Turgon
Topic Author
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue 20 Jul 2021, 02:07

Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Tue 20 Jul 2021, 03:59

To my great disappointment are there no more Cultural Rewards in TOR 2 edition (ALPHA). Cultural Rewards and Cultural Virtues was specifics that I really liked with TOR 1 edition.

I understand that later on can Player-heroes add "features" to the weapons and armours/helms/shields (just as in 1 edition). But what is no more is that each culture has their own Cultural Rewards that is unique for the culture. Not only did the Cultural Rewards give more character to each culture. These extra unique "artifacts" could be a very good reason to what's "weights in" when you picked a culture.

What more is that in the ALPHA, a Reward can only be applied once to the same gear. Virtues can be applied multiple times. In 1 edition was it possible to add a Reward (Qualities) to armour more than once (to a maximum of 3). Any weapon - including a weapon that was a Cultural Reward - could also see a Reward (Qualities) and/or a Virtues (Masteries) upgrade once per feature to a maximum of total 3 Rewards/Virtues (Qualities/Masteries) - including the original feature a Cultural Reward-weapon came with.

The Player-heroes could along their personal development thereby design their weapons to fit their personal style/philosophy in Combat by adding Damage, Injury, Edge.

Finally, there is only six (6) Rewards totally. One of them are for Shields only. Other is for helmets (and armour and shields). Not all players wants to use shields or helmets, and a Player-hero can only upgrade an armour once. This is a problem, especially if the Player-hero has a 2-hand weapon. That means that when a Player-hero that has a 2-hand weapon has reached Valour-rank 5 won't there be no more Rewards when she/he wants to increase the Valour-rank (Many players chose to only use one weapon why they have no need to upgrade a secondary weapon [extra load]).

But if the Player-hero stays alive and not being to badly touched by the shaddow, and therefore don't retire, is it possible to increase the Wisdom-rank to 12 and even higher, and get a new Virtue each time. Hence, in the ALPHA is there now a slight imbalance between Rewards and Virtues, since there are Cultural Virtues, but no Cultural Rewards. This will most likely affect the Valour-ranking negatively since it will always be attactive in increase the Wisdom-rank since it comes with a new Virtue.

Please, is it possible to reconsider the removal of Cultural Rewards?
 
gyrovague
Posts: 591
Joined: Tue 28 Apr 2020, 16:52

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Tue 20 Jul 2021, 07:10

My best guess is that the reasoning behind this is that Famous Arms and Armour are expected to be common enough (or, at least, "not so uncommon") to effectively replace Cultural Rewards. And admittedly the interaction between the two was a little awkward in 1e once Rivendell came out: you had a cultural reward, and then you roll a Gandalf in a Trove, and suddenly you have this even better weapon, so now you turn in your Keen Bearded Axe or King's Blade, and that "unlocks" two magical properties...it was all very strange.

Assuming you are on board with more Trove and more frequently magical items, I think it will work out ok. But, yeah, I'm with you that it's a shame to say good-bye to cultural rewards. At least, some of them.
 
mrdabakkle
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon 01 Jun 2020, 18:15

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Tue 20 Jul 2021, 16:27

Where are you reading that there can only be one reward per item? From my understanding you can only have 1 reward of that type but the max is still 3 rewards per item. So you can't have a weapon that has two Grevious rewards but you could have a keen, fell, grevious weapon.
The One Ring and Adventure's in Middle-earth Discord Server: https://discord.me/theonering
The One Ring Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/oneringrpg/
 
Turgon
Topic Author
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue 20 Jul 2021, 02:07

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Tue 20 Jul 2021, 16:52

Where are you reading that there can only be one reward per item? From my understanding you can only have 1 reward of that type but the max is still 3 rewards per item. So you can't have a weapon that has two Grevious rewards but you could have a keen, fell, grevious weapon.
That's what I tried to say, you can only have one of each type of rewards to a weapon, but several reward types to the same weapon. I havn't seen there is a max of 3 rewards types to a weapon. But as there is now are there only 3 types of rewards (Fell, Grievous and Keen) to add to a weapon, so there's that.
 
Mythicos
Posts: 124
Joined: Tue 16 Jun 2020, 03:46

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Tue 20 Jul 2021, 17:01

Francesco said yesterday something in passing along the lines of "[...] cultural rewards were problematic [...]" but he didn't dwell on this, as far as I remember.

