I am looking for playtesters for three (custom) scenarios I have recently built and playtested on my own.
You can be a beginner or an old grognard of the game. There are no requirements other than: - You must be able to play the game on OCTGN (that allows for quick games) - In the first step, I would like you to test the scenarios with only the Core Set player cards at your disposal - In the second step, you can use any deck at your disposal
If you have the opportunity to apply/playtest as a team (2 players) or are willing to play two-handed, let me know, as I think the game is best tailored for two people.
All files will be communicated in OCTGN format.
I am looking for a second batch of playtesters willing to test player cards that will accompany those scenarios
You can be a beginner or an old grognard of the game. There are no requirements other than: - In the first step, I would like you to build your decks using only those player cards and cards from the Core Set, test it against the reduced quest gauntlet below - In the second step, you can build a deck with the whole card pool
All files will be communicated in OCTGN format and pdf format if you want to proxy and test them live.
Please apply using my email address at mathieu.smartin __at___ gmail.com or pm me here, or boardgamegeek. I will use a discord channel to communicate more easily. So if you have a discord account all the better (I’ll send you the link to the channel).
I probably won't be playing any Guarded player card anytime soon. It's really not worth the cost of an extra encounter card. Most of the time, the encounter deck hits you hard and fast, and the first few turns are critical. Do you really want to play a card that will bring into play an extra encounter card?
I mean, an extra encounter card.
Ok, an extra encounter card.
Not until there's some other cards actually supporting the archetype. Maybe a Bilbo Burglar hero or something.
EDIT: I must add that if you can afford to reveal an extra encounter game by playing a Guarded card in the mid or late game, then you're probably already winning, and thus don't need the card.
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Doing video games is not the same thing as board games. FFG, you're not in the same league, you can't expect fight against Blizzard, Bethesda or Obsidian
By the way, the design look a bit ugly and the gameplay offers nothing for more than others virtuals card games.
Caleb explained that there will be no more combat phases, no resource matches and some cards effects will be simplify (i.e sneak attack).
It looks like a lame heartstone or pathfinder game.
Doing video games is not the same thing as board games. FFG, you're not in the same league, you can't expect fight against Blizzard, Bethesda or Obsidian
By the way, the design look a bit ugly and the gameplay offers nothing for more than others virtuals card games.
I think most of my LCG playtime is taking out and putting back my cards in the binder.
Then, there's the time I think and talk about the game.
That must leave 5% at actually playing the **** game.
The more I think about this "big announcement" the more I m pretty sure it will be a digital version of LOTR LCG.
I don't know if it s the first time, but the use of Twitch for broadcasting the announce isn t neutral. A digital platform for a digital version makes some sense.
Lastly, I don 't know if anyone reads this RPS article, but the last paragraph ends to convince me.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/03/fantasy-flight-digital-interview/
RPS: When can we expect to see the first game come out of the new studio?
Tim: Very soon, actually. We will make an announcement before the end of the year as to our first game and it will be released early in 2018.
It s perfectly fitting ??
I hope there will be new contents , for instance a campaign mode for every cycle. ? Or new version of old cards, for example Spirit Pippin, or Bilbo Hero...
I think my good friend Valiko is right. As much as that bogs me down, it has to be a digital version.
I do hope that they make the app/soft support the physical card game too. You could play with your actual cards while the app would manage the campaign aspects, with, YAY!!!, a generic campaign mode.
That campaign mode could very well give you some kind of "money/credits" to "buy" equipment, new allies, etc. I don't think It would be that hard to balance with a companion app, and other 7 years, I've seen so many attempts at doing that kind of campaign mode. Heck, all those progression modes are nearly that, aren't they? You could auto-win some cards as you progress, and spend credits/experience/whatever to get the "most powerful ones".
What always dissuaded me from doing a progression-style thing (and that is why we opted to make our own campaign mode with friends) is that the physical card pool management is not as easy IRL as playing on OCTGN. An app would help that. Remember which cards you purchased and which you did not, etc.
EDIT: also European readers, the twitch of FFG is announced 11AM CT, that's 6 PM on the continent and 5 PM in the UK.
I'd love it if they'd announce a full-fledged computer version.
Of course, that's not really their "thing", but a computer version would address the main challenges for those of us who are collecting the cards without actually playing the game:
1) it would know all the rules and prevent us from breaking them
2) it would save our state within a game, so that we can easily handle interruptions
3) we could play the game anywhere that we bring that computer/device (no table needed)
4) it would track our progress through the scenarios
5) it could provide analytics and possibly even card recommendations
May be it's time for some to learn how to play without broken cards ? And don't cry too much there is still Glorfindel 2.
