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Author Topic: Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.  (Read 3205 times)

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July 27, 2018, 08:43:46 AM
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menace64

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Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.
« on: July 27, 2018, 08:43:46 AM »
Battle Icons would be a range of, well, icons showcasing each of the battles fought during (and sometimes long before) the War of the Ring. Imagine a Mazarbul battle icon, or Cirith Ungol, or Last Alliance...! - each one feels ripe for some design exploitation, opening new avenues of cooperation and mischief between cultures, and even card types.

The pool of exploitability here is simply massive: imagine a Pelennor Fields battle icon shared across [Gondor], [Raider], [Rohan] (there could be a whole mechanic involved beacons in which you grant said battle icon to [Rohan] companions), [Sauron], [Wraith]... and even a few [Shire] cards. All those characters and cards could target each other in potent ways, restricting their obvious power-creep to scenarios in which the full battle is in motion. A companion could read:

[2] Gondorian Warrior [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Battle: (Pelennor)
While skirmishing a (Pelennor) minion, this companion is strength +3.

This would trigger against minions across multiple cultures, as you can no doubt imagine. I don't even want to get into all my ideas for a (Pelennor) icon at the moment... I need to be productive elsewhere today :lol:

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However, certain sacrifices would have to be made to make this work. For companions, Battle Icons would occasionally fill the slot of Signet/Resistance; I figure that's okay though, since in the heat of battle your thoughts typically stray no further than the swords at your throat. (Design exception: companions that ought to have the Black Gate battle icon would instead have Frodo Signets.)

Minions have to change though:

[2] Hill Brigand [Dunland]
Minion • Site 2[T] • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Battle: (Westfold)
Response: If a (Westfold) minion wins a skirmish, discard this minion to discard a [Rohan] condition.

[3] Uruk Arsonist [Isengard]
Minion • Site 5[T] • Uruk-hai
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Battle: (Westfold)
Damage +1.
Skirmish: Exert this minion to make a (Westfold) minion strength +2.

I've removed Site Number as the third icon, moving the relevant information to the card type box where Allies had been making it work all this time anyways. It literally says the same thing, no?

[1] The Fires of Saruman [Isengard]
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert Saruman.
Each time a (Westfold) minion wins a skirmish at a plains site, you may discard this condition to microwave your opponent's phone.

(Examples not playtested. Use with caution.)

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The battle icon can expand to Allies by showcasing who takes on supporting roles during battle. Gimli, for example, could be a kickass Ally like this:

[2]Gimli, Friend of Men [Dwarven]
Ally • Site 4[T] & 5[T] • Dwarf
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Battle: (Helm's Deep)
Damage +1. To play, spot a [Rohan] fortification.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is at Gimli's home site and he is not assigned to a skirmish, exert Gimli to have him replace a Helm's Deep companion in a skirmish.

I imagine each battle icon would share the iconography of the Towers and King site path icons, something coherent and vectorable. Of course there's a few ways of writing Gimli's skirmish ability, depending on how far you'd want to expand the concept. Battle icons could easily appear on critical sites, likely replacing the Battleground keyword altogether. Thus, Gimli would read:

"Skirmish: If the fellowship is at a (Helm's Deep) site and he is not assigned to a skirmish, exert Gimli to have him replace a companion in a skirmish."

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Well, that's all just a concept. What do you think?
« Last Edit: August 03, 2018, 04:03:43 PM by menace64 »

July 31, 2018, 12:08:44 AM
Reply #1

Shapeshifter

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Re: Filling the Third Icon: Battle Icons.
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2018, 12:08:44 AM »
Battle Icons seem like a great idea! They add a thematic feel to the game, without being too restrictive  :up:

August 03, 2018, 04:02:42 PM
Reply #2

menace64

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Re: Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2018, 04:02:42 PM »
Thanks, SS! I look forward to putting battle icons to work!

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I feel like a broken record for saying this, but I think I really have figured out what to do with an open third stat slot, a solution that's applicable to Companions, Allies, and Minions, that'll add a new dimension to a character's potential value (or hindrance) to their player. I call it Mettle, representing a character's mental fortitude / bravery.

Once I'd devised a Mettle rating system (see below) I decided an experiment was in order. I put together a cardlist in Google Sheets of just the character cards from sets 1-10 (with a few others sprinkled in where deemed appropriate), then retroactively fitted all of them with a Mettle stat:

[1][8] •Sauron, The Lord of the Rings [Sauron]
Minion • Site 6 • Maia
Strength: 24
Vitality: 5
Mettle: 10
Damage +2. Enduring. Fierce.
For each burden you spot, threat you spot, and site you control, Sauron's twilight cost is -1.
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne / In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
9R+48

10 is the upper limit on Mettle, and this highest rating shows up only 3 times on characters from sets 1-10: Sauron, Tom Bombadil, and Galadriel, Bearer of Wisdom. There are 17 characters with a base Mettle of 1: two "Tower" [Sauron] Orcs from FotR; three Smeagols from King block; four non-unique [Gondor] Wraiths; and eight "Cirith Ungol" minions.

Go figure, the average Mettle rating is 5.

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Additionally, there are a few racial guidelines I've had to implement. Characters with a base Mettle of 8-10 are reserved for specific cards or characters, but lower than that and it's easier to summarize.

Racial Basics:
  • 7: Powerful Elves, Radagast, Ents
  • 6: Powerful Men, Elves, Dwarves, Nazgul
  • 5: Men, Uruks, Diminished Elves
  • 4: Powerful Hobbits, Powerful Dwarves
  • 3: Hobbits, Gollum
  • 2: Smeagol, Wormtongue

That's a start, but I knew I needed some fluctuation to account for certain variables. I want Mettle to focus more tightly on the theme or moment of the card. I want Sam SoH to look immediately weaker than Sam GEW, without bloating his Strength stat.

Non-Orcs:
  • Surviving a movie gets you +1 Mettle (Limit once; inversions apply).
  • Second Age characters get +1 Mettle.
  • Cards representing large forces get +1 Mettle.
  • Possession of a Ring gets you +2 Mettle.
  • Generic Rangers/Scouts/Trackers get +1 Mettle.
  • Dying and coming back gets you +1 Mettle.

I had all that in place, and then got stumped by the Orcs. This doesn't produce the correct result when applied to Orcs, as their bravery/willpower is almost entirely dependent on who's controlling them. Saruman's Orcs operate far differently than Sauron's; and Moria is full of Goblins doing what-the-#$&*@!-ever they want. So I needed something additional, and for that I applied a simple axiom: The closer you are to Mordor, the lower your Mettle. And then some sprinkles:

Orcs:
  • Leaders get +1 Mettle.
  • Generic Scouts/Trackers get +1 Mettle.
  • Cards representing large forces get +1 Mettle.
  • Saruman is loved.

Applying all of that gives you weak but independent [Moria] Orcs and strong but utterly-dominated [Sauron] Orcs.

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Here's a few parting notes:

  • Hobbits have a suboptimal Mettle, but [Shire] will have access to powerful Mettle-boosting abilities.
  • A character with 0 Mettle is considered broken, and while I'm unsure presently if broken will carry immediate ramifications, I do know that really nasty cards will be looking for broken enemy characters.
  • Elves (along with Frodo & Smeagol) lose Mettle over time, wasting rather than growing between sets.
  • Dunlendings get an additional +1 Mettle boost for being recently-stoked by Saruman.
  • Dwarves work backwards. The more powerful the Dwarf, the lower his Mettle. Gimli starts with 6, Dain has 5, and Durin has 4.

There's more tweaks here and there to be found, I'm sure. I'd love feedback!

LotR Character Stat Calculator

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My next step is to write a few Virtual cards to help show off what Mettle can do. I'd also love to see what ideas you've got!
« Last Edit: August 03, 2018, 08:44:00 PM by menace64 »

August 05, 2018, 11:47:36 AM
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menace64

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Re: Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2018, 11:47:36 AM »
Quick update: I've run into a wall regarding mettle. See, right now it suffers from one of Resistance's worst faults: difficulty tracking fluctuations in value. Vitality is always obvious, since it manifests as wound tokens. Strength is a nebulous value but it almost always only matters during one very specific part of the game, the skirmish phase.

Resistance - and, presently, Mettle - has the worst of both these other stats. No associated token. No dedicated phase to keep your head from falling off.

But what if there was an associated token for Mettle? I'm wondering if threats could be slightly retooled, not adding to the dead pile but perhaps to individual characters? That'd mean there'd be 3 different types of tokens for characters (wound, burden, threat) affecting Vitality, Resistance, and Mettle respectively. Ring-bearers would be immune to threats, if for no better reason than avoidng the mess resulting from having all 3 tokens on 1 character.

I'll keep playing with the idea. I'm not even sure if this would resolve the problem.  

August 23, 2018, 04:35:51 AM
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Wyrden333

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Re: Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2018, 04:35:51 AM »
I thought about it and found two different ways in keeping track of mettle.

With a 'threat pool' like you said. Making a token pool (or just use some D6s) for Mettle  to keep track of changes which influences the whole Fellowship. Any card that changes the Mettle of only one character would be played like a condition on the character.

OR:

With 'token cards' that would be played on a character everytime his Mettle changes. So just not belonging to any deck or so just a blanc card with the stud changes like -1; +2  and maybe a picture or so. You could call them like 'Fear' tokens .

You could even combine these and use the token cards only when an event is played changing Mettle or anything else just changing stud of a certain group of characters.

If Mettle is reduced to 0 you could say the character would not be able to be assigned to a skirmish or he cannot activate his game text or something like that.

But that are just my two cents on Mettle because I thing more tokens on companiens and allies would just be to much to handel.

Edit: If Mettle is reduced to 0, that Free People character cannot activate his game text and can only be assigned to a skirmish by the Free people player, if all other characters that are able to be assigned to that skirmish are already assigned. A Minion with Mettle 0, hm I guess Sauron would not be happy if they are their and don't fight. Maybe they are just discarded, because they flee?
« Last Edit: August 24, 2018, 06:55:50 AM by Wyrden333 »
Go King Standard!

September 29, 2018, 02:34:26 PM
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Wyrden333

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Re: Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2018, 02:34:26 PM »
 :o :o :o

Wait a minute, might it be, that I got something wrong? I think I got a translation error.
How do you define the mettle studs? I just never heared the word before and just asked google translator.  :-[#-o Sorry.
Hm, it might be I have to change some DCs/DC ideas regarding mettle.  :whistle: ](*,)

And something else, couldnt you not just modify the 'battle sign' to work in the Race bar? Card layout would be something like this:

 (0) Name  [Raider]
Minion/Ally/Companion•'Battle sign'• Race
Strength X; Vitality X; Mettle X

Card text

The 'Battle Sign' (You would have to rename it) could work as site number for minions, as well as home site for Allies and you can still use mettle!!
Sites could get an unloaded keyword like 'Pelennor' and allies with home 'Pelennor' would be home there, as well as minions with Pelennor would stop being roaming there.

Was that understandable? But maybe its to much for one rule element, handeling ~3 things.
Let me know what you think!
Go King Standard!

October 23, 2018, 04:40:17 PM
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TheHumanHydra

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Re: Filling the Third Icon: Strength, Vitality, and Mettle.
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2018, 04:40:17 PM »
I really like the Battle Sign idea. Not much else to add; just thought it was pretty cool!