USH'S LORD OF THE RINGS GAME- Combat and General rules reference

LOTR Combat and other rules

This is the main rules reference thread for my Lord of the Rings game. The system has not been as much converted as my Matrix game has been. The system involves a lot of tables and cross-referencing- things I shall handle entirely on my own.

Most of this thread will explain combat, a simpler process than the Matrix game. Once you understand how that works, understanding how other skills work is easy.

DICE: All die rolls in this game are d100s. For those of you who are not role-players or gamers, the number after the 'd' tells you how many sides the die has. So a normal six-sided die is a d6. A d100, then, is a one-hundred sided die. This is not literal- though you CAN actually buy 100 sided dice, this is considered nerdy, even for a role-player. Normally, a d100 is produced by rolling two d10s, nominating one die to give you the tens, the other the singles. So an 8 on the tens die and a 2 on the singles die gives you an 82. Simple. The important things for you to know is that the scope if this die rolling is VERY wide- wider than the Matrix. A bad shot, therefore, is far worse, a lucky shot far more lucky. Also there is an even chance of rolling any number, from 1 to 100. In the Matrix, probability made the numbers closer to evens more likely. Not so here.

If you roll between 96 and 100 on a roll, you roll again and add the results together. If you rolls 5 or less, you roll again and subtract the second from the first. Some rolls are called ‘closed’ rolls and are never rolled again and added/subtracted in this way.

Combat

Now, LOTR combat is nasty and brutish. Whilst there is room for style, it is, on the whole, people hacking each other to pieces as fast as possible. It is very different from the Matrix- and very nasty. You do not just shrug off damage in this game- a nasty hit will cause you considerable problems very fast. Sufficiently nasty hits kill outright.

Because of the viciousness of the system, players normally get breaks. If I roll a result that should sever your hand, I would probably mangle it instead, making it useless for the fight but treatable later. A bow shot that should go through your skull and kill you outright will probably deflect just under your eye socket instead- taking you straight out of the fight but not killing you stone dead. Any time you receive such a blow, you get a scar as a reminder. Unless you are an Elf; they do not scar. Bah.

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In combat, each of you are worried about four things.

1. Manoeuvre score. Important to bear in mind is everyone’s Manoeuvre score for the armour type they are wearing. Whilst this is also used in and out of combat whenever you try and make any strenuous movements like jumping or running, in combat it is more directly used as a speed score. The person with the highest Manoeuvre score goes first, lowest goes last. Heavily armoured warriors strike after unarmoured scouts.

2. Offensive score. Obviously, this is the most important- your skill with the weapon you are using at the time. If it is a melee weapon, this is also an important factor in your defence. If it is not a melee weapon… don’t get into melee combat! You won’t last long.

3. Defensive Score. This number represents how hard it is for people to hit you before you make any particular effort to parry a blow. This is, for most people, simply equal to your Agility. It VERY rarely is increased by anything, even going up levels- skilled fighters increase their defence with their offensive score instead, as you will see later. Also shields help, of course. Note that armour does NOT increase your defence.

4. Stamina. Your stamina will inevitably go down in the battle- as a result of glancing blows, wounds, or bleeding. The most common way to be taken out of a fight is for your stamina score to reach zero, at which point you drop- and if you are bleeding you may well be dying. What really tells Warriors apart from other Professions in combat is not really their higher Offensive scores, but their higher stamina. It enables them to stick in fights so much better!

Please note, especially for d20 system role-players (like D&D), Stamina is not quite like Hit Points. Whilst it does indeed go down as you take damage, and if you reach zero you are taken out, stamina damage is relatively superficial in nature. Wounds in this system tend to do far more than just reduce your stamina. If you get hit and all that happens is that you lose stamina, you should breathe a sigh of relief.

Rounds

Combat in the LOTR game is split into rounds, as in most games. Pretty much in each round you can do one thing. If fighting with someone it is near impossible to leave combat safely. You can, however, charge into combat and attack at the same time.

Basics of hitting

The absolute basic process involved in hitting someone else is as follows:

You roll a d100. You add on your Offensive score. You subtract your opponent’s Defensive score. If the final total is high enough… you have hit!

‘How much do I need?’ I hear you cry. Well now, that depends on the type of attack, and the armour of the opponent… but roughly, you want about 85 for a Hit, and over 100 for a Hit that is any good.

