•
Book of Mazarbul Artifact • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf in your dead pile.
At the start of each regroup phase, you may discard X cards stacked here to heal X companions.
Response: If a
tale is discarded from play, exert a Dwarf to stack that tale here instead.
"'It seems to be a record of the fortunes of Balin's folk….'"I really didn't like this card until I changed it from a bearable artifact to support area and added the dead dwarf spotting. It's basically impossible to get rid of once it's out and it yields consistent wound-transferring. (Note that I don't believe this creates an infinite loop, as a stacked card can only be spotted as a stacked card, so once a tale gets stacked it's no longer a tale. Right?)
Mines of Khazad-dum Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Dwarf ally.
Each time a Shadow player discards another
condition in your support area, you may return a Dwarf ally to your hand to discard this condition instead.
"'Moria! Moria! Wonder of the Northern world!'"Now it's a rare! This mine was built by ancient Dwarves - I felt that I could only pull off a mechanic like this if I could build in a cost to represent this bit of flavor. Then I recalled the mostly-useless Dwarf allies in the block and figured they could actually get a bit of a bump from this new virtual version.
•
Arwen, Elven Rider Companion • Elf
Strength 6
Vitality 3
Frodo Signet
Ranger.At the end of each of Arwen's skirmishes, you may exert her to transfer a mount she bears to any other companion. At the end of your turn, transfer that mount to Arwen.
"'If I can cross the river, the power of my people will protect him.'"It sounds cool but her usefulness is likely still limited, and you'll end up paying the twilight cost of the mount twice, which may not matter to you but it's still a drawback. Still better than 3 cards to prevent 1 RB wound, and at least now we have a method for putting Frodo in the saddle.
Forests of Lothlorien Condition • Support Area
To play, spot an Elf ally whose home site is 6[F].
Each time the fellowship moves to a sanctuary site, you may exert an Elf ally whose home site is 6[F] to shuffle a Free Peoples card from your discard pile into your draw deck.
"'Alas for Lothlórien that I love! It would be a poor life in a land where no mallorn grew.'"I have a fondness for locations-as-conditions. I won't be virtualizing all of them - mainly just the bad ones.
Unknown Perils Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Wizard.
Response: If a Free Peoples character with strength 4 or less is about to take a wound outside of the archery phase or skirmish phase, exert Gandalf or discard this condition to prevent that wound.
"Suddenly he stopped as if listening. Frodo became aware that all was very quiet, inside and outside."I've extended this card to cover any FP character with low strength, including allies. Gandalf's got everybody's back. I didn't feel right allowing this to work at any time, since "they're still in the Shire" and battles are still far away, which is why I restricted it from covering archery and skirmish wounds.
Citadel of Minas Tirith Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a
companion.
While you can spot a
companion who hasn't taken a wound this turn, each companion bearing a weapon wins ties against any minions they skirmish.
"'One day our paths will lead us there, and the Tower guards shall take up the call - The Lords of Gondor have returned.'"Nothing really wrong with the original version. I think I butchered the wording again on the second half of the effect - not sure if there's a better way to say it!
•The Horn of Gondor (formerly
Horn of Boromir)
Possession • Horn
Bearer must be Boromir.
Fellowship: Exert Boromir and add
to make him
defender +X until the regroup phase.
"On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver…."That's what it should've been! I corrected the name and then wrote up the ability as an Assignment ability before realizing it
needed to be Fellowship. Boromir blows his horn to attract danger, an unknown force, and he does so hoping they will react aggressively.
Tower of Orthanc Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a unique
minion.
Each time the fellowship moves, spot an exhausted companion to reveal a card at random from another player's hand.
"'It was not made by Saruman, but by the men of Númenor long ago; and it is very tall and has many secrets; yet it looks not to be a work of craft.'"Nothing wrong at all with the original. I consider this a downsized version of what Sauron achieves with V-Eye of Sauron; but Orthanc stacks!
Depths of Moria Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 3
Orcs (or 3 Dwarves).
Each time the fellowship moves from an underground site, you may reveal 3
Orcs from hand to make the Free Peoples player discard a possession borne by a companion.
"…a great fissure had opened. Out of it a fierce red light came, and now and again flames licked at the brink…. Wisps of dark smoke wavered in the hot air."Based on the picture, I remember Boromir losing his
flaming brand over the
chasm's edge which quickly got me here, imagining facing four of these bastards and watching all my companions lose their gear.
Gates of the Dead City Condition • Support Area
To play, discard a
minion from hand.
Each time the fellowship moves to a sanctuary, spot 4 burdens and discard a
minion from hand to play a Nazgûl or
mount from your discard pile.
"'…and they took Minas Ithil and abode in it, and they made it into a place of dread….'"This card works a lot better if you pretend there are
Orcs in fellowship block. Like:
Morgul Slayer Minion • Orc
Strength 7
Vitality 2
Site Number 8
Response: If the fellowship is at site 8 or site 9 and a companion (except the Ring-bearer) just became exhausted, wound this minion to wound that companion.
"'Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade.'"I remember reading an article during the RotK prerelease in which one of the designers said something to the effect of "Yeah, had we stopped to consider it we might've done
Orcs earlier," specficially mentioning the "Morgul"-titled
minions. So I went ahead and did that. I jacked up its site number to illustrate when this new subculture starts to get scary: right at the end of the FotR site path, where they're just waiting to drop some heavy hate at a premium.
News of Mordor Event • Skirmish
Each Shadow player reveals a Shadow card from their hand. Make your
minion,
minion, Nazgûl, or
minion strength +1 for each different Shadow culture revealed.
"'Build me an army worthy of Mordor.'"Cross culture multiplayer strength pump! Realms had a lot of these but not many are very good. This is also another one of those "and here's what's coming next!" cards that Decipher loved to do, similar to mentioning artifacts prior to MoM.
deserves it!
•
The Ring Draws Them Condition • Support Area
Response: If the Ring-bearer puts on The One Ring, spot a Nazgûl to replace the fellowship's current site with your version of the same site, then spot 5 burdens or discard this condition.
"'If I move I shall be seen and hunted!'"I prefer incorporating The One Ring into the game indirectly - rarely forcing the FP player to put it on, but increasing the danger of the choice itself. I like this card for its simplicity: wear it, and the Nazgûl will herd you exactly where they want you to be, and if you're corrupt enough they won't even try to let you go.
Massing in the East Event • Regroup
Spot 2
minions to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is the number of Shadow cultures you can spot. Take any revealed Shadow cards into hand and discard the rest.
"'The power of the Black Land grows….'"I think the original card did it backwards: don't punish the FP player for having a multicultural fellowship (you want this as a game dev); rather, reward the Shadow player for out-gobbling-up entire civilizations! What's neat here is the psychological aspect, as a double-moving-inclined player might think twice after seeing the #$&*@! monsters you just drew. (Backfires possible - beware!)
Orc Swordsman Minion • Orc
Strength 9
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
While this minion bears a hand weapon, the Free Peoples player may only play 1 event during skirmishes involving it.
"'Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay.'"Only reason I'm updating the swordsman is because I loved the original card and want to shamelessly make him cooler. If he's a swordsman then he deserves a cooler effect than a +2 bonus.
Meant to Be Alone Event • Regroup
Spot a Hobbit and discard an unwounded companion (except a Hobbit) to remove a burden.
"'You are a Ring-bearer, Frodo… to bear a Ring of Power is to be alone.'"I liked the card but didn't want it to be easily abusable, so I added 'unwounded' to make Frodo not seem so heartless for abandoning his wounded friends, something he wouldn't be likely to do. I also like this as a form of fellowship-control, giving a player the ability to trim the size of his or her fellowship.
[Site-9]
Wastes of Emyn Muil Marsh. Maneuver: Spot 4 companions and exert your
Orc to make the Free Peoples player choose to wound one of those companions.
<---
Dropped the shadow number by 1 to offset the addition of Marsh and a bit of a boost in the wounding effect. Also changed it from
to
because, come on, it makes sense!