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My group does not like new travel rules and nor do I.

Adding Fatigue for success, or failure of the check seems unnecessary and over long distances it will be crippling.

And it does not reduce the number of rolls required as Travel rolls often fail.

The guide in the party has Travel 3, but has a TN 17 which is dignificantly higher than old rules. None of party have a Heart high enough to make the TN 14 that was often the case in earlier version.

We are switching back to older rules.

I think I’ll adopt parts of it, like hex simplification, and may use the standard table for improvised / spur of the moment travel during play for a more open and accessible world. But I am not a fan of fatigue calculation now and the events are kind of boilerplate generic, and while I mentioned all of this can be hacked for improvements, my time is limited and valuable to me. I may do it, but I also more likely will just use the 1e rules + some improvements.

Well said.

Yes, the new Journey rules are simpler, but I don't think they have been gutted out of any substance.

Thank-you.

I got it to table...
The process is nice - much faster...
but it falls flat. 1E's samples are MUCH better than the very schematic bit.

also - I can't find reference to whether the rules provide for GM specified encounters, and the lack of random combat encounters is also a bit of an issue.

(I sent my players from Woodland Hall to meet the Lord of Eagles, with a missive from Radagast...)

Well said.

Yes, the new Journey rules are simpler, but I don't think they have been gutted out of any substance.

Thank-you.

I got it to table...
The process is nice - much faster...
but it falls flat. 1E's samples are MUCH better than the very schematic bit.

also - I can't find reference to whether the rules provide for GM specified encounters, and the lack of random combat encounters is also a bit of an issue.

(I sent my players from Woodland Hall to meet the Lord of Eagles, with a missive from Radagast...)

This is one of the things I dislike the most about Alpha as it stands right now: the lack of examples for many game mechanisms and an utter lack of clear detailed in-play examples.

Out the top of my head:

• No combat example

• No journey example

• No magic item or useful items example

• No character creation example with a sample PC

• No prebuilt PC

• No Journey event examples

A LOT is left to the LM to prepare/decide/improvise.

And if I feel like this as an experienced LM with this and many other RPG systems, I shudder to think how it feels for LMs coming to this game for the first time, or even worse people who have never run a game. That Hobbit starter set better be very good...

I hope the final book corrects at least some of this.

Yep, as an experienced GM who's never even played ToR before, the journey system as written has me worried and a bit confused. I'm trying to ground my understanding of the intent by thinking back to the source material, and I'm having trouble finding examples that match. Yes, there was danger, but after the hobbits met STrider, I really can't think of natural disasters other than the snows on Caradhras that seem to fit with the sort of things hinted at on the journey events table. I'm also not clear on the notion of "targets" on that same table.

Two sessions in... New Journey system? Yes!
New Encounters table? No!
Need to find my copy of Hobbit Tales...

One thing about Journeys that puzzles me: the Mishap and Short Cut events add or subtract days from the length of the journey, but this doesn't seem to have any direct mechanical effect, as the "duration" of the Journey in terms of Events and Fatigue is measured in Marching Tests, not days.

Mounts have both effects: they change the calculation for the total duration of the journey, and they give the Guide extra dice to spend on Marching Tests.

I would have expected Mishap to impose a penalty to the next Marching check, and Short Cut to have provided a bonus. Either to the roll itself, or just -1/+1 to the resulting hexes.

Other than that, I'm with some of the others commenters who feel like the Event system feels a bit like a board game. Yes, I know that the LM is supposed to fill in the color, and the text mentions some general ideas. I would have loved to see one page with a grid, 4x7 (4 roles by 7 event types) with 3 or 4 short "plot hooks" for each cell.

And then adventures should have something similar, with events specific to that adventure.

One thing about Journeys that puzzles me: the Mishap and Short Cut events add or subtract days from the length of the journey, but this doesn't seem to have any direct mechanical effect, as the "duration" of the Journey in terms of Events and Fatigue is measured in Marching Tests, not days.

Not exactly
Hexes traveled convert to days; count hard terrain hexes and add them again. (p.111, lower right)
One can restate it thus:
Clear Terrains: 1 day per hex
Hard Terrains: 2 days per hex

Horses (but not ponies) should be able to speed up travel on short runs, but the rules do not provide for this mechanically, despite Page 50 stating the increase in speed and then referring one to the Journey rules

Horses (but not ponies) should be able to speed up travel on short runs, but the rules do not provide for this mechanically, despite Page 50 stating the increase in speed and then referring one to the Journey rules

Top of p112 has the impact of horses on journey time - it's over a page from other travel stuff so it's easy to miss.

Hope this helps!

Yes, but unless there’s a reason in the adventure to hurry, there’s no mechanical impact of duration. It doesn’t matter whether the journey takes 9 days or 10 days.