With the nerf Caldara is less powerfull but way more roleplay (she can't die multiple times).
I'm not a fan of Hama, I always found the card not roleplay but it's still playlable.
I am more disappointed by Not idle nerf.
May be it's time for some to learn how to play without broken cards ? And don't cry too much there is still Glorfindel 2.
With the nerf Caldara is less powerfull but way more roleplay (she can't die multiple times).
I'm not a fan of Hama, I always found the card not roleplay but it's still playlable.
I am more disappointed by Not idle nerf.
I tried to do something similar in the past.
Keep in mind most of these things quests are probably made up, and some of them really makes no sense at all.
For example, in the book we know Gollum was drawn to Mordor (for all evil things are drawn to it by will of Sauron), got captured, tortured, told the Ring was in Shire, then 'escaped' (Gandalf guessed he was let out on purpose), wonders around Dead Marshes for something to eat, Aragorn finds Gollum's footsteps in the mud and captures him.
But in the LotR LCG, heroes found Gollum's tracks in Emyn Muil, Gollum runs into Dead Marshes in last effort to escape but gets captured…… which leaves no time for Gollum to be tortured by Sauron.
Having said that, here is my best guess.
Core Set
Thranduil notices growing shadow in the southern Mirkwood, namely around Dol Guldur, and wishes to warn Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel of Lorien. After hearing the news, Heroes are asked to investigate Dol Guldur and find out it is once again occupied by Sauron's force.
A. Sept 3001 ~ Sept 3018; Core Set rule book says the game takes place between Bilbo's 111th Birthday party and Frodo's departure from Shire. Although this timeline isn't kept for all the expansions, Core Set probably happened within these timeline.
B. ~ 20 June 3018; This is when Thranduil's place was attacked and Gollum escapes. Thranduil would probably warn about more than 'growing evil' if he was surprise attacked by bunch of orcs.
C. 3009; Year 3009 of the Third Age is very promising time frame for the events in Core Set to take place because in the Appendix it mentions this is the year 'the Mountains and all lands eastward are becoming dangerous.'.
Possible Timeline: Sept 3001 ~ 20 June 3018
Probable Time of Quest: Year 3009
Shadow of Mirkwood
Gandalf asks heroes to track down creature known as Gollum. Being heroes, they get side tracked doing heroic stuff like 'saving' very powerful Beornings who are capable of tramsforming into bear from couple of raggidy trolls and nursing a 'poisonous' arrow wound on a gigantic eagle that is probably nothing more than paper cut considering the eagle's size. Anyhow, heroes finally captures Gollum and brings him back to Thranduil's Palace in Mirkwood for interogation.
A. 3009 ~ 3017; year 3009 is when "Gandalf and Aragorn renew their hunt for Gollun at intervals during the next eight years, searchign in the vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Rhovanions to the confines of Mordor", and year 3017 is when "Gollum is released from Mordor. he is taken by Aragorn in the Dead Marshes, and brought to Thranduil in Mirkwood.". Kind of hard to imagine a Cycle taking spawn of 8 years, but hunt for gollum is straight out of the Appendix as far as I can tell, and in the Appendix it said it took 8 years.
Time of Quest: 3009 ~ 3017
Khazad-Dum
White Council haven't heard from group of dwarves Balin has led to recolonize Moria and fears for the worst. Group of heroes are asked to enter the great dwarven city of Khazad-Dum and gather any news of Balin and his dwarves.
A. 2994 ~; year 2994 is when Balin dies. Seems logical this quest would take place after death of Balin.
B. ~ January 3019; This is when the Fellowship enters Moria. Balrog would've been dead at this point so there couldn't have been 'Nameless Fear'.
C. Year 3009; 'indeed the only evidence of the former party may now be the burned and frozen remains that lie under snowdrifts as referenced in quest stage two of The Redhorn Gate.' (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3374). This article seems to suggest that events in Khazad-Dum is kind of prologue to events in Dwarrowdelf Cycle. And our heroes who escaped 'Namelss Fear' all froze to death in the mountains (which makes sense since they should have had no food or gears after narrowly escaping Balrog). Since Dwarrowdelf Cycle happened during year 3009 (see below), Khazad-Dum must have happened during year 3009 as well for corpses to have not rotten that much and recognized as corpses.
Possible Timeline: 2994 ~ January 3019
Probably Time of Quest: Year 3009.
