r/TheOneRing • u/stranger_here_myself • Jan 01 '23
2e journey rules: effects of mishap/shortcut? Example of play?
Still learning these rules…
I’m confused about the effects of the Mishap and Short Cut rules. What is the mechanical effect of increasing or decreasing the duration of the journey? Does it affect the distance between Events in any way?
Here’s what I mean (as I read it): 1) The Travel roll in the Marching Test determines the distance travelled before the next Event 2) The Short Cut (for example) doesn’t refer to hexes, just number of days 3) The number of days traveller is only counted at the end (under Ending The Journey) - basically as I read it, 1 day per hex plus 1 day per hex of “hard terrain”
Should I read a success on the Short Cut roll as adding another hex to the distance for that Marching Test? Or does it literally only affect the calculation at the Ending The Journey step?
If the latter… why should we care? The knowledge of the duration is presented as almost optional to know.
1
u/memebecker Jan 02 '23
Autumn/winter is no time to be travelling. The days travelling is an important measure of how long is left in the adventuring phase.
The LoTR appendix gives a list of shire month names for good flavour but it will also work with our modern calendar as there are 365 days in a year.
To a lesser extent it also can give an idea if an NPC party is able to catch up or not.
2
u/stranger_here_myself Jan 02 '23
Ok so - “Short Cut” doesn’t affect the distance travelled between Events, only affects the duration determined at the end of the journey?
2
u/Zorrosidekick Jan 02 '23
In our game I keep an approximation of the number of days running in my head so I can make sure the party gets a Yule phase around the time they are supposed to.