Several things can give you a bonus to hit- being mounted, striking from the side or rear of an opponent, if your opponent has no melee weapons etc.

Weapon types vs. Armour types

These make a big difference to the numbers you want to roll, and the final result of your attack. I handle all this via tables that I consult. So what I will do here is give you a general idea of how things work.

Armour: Basically, the heavier armour you are wearing, the easier it is for you to be hit. So, why bother with armour? Simple. Because if your opponent rolls a very high attack on you, then the amount of damage you take is considerably less in heavier armour.

Example: An Orc, slashing with a scimitar, has rolled a 75 against Arthas. If Arthas is wearing no armour, that is a miss. In Soft Leather, that is a Hit for 5. In Plate, that is a Hit for 3. No armour is clearly the best here!

However, say that Orc had rolled a 110. In Plate armour, that is a Hit for 8 against Arthas, not much difference. In soft leather, that is a Hit for 15 and a C class wound- a nasty blow! If unarmoured, he would take a 18 Hits and a D class wound- that’s very nasty indeed, he could easily lose a limb with that.

People in No Armour tend to run around happily with no damage as they are not hit… until they ARE Hit and they tend to virtually go out of the fight in one go!

It is a little more complex than that sometimes; some weapons find different sorts of armour easier to deal with, for example. Also, Soft leather users tend to take more severe wounds than unarmoured opponents from lower hits, as well as taking more damage. But Soft Leather is still far more useful than being unarmoured against a serious hit.

On the whole, the basic rule is that more armour means more likely to be hit, but less devastating powerful hits. The normal evolution is for Warrior types to wear light armour at first, but as time goes by and they get lots of Stamina, they wear heavier armour. Because with a high stamina, you can take lots of glancing blows- it is the serious wounds you want to keep down, and the heavier the armour, the less serious wounds you will take!

You may also chose to wear a helmet, leg greaves, and arm greaves, Helms penalise perception, leg greaves penalise your Manoeuvres and arm greaves penalise your offensive score. They offer no improvement to defence, so why use them? They drastically reduce the effect of some wounds- see below.

Weapons: Individual types of weapons get certain bonuses or penalties- I shall deal with them later. Right now, I shall deal with the differences between different sorts of weapon attacks.

One-handed slashing (or ‘Slashing’) weapons, like swords, are the default. They can do a maximum of 12 hits and an E wound on a Plate armoured opponent, or 30 hits and an E wound on an unarmoured one. They do slashing wounds, which tend to do extra damage and, at higher levels, very nasty severing and/or instant death wounds.

One-handed concussion (or ‘Crushing’) weapons, like warhammers or maces, are easier to hit with, and a little more effective against heavier armour. They do less damage overall. They can do a maximum of 16/E damage on a plate armoured opponent- more than slashing- but a 23/E max on unarmoured opponents- less than slashing. They do Crushing wounds, which are less likely to ruin a limb or do massive damage, but far more likely to stun an opponent, and can cause serious problems even on less serious wounds.

Two-Handed weapons, of any type (slashing or crushing) use the same table to hit on. They are harder to hit with but do much larger amounts of damage. Even the lightest blow that hits an Unarmoured opponent with a two-handed weapon does serious damage, They can do a maximum of 22/E on plate armoured opponents, and 48/E on unarmoured ones- ouch! What kind of wounds they do depend on the weapon- two handed warhammers do crushing, swords do slashing. Very often, sufficiently powerful hits from a two handed weapon do TWO wounds, the second often being an ‘Unbalancing’ wound, one which does little extra damage but tends to knock your opponent down.

Missile weapons- bows, crossbows etc. do damage very similar to one-handed slashing, though they are the hardest of all to hit with. They do piercing wounds. Piercing wounds are probably the most severe wounds you can get at the time but are the least likely to have long-term effect.

I shall leave the effects of what happens when you hit someone until a little later. First…

Defending

When the person is actually striking you, there is little you can do about it. He just makes the roll and either he hits or misses. Your Defensive score will make it more difficult for him but that is about it.

However, there are things you can have done to make yourself more difficult to hit.

