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Hi all,

I only found TOR just before Christmas and have purchased all of TOR and AIME. I'm really trying to persevere with TOR, as AIME is really incase TOR doesn't work out, but sometimes find the rules in TOR a little confusing (is that just me!). Especially with combat. So I have a battle going on with my characters and 4 Misty Mountain Orcs. What I am confused about is how to play the Orcs. Do they get the same combat features as the characters? For example I had an Orc throw a spear at one of my characters, they rolled 2 6s so get an extraordinary success (is that right). So I know how to apply the weapon damage, but when it comes to applying the orcs damage rating, there isn't anything in the stats which refers to damage. Where am I going wrong?

Any hints or tips on learning the rules would also be much appreciated.

Gareth

With enemies, combat is similar but simpler. When they do extra damage it's a simple multiplier: if they would have done 4, on an extraordinary success they do 12. For some abilities, the extra value would be the creature's attribute level.

The most common confusion about enemies in combat is that they don't have stances. The heroes have stances, and that determines the TN for them hitting enemies, and enemies hitting them.

Pages 230 (Adversaries) and onwards cover what you need, but specifically on p231... quote ...

Attribute Level
This replaces the three Attributes used to describe player heroes. It is added as a bonus every time that a creature
attempts a roll using a characteristic indicated as favoured (without the need of spending any point to invoke the
bonus) and as a Damage bonus to be applied when the creature hits an opponent in combat rolling a great
success or twice in the case of an extraordinary success.

Thank you that really is helpful

I think my problem is that I have been going through each chapter and then play testing what was in it (so had arrived at the combat section), so hadn't quite got to the adversaries section. I'm also using mythic as the Loremaster and have started going through The Marsh-Bell adventure.

Any hints or tips on how best to learn the rules?

To be honest, everyone has a different approach to learning/playing/running RPG's in general.

I personally read the rules from end to end over a couple of months, maybe two or three times, before I'll play as a player for a handful of times, before considering running (Loremaster) a game.

There's a great discord family that's been about for an age that can help give more advice on everything, you should def sign on there...

>>> https://discord.me/theonering

... and see if they can help, but, as with all RPG's, it should always be about having fun. Don't worry if you or your gaming buddies get rules wrong. I watch a lot of Play-by-Forum games across many websites, and uTube games, and they all make mistakes! Seasoned veterans still making mistakes, but in the heat of the game, it's not unusual ... so just enjoy yourselves and don't be too hung-up on the rulesets as you delve into middle-earth and all it has to offer in this great RPG ruleset... Walts.

Thank you, all very helpful