Legendary Weapons

[pathstrider]

I was looking at the rules for legendary weapons in Fell beasts and wondorous items when a thought occured to me:

Instead of asigning a bonus when a weapon kills an important creature, why not use the renown rules and apply them to weapons?

It'd be a bit more complicated, but the whole 'recognition and then apply bonus' system seems to fit better to me - it would explain why Aragon keeps pointing out what sword he has in the books

what do people think?

later days!

Mark

[Doug Burke]

Personally, I like the idea. I mean, if you can do Starship Renown in Trek, why not weapon renown in LOTR?

[celebril]

I like the idea. No matter how famous a weapon is, there's really no way every Orc, Troll, or baddie is gonna necessarily recognize it. And I doubt every man of Gondor would recognize Aiglos on sight, for example. I think that's a solid idea. And if you're PC found himself in the presence of some particularly dense friends or foes who don't recognize his famous sword, he could always just make a Public Announcement like Aragorn.

[Greg Davis]

You know, you could even expand upon this idea of item Renown so that, though it, the item provides Intimidate/Inspire bonuses, based on successful Renown checks.

Perhaps, going along with this idea of item Renown working in a similar vein to starship Renown in Trek, perhaps we could come up with a small list of item-only Edges (and, perhaps, Flaws). These could be used to simulate 'magical' effects, or perhaps be used to reflect that certain items function better for certain people (like an Heirloom Edge, for instance).

There'd need to be some sort of limit (either game-mechanic related, or Narrator imposed) to keep things from getting out of hand, but it could be another way to add flavor to a Lord of the Rings campaign, without having to rely on enchanted items for the 'super-cool' effects, as well as having a way to customize items in a more individualistic way.

This may come across as a bit on the rambling side, but it just hit me. I'll try to work out something more coherent and post it later, as this is just a very initial thought...



Greg

[Grutos]

I likes it. The weapon itself can inspire a great deal of fear (scimitars for example upon first sight.....oh yah!!), let alone if there is a history behind the weapon. Could do the same with armour (especially if it was armour worn by a fallen hero - "He's risen" <-- inspire followers to continue and strike fear into thine enemy that a ghost has come back [very nicely done by George R.R. Martin's Renley's Ghost (spelling?!)].)

One of my old DMs had a cursed coin & a cursed sword that he introduced in some of the games. If the character's ego was lower than the sword's, then the sword would start to take over and force the character to take actions that s/he normally wouldn't always do --- "I need to 'drink'....*sching GD I'm amazing*....guard takes 18 pts damage *PC is shocked that sword is in hand and imbedded in guard's side*". Or, the coin would make the PC purchase stuff that s/he didn't necessarily need. One of my favourites was the Paladin's armour - when he behaved un-holy-like, he got burned & hives from the armour.

Nice counters to all of the + hit / + dam / + save gear out there. Additionally, it gives the DM some room to manouver if the s/he wants to have a slightly humourous event (- dex eq that looks really pretty is always fun to give to a Kender).

[pathstrider]

Aragorn (On top of any ramparts you like, in front of army of Orcs): "For I am the wielder of Anduil!"

Orcs: (Look at each other a bit)

Aragorn "You know, the blade reforged?"

Orcs: (Shrug a bit)

Aragorn: "Narsil?"

Orcs: "Bloody hell!" (flee)

later days!

Mark

[celebril]

That idea of granting an Edge through possession of an item is something I'd implemented in my games earlier. I had an NPC who was formerly of Gondolin. He still had his nifty armour, and I essentially granted him Evoke Awe when he wore it into battle. I'm told now that Decipher has done the same thing for "Armour of the Elder Days" in FBWM. I don't have my copy yet, but it's pretty cool that we were thinking along the same lines.
I definitely think that's a good way to express an items effects, beyond just +1 bonus to Intimidate/Inspire, a given item could grant any Edge that makes sense. I like the idea, though, as you've said, there are definitely limits. The armour of Gondolin is the only time I've ever used the idea myself. I'm sure it won't be the last though...