The Way Into Mordor - Sméagol (5/13: Pitifully Anxious To Please)

[DáinIronfoot]

...in this set, there are three. And that's just the Free Peoples side of the culture!

It seems the culture is the "hip" culture to do right now. Thran and EL have both been reinventing it lately. I know you'll never believe me, but it was the next culture I intended to do for The Way Into Mordor as well. Since Elves are winding down (at least...they may be pretty much done, the more I consider it), and since I am dying to post some new cards and don't want to wait around any longer for new ideas to strike me, I think now is a good time to launch at least the Free Peoples side of the set's culture.

For those who have been following my sets, you might remember that the culture is one of very few Shadow cultures ( and being the others) to appear in both sets thus far. Of course, it makes its biggest splash yet in this set, based as it is on The Two Towers (and as a cousin to the Tower Block sets where Sméagol and Gollum made their first appearances). Long-time reviewers may also know that in the culture's appearances in the other two sets, the Shadow side of the culture greatly outweighed the FP side...which makes sense since really only the dark side of Gollum shows during The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, where the other two sets draw most of their material from.

Not so in The Way Into Mordor. In fact, this will be my ONLY set in which the opposite is true: the FP side of the culture will outweigh the Shadow side, and probably by a larger margin than you'd expect. This is partly to "make up" for the dearth of FP cards in other sets, but also partly because I feel it will show the character's descent (or re-descent) from truly helpful "good Sméagol" to the vengeful liar we know as Gollum. By the time we hit the next set (based on Return of the King), the Shadow side will again have wrested control away and once again sport the majority of the culture's cards.

Make-a sense-a? I hope so, because here we go with, as I hinted before, THREE Sméagols. Enjoy!

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
While you can spot 3 Ring-bound companions, the move limit is +1.
Response: If Sméagol is unwounded and is about to be overwhelmed, discard a card from hand to exhaust him instead.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

This is one of the set's two starters (the other being Gimli, Stout and Strong, meant, obviously, to work with the yet-to-be-revealed Frodo and Sam and, to a lesser extent, the already-revealed Ring-bound rangers. He lets such a fellowship zoom down the sitepath faster and forms excellent protection against larger minions, allowing you to exhaust him to avoid being overwhelmed...but it's a one-time trick until you're able to heal him up again. Still, he's clearly one of the better versions of Sméagol out there, giving even Pitiable Guide's excellent Ring-bound support a run for its money.

•Sméagol, Helps Nice Master
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Each time the fellowship is about to move, if the fellowship is at a marsh, river, or underground site, you may exert Sméagol to play the fellowship's next site.
"‘The cold hard lands, / they bites our hands, / they gnaws our feet. / The rocks and stones / are like old bones / all bare of meat. / But stream and pool / is wet and cool: / so nice for feet!'"

Really, how is it that only one Free Peoples cards in Decipher sets deal with rivers (Safe Passage), one with marshes (Scout and Guide), and NONE with underground sites?! That's just not right. This version of Sméagol rights that wrong in a very Sméagol-ish way, gollum gollum!

•Sméagol, Fawning and Would-Be Friendly
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
The Ring-bearer is strength +2 and resistance -2.
While the Ring-bearer is assigned to a skirmish, Sméagol is strength +1 for each other Ring-bound companion you can spot.
"‘Sméagol will swear never, never, to let Him have it. Never! Sméagol will save it. But he must swear on the Precious.'"

More Ring-bound support, but this one goes for the gusto and directly aids the Ring-bearer him (or her) self. Risky with most ARBs for obvious reasons, but with Frodo and a couple others...look out! I realized only after making this that he makes an interesting splash with the Northmen Rohirrim of Rise of Saruman too....

[Olorin]

Dain,

Congrats to ya! Very interesting cards...

[lem0nhead]

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden and a threat.
While you can spot 3 Ring-bound companions, the move limit is +1.
Response: If Sméagol is not exhausted and is about to be overwhelmed, discard a card from hand to exhaust him instead.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

Need to add "and prevent him for being overwhelmed"? Weird card. Not sure i can judge the balance.

•Sméagol, Helps Nice Master
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Each time the fellowship is about to move, if the fellowship is at a marsh, river, or underground site, you may exert Sméagol to play the fellowship's next site.
"‘The cold hard lands, / they bites our hands, / they gnaws our feet. / The rocks and stones / are like old bones / all bare of meat. / But stream and pool / is wet and cool: / so nice for feet!'"

Not near as useful as some others but ok.

•Sméagol, Fawning and Would-Be Friendly
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
The Ring-bearer is strength +2 and resistance -2.
While the Ring-bearer is assigned to a skirmish, Sméagol is strength +1 for each other Ring-bound companion you can spot.
"‘Sméagol will swear never, never, to let Him have it. Never! Sméagol will save it. But he must swear on the Precious.'"

Shocking subtitle lol. Hes interesting.Ok.