1. Uses of certain weapons make yourself more defendable, increasing your defensive score.
2. If you have a shield, you may nominate one opponent to your front. Your defence increases by 25 against that opponent.
3. If you have a melee weapon, you may attempt to parry! This is where the strategy of fighting comes into it. Each round, you may take any amount away from your offensive score, and distribute it defensively amongst opponents- the amount you allocate adds to your defence against them. So, if you have an offensive score of fifty, you may, when duelling, decide to use twenty of it to help defend against your opponent, leaving thirty left to hit him with.

This is how fighting types get very good- having a high offensive score that they can use to defend themselves with as well. At low levels, it is normally not practical to put stuff into defence as you are finding it hard enough to hit. Still, a few points can be handy!

Remember, defence has to be allocated between different opponents. Against two opponents, if you want to increase your defence by fifteen against both of them, that will reduce your offensive score by thirty that turn.

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Example: Boromir is patrolling Ithilien alone when he is confronted by three Uruk-Hai- vicious people! “Bloody Hell,” he says. “Alright then, you bastards! All at once or one at a time, makes no difference to me!” They take him at his word and charge him.

These Uruks, with their curved swords, have an Offensive score of ninety. Yup, vicious! None of you guys want to meet them, that is for sure. They crowd in around Boromir, who is in his plate armour and with sword and shield.

Luckily, Boromir is a double-hard bastard, and with all his gear on he has an Offensive score of 180. The Uruks close in. Boromir applies his shield against one, and takes fifty points out of his Offensive bonus, applying 25 against the second, and 25 against the third, leaving 130 to fight with. Boromir’s natural defensive score is thirty, so he ends up with a final defensive score of 55 against each of them, so that leaves them with 35 to add to their rolls. They roll 48, 59 and 82, making 83, 94 and 117. Ooh, they bash him pretty hard. It’s quite a nasty exchange as their blows pound away at him as he blocks and parries, but in that plate armour, Boromir only loses about 20 stamina. Hah, he can take that sort of punishment for ages! His turn… he picks a target

Boromir rolls a 65. However, the Uruks defence is 30, leaving his final offensive total as 100. That means he just got a 165, and the table only goes up to 150. That is a 25/E. The Uruk can lose the stamina, but with that wound Boromir disembowels one of the Uruks… Next!

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Obviously, you guys aren’t quite as good as Boromir, and don’t have his flexibility in setting defence. But with any luck, your warriors should have good success against some of the smaller Orc breeds, though. And Uruks don’t even exist yet!

If, and only if, you are carrying a shield, you can also ‘parry’ against a ranged attack, though only with up to half of your Offensive Score. Without a Shield, you only ever get your base Defensive score against a Ranged attack. At my discretion, improvised ranged attacks (like throwing a sword) can be parried normally.

Damage

As hinted above, the amount you hit someone by dictates how much damage you do to them. Damage comes in two parts- stamina loss, which represents the general shock at being based around, and a wound category, which represents how bad an actual hit you have done. Many minor hits have no wound and only stamina loss- especially against armoured opponents.

Wounds go from A (the least) to E (the most), though occasionally you may throw up a T (for Trivial), which is a super-light wound. Basically I have more tables which I roll to see what the wound is, a different table for each sort of damage.

A T wound gets –50 when rolling for how bad the wound is.
An A wound gets –20
A B wound –10
A C wound gets evens
A D wound +10
An E wound +20.

Simple enough!

Wounds do one or more of the following:

Stamina loss: Many wounds immediately cause more of a shock to the system and hence more Stamina loss. In fact, with minor wounds that is all they will do

Stunned: Some blows- especially from Crushing or Unbalancing wounds- will stun you, making you very much less capable of fighting for a stated duration. Whilst stunned you cannot attack, can only use half your offensive score to parry, and all attacks on you are at +20.

Activity loss: This is nasty. This is a penalty to all rolls. With some hits, this is temporary, representing a major form of stun, but this can also be permanent, normally from a slashing or piercing wound making a limb useless, for example

Bleeding: A bleeding wound causes you to lose stamina each turn- this can cause severe problems. Even worse, if you go down to zero stamina and are still bleeding it will not take you long to die.

Permanent disfigurement: You can technically lose eyes and other body parts from a nasty roll.

Death: Some blows kill you.

As noted above, those last two results I will normally go easy on for players.

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For reference, here are examples of minor and major wounds from the most common wound categories:

MINOR:

Crush: Minor fracture of ribs. +5 hits, -5 to activity.

