r/oneringrpg • u/Queasy_Implement_230 • 21h ago

"Advanced" LM tips

Hello, it's roughly been two weeks since I started running the game for two groups, one composed of five players and the other one of only one. So far it's been great!

However, I wanted to ask you for some tips, basing on the elements which have emerged from these first sessions:

  1. How do you manage travel in your games? Sometimes, I struggle to present my players with interesting events, especially if they fail multiple Travel rolls and they have to face many of them: I don't want to reduce everything to a dice throw and so far I've managed to avoid that, but travel often feels too long or diluted. I think it could also be because my players are not used to the game system and for them travel is not a "minigame" as it's intended in TOR, but a hiatus between one adventure and the other. I've received these feedbacks after just one session though, so maybe they still have to enter in the right mindset.
  2. A doubt about treasure load: in the basic rules it says that 1 point of treasure = 1 point of load, but in other manuals we are presented with pieces of gold, gems and other things which have a trasure valure of more than 1 and weigh way less than a bag of coins. Should I consider them without load and make my players write them down separately? And when should I pop them in, if created by me?
  3. I have a Durin Dwarf and a High Elf of Rivendell in my group. During the last session they visited Queen Nimue's palace in Lond Daer and asked her to visit the armory to inspect (minor spoiler from Ruins of the Lost Realm) her magical numenorean spear. I made them roll Lore and, given their Heroic Cultures, granted them an extra dice. Should I do that? I'm not afraid to be too permissive, but I also want to understand the system and make it work correctly. I had the idea that maybe they shouldn't be rolling at all for such things (much like when they have to know or remember something about their Heroic Culture).
  4. While the fellowship was in Lond Daer to rest, some of them wanted to help the locals: the Hobbit who works in Bree as a healer helped them with their health issues, the Dwarf helped fix things, and so on. I made them roll some dices over the course of a week, and to those who succeded I granted a Hope point (apart from the narrative effect that the people will remember their help). Do you think it was a good idea? Restoring Hope points is not something you have rules for (apart from the expenditure of Fellowship points), but I thought it was a good reward for their initiative. Also, it will be a one in a lifetime thing: they won't gain more this way.
17 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/perunson 21h ago

  1. My group is similar, we want to play the game not the minigame. I make travel a part of the usual adventuring in the following way: as the company is traveling, I check on the map the region they are traveling through, and find that region description in one of the books, and I read it out to them, and if there are events or locations prepared I will use these too. Travel is exciting now, like in a hexcrawl, where you may stumble upon things on the way to the adventuring site. They may travel through the same region multiple times and see how it is changing with the seasons and years passing.

  2. Yes they should write it down separately, it's just a note until the end of the adventure. Yes include them whenever appropriate. I think it's good to differentiate sources of treasure. It's also good to come up with an adventure hook associated with the item you created.

  3. Sounds good to me, I wouldn't grant the bonus die personally, but your ruling is sound. From a Ranger I would not require a roll.

0

u/Queasy_Implement_230 19h ago

Thank you so much! So you don't resolve travels through dice rolls anymore? You simply decide what they find and see?

3

u/perunson 17h ago

I do run the whole travel procedure to determine fatigue gained and days of travel, but in between rolls we play out the region guides

2

u/Harlath 20h ago

  1. Travel is intended as a fast mechanic. If you want deeper, more detailed occurrences, those in "The World" chapter can be added to different regions to give them local flavour. Add these as a complement, not a replacement, so you still generate the right amount of fatigue and people use their journey roles. Naturally this comes with a cost - more game time is taking up travelling. In TOR, travel should be part of an adventure, rather than "a hiatus between one adventure and the other". I don't necessarily want lots of interesting events and choices on a journey - one to give a region its flavour is often enough, then standard journey events.

  2. A treasure that's worth more than 1 is fun, and can reward a good scan roll for example. Put these in where fun and appropriate, as precious objects. These give flavour, but won't be hugely mechanically significant, so I wouldn't sweat this.

  3. "Player-heroes are considered to be knowledgeable in the traditions of their own people, and so the Loremaster should rarely require a player to make a LORE roll for information regarding their own character’s Culture or the area they originally came from." p63-64 TOR 2e Rulebook. Grand to skip a dice roll, or give them some basics based on their culture, then special secrets with a successful Lore roll.

2

u/Harlath 17h ago

Missed 4, but that's a grand idea. Check out the "Rousing Ballad" on p182 of the core rulebook for precedent of a skill test leading to hope recovery. Various supplements include other routes to recovering hope too.

I should add that "Restoring Hope points is not something you have rules for (apart from the expenditure of Fellowship points)" isn't quite right:

  • You get your Heart worth of Hope back each fellowship phase, plus a full Hope refresh at Yule.

  • Journey events can restore hope via a "Joyful Sigh" - p112.

  • Ad-hoc occurrences can restore hope, like the "Rousing Ballad" example noted above (or "Elven Minstrel" on 193, which doesn't require a skill roll), and various ideas in supplements.

2

u/littlestkobold 19h ago

I usually have a few ideas for travel events, but I also bounce it to the players to narrate too: "your Scout manages to find a shortcut - what does it look like?" etc

2

u/Logen_Nein 18h ago

  1. I run the travel system pretty much as is. I can see how it might be tedious if you have trouble with cooking up with descriptions, but it's not an issue for me. My players seem to appreciate it.

  2. I play it by ear with treasure. A single item is negligible. A sack of gold is1 Treasure/ 1 Load, and so on.

  3. I absolutely give bonuses in situations like this. Or forgoe the roll entirely.

  4. I grant Hope for things like this, but sparingly (usually no more than once a session).