[Thranduil]

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden and a threat.
While you can spot 3 Ring-bound companions, the move limit is +1.
Response: If Sméagol is not exhausted and is about to be overwhelmed, discard a card from hand to exhaust him instead.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

I'm not sure a starter card should be so different from other Sméagol's. I think it makes more sense if he lost some power and only added a burden when played.

•Sméagol, Helps Nice Master
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Each time the fellowship is about to move, if the fellowship is at a marsh, river, or underground site, you may exert Sméagol to play the fellowship's next site.
"‘The cold hard lands, / they bites our hands, / they gnaws our feet. / The rocks and stones / are like old bones / all bare of meat. / But stream and pool / is wet and cool: / so nice for feet!'"

Sure, but it could be a Fellowship or Regroup: special ability.

•Sméagol, Fawning and Would-Be Friendly
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
The Ring-bearer is strength +2 and resistance -2.
While the Ring-bearer is assigned to a skirmish, Sméagol is strength +1 for each other Ring-bound companion you can spot.
"‘Sméagol will swear never, never, to let Him have it. Never! Sméagol will save it. But he must swear on the Precious.'"

I'm not a fan of the subtitle, maybe just "Fawning" would be good. This is interesting and I think fair enough.

Thranduil

[FM]

I think the first smeagol needs to be toned down badly, since he is "basically" immortal. Perhaps you could let his response action be done WITHOUT discarding a card, but only if he's unwounded?

[daisukeman]

There oughta be a card --lets say "sauron's command", it would be some artifact that says:
"plays on any card. Bearer gains the sauron culture". (so the card can be spotted as a sauron card
or for this matter, it can "gain the gollum culture"..
what do you think?

[sickofpalantirs]

I think that first smeagol would lose either ability and still be amazing...

[DáinIronfoot]

Okay, I toned down the first one. Question: should I make that a rare and make the second one the starter? I'm thinking I might like that better....

Anyway, two new cards before I hit the hay. They both deal with Sméagol's Ring-bound companion lovin' in this set. Enjoy!

•A Sad Story
Condition
Strength +1
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot a Ring-bound Hobbit. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Maneuver: Exert Sméagol to wound Gollum once for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot. Discard this condition.
"‘Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travelers far from home....'"

Swift As Shadows
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
If the fellowship is in region 1 (or at a marsh site), spot Sméagol to cancel a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion. At any other site, spot Sméagol to make a Ring-bound companion strength +3.
"‘Hurry, hobbitses, hurry! Very lucky we find you.'"

[lem0nhead]

•A Sad Story
Condition
Strength +1
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot 2 Hobbit companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Maneuver: Exert Sméagol to wound Gollum once for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot. Discard this condition.
"‘Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travelers far from home....'"

Ok.

Swift As Shadows
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
If the fellowship is in region 1 (or at a marsh site), spot Sméagol to cancel a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion. At any other site, spot Sméagol to make a Ring-bound companion strength +3.
"‘Hurry, hobbitses, hurry! Very lucky we find you.'"

Very awesome card, well useful. Would be a staple i imagine.

[Thranduil]

Okay, I toned down the first one. Question: should I make that a rare and make the second one the starter? I'm thinking I might like that better....

I'm not sure; people would love to buy starter sets for that first Sméagol!

•A Sad Story
Condition
Strength +1
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot 2 Hobbit companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Maneuver: Exert Sméagol to wound Gollum once for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot. Discard this condition.
"‘Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travelers far from home....'"

Seems like I'd just go ahead and make the spotting requirement "Spot a Ring-bound Hobbit". It's fair enough.

Swift As Shadows
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
If the fellowship is in region 1 (or at a marsh site), spot Sméagol to cancel a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion. At any other site, spot Sméagol to make a Ring-bound companion strength +3.
"‘Hurry, hobbitses, hurry! Very lucky we find you.'"

Hmmmm..... Seems cool. I think I'd remove the parentheses or make marshes the point of the card.

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

•A Sad Story
Condition
Strength +1
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot 2 Hobbit companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Maneuver: Exert Sméagol to wound Gollum once for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot. Discard this condition.
"‘Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travelers far from home....'"

Are -costing cards that play on companions some sort of cycle here are are you doing it just to mess with me?

I think it could cost , being unique and all. And go with Thran on the spotting requirement.

Swift As Shadows
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
If the fellowship is in region 1 (or at a marsh site), spot Sméagol to cancel a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion. At any other site, spot Sméagol to make a Ring-bound companion strength +3.
"‘Hurry, hobbitses, hurry! Very lucky we find you.'"

With the skirmish canceling, I'd make this one cost . Could very easily replace No Visitors, after all.

[DáinIronfoot]

Swapped the twilight costs of the last two.

Now some big conditions based on chapter titles from The Two Towers. And coincidentally, just like the last pair, one is a tale and the other is a stealth card. I intended to do several of each for Sméagol in this set, but it's kinda funny that that's ALL I've done so far.