* Funny thing is, nobody, not Elrond, not Galadriel, and especially not Saruman (unlike in the movie) knew there was Balrog in the Moria. Heck, Gandalf wanted to go through the mines of Moria in the book against Aragorn's judgement (or maybe Gandalf meant to take care of Balrog on the way…. He did take care of Orcs of Misty Mountains, Smaug, Orcs of Grey Mountains, and the Wargs of Rhovanion while restoring Kingdom of Dale and Erebor and establishing alliance between Thranduil's elves, Dain's dwarves, Beorn's Beornings, and Dale's dalemen. Why not destroy the Ring and kill a Balrog or two on the way too…). Anyways, either our heroes were total lackwits who couldn't recognize Balrog as Balrog, or they all died as said in the article, failing their ultimate mission no matter what we, the players, do.
* Another funny thing, last meeting of the White Council happened in year 2953. But Balin retakes Moria at 2989. So either we are given orders to contact Balin at Moria before he enters Moria (a mission from the past… or mission into the future), or some unknown organization pretending to be the White Council is using us for their own purpose (… could it possibly be Saruman?!?). Of course, White Council might not need to have a meeting to give out every little mission… that's a perfectly fine explanation I suppose.
Dwarrowdelf
Due to growing threat of Dol Guldur and lands East of the Mountains in general, Elrond judged that it is safer for Arwen to journey over the Highpass during snowing winter than stay at Caras Galadhon under protection of Galadriel. Heroes were really tired from battling against the hiking snowstorms, but they couldn't even afford a good night's sleep due to stupid orcs trying to ambush they every opportunity. Elrond, ignoring the fact that orcs would've been no problem if heroes weren't so tired from stupidly venturing Caradhras during snowing season, was shocked that bunch of orcs were causing trouble in the mountain once again and wished Heroes to investigate the source of the Orcish activity. For some reason, rather than investigating the Orc's last known hide out, the Goblin Town in the High Pass, heroes were sent to investigate Moria instead. They had to fight the Watcher to enter the gate, journey through long dark and eventually found out there is a Balrog in Moria.
A. 3009; from the Appendix 'Elrond sends for Arwen, and she returns to Imladris'. The Cycle begins with escoring Arwen from Lorien to Imladris.
Time of Quest: Year 3009
* These group of heroes also need to die since noone is supposed to know about the Balrog.
Heirs of Numenor
White Council asks heroes to to sail all the way from Grey Harbour, the western end of Middle Earth, to Pelegir, as east as you can get before entering Mordor and those 'evil' lands, to help Gondor in the war against Sauron. There they are asked to deliver a letter to Faramir. Heroes travel to Ithilien expecting to find Faramir, only to learn he is in Cair Andros, an island fortress that is about to be sieged.
A. 2983 ~ : This is birth of Faramir. He needs to be born at least.
B. 3000 ~ : This is when 'the shadow of Mordor lengthens'. Mordor needs to grow in power to attack Gondor.
C. ~ March 3019 : This is when Faramir meets Frodo in Ithilien, does NOT take the hobbit hostage but lets them go, and soon suffers from Black Breath. So he must have valiantly defended Cair Andros quite somtime before this.
D. 3018: This is pure speculation, but Sauron throws some Haradhrims, Mumaks, and Elite Orcs, so it's gotta be more than average day at work for Faramir. Sauron was very careful about revealing his own strength. He didn't permit his Nazgul to fly on their fellbeast on the western side of the river, he moved his troops under cover of the night, so it is unlikely he sent some of his elite troops to siege Cair Andros for the fun of it. In the June of year 3018, Sauron launches a semi serious attack against Gondor, to check Denethor's defences and probe around to see where to send his troops when the time comes… and to also create distraction for his Nazgul to cross Anduin in secrete in search for Shire. It is possible that this attack on Cair Andros was one of them.
Possible Timeline: 3000 ~ March 3019
Probable Time of Quest: Year 3018
* Once again, White Council stopped meeting about half a centry ago.
Over Hill and Under Hill
Experience the events from "The Hobbits" as card game.
A. 2941 : The events take place during the book "The Hobbit".
Time of Quest : Year 2941
Massing at Osgiliath
Heroes are asked to scout Osgiliath. When they arrive, they find army of Mordor beyond all expectation.
A. June 3018 ~ : This is when Boromir, Faramir, and 2 other unknown Gondorians destroyed the Bridge and retreated to Western Osgiliath. Since our hereos retreated by crossing the river while an Ithilien Ranger held the rear, it is probably safe to assume the quest happened after destruction of bridge.
B. ~ March 3019 : Battle of Pelenor Field happens here, so Quest Massing at Osgiliath must have happened sometime before this.
