Peril of Mirkwood

[Taliesin]

<b>Reposted from the Decipher LotR board:</b>


One of the coolest things in the MORIA boxed set is the concept of Peril as a game mechanic. For those of you who do not have the MORIA set, Peril is a unique method of generating random encounters. The Narrator sets a Peril TN and the party has to make combined Stealth tests to determine their success at avoiding danger.

This is a great idea that I hope Decipher will include in future modules. Right now, my characters are journeying through Mirkwood, so I thought I'd develop Peril rules for that evil place. Here's the base system with some questions following:

<b>Perils of Mirkwood </b>
Check every four hours, whether on the move or at rest.

<b>Peril TNs</b>
Area controlled (heavily patrolled) by Free Peoples (Elves or Woodmen): TN 5
Area marginally controlled (lightly patrolled) by Free Peoples: TN 10
Area is Wild or Uncontrolled: TN 15
Area marginally controlled by the Enemy: TN 20
Area controlled by the Enemy: TN 25

<b>Modifiers</b>
All Physical Test Modifiers from Table 9.8 where appropriate (Visibility and Lighting, Extreme Temperature, Terrain).

Party being stalked by Enemy: +5 to +10 TN
Party being protected by Ally: -5 to -10 TN

That's the system, in a nutshell. Comments and criticism welcome. Here are my questions then:

1. The combined contest rules on CB pg 225 state the participants make their test at -5 TN. I think this means contributors to the test have it <i>easier</i> than the leader, correct?

2. When traveling in a dark, dense forest like Mirkwood, would the mods for poor lighting, heavily obstructed terrain, and weather (say, dense fog) <i>help</i> the party avoid peril or <i>increase</i> their peril? On the one hand, one could argue that poor visibility would help cloak the characters. On the other hand, they're not able to see Peril themselves and react appropriately to avoid it. Or is the effect are visibility mods neutralized for these reasons--no modifier?

What say you all?

T.







RESPOND TO THE ABOVE

[Phantom]

I don't have the set, and probably won't be getting it for a long time yet (saving for the SG-1 RPG and sourcebooks,) but I really like the idea of a Peril rating. And if me e-game of LotRs had continued I would have certainly used your Peril in Mirkwood table.

[ben hur]

Repost from my post on the Decipher board (this forum is a lot better, heh):

Neat idea! Is it okay for you to post this here though? It's not violating copyright or anything? I hope not, it looks good.

In answer to your first question: yes, I believe that's how it works. And the funny thing is, I usually forget that the others get a -5, and I think "Gee, Combined tests would hardly ever help", but really they can be quite good, heh.

In answer to question number two: I would say the modifiers usually help the characters trying to hide; for example, if it's broken ground. But I can see where you'd think some things would hurt them. I guess it depends on what is searching for them, maybe? But almost always the modifiers would be helping I'd think.

Looks like a all-around solid mechanic!

[Lt. Dade]

For the sake of simplicity, I go ahead and let a fair number of modifiers cancel each other out. Only when the environment is the key factor in a given scene do I load up on the modifiers. Otherwise, a single or very few stand-out modifiers add a lot more color.

Of course, you're talking about a mechanic to spotlight an environment, so I'd say that you should have all of the general environmental modifiers even out between the Perilous Enemy characters and the Stealthy Heroic characters. This way, the skill of the opposing parties becomes the factor of real consequence. After that, I'd pick a single, stand-out modifier for a few stretches of Mirkwood and apply it to one party or the other to create moments of tension, variety, and distinction. Imagine a setting where exceptional modifiers would be relevant (as opposed to just the common woodland effects) and try to create one or two settings that favor the PCs or the Enemy.

For example, (off the top of my head, without the book in front of me):

The woods open up into a flat, level span where the roots of the woodland trees twist out from the black soil. It's a wide, highly visible stretch here between the narrow, leafless trunks. On the far side the undergrowth thickens up again, dark and impenetrable. [Low undergrowth, highly visible area: Peril +5 TN]

A shallow gulley opens up beneath you, right along your track. The slope is nothing, but at its bottom is a collection of dried leaves from the maples which reach up far above you. Somewhere off you can hear a bird's short chirp echo off the trees, through the leaves. [Noisy terrain: Peril +3 TN]

Before you stands a short, rough stone sitting quite plainly in the woods. Past it you see another, and more, dozens of them. Some jut strangely from the dirt, but others lay simply on the floor of the Mirkwood in damp coats of moss. Indeed, the area is thick with soft green patches of the furry stuff. It could be that these are left over from some old boulder-throwing competition between giants, but whatever their source, here they lay now. [Soft ground, ample cover: Peril -5 TN]

word,
Will

[Taliesin]

Excellent suggestions. Thanks!

T.

[Taliesin]

<b> Perils of Mirkwood v2</b>

The new Peril rules in the MORIA boxed set bring a new, much needed mechanic to the LotR game. The mechanic is effective yet simple: the Narrator assigns a Peril TN to a given area and the characters make a combined Stealth test against it (see Core Book, pg. 225 on how to conduct a combined test), with the test "leader" being the character with the lowest Stealth ability. The degree of success or failure of the combined test determines the degree of Peril encountered.

Although the system provided is specifically designed for simulating perils in the long dark of Moria, I'm hoping Decipher includes the concept in all future realm supplements, including Isengard, Rohan, Mordor, etc. What follows is a sample of how the system might be adopted for late Third Age Mirkwood, where my current chronicle is based. I have borrowed the concepts from the MORIA set, but have tried to avoid verbatim quoting as much as I can. People should buy the boxed set to learn all about the Peril system, which offers much more than I enumerate here. This is the basic, folks, adapted and adopted for Mirkwood.

One important note: When conducting the combined Stealth tests, don't forget to include the various modifiers included in the skill description (CB, pg. 135), as appropriate for each participant. This includes important, but oft overlooked affinity bonuses for Observe and Survival, as well as the special bonuses accrued at 6th, 9th and 12th ranks. Although Physical Test Modifiers ordinarily modify Stealth rolls, the modifiers for terrain, and weather should be ignored, since they effect both sides of the Peril equation. The one exception to this is penalties for dim lighting or darkness, since both parties may not have the Night-eyes edge. In the event all participants on both sides have the Night-eyes edge, the light modifiers can be neutralized as well, for simplicity's sake.

When traveling in Mirkwood, test for Peril every four hours.

<b>Suggested Peril TNs</b>
Area controlled (heavily patrolled) by Free Peoples (Elves or Woodmen): TN 5
Area marginally controlled (lightly patrolled) by Free Peoples: TN 10
Area is Wild or Uncontrolled (forest deeps, more than two days from any settlements: TN 15
Area marginally controlled by the Enemy: TN 20
Area controlled by the Enemy: TN 25

<b>TN Modifiers</b>
Party being stalked by Enemy: +5 to +10 TN
Party being protected by Ally: -5 to -10 TN

<b>Stealth Roll Modifiers</b>
Stealthy movement rate (half normal): no modifier
Normal movement rate: -2 test result penalty
Reckless movement rate: -5 test result penalty*
Moving across dry leaves or twigs: -2 (or greater) penalty*
Affinity for Observe skill
Affinity for Survival
Special bonuses for 6, 9 and 12 ranks of Stealth
Lightfootedness, Soft-footed (Racial abilities): +4
Furtive edge: +1
Woodcrafty edge: +1 to +4

*Since the interval for Peril checks is four hours, Narrators may want to ignore these modifiers, since they are not a sustainable or constant condition across that time span.

Note: I do not find it necessary to modify Peril TNs for the size of the group, since each individual participants already contribute to the success or failure of the Stealth roll.


<b>Applying the Results</b>
Once the degree of success is determined, a table is consulted for the actual encounter result. Those tables are beyond the scope of this overview, since different areas of Mirkwood may require different sets of tables (perils encountered within a day's travel of the Halls of the Elven-king might be quite different from the perils encountered in the forest deeps, for example). It is also impractical to design tables since time frames and the strength of one's party are also variables. However, some general guidelines can be provided:

<b> Disastrous Failure:</b> The characters trip an alarm or are spotted well in advance. A powerful or overwhelming force (spiders, orcs, trolls, et al) is organized against them, and may enjoy a tactical advantage as well (ambush, automatic initiative, higher ground, makeshift fortifications, flanking or surrounding positions, etc.). Things look very grim. There should be a high probability of death, serious injury, or capture.

<b> Complete Failure:</b> The characters alert an Enemy patrol, which doesn't have much time to organize. The Enemy enjoys only a slight tactical advantage over the players. The party should be seriously challenged, but not overwhelmed by the fight. Death and injury possible, but not probable.

<b> Failure:</b> The characters blunder into a small force or patrol (orcs or spiders, et al) which attacks immediately. Opposing force may try Observe tests with a TN equal to the result of the characters' Peril test to attempt Stealth tests of their own to surprise the party. Generally speaking, the parties are equal in strength; neither enjoys a tactical advantage.

<b> Marginal or Complete Success:</b> The characters evade detection and travel without encountering any threats

<b> Superior Success:</b> The characters encounter a hostile force, but they not only evade detection, but enjoy superior strength and tactical positions. They have the initiative and may even set up an ambush, or avoid the threat altogether. Some risk, but overall a very favorable position.

<b> Extraordinary Success:</b> Characters have decisive strength or tactical advantage. The Enemy are easily distracted or caught unawares, or easily avoided. An easy victory is most assuredly within the party's grasp.

<b>Conclusion</b>
For my part, I don't see designing myriad encounter tables as the way to go. Too much work for too little return, since most chronicles are so fluid. What I'll do is resolve all of the Peril checks in advance of my session, and then design the appropriate encounters I need on a case-by-case basis. Since I currently have lots of NPCs in my group (like, seven), this will save lots of tedious rolling during the game session. The players won't get to make their Stealth rolls--I'll do it for them--but the result will be more fun had by all at the table.

Best,

T.

[Ineti]

Great work, Taliesin.

[ben hur]

This is awesome!

One of the best parts of it is that it gives Barbarians and Rangers much more use of their otherwise not-so-good order abilities.

The Ranger abilities Camouflage and Wilderness Lore both have obvious uses, they work perfectly in the system.

Hard March and Walk Without Trace need a little bit more tinkering... perhaps Hard March lets you move at Reckless speed while only taking the penalties of Normal speed, or you can move at Normal speed while only taking the penalties of Stealthy speed; and maybe Walk Without Trace would give you a bonus of perhaps +2 to your Stealth roll whenever you are moving at Stealthy speed?

This is going to be so neat! Some of my players love the idea of being a Ranger of the North, but they complain that their Order Abilities never get used, which is rather true! So this is going to make them an extremely crucial companion now.

Thanks a bunch!

[Taliesin]

Originally posted by Ineti
Great work, Taliesin.

Thanks, Ineti! I really do hope Decipher expands the Perils concept for future sourcebooks. It's really nice.

T.

[Taliesin]

Originally posted by ben hur
This is awesome!

Aww, yer makin' me blush!

One of the best parts of it is that it gives Barbarians and Rangers much more use of their otherwise not-so-good order abilities.

The Ranger abilities Camouflage and Wilderness Lore both have obvious uses, they work perfectly in the system.

Hard March and Walk Without Trace need a little bit more tinkering... perhaps Hard March lets you move at Reckless speed while only taking the penalties of Normal speed, or you can move at Normal speed while only taking the penalties of Stealthy speed; and maybe Walk Without Trace would give you a bonus of perhaps +2 to your Stealth roll whenever you are moving at Stealthy speed?

Yeah, I saw your comments on the Decipher board right after I posted v2, otherwise I would have included them. I guess I'll need a third version now! Incidentally, I don't know that you should ever get a bonus for moving at Reckless speed. I'll have to look at Hard March again...

This is going to be so neat! Some of my players love the idea of being a Ranger of the North, but they complain that their Order Abilities never get used, which is rather true! So this is going to make them an extremely crucial companion now.

Thanks a bunch!

Glad you like it. Feels good to give something back to someone who's given us so much. In the meantime, you really should get the MORIA set, as soon as you can get your mitts on it! They do even more with Peril than I've shown here. And of course the encounter tables they provide are a great source for using "as is" or building your own.

Best,

T.

[Taliesin]

Originally posted by ben hur
The Ranger abilities Camouflage and Wilderness Lore both have obvious uses, they work perfectly in the system.

Hard March and Walk Without Trace need a little bit more tinkering... perhaps Hard March lets you move at Reckless speed while only taking the penalties of Normal speed, or you can move at Normal speed while only taking the penalties of Stealthy speed; and maybe Walk Without Trace would give you a bonus of perhaps +2 to your Stealth roll whenever you are moving at Stealthy speed?

After thinking on this a bit, I agree Camouflage and Wilderness Lore are appropriate abilities, since they both effect Stealth rolls. But Hard March only negates a speed penalty for terrain and has no effect on Stealth rolls (that I know of). I see Hard March as being more of an endurance thing--you're "acclimated" to the terrain in question so you can march longer without resting and thus cover more ground, or perhaps you can choose the most efficient path. I don't see how you'd gain in Stealthiness. Seems to me an increase of speed (as in pace) negatively impacts your abilityto move Steathily no matter how you slice it.

As for Walk Without Trace: doesn't it merely prevent others from tracking you? I guess one could argue that would result in a reduction of Peril, but I would rule the ability would only come into play on an opposed Track/Stealth roll, not a Peril roll. An opposed roll is a specific threat of someone actively trying to Track you. A Peril roll is a more general indicator of danger in the area.