•The Taming of Sméagol
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot Frodo.
While Sméagol has resistance 7 or more, each minion is twilight cost +2.
While Sméagol has resistance 5 or more, each time he wins a skirmish, you may remove a threat.
While Sméagol has resistance 2 or less, he may be exerted only by Shadow cards.
"‘Sméagol,' said Gollum suddenly and clearly, opening his eyes wide and staring at Frodo with a strange light. ‘Sméagol will swear on the Precious.'"

I was debating whether or not to go with the minions thing, but it was just too good to pass up.

The Passage of the Marshes
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. Toil 1. To play, spot Sméagol.
The Shadow number of each marsh site is -1.
Maneuver: If the fellowship is at a marsh site, spot 2 Ring-bound companions and discard this condition to discard a minion with strength less than the Ring-bearer's resistance. You may not take any more maneuver actions.
"‘Here! We can get down here. Sméagol went this way once: I went this way, hiding from Orcs.'"

Gollum will benefit from marshes, and Sméagol gets to do the same. It's a site type that really should have gotten more loving from the culture all along.

[lem0nhead]

•The Taming of Sméagol
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot Frodo.
While Sméagol has resistance 7 or more, minions may not be played.
While Sméagol has resistance 5 or more, each time he wins a skirmish, you may remove a threat.
While Sméagol has resistance 2 or less, he may be exerted only by Shadow cards.
"‘Sméagol,' said Gollum suddenly and clearly, opening his eyes wide and staring at Frodo with a strange light. ‘Sméagol will swear on the Precious.'"

Interesting. Think its cool probably!

The Passage of the Marshes
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. Toil 1. To play, spot Sméagol.
The shadow number of each marsh site is -1.
Maneuver: If the fellowship is at a marsh site, spot 2 Ring-bound companions and discard this condition to discard a minion with strength less than the Ring-bearer's resistance. You may not take any more maneuver actions.
"‘Here! We can get down here. Sméagol went this way once: I went this way, hiding from Orcs.'"

Meh, alright i guess.

[Thranduil]

•The Taming of Sméagol
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot Frodo.
While Sméagol has resistance 7 or more, minions may not be played.
While Sméagol has resistance 5 or more, each time he wins a skirmish, you may remove a threat.
While Sméagol has resistance 2 or less, he may be exerted only by Shadow cards.
"‘Sméagol,' said Gollum suddenly and clearly, opening his eyes wide and staring at Frodo with a strange light. ‘Sméagol will swear on the Precious.'"

I think the first ability is too much of a one-hit wonder. It makes a lot of sense, but it completely destroys Gollum decks and does nothing to anyone else. I think it should be "Each Shadow card is twilight cost +1" or "each minion is twilight cost +2" or something like that.

The Passage of the Marshes
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. Toil 1. To play, spot Sméagol.
The shadow number of each marsh site is -1.
Maneuver: If the fellowship is at a marsh site, spot 2 Ring-bound companions and discard this condition to discard a minion with strength less than the Ring-bearer's resistance. You may not take any more maneuver actions.
"‘Here! We can get down here. Sméagol went this way once: I went this way, hiding from Orcs.'"

You need to capitalise "Shadow" in "shadow number". Can I also say that with toil on cards, can you exert Gollum if he's around? Interesting. I think I'd rather it was less cost for less effect, like discarding the condition to wound a minion with strength less than the Ring-bearer's resistance but allowing you to continue with your maneuver phase.

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

•The Taming of Sméagol
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot Frodo.
While Sméagol has resistance 7 or more, minions may not be played.
While Sméagol has resistance 5 or more, each time he wins a skirmish, you may remove a threat.
While Sméagol has resistance 2 or less, he may be exerted only by Shadow cards.
"‘Sméagol,' said Gollum suddenly and clearly, opening his eyes wide and staring at Frodo with a strange light. ‘Sméagol will swear on the Precious.'"
very interesting

The Passage of the Marshes
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. Toil 1. To play, spot Sméagol.
The shadow number of each marsh site is -1.
Maneuver: If the fellowship is at a marsh site, spot 2 Ring-bound companions and discard this condition to discard a minion with strength less than the Ring-bearer's resistance. You may not take any more maneuver actions.
"‘Here! We can get down here. Sméagol went this way once: I went this way, hiding from Orcs.'"
toil 1? seems like a waste of space

[DáinIronfoot]

Tweaked 'em both according to reviews. Thanks, guys!

Sorry for the great delay...again. Been clobbered by a lack of time (due to various forces, some perhaps supernatural) and a bad case of writer's block when I HAVE had time. But today the curtain seemed to be lifted, and I've decided that to move forward, I may need to backtrack a bit. Back to the future, as it were.