Slash: Minor calf wound. 1 point of bleeding per round

Puncture: Minor forearm wound. +2 hits, and 1 point bleeding per round unless wearing arm bracers

Unbalancing: Chest strike. Knocked back three feet. +5 hits. -10 to activity for three rounds.

MAJOR

Crush: Blow to weapon arm. +8 hits. Stunned two rounds. If no arm armour, arm is broken and useless.

Slash: Lose an eye. +10 hits. Stunned for 30 rounds (eeek…).

Puncture: Strike through lower leg. Sever muscle. –50 to activity (double eeek!). Stunned 3 rounds.

Unbalancing: Hard head strike. Knocked back ten feet and stunned six rounds. If no helmet, knocked unconscious for 24 hours.

You can see that this is where wearing helms and arm/leg graves looks like a better idea…

Also note that the higher crush critical did not look as bad as the others, but the lower one, very easy to get, gives a permanent (for the fight) –5 to activity, a very useful glancing hit to get on an opponent.

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Fumbling

Combat is awkward and sometimes things go wrong. Depending on your choice of weapon, there is a chance you may cock things up on each attack- small, but sizable enough. If you roll a fumble (by rolling very low), I have some more tables I can roll on. A minor fumble might result in you dropping your weapon, a really bad one might lead to you impaling yourself on it (or other comedic things like slipping and pinning your foot to the floor with your own arrow…).

Fighters with a BASE (ignoring all other modifiers, just taking the base) of 25 or more in a weapon skill become less likely to fumble.

And that is fighting! Here is the checklist for you to remember what to do each round:

1. Decide how much Offensive Score you will pull out to help defend yourself
2. Pick an opponent to strike at this round. You will be facing that opponent, so others enemies will be at your sides and rear appropriately.
3. Allocate that offence you pulled out for defence amongst opponents, and if you have a shield, nominate that against an opponent to your front.
4. Try and hit! Remembering your Offensive Score will be reduced by his Defensive score plus whatever he puts into parrying against you, and maybe also his shield.

And remember:

Person with the highest Manoeuvre score goes first
Unarmoured people are hard to hit but go down quickly when they are hit.
If wearing armour, you tend to be easier to hit but take less severe wounds.
Once you have high stamina, heavy armour works very well. With lower stamina, you really don’t want to get hit at all so go lighter.
Different weapons work better in different circumstances; everything is judged relative to a one-handed longsword.

Here are the various attack modifiers you can get:

Flank attack: +15
Rear attack: +35
Defender has no melee weapon: +20
Defender has no weapon, or is changing weapons (including taking time to throw a weapon): +30
Defender is surprised: +20
Defender is stunned: +20

WEAPON DETAILS

Each weapon has:
1. The skill you use with that weapon
2. The type of attack it deals (normally the same as number 1)
3. The type of wound it deals. If there is a letter by this, this indicates that the weapon never deals a wound more severe than that letter regardless of the roll.
4. The second type of wound it deals. These Secondary Wounds are dealt if there was a Primary wound of C or better. A C Primary creates an A Secondary, a D Primary creates a B and so on.
5. The fumble chance. The percentage chance that you will fumble the weapon each time you strike with it. This chance is reduced by one if your base in the skill used is 25, and is reduced by another one for each five in the base beyond that.
6. The weapon’s modifiers to hit on different armour types. This is what you will likely be most interested in
7. Any special rules with the weapon
8. And finally, a description of what the weapon is!

KEY:

1hs= One-Handed slashing
1hc= One-handed Concussion
2h= Two Handed

BASIC WEAPONS

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Broadsword/Longsword

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Slashing
Fumble: 3
Hit chance: All evens

A broad or long sword is the most basic of all weapons - it is the standard idea of a ‘sword’. It receives no penalties in any situation, because the whole system is calibrated in comparison to this weapon. All cultures use swords.

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Handaxe

Uses: 1hs (1hc for Dwarves)
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Slashing
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: -10 on unarmoured opponents, +5 on metal armoured opponents

The one-handed axe is a primitive weapon but still exceptionally effective in the right hands- it is very similar, rules-wise, to a sword, better on heavily armoured targets and worse on unarmoured ones. Axes are not used by Elves or Dunadain, and are commonly used by Northmen and Dwarves.