One other simple modifier that occured to me is roads and paths. Gandalf sternly warns Bilbo and theDwarves to stay on the path as they travelled through Mirkwood. So clearly there's less Peril there. However, if you were on the road to Dol Guldur, clearly you would be in more Peril! So perhaps a road should lower the TN when in Good country and raise the TN when in Enemy country! This makes sense as roads would be most patrolled area in either situation.

What do you think?

T.

[Lt. Dade]

Hi again,

Roads and paths should certainly be distinct units when using Peril in a rural or wilderness setting. Not only does it help to quantify the game world in the mechanics, but it's very much in keeping with the attitude of Lord of the Rings. When there are black riders out patrolling the roads, they are certainly more Perilous than the wild.

This begins to raise the question of how Peril can be applied to a surrounding narrative danger as opposed to a surrounding environmental danger. I can't really get into it right now, but consider it this way: the Nazgul are out looking for Hobbits. If you're not a Hobbit you don't worry about it so much, even if you should otherwise be afraid of those ancient kings. On the other hand, if you have any Hobbits with you, then you suffer a more difficult Peril TN. When Frodo and Company enter Bree, then, they effectively increase the Peril of the whole village. The One Ring increases Peril everwhere it goes, and as the Enemy spreads across the Middle-earth, the whole land becomes more and more Perilous.

In other words, Peril might be applied contextually, rather than just geographically. I would certainly use a mix of both methods in my game.

This leads to the uses of Walk Without Trace in regards to Peril. It's one thing if you're in a passively patrolled, hostile area trying to avoid direct, incidental contact with the Enemy. It's another if you're moving through an actively patrolled, hostile area where the Enemy might very well investigate and hunt down any odd tresspassers. If you're traveling through the Gap of Rohan while Saruman still controls Isengard, you might very well benefit from Walk Without Trace. Otherwise, a band of orcs or Uruks who happen upon your trail might decide to chase you down. Thus, maybe Walk Without Trace sometimes affords a +4 bonus to rolls to avoid Peril when traveling through territory controlled by trackers.

This is the great thing about Peril, I think. Rather than identifying a set number of encounters or a tight script of events, Peril is a very happy medium between the feeling of a living, open Middle-earth in which to play and the sense of a story going on above it all. It also means that the choices the players make when traveling (integral to the Lord of the Rings experience, no?) have direct consequences in the game world. E.g. Path A is more Perilous, but you may be better suited to bypassing that Peril than the meeker, less-familiar Peril on Path B. Which way do you choose?

I'm happy to have an alternative to scripting out travel events, writing a dozen encounters that won't get used, and glossing over all travel.

This means that most of the encounters in any adventure could be the consequences of actions undertaken by the PCs, rather than events scripted by the Narrator. Instead, the Narrator creates a scalable event for a given site and then determines what happens exactly based on how the PCs act when they get there. Now I'm geeking out on all of the "encounters" in Fellowship that could be chalked up to failing tests against Peril rather than being unavoidable.

The Hobbits make a fire (bright, obvious; Wilderness Peril +5 TN), which draws the Ringwraiths to Weathertop.

Pippin mentions Frodo by name in The Prancing Pony (Social Peril +3 TN; in this case it's not the Peril, but Frodo's fear of the higher TN that causes trouble).

The Hobbits skipping stones across the Watcher's lake (blowing the party's Stealth, of course).

The list goes on, of course, and doesn't cover everything, but I like this system of choice, action, and consequence very much.

Meanwhile, there's a counterpart system lurking in here somewhere: when the PCs visit a location of hope and safety, what is the magnitude of the favorable response they get? Haldir finds the Fellowship, Treebeard saves Merry and Pippin. These, certainly, could be scripted events, but is there a way to do it that mimics Peril? What if Merry and Pippin hadn't fled into Fangorn? What if the Fellowship had waited before reaching Lothlorien?

I don't know. I'm thinking out loud now.

word,
Will

[ben hur]

Originally posted by Taliesin
After thinking on this a bit, I agree Camouflage and Wilderness Lore are appropriate abilities, since they both effect Stealth rolls. But Hard March only negates a speed penalty for terrain and has no effect on Stealth rolls (that I know of). I see Hard March as being more of an endurance thing--you're "acclimated" to the terrain in question so you can march longer without resting and thus cover more ground, or perhaps you can choose the most efficient path. I don't see how you'd gain in Stealthiness. Seems to me an increase of speed (as in pace) negatively impacts your abilityto move Steathily no matter how you slice it.