I have started by completely rewriting the least popular version of Sméagol:

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Skirmish: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, spot 3 Ring-bound companions and discard Sméagol to exhaust a minion.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

The original Sly Wanderer, as you can see simply by going back to the first post in this thread, had a built-in move limit increaser (like Radagast, The Brown), which was mostly well-received, but the second ability (exhausting himself to prevent overwhelming) made him "basically immortal", as FM put it. In general, people thought the card was OP, and it's hard for me to argue. Upon further review, the abilities don't really seem to go together anyway, making for a cluttered and clumsy-looking card. And the adding of a burden AND a threat to play him was unpopular, at best.

So...back to the future! I realized as I'm planning ahead that I want to bring back some of the self-discarding tricks Sméagol had in past Decipher sets. It makes a lot of sense for him, since he disappears at points throughout the storyline before coming back to aid (or hinder, depending on the point in the story) Frodo and Sam once more. So voila! A self-discarding Sméagol returns. Might not seem overly useful by itself, but there are other cards to help out, too. Like these!

Nice Little Hobbitses
Event • Maneuver or Skirmish
Choose one: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, discard him to play a Hobbit from your discard pile; or discard a Hobbit that is not assigned to a skirmish to play Sméagol from your discard pile.
"‘We'll be nice to them, very nice, if they'll be nice to us, won't we, yes, yess.'"

Self-discarding Hobbits (and ways to replay them) are big again in this set as well.

•Up To Tricks
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions.
Each time you play Sméagol, you may remove a threat or reinforce a culture token.
"‘No time to lose. We must go, yes, we must go at once. No time to lose!'"

[Gerontius]

Good cards!
There are some insane combos you could do if you used these in a deck with You Must Help Us, Sting Bane of the Eight Legs, and others but these on their own are pretty well balanced!

[DáinIronfoot]

Good cards!
There are some insane combos you could do if you used these in a deck with You Must Help Us, Sting Bane of the Eight Legs, and others but these on their own are pretty well balanced!

True, but keep in mind that Slippery Sneak is already able to discard itself (and thus combo with YMHU and others), so this isn't a completely new concept. But yes, it certainly ups the ante a little bit.

Thanks for the review! Always happy to see fresh faces pop up in the DC threads.

[lem0nhead]

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Skirmish: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, spot 3 Ring-bound companions and discard Sméagol to exhaust a minion.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

Why 3 rb comps? Shouldnt it be 2, frodo and sam? Or is that including himself? Other than that hes ok.

Nice Little Hobbitses
Event • Maneuver or Skirmish
Choose one: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, discard him to play a Hobbit from your discard pile; or discard a Hobbit that is not assigned to a skirmish to play Sméagol from your discard pile.
"‘We'll be nice to them, very nice, if they'll be nice to us, won't we, yes, yess.'"

Make it free, doesnt need cost me thinks.

•Up To Tricks
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions.
Each time you play Sméagol, you may remove a threat or reinforce a culture token.
"‘No time to lose. We must go, yes, we must go at once. No time to lose!'"

Ok.

[Thranduil]

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Skirmish: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, spot 3 Ring-bound companions and discard Sméagol to exhaust a minion.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

He seems fair enough. I like him more than the other one for sure. I'm not sure he needs to not be assigned to a skirmish, but I like it.

Nice Little Hobbitses
Event • Maneuver or Skirmish
Choose one: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, discard him to play a Hobbit from your discard pile; or discard a Hobbit that is not assigned to a skirmish to play Sméagol from your discard pile.
"‘We'll be nice to them, very nice, if they'll be nice to us, won't we, yes, yess.'"

Good card! Seems pretty simple: in Towers block there were 2 companion discarding strategies that had nothing to do with each other, so this card makes a lot of sense!

•Up To Tricks
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions.
Each time you play Sméagol, you may remove a threat or reinforce a culture token.
"‘No time to lose. We must go, yes, we must go at once. No time to lose!'"

I think I would choose 1 of those 2 effects, reducing the cost to . Then I might make another condition for the other effect, but it seems unnecessary to have both.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

•Sméagol, Sly Wanderer
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Frodo
Ring-bound. To play, add a burden.
Skirmish: If Sméagol is not assigned to a skirmish, spot 3 Ring-bound companions and discard Sméagol to exhaust a minion.
"‘Follow Sméagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, quite a long way, before He catches you....'"

Why 3 rb comps? Shouldnt it be 2, frodo and sam? Or is that including himself? Other than that hes ok.

It includes himself. So yes, works great with Frodo/Sam/Sméagol fellowships.

My war with writer's block continues, but for today, the battle is mine. Continuing with the same theme as before....

Hunting
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol from play or from hand to heal a companion (twice if that companion is Ring-bound). Then you may add a burden to take this card back into hand.
"‘Your new motto's 'always ready to help'. Could you find anything fit for a hungry hobbit?'"

Also continuing with Ring-bound companion love, as you can see. Sméagol's got a lot of that in this set.

Not Far, Not Far
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol to remove a burden for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot.
"‘But he'll come back, you'll see. The promise will hold yet a while. And he won't leave his Precious, anyway.'"

Always thought Sméagol should have had a LITTLE more burden removal potential than just Not Listening. Considering this essentially does what Bilbo, Aged Ring-bearer does and is a one-time shot, I think it's balanced enough. Hopefully you agree...?

Where Have You Been To?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Stealth.
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to replace a site in the fellowship's current region with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak, sneak.'"

Of course, you need a couple ways to replay Sméagol once you've discarded him. And what better thing to tie that into than site control?

[lem0nhead]

Hunting
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol from play or from hand to heal a companion (twice if that companion is Ring-bound). Then you may add a burden to take this card back into hand.
"‘Your new motto's 'always ready to help'. Could you find anything fit for a hungry hobbit?'"

Nice but as its regroup could easily be free.

Not Far, Not Far
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol to remove a burden for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot.
"‘But he'll come back, you'll see. The promise will hold yet a while. And he won't leave his Precious, anyway.'"

Hmmm ill let it go cos i like it, but i disagree with you DI smeagol shouldnt remove burdens imho. He is so embedded in the whole burden, ring surviving, gollum thing i doubt he relieves burdens at all.

Where Have You Been To?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Stealth.
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to replace a site in the fellowship's current region with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak, sneak.'"

Yeah sweetness.

[Thranduil]

Hunting
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol from play or from hand to heal a companion (twice if that companion is Ring-bound). Then you may add a burden to take this card back into hand.
"‘Your new motto's 'always ready to help'. Could you find anything fit for a hungry hobbit?'"

I think this card is a bit too clunky because of the "from play or from hand" and the parentheses; I would keep 1 and not the other. I might make it "Discard Sméagol or Gollum from play to heal a Ring-bound companion twice" or possibly with the parentheses. And also Hunting seems to be a bit of an evil title for a Sméagol card; how about "Hunting for Fish" or "Hunting for Food"?

Not Far, Not Far
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol to remove a burden for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot.
"‘But he'll come back, you'll see. The promise will hold yet a while. And he won't leave his Precious, anyway.'"

Should Sméagol be able to easily remove burdens? I think (especially in the film) Sméagol does have a calming effect on Frodo which could be represented as burden removal, but this is very much not the case with Sam, which begs the question why this removes a burden for each Ring-bound Hobbit. Not sure what I'd do about that. Perhaps remove a fixed number of burdens and/or spotting Frodo. Not sure.

Where Have You Been To?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Stealth.
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to replace a site in the fellowship's current region with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak, sneak.'"

So this is like Captured by the Ring for Sméagol? Given that you have to add a burden every time you play Sméagol, I think this is fine.

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

Hunting
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol from play or from hand to heal a companion (twice if that companion is Ring-bound). Then you may add a burden to take this card back into hand.
"‘Your new motto's 'always ready to help'. Could you find anything fit for a hungry hobbit?'"
fine.

Not Far, Not Far
Event • Regroup
Discard Sméagol to remove a burden for each Ring-bound Hobbit you can spot.
"‘But he'll come back, you'll see. The promise will hold yet a while. And he won't leave his Precious, anyway.'"
fine.

Where Have You Been To?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Stealth.
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to replace a site in the fellowship's current region with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak, sneak.'"

nice...maybe cost 1 though.

it seems in my allergized fog all I could think of to say is fine...

[Anonymous Prodigy]

Not Far, Not Far should cost IMO. The others look good.

[DáinIronfoot]

Uh...yeah. Even I'm tired of my excuses by now. So I won't even bother this time. I'll just get right to the cards instead.

My idea was to do some Sméagol telepathy, and that's where these started, but as you'll see they quickly took up a different theme instead. I guess I was hungry when I made these or something. Enjoy!

Is It Tasty?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Exert Sméagol to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. Take into hand each revealed card and each revealed card of the Ring-bearer's culture. Place each other card revealed beneath your draw deck.
"‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious. What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?'"

•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Support Area
Fellowship: Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"

Stewed Rabbits
Possession
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Regroup: Discard this possession to heal a Ring-bound companion.
"‘They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!'"

[Thranduil]

My idea was to do some Sméagol telepathy, and that's where these started, but as you'll see they quickly took up a different theme instead. I guess I was hungry when I made these or something. Enjoy!

#$&*@! it, these cards are making me hungry...

Is It Tasty?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Exert Sméagol to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. Take into hand each revealed card and each revealed card of the Ring-bearer's culture. Place each other card revealed beneath your draw deck.
"‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious. What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?'"

Is the vitality calculated before or after the card is played? I think that's bit too complicated and it's not immediately obvious, which is bad, and I would just make it a fixed number, say 3. Cool otherwise.

•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Fellowship
Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"

Umm... A unique fellowship condition? I'm a bit confused... Assuming it's a fellowship event, it's alright. Not fantastic, but fair enough.

Stewed Rabbits
Possession
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Regroup: Discard this possession to heal a Ring-bound companion.
"‘They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!'"

I thought the point was Sméagol didn't want Stewed Rabbits? These should be raw, surely!

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

The Way Into Mordor - Sméagol (2/23: We are famissshed, precious....)•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Fellowship
Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"

Umm... A unique fellowship condition? I'm a bit confused... Assuming it's a fellowship event, it's alright. Not fantastic, but fair enough.

Wow...hungry AND tired, apparently. Fixed, but not in the way you were likely expecting....

[Elf_Lvr]

Uh...yeah. Even I'm tired of my excuses by now. So I won't even bother this time. I'll just get right to the cards instead.

I think I know what you mean. I can't imagine how busy I'll be once (and if) I get to have a family - life seems busy enough already!

Is It Tasty?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Exert Sméagol to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. Take into hand each revealed card and each revealed card of the Ring-bearer's culture. Place each other card revealed beneath your draw deck.
"‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious. What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?'"

Very, very awesome. I'm not sure if it'd be too powerful - in a [gollum]/[Shire] hybrid this could easily just take every revealed card.

•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Support Area
Fellowship: Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"

Interesting.

Stewed Rabbits
Possession
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Regroup: Discard this possession to heal a Ring-bound companion.
"‘They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!'"

I think if you can spot 3 Ring-bound guys, one will most likely be a Hobbit, so you could just cut the first part of the spotting text, unless you really, really love TT rangers.

It's an okay card - but I'd use Nice Fish any day - tokens and more healing potential (as well as being a condition for Clever Hobbits) trumps this card in a lot of ways for [gollum] decks, you know?

[lem0nhead]

Is It Tasty?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Exert Sméagol to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. Take into hand each revealed card and each revealed card of the Ring-bearer's culture. Place each other card revealed beneath your draw deck.
"‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious. What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?'"

Is X his vitality before the exert or after? Its ok.

•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Support Area
Fellowship: Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"

Ok but dont reckon it needs be unique.

Stewed Rabbits
Possession
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Regroup: Discard this possession to heal a Ring-bound companion.
"‘They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!'"

Unless he gets an advantage from bearing possessions this isnt worth using really.

[sickofpalantirs]

Is It Tasty?
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Exert Sméagol to reveal the top X cards of your draw deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. Take into hand each revealed card and each revealed card of the Ring-bearer's culture. Place each other card revealed beneath your draw deck.
"‘We are famisshed, yes famisshed we are, precious. What is it they eats? Have they nice fisshes?'"
that could be interesting with a gollum shadow.

•So Juicy Sweet
Condition • Support Area
Fellowship: Spot Sméagol and exert a Ring-bound companion to place a card of that companion's culture from hand beneath your draw deck.
"‘The rock and pool, / is nice and cool, / so juicy sweet. / Our only wish, / to catch a fish, / so juicy sweet!'"
I'd say limit once per phase.

Stewed Rabbits
Possession
To play, spot 3 Ring-bound companions (or a Ring-bound Hobbit). Bearer must be Sméagol.
Regroup: Discard this possession to heal a Ring-bound companion.
"‘They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Eat them, eat them!'"

fine.

[DáinIronfoot]

Wow...one day short of two months since the last update. That has to be a record...and one I'm not proud of.

I was kind of hoping to bust back into the DCing scene with a big update, but I think I'll just dip my toes in and eeeeeeeease my way back into things instead. So, let's just pick up right where we left off. Actually, picking up more like TWO updates ago, because we're going back to some discard pile fun for the time being. Enjoy!

So Secret and So Sly
Event • Regroup
Stealth. Play Sméagol from your discard pile to heal each Ring-bound companion. If the fellowship does not move again this turn, add 2 burdens.
"‘...I think he is allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.'"

As I went back and tried to catch up on where I'd left things before, I discovered that I have several more cards that actually discard Sméagol than cards that bring him back, so here's one more of the latter. Yes, it's similar to You Must Help Us, but I think the fact that it can cover non-Hobbits (like Ring-bound rangers, who are big again in this set) and that it can work before moving again makes it plenty useful too...without completely overshadowing YMHU, since this one has obvious drawbacks that one lacks.

Marvellous Agility
Event • Skirmish
Stealth. Name a card in your discard pile and remove that card from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the discarded card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand.
"‘...he gave us the slip by some fox-trick.'"

And here's a fun way to turn a discarded Sméagol into an entirely different kind of benefit. Obviously this is especially awesome with a Shadow side as well.

Speaking of which, I'm going to kick off the Shadow cards in another thread after I post this, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Aaaaaah...it's good to be back.

[lem0nhead]

Wow...one day short of two months since the last update. That has to be a record...and one I'm not proud of.

About time!