C. 3018 : Same reasoning as Heirs of Numenor, I believe events at Massing at Osgiliath was Sauron's attempt at probing Denethor's defences before the main assault as well as providing cover for his Nazguls to cross Anduin undetected to they can ride north disguised as 'Black Riders' to Shire.
Possible Timeline : June 3018 ~ March 3019
Probable Time of Quest : Year 3019
Battle at Lake Town
Bard kills Smaug.
A. 2941 : Straight out of "The Hobbit"
Time of Quest : Year 2941
To Sumurize…
The Quests in Chronological Order
Over the Hill and Under Hill (2941 TA) [Gadalf: Sending an Hobbit to slay the last fire breathing dragon. What could possibly go wrong? On a totally unrelated sidenote, dang these are some good pipeweed!]
Battle at Laketown (2941 TA) [bard: Stupid Dwarves, stupid fat Hobbit, and most of all stupid procrastinating weed addict wizard. In the end I did all the work and all saving laketown and all slaying Smaug.]
Shadow of Mirkwood (3009 ~ 3017 TA) [Gandalf: Oh, Sauron is in action again? Ah oh… he must be searching for the One Ring….. I am kind of suspicious about Bilbo's ring. Maybe I will try and learn more about Bilbo's ring by questioning Gollum]
Core Set (Spring/Summer 3009 TA) [Thranduil: Oh shizzle, the fortress of Dol Guldur, which White Council cleansed couple decades ago, is sending out evil vibes again. I better send warning to all nearby allies]
Khazad-Dum (3009 TA Early Winter) [Elrond: I'm hearing a lot of reports about evil things stirring in the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood and such. But oddly no report came from Moria for… 15 years, that seems like a long time. Maybe I'll send someone to check them out, to see if they are doing okay.]
Dwarrowdelf (3009 TA Winter) [Elrond: Sweety how was your journey over the Mountain? I know it was wintertime but Lorien was just too close to Dol Guldur. What? You were attacked by the Orcs? Come to think of it, the scouts I've sent to Moria hasn't returned yet. This is concerning… maybe I'll send another group to see Moria has something to do with increased Orc activity.
Massing at Osgiliath / Heirs of Numenor (3019 TA) [sauron: I will launch multiple attacks against Gondor on various fronts to see how strong their defences are. Also, while they are busy defending my 'attacks', I will sneak my Nazguls disguised as 'Black Riders' across the river Anduin in search for this Shire, Baggins to get my Ring back.]
These are just speculations, but I don't think they would be that far off.
As you can see besides Over the Hill and Under Hill and Battle of Laketown (which are Saga Expansion and Print on Demand, both of which are sort of out of 'regular expansions' cycle), they all fit in the time frame of Bilbo's 111th Birthday party and Frodo's departure from Shire.
Few oversights here and there (like White Council giving missions when they haven't had meeting for some time now, or Gollum never given chance to enter Mordor before being captured), but overall I can tell a lot of work went into make this game as relevent to the source material as possible.
From your post, it sounds like you are asking how could a single set of heroes go through all the quests chronologically. As for that the only answer I could provide is they can't. All these quests are done by many different groups of heroes. Some heroes are even dead after we, the players, win the quest (like the group of heroes from Khazad-Dum will freeze to death even if players win the quest). Some heroes spend 8 years searching for Gollum, so they miss out on opportunity to face Balrog or fight Watcher at all.
Hope this reply was kind of useful even though it wasn't exactly what you were looking for.
I think lots of us really appreciate that you gave some backstory to the FFG-created hero lately: Idraen, Rossiel or Amarthiúl for instance. Especially, I found the backstory of Rossiel to be really compelling, making her a character I want to play although I was a bit skeptical about the whole theme/mechanics of victory display manipulation in the first place. Now I'd like to play elven magic.
I would be really really cool if you could give us the backstories of the other FFG-created heroes, namely Thalin, Eleanor, Beravor, Mirlonde and Caldara. I know some of them where already part of Middle-Earth quest RPG (the first three of them), so maybe part of my request can already be found somewhere. Anyway, I think it'd be a great addition to the "support" section online. I realise there's some work involved here, but I'm asking nonetheless.
PS: Oh and even the few unique allies you created along the way: Emery, Brok Ironfist, Henemarth Riversong and the next Eldahir, could we know just in a few lines who those fine free-people are?
Im' not so convinced by your deck. I don't like heroes you picked. Glorfindel 2 is an abomination who can't be played (except in some saga quests or in a noldor team) because he kills all the fluff of this game.
Gandalf and Boromir are cool, you should try to play them as a couple, even if I prefer Aragorn-strider to him, because it's more fluffy than the couple extract from the Saga of th Ring.
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