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Tonight, it was so wonderful to get a few of my guys back together after so long. We played the first adventure in the Starter Set "A Conspiracy Most Cracked" and had a blast!

When trying to get into the Mathom-House unnoticed, Esmeralda ended up falling off the roof and being caught by the bounder who led her away from the museum for safety reasons. Her little brother, Paladin Took II, and his older friend, Drogo Baggins, watched the whole thing go down from the roof where they stayed hidden. Afterwards, they fell down through the skylight and stirred up the dog. Drogo sang a song to keep him from barking, and it worked. After getting what they came for, they gave the dog some food and walked out the front door, just in time to join an escaped Esmeralda before hiding again off the road. That's when their luck ran out and they got delayed in a downpour. Good thing Drogo had received a cloak from some wandering Elves on their way to Michel Delving! It was large enough for the Hobbits to share and keep warm under. The rest of the journey back to Bag End went rather smoothly.

We were going to play the second adventure, but this experienced group wanted to get right into creating their own characters. So, it looks like we'll be getting out of the Shire and exploring other parts of Eriador at our next session, which is hopefully in a month.

Just an observation that I'm sure many others have made so far: The use of favoured rolls really offsets high TNs for starting characters, so choosing the Mastery Virtue is a really good idea!

Sounds like a lot of fun. It is always nice to hear what others are doing and the fun they have. Good luck with the new characters! Keep us posted please?

Congratulations!

I'm really enjoying 2e - I was a fan of 1e, but think 2e improves on the mechanics. Like you, I was nervous about potentially tougher TNs in 2e, but a number of factors help here:

- Favoured skills have more impact, as you rightly note. I like that these trigger without spending Hope (uinlike 1e), makes each character feel more distinct.
- Mastery/Prowess virtues to get more favoured skills/lower TNs.
- Faster Hope recovery fueling more Hope spending, particularly if rolls are inspired for +2d or the hope is used for a Magical Success (automatic success).
- Useful items providing a 1d bonus.

With the above in place, a starting company can be pretty effective.

And I can sympathise with people wanting to make their own characters - the Shire material clearly works well for many people, but it isn't the tone I'm after so I and a number of others have gone quickly in to making our own characters and adventures. It is good that the setting and rules set can accommodate a ranges of tones and adventures.

Ruins of the Lost Realm and Tales from the Lone Lands means there is plenty of official adventure material already for those that like that, both are excellent. Good sources of ideas even if you're making your own campaign/adventures.

UPDATE: Well, it's been 10 months and the band hasn't gotten back together again after our first session. Life has been so busy and "stuff" has just been in the way. It looks like I'll need to get a new set of players. Everyone has moved on in life to other pursuits, or literally moved away. I might just try Strider Mode for a while, but I prefer a group, honestly. I just don't want to miss experiencing this tremendous game.

Have you tried playing online? Might be easier to get a group that way.

I haven't yet. I'm not even sure how to look for an online group. What's the best way to go about that?

Probably the unofficial Discord: https://discord.com/invite/the-one-ring ... 4598545408

Go to the appropriate finding games channel, there are usually a couple recruiting at a time.