So Secret and So Sly
Event • Regroup
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to heal each Ring-bound companion. If the fellowship does not move again this turn, add 2 burdens.
"‘...I think he is allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.'"

Awesomeness.

Marvellous Agility
Event • Skirmish
Name a card in your discard pile and remove that card from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the discarded card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand.
"‘...he gave us the slip by some fox-trick.'"

Sound enough.

[Thranduil]

So Secret and So Sly
Event • Regroup
Play Sméagol from your discard pile to heal each Ring-bound companion. If the fellowship does not move again this turn, add 2 burdens.
"‘...I think he is allured here by a mastering desire, stronger than his caution.'"

Yeah, seems fair enough. I like this build for a Sméagol card: do something good, but with a possible disadvantage. I'd like to see more of that, and perhaps some Gollum cards that do the opposite.

Marvellous Agility
Event • Skirmish
Name a card in your discard pile and remove that card from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the discarded card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand.
"‘...he gave us the slip by some fox-trick.'"

The wording is a little off, isn't it? Surely it should be "Remove a card in your discard pile from the game to cancel a skirmish involving Sméagol. If the removed card was a companion, you may take this event back into hand."

Both very interesting cards, though. Have a for being here!

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

I seem to remember seeing a card like so secret and shy before...I wonder where...

[DáinIronfoot]

Yeah, your wording is probably better, Thran. I'll tweak it later tonight.

For now, two items of good news. 1.) I have found that I am able to get access (albeit limited) to the forums while at my new office! That means you might see me around during the daytime sometimes after all, which will be a big help in getting me quality TLHH time. 2.) I have a few more cards to post! So here we go....

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays or replaces a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

He's already good at controlling the sitepath, so why not help keep the Shadow player from interfering, eh?

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to reveal X random cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

I wanted to emphasize the stealthy nature of Sméagol's guidance. With the small party of him and two Hobbits, confrontation is best avoided. It's when they end up in the middle of battles (like when they run into Faramir's rangers skirmishing the Men of Harad) that they run into trouble...hence the battleground hate. Other than that, though, it's all good.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Again, stealthy maneuvering helps keep Sméagol's band safe: stick to certain sites where you're less likely to be followed and/or spotted (mountain passes and misty marshes), and your chances of avoiding confrontation get better and better. This obviously helps small fellowships best, but I didn't want it to be something you could toss into solo Sméagol decks and further frustrate the opponent, so it requires another Ring-bound companion be along for the ride. In most decks (ANY deck where Sméagol isn't the Ring-bearer, in fact), this is still no problem.

Now that I've started it, I think I'm going to try and do a little more with tokens next time...as well as some more Shadow cards.

[Gerontius]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

Good.

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

Awesome idea, might be a little crazy at early sites. and never really had much card drawing, but maybe theirs a good reason for it. Maybe some other bonus?

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Cool!

[Thranduil]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

I think this card seems generally unnecessarily. Given the parameters for this card, I'd make something more like Caravan from the South and that cycle. I don't think anyone would play this.

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

You surely mean "to reveal X random cards..."? "Randomly reveal" seems not to make sense, like you are just doing it for fun! A fair enough card, but The Old Took might have a point - healing might sit better.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Nice. I might prefer it as unique and removing per token.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"

Id prefer it if it also worked if an opponent replaced a site as well as just playing one.. That would be really funny

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"

Interesting, not sure whether youd wanna use it though.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Underpowered as it is DI I think.

[sickofpalantirs]

Don't Let Him Have It!
Event • Response
You may add 2 burdens to play this card from your discard pile as if played from hand.
If an opponent plays a site, exert Sméagol to replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
"‘No use! Don't take the Precious to Him! He'll eat us all, if He gets it, eat all the world. Keep it, nice master, and be kind to Sméagol.'"
coolio.

Guided Well and Truthfully
Event • Fellowship
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to randomly reveal X cards from an opponent's adventure deck, where X is Sméagol's vitality. For each revealed battleground, discard a card from the top of your draw deck. For each other revealed site, draw a card.
"‘But when we gets closer, we'll see perhaps we'll see then. It won't look nice at all. O no! O no!'"
fine. can be powerful, especially late (site 5-6) so you know what to expect in the crucial last region.  I think it would have uses.

To The Gate
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. To play, spot 2 Ring-bound companions.
Each time the fellowship moves to a marsh or mountain site, spot Sméagol to add a token here.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground, remove a token from one of your conditions.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to remove .
"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

fine.

[DáinIronfoot]

Hmmm...a mixed bag of comments. I'll have to think on these a bit more, and when I decide which way to go (AKA by the next time I have new cards ready to post), I'll make some tweaks.

Thanks, boys. for all!

[DáinIronfoot]

Okay, after much deliberation, I decided to leave Guided Well and Truthfully alone and made one small tweak to Don't Let Him Have It!. If you still think there's a good case for further changes, let me know and I promise I'll consider them. I am open to further changes if you think they're necessary, so speak out!