As for Walk Without Trace: doesn't it merely prevent others from tracking you? I guess one could argue that would result in a reduction of Peril, but I would rule the ability would only come into play on an opposed Track/Stealth roll, not a Peril roll. An opposed roll is a specific threat of someone actively trying to Track you. A Peril roll is a more general indicator of danger in the area.

Pretty good points; sorry!

See, we never really use the Travel rules; because not only do they take a while to compute, but there usually isn't any time limit that the character are trying to stick to. And since Hard March can only work when you're using the Travel rules, it's sadly neglected.

However... I just had a bright thought! (at least, I think ) The Peril table is rolled on every four hours, thus the longer you are travelling the more times you'll have to roll on the Peril table. So if you are using Hard March you can move faster through the terrain, thus drastically reducing the amount of Peril rolls you must make. Voila: Hard March, and the Travel rules, are now extremely useful!

Alright, so, the only ability that I need more usable is Walk Without Trace. But this really is extremely helpful if you are being tracked at all. Moving at Stealthy speed, you place a full -8 penalty on your enemies' Track tests. That's one heck of a penalty. So I think perhaps one of the Encounters on the Peril table would be that enemies might pick up your tracks, and have to make a Track test against their Stealth tests. Cool!

Originally posted by Taliesin
One other simple modifier that occured to me is roads and paths. Gandalf sternly warns Bilbo and theDwarves to stay on the path as they travelled through Mirkwood. So clearly there's less Peril there. However, if you were on the road to Dol Guldur, clearly you would be in more Peril! So perhaps a road should lower the TN when in Good country and raise the TN when in Enemy country! This makes sense as roads would be most patrolled area in either situation.

What do you think?

T.

This is a solid idea. However, I think the "Stealthy", "Normal", and "Reckless" movement rates might go hand in hand with whether you are taking the easy path or not? I'm not sure, it just occured to me out of nowhere. Good idea though, whether you take roads or not should definitely come into play!

Oh, and about horses. At first I thought "They would make the Stealth test more difficult; maybe there should be a -3 penalty or something if anyone is on horseback?" But thinking on it again, there is a much much much much much better way: just have the horses themselves make a Stealth test like any member of the party! This would mean that Mearas and Elven Steeds aren't bad at all (+5 and +8 total Stealth modifiers respectively), Warhorses would be rather sad (+3 only), while Ponies and Horses are horrible (-2 total). Thus, every time a horse fails the Stealth test, he is degenerating from the leader's test, making the Peril roll that much harder.

Hope this helps; and thanks again Taliesin! I'm going to a rock band (Switchfoot) concert, so I won't be back on till Sunday or Monday. I'll definitely ponder the Peril system during that time!

[GavynnAlexander]

Ther is already a modifier on the Peril system for being "tracked by the enemy" or "protected by ally". Walking without trace would help to reduce the penalty for being tailed by the enemy. Though it appears that the foes would already be having to make a track roll to stay on PCs anyway.

Making roads more or less perilous based on who controls them is a great idea. But you should be able to move faster on roads and so reduce teh number of peril test you must make. Great point about Hard March KoR. The PC's might be able to avoid having to make an additional peril test if the travel on a road semi-controlled by their foes. It is there choice.

I like KoR idea about the horses making stealth checks too. It only makes sense.

Gavynn

[Taliesin]

Originally posted by GavynnAlexander
Ther is already a modifier on the Peril system for being "tracked by the enemy" or "protected by ally". Walking without trace would help to reduce the penalty for being tailed by the enemy. Though it appears that the foes would already be having to make a track roll to stay on PCs anyway.

Yeah, I'd rather keep Tracking as a separate event from Peril. Akthough, as Lt. Dade suggests, Trackers picking up your trail might be one of the consequences of a failed Peril roll. From there, you start the Track vs. Stealth opposed roll process and Walk Without Trace comes into play, if appropriate.

Making roads more or less perilous based on who controls them is a great idea. But you should be able to move faster on roads and so reduce teh number of peril test you must make.

I don't want to change the intervals of the Peril roll. This introduces another level of complexity that is not needed. Although Decipher doesn't spell out the benfits of road travel, I would think a track, path or trail grants a .25 mph bonus on the Type of Travel rates and a proper road would grant .5 mph bonus. Thus, you move farther and may be out of the imperiled area sooner, but you still check every four hours.

Great point about Hard March KoR. The PC's might be able to avoid having to make an additional peril test if the travel on a road semi-controlled by their foes. It is there choice.

I'm not followng you on this one...

I like KoR idea about the horses making stealth checks too. It only makes sense.

Agreed. I like the horses bit.

T.