporary Shadow on any kind of success, 2 on a failure, 3 on a failure with an Eye) because, for what he knows, he just lost the magical item he had found!

Even if the burglar explained to him that it was cursed, the curse itself might work in making the finder of the dagger suspicious of his comrade, and eager to recover the dagger to see for himself he's not being lied to.

It all depends in how much importance you as LM want to put on the matter.

[Indur Dawndeath]

First I would hand out Shadow points for stealing the dagger to the thief, no matter what the intentions might have been.
Second, depending on the curse, I'd let the owner suffer a kind of bout of madness searching for the lost dagger or just make him temporary misserable until it is found, and let him suffer the bout in the normal way, when an EoS is rolled.

Cheers

[Terisonen]

I would give one point to the GM for stealing between PC

[Shincan]

Thank you all for the responses. Plenty to think about. I do wonder if a player who stole the dagger w good intentions should or should not gain a point of shadow. Don't intentions have a lot to do with it? It's tricky ...but I appreciate everyone's thoughts! And it has been a fun game either way.

[atgxtg]

Yeah, intentions are tricky, but then again can the player be certain that his character's motives were entirely altruistic? Or that the sudden loss of the dagger doesn't cause distress that could lead to shadow gain in the robbed character? Gabndalf was quite worried what might have happened to Bilbo if the ring had to be taken from him.

I might or might not hand out shadow points, but I'd certainly use the incident to raise suspicion and mistrust among the fellowship. After all, Boromir wanted the ring with the best of intentions-initially.

[Kirppu]

Thank you all for the responses. Plenty to think about. I do wonder if a player who stole the dagger w good intentions should or should not gain a point of shadow. Don't intentions have a lot to do with it? It's tricky ...but I appreciate everyone's thoughts! And it has been a fun game either way.

I think go with your gut, at the end of the day your group are used to the way you interpret/balance your own game and have a sense of what is good and what is bad. They should in theory be used to that balance too and know, or at least have a good enough idea to not be too shocked at how you rule that kind of thing.

That said, the shadow point could merely be from becoming embroiled with the curse too, and whats a shadow point or two between friends? How many good guys gained 'shadow points' in Tolkien's writing when doing good deeds when involved in 'cursed' items or people? Apart from the One Ring itself and it's effects on other party members, I also think of Turambar and Beleg ( among his other loved ones) and Gurthang too. There is quite a lot of variety to both stories and how different elements mesh with fate, choice, intent.

Yeah go with your gut! It sounds fun though, whichever way it pans out. Let us know what unfolds...

[Otaku-sempai]

Thank you all for the responses. Plenty to think about. I do wonder if a player who stole the dagger w good intentions should or should not gain a point of shadow. Don't intentions have a lot to do with it? It's tricky ...but I appreciate everyone's thoughts! And it has been a fun game either way.

How about a Corruption test with a (temporary?) point of Shadow if he fails?

[Havinor]

I'm probably coming into this much too late, but I just read it and got instantly intrigued!

How about the 'stealer' has to make a corruption check after stealing said cursed knife. If he fails, he can't bring himself to give up the weapon. This earns him a shadow point for the theft and is now affected by the curse. If he passes, then you have the option of a temporary shadow for deceiving a friend. It depends how much this decision, from the stealer, impacts on the flow of the game. Is it central to the plot, or could be an interesting side story.... a shadow growing within the group... kind of thing