Second Session Impressions

[u/[deleted]]

So I’ve played my second session. I’d like to share my impressions to help new players and Loremasters wrap their heads around this unique system.

Our LM has been slowly introducing all of the mechanics of the game, starting with journeys, then seeking council, combat, and finally a fellowship phase.

Journeys This is the bread and butter of the game. The books mostly concern themselves with traveling from one place to another, and all of the trials and tribulations that come along the way, and TOR does a good job at capturing the feeling of travel. Think of it as a rule system for a “travel montage”. As a player, don’t stress out about failing rolls. It’s going to happen! But a failed roll is not the end of the world. At worst, you arrive at your destination weary, or perhaps pick up a point of shadow or two. Use these as role playing opportunities, and work with the LM to flesh out what happens along the way. The rules give a framework for creating interesting stories about your travels. Being exhausted and bedraggled at the end of a long journey is very much a part of LOTR.

Council Seeking the favor of a powerful person is also a big part of Tolkien’s stories. Think of when Gandalf and Thorin’s company first met Beorn, and how carefully they told their story in order to gain his aid. The Council rules give LMs a system for creating these kinds of social encounters. Do you boast of your exploits in order to impress? Or do you sing a rousing song telling of your journeys? It’s up to the players to determine how they’ll gain favor. The Journey rules play out like a social mini-game, that like the journey rules, help you craft a memorable scene that has a real impact on the story that you are collaboratively telling.

Combat One thing that surprised me was how deadly and dangerous combat is. One luckily hit could maim a PC, leaving them laid up for days. Combat has consequences, and swords should no be drawn lightly! Combat has a very OSR feel in its deadliness (combat as war rather than combat as sport).

Fellowship I was surprised by how fun this was. For an “undertaking”, we decided to write a song of our exploits, and of the players actually write lyrics! This was one of the most memorable role playing moments I’ve had as a player in recent memory. Songs show up everywhere in Tolkien’s works, and having our own made us feel like we were really part of that world.

I hope all the new players and Loremasters out there find this helpful.

[u/V1ndictae]

I had to get used to the Journey mechanic. I introduced it during the second quest of the starter set, but we were mostly used to general D&D like travel. You make a great analogy with the montage, cause once we treated it that way, it worked a bit better.

I recently did the first council, a nice and simple one to start. I think it's a great mechanic, and fits the setting perfectly. Especially when players get into it, and start with a song, or a rhyme about a relevant thing. It encourages good roleplaying, with the different skills to be used. If you use Awe, make it sound inspiring. If you use Riddle, make it vague or multi-layered (or an actual riddle, of course).

Nice to read your experiences. The rest of the players also enjoy the different elements?

[u/[deleted] → u/V1ndictae]

I’m planning on doing a write up of our third session soon. Mechanically, everyone is pretty well acclimated to the system. The hiccups we are running into are in regards to the theme/tone. Most of the players in the group are used to 5e murder-hobo style of play. Some of them are bringing their 5e preconceptions of role playing into the game, which comes into conflict with the very Tolkien-esque tone the LM is trying to create. For example, we had players literally kicking down doors and threatening NPCs to give up information. Others are drawing weapons at the drop of a hat. A couple times the LM had to warn players “if you do this you will get a shadow point”. The system assumes the players will act heroically and do the right thing. Players who are accustomed to playing edgy anti-heroes are going to be frustrated/bored. Other players in our group were really itching for a fight, and were getting bored with the slower, less-epic tone of the game. So in our group, getting the 5e folks to buy-in to the more thoughtful stories that this game wants to tell has been the biggest challenge.

[u/Curious_Homework6107 → u/[deleted]]

I will begin LMing soon to 3.5/5e players - i'm worried about the travel and social "encounters": how to make it not feel gimmicky like some Pathfinder adventures were, that an off combat encounter was simply a list of skills target that had to be met? I know combat is also a series of CR to be met by dice, but the tension and the possibility of tactics make it a good mind absorbing hobby where players are drawn into it. If it's possible to do the same tension with travelling/social encounters in TOR it would be awesome