Lord of the Rings 4th Age game

[BlueBuddha]

I’m working on a Middle-Earth one-shot based on a mix of my own LOTR knowledge, the old Middle-Earth RPG by Iron Crown, the new LOTR RPG by our own beloved Steven Long, and the LOTR Online RPG. A little background- I’m setting it post War of the Ring, maybe 20-40 years into the Fourth Age. I’m going to pre-generate 10 characters and pick a few to actually play with. I’m also going to sketch out some stats for various orc and other foes as well.

 

The heroes are all 150-points, so they’re fairly experienced (I think I’d start at 100 if I was doing a campaign from the beginning). Here’s a quick overview:

 

Gondorian soldier (heavy warrior with some leadership & tactics.

Ranger of the North (light warrior with a lot of skills)

Elf Archer from Mirkwood

Dwarf Warrior from Erebor (of course, he uses axes)

Hobbit with some rogue-type skills

Elf Lore-Master from Rivendell

Mounted warrior from Rohan

Beorning skin-changer (barbarian/druid type)

Dúnadan magician (wizard, basically)

Dale bard/minstrel

 

So far, I’m using the guidelines from the HERO system book, going with the Standard Hero. I’m struggling a bit with where CVs and DCs should be. Have a look at these basic stats, if you would, and let me know what you think.

 

First off, here’s the guidelines:

 

Character Spd DCV OCV DC Def/rDef

Standard Hero 2-4 3-7 3-7 3-8 10/5

 

And here are my sample characters:

 

Character Spd DCV OCV DC Def/rDef

Light warrior 3 6 6 6 4

Heavy warrior 3 4/7 5 7 6

Heavy warrior 3 5 5 7 6

Archer 3 5 7 8 3

Rogue 3 5 5 5 3

Lore-Master 3 3 3 2

Mounted warrior 3 5 5 6 4

Skin-changer 3 5 5 6 4

Magician 3 3 3 2

Minstrel/Bard 3 4 4 5 3

 

And some thoughts:

 

I want the heavy warrior to be highly defensive with heavy armor and his shield, but I don’t want his DCV to get too high. His DC is low due to his one-handed sword. The dwarf won’t be weighed down with a shield, but his stoutness and combat levels can raise his DCV if needed.

 

I’m giving the archer extra DCs with his bow, due to a low-strength. Should I limit them in any way? He’ll be only lightly-armored. Should I give the lightly/non-armored characters combat luck?

 

The rogue will be tricky. His DCV will be really high when he wants it to be, and he can do great damage with a “sneak-attack”. Not sure yet how to handle this. I think a number of combat levels, and extra-DCs with a limit.

 

The advantage to the mounted warrior is obviously tied to his mount. I’m going to go pretty simple with the mounted combat rules, but does anyone have suggestions?

 

The Beorning skin-changer is a barbarian/druid type with the ability to change into a bear for extra smack-down power. He’ll have unarmed and simple weapon skills. He’s strong, but not as skilled as the warriors. He’ll probably have some kind of natural defenses.

 

FYI- the difference between the Lore-master and magician is the former has more knowledge and helpful powers, while the latter will have more D&D-style blast spells and such.

 

The minstrel-bard: here’s the difficult part. I don’t want a D&D-style bard, because a buffer-type character is not fun in a tabletop RPG. I might cut this one. Anyone can take lore and performance skills, and one of the warriors is probably going to be a high-ranking soldier with Inspiration. Any ideas to make a playable M-E bard?

[Savinien]

Re: Lord of the Rings 4th Age game

 

You should search this board for this exact topic. I'm running a 4th Age game at HeroCentral right now.

[Steve Long]

Re: Lord of the Rings 4th Age game

 

I’m setting it post War of the Ring, maybe 20-40 years into the Fourth Age

 

This is basically what I wanted to do with the LOTR RPG, but wasn't allowed.

[tkdguy]

Re: Lord of the Rings 4th Age game

 

In the MERP game, the bard was a jack of all trades. He was okay in a fight and could cast a few spells. But his main strength was learning languages. My suggestion is to make the bard the group's linguist and diplomat. He can also be the group's face man when they are looking for work or tips on possible adventures.