Somebody else that listened to it might remember and confirrm?
 
mrdabakkle
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon 01 Jun 2020, 18:15

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Tue 20 Jul 2021, 17:44

Where are you reading that there can only be one reward per item? From my understanding you can only have 1 reward of that type but the max is still 3 rewards per item. So you can't have a weapon that has two Grevious rewards but you could have a keen, fell, grevious weapon.
That's what I tried to say, you can only have one of each type of rewards to a weapon, but several reward types to the same weapon. I havn't seen there is a max of 3 rewards types to a weapon. But as there is now are there only 3 types of rewards (Fell, Grievous and Keen) to add to a weapon, so there's that.
My guess is that specific cultural rewards are gone now that magical items are way more common. The game assumes players will gain a hoard twice an adventure or something.
The One Ring and Adventure's in Middle-earth Discord Server: https://discord.me/theonering
The One Ring Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/oneringrpg/
 
MDuckworth83
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue 06 Jul 2021, 03:32

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Wed 21 Jul 2021, 01:51

Are magic items common in middle earth???
 
gyrovague
Posts: 591
Joined: Tue 28 Apr 2020, 16:52

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Wed 21 Jul 2021, 02:03

Are magic items common in middle earth???
At least as common as adventuring parties. :-)
 
User avatar
Carcharoth
Posts: 109
Joined: Thu 09 Jul 2020, 22:21
Location: Austin, TX
Contact:

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Wed 21 Jul 2021, 15:39

Are magic items common in middle earth???
I think it's less that magic items are common, and more that those in service against the shadow seem to find (or be chosen by) just the right amount of magical gear, like when the fellowship stopped at the troll cave and the hobbits managed to find perfectly-sized blades for themselves, or when the company received JUST the right gifts from Galadriel. That's why there's so much emphasis on having the LM create magical items that fit particular characters in the party. There's also a warning (at least there was in 1e) about having too many magical items. Players aren't meant to hoard countless magical items that litter the ground during their travels, but to be precisely equipped and augmented by an unseen hand that's looking to have them succeed against the shadow.
"Of all the terrors that came ever into Beleriand ere Angband’s fall the madness of Carcharoth was the most dreadful; for the power of the Silmaril was hidden within him."
- The Silmarillion
 
User avatar
aramis
Posts: 668
Joined: Fri 14 Jun 2019, 20:34
Location: Oregon, USA
Contact:

Re: Alpha Feedback - No more Cultural Rewards? On Virtues & Rewards

Fri 23 Jul 2021, 04:09

Minor magics are common in Middle Earth. Not quite the level of +1 swords in D&D...

Remember, the Professors Tolkien and Lewis were noted Theists, and both were essentially editing each other's works in early drafts, Both of them fill their works with an awe and elements of the divine. Prof. Tolkien was filling his work with a strong sense of salvific grace by actions in concert with the will of God. A clear, written in the hearts of Men (and Elves, Hobbits, and perhaps even Dwarves and Great Eagles) alignment to restore the plan.

Essentially, all of middle earth is magic. Elven lands have magical things going on. The Homely House is said to be (and in 1E was) hidden from Sauron. (And Saruman, too.) No non-elf could scry within it's view.

There are minor angelics running around... 5 Ystari (Wizards) - not quite explicitly angels, but close enough in power. Celeborn and Galadriel, possible a few others of great age, amongst the Elves, direct creations from whom entire ethnicities of Elves developed.
And their parallel infernals: the Ring-Wraiths... 10 of them... At least one balrog, probably more, which are interpreted widely to be major demons, and as we see in text, very mutch a near match for an Ystari
Saruman falling can be seen as an angel falling.

Even being a woman is a magic of its own; "No man can slay me!"/"I am no man!"

There is magic in song. We see this in the dwarf-songs in The Hobbit.
There is magic in fellowship and love - Sam and Frodo's bromance is what gives the latter enough strength to destroy the One Ring.
Meriadoc and Pippin's fellowship help fortify Sam and Frodo at start.
Aragorn's love for Arwen is a magic, which strengthens him. The token thereof is a tangible trigger for the reminiscences of her that help him keep to the needful tasks.

Many small items can be seen as magical... Sam's skillet. The weapons of several of the dwarves in Thorin's Company have lineages comparable to their owners.

From what I've read of the Middle Earth Corpus, to wit, The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, about a third of the Silmarillion, a few short stories out of context, half a dozen of Tolkien's letters, and a dozen books from the ICE RPG line, plus all of the TOR 1E line... I see little issue with the cultural rewards being essentially the magic of ancestry empowered by deeds and faith; it feels quite right.

The problem with 1e cultural items is that it implies a storehouse of magic items. Which makes sense for some cultures... but not others (eg Shire or River Hobbits, Númenóreans)

I would rather enabling powers were direct AP spends separate from raise of Valour.
—————————————————————————
Smith & Wesson: the original point and click interface...

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests