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Good Morning!

In a few days I will start an adventure, and maybe a campaign, with a group. Probably it would be The Star of the Mist (maybe an easier version of this one if the characters are not strong enough) and I found that a Ranger of the North with the appropriate cultural virtue could start with the much-needed magic sword with Undead Bane.
I played extensively with the old edition, where you could have a cultural virtue as a starting one. In this new edition, this is not allowed, but I would like to ask you if you know the reasons about this, or what problems I could find if I decide to allow it to my players. Any of you have tried it? Did it affect balance or some aspect of the game?

Thanks a lot for your help

The Star of the Mist isn’t suitable as a first adventure for a beginner company. It’s doable, but very Shadow heavy. I recommend you put it aside until your company has more Valour / Wisdom.

It's not really about balance - the game isn't linear enough for this to matter much. What I suspect tis the reason is that you 6 Cultural Virtues and 6 slots for Virtues. By insisting that you take one Starting Virtue, it reduces the likelihood of uniform characters (if every Ranger takes all the CVs, then they'll all be very similar, but by only allowing you to take 5, then there'll be some variation due to different Starter Virtues).

As such, if you want to allow them to take a Cultural Virtue first then insist that the second be a Starter Virtue instead, that would allow some initial flavour while not losing anything in the long run.

The Star of the Mist isn’t suitable as a first adventure for a beginner company. It’s doable, but very Shadow heavy. I recommend you put it aside until your company has more Valour / Wisdom.

Do you have any one-shot adventure from the books as advice.
If not, I plannes to reduce enemy numbers and stats and soften the shadow. It would not be the best possible star of the mist experience, but it can be a fun begonning

Which books do you have?

It's not really about balance - the game isn't linear enough for this to matter much. What I suspect tis the reason is that you 6 Cultural Virtues and 6 slots for Virtues. By insisting that you take one Starting Virtue, it reduces the likelihood of uniform characters (if every Ranger takes all the CVs, then they'll all be very similar, but by only allowing you to take 5, then there'll be some variation due to different Starter Virtues).

As such, if you want to allow them to take a Cultural Virtue first then insist that the second be a Starter Virtue instead, that would allow some initial flavour while not losing anything in the long run.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Do you have any one-shot adventure from the books as advice.

Kings of Little Kingdoms from Tales From the Lone-Lands is suitable for beginner companies.

Do you have any one-shot adventure from the books as advice.

Kings of Little Kingdoms from Tales From the Lone-Lands is suitable for beginner companies.

Do you think it's short enough for a three hours session?

Yes, very much. But you should be careful not to include every plot line.