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Shortsword

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Slashing
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: +10 on unarmoured opponents, -10 on metal armoured opponents

Shortswords are surprisingly effective weapons but lack the weight to go through heavy armour- they are the tactical reverse of axes. All cultures use Shortswords.

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Dagger

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Puncture (C)
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: +5 on unarmoured opponents, -10 on metal armoured opponents

From survival tools to elegant weapons of war, daggers are common and easily concealable weapons but in purely military value are inferior to a Shortsword. All cultures use daggers.

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Scimitar

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Puncture (C)
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: +5 on unarmoured or leather armoured opponents. –5 on metal armoured opponents

The curved scimitar is a nice weapon, with a fine cutting edge. However, scimitars, like shortswords, lack the weight to go through heavy armour, though the penalty is less. Most widely used in the south and by Orcs, many such weapons have found their way into the cultures of men in Middle-Earth. Elves are unlikely to use them.

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Mace

Uses: 1hc
Attack type: 1hc
Wounds: Crush
Fumble: 2
Hit chance: All evens

A Mace- a metallic club with fins added for penetration- is a standard weapon- effective in all situations without bonus or penalty. Elves rarely use concussion weapons but all other cultures use them (the same applies to flails, morning stars and warhammers, below)

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Flail

Uses: 1hc
Attack type: 1hc
Wounds: Crush
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: +5 on unarmoured and leather armoured opponents, -5 on metal armoured opponents

A flail consists of three chains attached to a handle, with weights on the end of the chains. This vicious weapon easily finds its mark but is less effective against metal armour.

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Morning Star

Uses: 1hc
Attack type: 1hc
Wounds: Crush/Puncture (A)
Fumble: 8
Hit chance: +10 against all opponents
Special rules: Hit self for B class wound if fumbled

The Morning Star- a viciously spiked ball at the end of a chain attached to a handle- has the speed to find opponents easily and the weight to deal with metallic armour. The only problem is that it can be a weapon that is highly hazardous to the wielder!

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Warhammer

Uses: 1hc
Attack type: 1hc
Wounds: Crush/Puncture (A)
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: -5 against unarmoured opponents, +5 against metal armoured opponents

A Warhammer is not unlike a Mace but with a large and often spiked head. This makes it slower, but better at penetrating metallic armour.

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LARGE WEAPONS

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Two-handed Sword

Uses: 2h
Attack type: 2h
Wounds: Slashing/Crushing
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: All evens

A Two-handed sword- simply an enormous sword!- is the default two-handed weapon, with no bonuses or penalties. Elves, again, rarely use unsubtle weapons like these (the same applies to two-handed flails, maces and battle-axes, below).

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Battle Axe

Uses: 2h
Attack type: 2h
Wounds: Slashing/Crushing
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: -5 on unarmoured and leather armoured opponents, +10 on metal armoured opponents

This enormous two-handed axe performs not unlike the one-handed version- a good use against heavily armoured opponents, but a bit slow for general use.

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Two-handed Mace

Uses: 2h
Attack type: 2h
Wounds: Crushing/Unbalancing
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: -5 on unarmoured and leather armoured opponents, +10 on metal armoured opponents

This very impressive-looking weapon, the business end of the blunt-object market, has very similar characteristics to a battle axe, save it crushes rather than slashes.

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Two-handed Flail

Uses: 2h
Attack type: 2h
Wounds: Crushing/Piercing
Fumble: 9
Hit chance: +5 against all opponents
Special rules: Hit self for C class wound if fumbled

This enormous flail- complete with spikes on the weights- will cut down most things with equal ease but is even more dangerous to use than a Morning Star!

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Spear

Uses: Polearms
Attack type: 2h (if two handed) 1hs (if one-handed)
Wounds: Puncture/Slashing (A)
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: All evens
Special rules: Can be used two or one handed; -5 to hit if one handed. Can be thrown. Has longer range than normal weapons.

The spear is a highly classical weapon and very adaptable. It is also the most likely two-handed weapon of choice for an Elf- Gil-Galad famously used a Spear.

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Lance

Uses: Polearms
Attack type: 2h
Wounds: Puncture/Unbalancing
Fumble: 7
Hit chance: +15 to hit on all targets
Special rules: Can only be used mounted

Little more than a spear of great length, Lances throughout history have been used to devastating effect in cavalry charges.

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SPECIAL WEAPONS

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Bastard Sword

Uses: 2h
Attack type: 2h (if two handed) 1hs (if one handed)
Wounds: Slashing
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: -5 to hit on all targets
Special rules: Can only be used one or two handed

The Bastard sword is a large, heavy sword. Its use is in that it can be used one-handed, using your two-handed skill, thus allowing two-handed specialists to use a shield if need be.

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Double shortswords

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Slashing/Puncture
Fumble: 9
Hit chance: +10 on unarmoured opponents, -10 on metal armoured opponents
Special rules: +5 to Defensive Score, take C class wound if fumbled

Wielding two weapons is dangerous. However, if done right it allows for a defensive fighting style with the chance of two wounds on an opponent (one slash and one stab). Double weapon styles are practiced by Dunadain and Elves, and virtually no-one else at all.

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Sword and dagger

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Slashing/Puncture (C)
Fumble: 8
Hit chance: All evens
Special rules: +15 to Defensive Score, take C class wound if fumbled

A highly skilled fighting style, the use of the dagger in the off-hand and a proper sword in the other allows for great defence against blows (the dagger used to fend them off).

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Double daggers

Uses: 1hs
Attack type: 1hs
Wounds: Puncture, Slashing (A)
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: +5 on unarmoured opponents, -10 on metal armoured opponents
Special rules: +10 to Defensive Score, take C class wound if fumbled

With two daggers, one can be used to defend. Unlike other two weapon styles, twin knives are used by non-Dunadain Man cultures as well, though not really by Northmen.

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MISSILE WEAPONS

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Shortbow

Uses: Missile
Attack type: Missile
Wounds: Piercing
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: All evens
Special rules: Penalty to hit at targets beyond 60 feet. May 'quick-load'- fire without re-loading, at -10 to hit.

The shortbow is the basic form of bow and is prized by many for its light weight and ease of use.

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Composite bow

Uses: Missile
Attack type: Missile
Wounds: Piercing
Fumble: 4
Hit chance: All evens
Special rules: Penalty to hit at targets beyond 70 feet. May 'quick-load'- fire without re-loading, at -25 to hit.

A Composite bow is more sophisticated than a shortbow, allowing a greater range, but it is heavier and more awkward to fire quickly. It is the largest bow you may use in horseback.

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Longbow

Uses: Missile
Attack type: Missile
Wounds: Piercing
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: All evens
Special rules: Penalty to hit at targets beyond 100 feet. May 'quick-load'- fire without re-loading, at -35 to hit.

A relatively hi-tech weapon, the longbow is a large bow capable of firing over great range, though requiring much training to use. In Middle-Earth, such weapons wou,d most likely be found in the hands of Elves or Dunadain- though it so happens Orcs use them as well.

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Crossbow

Uses: Missile
Attack type: Missile
Wounds: Piercing
Fumble: 5
Hit chance: All evens
Special rules: Penalty to hit at targets beyond 90 feet. Takes two turns to re-load. +10 to hit against all opponents inside 50 feet.

Crossbows are easy to use but slow and unwieldly. Still, they are very effective at short ranges. It is, however, hard to imagaine a less Elf-like weapon.

Other rolls

You do, of course have a full set of skills, not all of which are used in combat. However, the function for other rolls is entirely simple. I will set a target relevant to the difficulty of the task. I tehn make a d100 roll, add the relevant skill to the result, and see what the final number is in relation to the target.

However, unlike some systems you may know of, this is not an absolute success or fail. The numbers involved simply give me a relevant idea of success. If you roll under the target number, it may not mean an absolute fail, but it might bmean a long time was taken about it, or that the job was done badly. Rolling a long way over the target number often brings great benefits as well.

I have more tables to refer to that help my discern what the final effect of a roll is. However, the best way to show you an example of how this works is with Manoeuvre rolls, which are the simplest:

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Say, for example, you need to clmaber up a difficult roll in an emergency. This would be a Manoeuvre roll, and so would be made on your current Manoeuvre score, which depends on your armour type, of course.

I set the difficulty as 'Medium' which means, basically, you want a 116 to do the job as well as can be expected- which I would say is climbing the hill in one round (a round is about ten seconds)

I make the rolls for everyone and see what the results are. In this case:

Anything under -25 (either because of a critical failure or because you are REALLY poor at moving in heavy armour and haver a high minus to your Maneouvre score) is actually a Fail, meaning you don't really move at all!

Other numbers give proportions of success. For example, a 66-75 gives a '50' meaning you are 50% of the way there, so after one round you are halfway up the hill and can move again next turn.

An 86-95 is a 70%.

116-135 is 100%, meaning you get all the way up in one go.

Anything beyond that, and you actually get up the Hill quicker than one round and I may allow you to quickly take another action- like slash at the big Orc you find at the top...

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Like I say, Manoeuvre rolls are the simplest to describe, but that is the basic principle of non-offensive rolls- there is a relative difficulty, and you do well or badly according to where you roll in relation to that difficulty.

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Experience- or xp

Basics

This is the big one. Many of the liabilities of your characters can have disappeared by the time you are level 3. You need to go up levels as quickly as possible! However, advancing can be difficult and you are not expected to go past level 5 in any amount of short time at all.

You will note you all started at 10000 points of experience. This makes you level 1, as opposed to level zero which is what the average guard on the street would be. So you are all a little better. Level 1 is the 'trained soldier' level. Worth remembering that the typical Arnorian or Gondrian soldier, then, is about as good as you are now.

Level 1 is also the level of a Weak Orc- or Goblin. That is something else worth bearing in mind- the 'typical' Orc is Level 3, which puts the war between Orc and Man in perspecticve when you consider that their average warrior is better than what Man can field. You will note that right now I keep making sure you are always meeting raiding parties and other such things when it comes to Orcs- if you met elements of the Witch-King's main army at this point you would not last long! Elite Orc units are at level 5, and these are of a deadliness that will not be surpassed until the Uruk-Hai come along.

(And also remember that these are just levels for the nameless ranks of Orcish foot soldiers. Orcish personalities- people with names that you may meet and have as enemies- can be any level I wish them to be, acorrding to how dangerous I want them).

For the first five levels, each 10000 points of experience are worth one level- 10000 for level one, 20000 for level 2, 30000 for level 3 etc. AFter level 5, things slow down and they cost 20000 each, so it becomes 70000 for level 6, 90000 for level 7, and so on. Right now, the difference between the veteran characters and the new characters is large- but after a while, it will be barely significant once you need much larger numbers to make a difference.

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Gaining experience

Players of RPs in real life or on computers/consoles should be no stronager to the concept of gaining experience by success. However, whilst following the ame theory, this system is a little different.

First of all, there is no group distribution of experience at the point at which it is earned (more on that below. If Player A is in a big fight and kills an Orc, HE scores for it- players B, C and D score nothing.

Secondly, experience is not added on at the point it is earned. Instead it is banked (I will likely open a thread for this) and all experience is added together to players in one big lump at a time I declare is appropriate.

Thirdly, you can score experience for almost ANYTHING. Here is a list of things you sacore for:

Doing damage.
Causing a wound
Killing
Taking damage
Taking a wound
Sucessful manoeuvres
Casting a spell
Travelling (yup, seriously!)
And probably more...

And fourthly, and most importantly of all, we have this system's Socialist ethic of redistributing bonus experience!

Bonus Idea Point redistribution

This is where experience becomes fun, as other players beg for different players to get experience just so it goes into the idea pot.

Basically, at the point at which I decide it is time to give out basic experience, a bonus experience award is given to players., The total size of this award is equal to half the experience that EVERYONE has banked- this is why you want the whole party, not just yourself, to gain as much experience as possible.

But this bonus experience is distributed amongst the party- but it is not distributed evenly. Instead, what happens is this. I draw up a list of all the good ideas and heroic deeds and important achievements that were achieved during the game. I then match up players to deeds/ideas/achievements. I then break up the bonus experience pot into fractions based on the amount of achievements there are- and I then distribute that experienc to players according to how many such achievements they were involved in.

For example, say there is 10000 experience banked after some hard adventuring. That means the bonus xp for the day is 5000 xp.

Now, let us say there were 3 good idea during the game, and one great achievement. There are four players, A, B, C and D, and they contributed as follows:

Good idea 1: A
Good idea 2: B
Good idea 3: C
Achievement: A and C

So we have there five seperate awards- A and C twice, and B once, and D not at all.

I therefore split that bonus 5000 xp into five- which, luckily enough is five lots of 1000 experience. A and C get two shares- 2000xp- each,. and B picks up the final 1000.

