trystero wrote:Elfcrusher, I think the abstract mechanism you propose sounds great: it reminds me nicely of the "Lead" and "Allies in Battle" ad hoc rules used for pursuit and mass combat in parts of Tales from Wilderland, and as such feels like a good way for TOR to treat wanderings through Moria (or Goblin-gate).
Would you need two separate ratings to track? Might it be easier to just have a single "Lostness" rating that rises as the company falls away from its intended route or direction of travel? You mention both numbers rising as the group wanders: are there situations where only one number or the other would increase?
Not sure yet. My first intuition is that there's a difference between knowing you're lost and knowing how to fix it. I like the idea of there being a hidden variable that only the LM knows. Maybe one for the players and one for the LM?
And would these ratings interact with regular journey Hazards at all? I'd almost be inclined to have "Lostness" add to the Hazard trigger number (so that with Lostness 1, any failed Travel roll showing the Eye or a 1 on the Feat die triggers a Hazard episode), though that might be too punitive.
Absolutely some interaction. Not only does being off-course make it more likely that you'll stumble into trouble, but Fatigue rolls are harder when you know you're lost.
One of the mechanisms I am toying with is to create a bunch of Moria "decision points" (e.g. the stairs up, stairs down, or straight ahead choice faced by Gandalf.) Instead of rolling randomly whether the party gets lost, the LM does the following:
1) Picks or randomly determines a decision point and describes it to the players.
2) Picks (or rolls) which way is correct
3) For each player who is attempting to navigate, the LM then makes a secret roll that determines the strength of that player's intuition. Above 50% the LM tells the player the correct way; below 50% he tells the player an incorrect way.
4) The players decide whether or not to go with the intuition.
So with several players attempting to navigate the party could go with consensus, or intentionally do the opposite of whatever the least skilled player says, etc.
E.g.:
LM: "You come to a three-way intersection, with stairs going up, stairs going down, and a passage going straight ahed. (ROLLS) Nar, you think it's straight ahead. (ROLLS) Eardil you also think it's straight ahead. (ROLLS) Meriadoc, you think it's up.
Nar: "Straight ahead it is."
Eardil: "Definitely!"
Meriadoc: "Hey!"
LM: "Ok, after an hour the tunnel ends in a collapsed pile of rubble. You hear the skittering of small feet. Everybody roll Awareness."
Meridaoc: "See?"
I've started sketching out some Hazard tables, too. Similar to the ones in the additional rules supplement compiled by Rich H., but Moria-specific.