But waht about poor old D? Has he not been left behind? Far from it.

Bcause, you see, D is a Warrior. He already has LOADS of xp. He got it by hacking Orcs to pieces. Were it not for him, the xp pot.- and so the bonus ideas pool- would not have been so large in the first place. He is perfectly happy!

A and C are Animists. They were not able to get as much XP by fighting. But by having good ideas of what to do, being the cleverer types, and by saving the life of an important person- the achievement- they make up their XP in the idea pot!

B is a Ranger. He had a good idea, scoring a little idea xp, and he allo did some fighting, so he should even out the same as well.

Whilst, obviously, some players will end up doing better than others, the basic theory is that Warriors pick up all their xp in fights, whilst the more thoughtful, less violent types pick it up afterwards in the idea pool.

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Relative awards

Combat experience- whilst being awarded all the time (doing wounds, taking wounds, killing... it is very hard to NOT gain xp whilst fighting!) is awarded differently accroding to several factors:

You get more for fighting something of a higher level than you, and less for fighting something of a lowr level

You get more for fighting a foe without aid from anyone- 'aid' counts as there being anyone else nearby that your opponent has to even consider, whether that friend actually ends up helping you or not.

The first time you kill a 'type' of opponent (e.g. Weak Orc, Dunlending etc.) you get four times as much experience for it. The second and third times you kill one, you get double. The fourth time and onwards, you get the standard amount.

So, level 1 players, fighting opponents for the first time, none of which can be of lower level than them, tend to RACE up in experience very fast- which is fine, as that means more for the pot, and so more for everyone! But after a while, once you have killed a few things, the experience rush starts to level out.

Updates

You will note the general and experience rules are now in.

The 'Experience Pot' will be created soon- once the skirmish at Baranar is done- and I will start to calculate what everyone is owed.

Plenty of opportunity for people to pick up LOADS of experience once the big fight at Baranar starts! We are looking to get the new players up to level 2 ASAP!

The veterans will be treated as if they have so far killed one each of Weak orc, Crebain and Dunlending, so you can get double for your first in-game kills of those but not quadruple.

Aiwendil is not counted as a Veteran but you may note she has received a 2500 xp bonus for being in the fight at the Barrow Downs. For the vets, that was all part of what started them at 20000 xp and level 2.

Note that in future level ups, you will be able to divert two points from ANY combat of categories to get an extra six stamina! This is something that should always have been there and if people want to change to get more stmaina now, please feel free- basically, I am VERY worried about the low stamina that some players are going to be having- this is a problem with the basic system, rather than your character design, however.

Also note that the Elven curved swords (used by Arwen) and two-handed short blades are now worked into the system- however, being Elven they are a minimum of +5 and hence unavilable to buy right now. Basically, the curved sword will act as a scimitar, and the two-bladed sword will be like a Bastard sword but with no penalty for use, making it a very neat weapon but rather expensive to get hold of. It certainly makes 'two-handed' an attractive skill for Elves.

Work is still slowly progressing on the Magic system- Herbology is definitely going in as a skill, whethger it will be a Magic skill or whether I weill just introduce the Secondary Skills system, I am not yet sure. Secondary skills are basically any other skill you want, less directly useful than the main skills but cheaper to get.

So far in the LOTR game- mainly due to time issues- I have not been 100% accurate in recording equipment and double checking figures and stuff., Right now, it is far more my concern that people understand how the system works rather than me being anal about the numbers. With any luck, people will hav the understanding, and I will have the time, to be more literal about the system come the big Baranar fight!

Feel free to ask questions...

Just read this entire thread through, no questions really except I'm wondering how much xp we will get

are the rules the same for the new one as well?

yep(atleas I think so)

Man, then i bet you guys are really strong now huh? Well, like i said ill try my best and see what happens, now I REALLY cant wait to start, even more so for RP.

lol we (a few of us) are lvl2 with a little luck *crosses fingers* we'll gain enough xp to reach lvl3 which aint that much. The fellowship now those guys are strong

so compared to them we are like normal/ those guys are probbaly like lvl 10 huh! hopefully ill get to lvl. 2. you can level up by doing w\quite a lot of stuff i see.

Whoa whoa whoa. Don't bring this up, there are new threads coming.

ok

sorry. and did you get my character. i need to pick another weapon cuz im missing a stat.