Here's a trio of token-related cards, as promised last time. Some are kind of specific in their usage, but hopefully okay anyway. You tell me!

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"

This is the one that is NOT specific. In fact, I think it's pretty versatile and likely would be worth tossing in most decks with Sméagol if you have extra room, even if just for the moderate strength pump. One question: would you be able to use the first line with the burden added for playing Sméagol? Wasn't sure of the order there, but can you play him, add the burden, and then exert him to add a token to this?

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"

I considered giving this an ability to fetch itself from the discard pile (since one of Sméagol's big themes in this set is discarding and replaying himself), but I'm worried that may be bordering on OP. Thoughts?

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol and remove a Shadow culture token (or add a threat) to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

Versatile, but unfortunately both abilities rely on proper action by the opponent (tokens and/or Shadow cards), so really, it's pretty restrictive. Too much so?

[sickofpalantirs]

Whatever floats your boats I guess...

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"
sure.

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Each time Sméagol is played from the discard pile, you may play this condition on him from your hand or discard pile.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"
I'd say make it unique

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol (or exert Gollum) and remove a Shadow culture token to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

why not/

[Thranduil]

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"

Interesting. I reckon it could cost or , but this is pretty darn good with BoS (after all, his regroup ability adds burdens).

This is the one that is NOT specific. In fact, I think it's pretty versatile and likely would be worth tossing in most decks with Sméagol if you have extra room, even if just for the moderate strength pump. One question: would you be able to use the first line with the burden added for playing Sméagol? Wasn't sure of the order there, but can you play him, add the burden, and then exert him to add a token to this?

I doubt that there's a ruling on this - LotR is very loose on timing. I would say no because you have to meet all extra costs before playing a card, and adding a burden is an extra cost to play Sméagol, and therefore by the time Sméagol hits play, the burden has already been added and it's too late.

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Each time Sméagol is played from the discard pile, you may play this condition on him from your hand or discard pile.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"

I think you should just go all the way and say " Ring-bearer". I think the recursion becomes too good because it's non-unique and you can play all copies in your discard pile on him. Unique or without that line, the card would be fine.

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol (or exert Gollum) and remove a Shadow culture token to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

Yeah, seems a bit too restrictive to me. I think if the maneuver ability was pretty general and the response was as it is then it would be fine, but to have 2 abilities specific on different things seems to be a bit much.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Alright, tweaked all three. Better now?

[Gerontius]

All are great! I would use all of them except Go Away, but it has its purposes.

[lem0nhead]

•On The Precious
Condition • Support Area
Each time a burden is added, you may exert Sméagol to add a token here.
Skirmish: Remove a token from here to make a Ring-bound companion strength +1.
Regroup: Remove a token from here to reinforce another token.
"‘We swears to serve the master of the Preciousss. We swears on... on the Precious!'"

It would need a lot of reinforcing to be made useful.

Master Looks After Us Now
Condition
Resistance +1
To play, spot a non-[Gollum] Ring-bearer. Bearer must be Sméagol.
Response: If Sméagol wins a skirmish, discard this condition to heal a Ring-bound companion and reinforce a token of that companion's culture.
"‘We...we told him to go away! And away he goes, Preciousss!'"

I dont think it would be op to fetch it as its not that useful a a one off.

Go Away
Event • Maneuver
Maneuver: Spot Sméagol and remove a Shadow culture token (or add a threat) to reinforce a token.
Response: If a Shadow card is played, discard that card.
"‘Leave now and never come back!'"

Could be free really, however you might wanna enforce the second bit otherwise its an anti gollum splash card.

[DáinIronfoot]

Dropped Go Away to being a freebie. Thanks!

Just a couple random cards today. Sorry for the delay, but at least it's not as long as last time, right?

You Keep Nasty Chips
Event • Response
If a card is about to be placed in the discard pile, exert Sméagol to return that card to your hand instead.
"‘Even you couldn't say no to that....'"

If I understand the rules right, this would also work with other events, right? I hope so, because that's kind of what I wanted to emphasize with this....

We Must Go Now?
Event • Response
If the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, spot Sméagol and a Ring-bound Hobbit to take up to 2 stealth cards into hand from your discard pile. Then add a threat for each companion you can spot over 2.
"‘Nice Master! Nice hobbit, come back to poor Sméagol. Good Sméagol comes. Now let's go, go quickly, yes.'"

This one has been a bear for me to balance. I must have rewritten it a dozen times, and I'm still not completely happy. Thoughts?

[Thranduil]

You Keep Nasty Chips
Event • Response
If a card is about to be placed in the discard pile, exert Sméagol to return that card to your hand instead.
"‘Even you couldn't say no to that....'"

Seems like hand clog, but yeah it works. If you said "If a card is discarded" then no it wouldn't.

We Must Go Now?
Event • Response
If the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, spot Sméagol and a Ring-bound Hobbit to take up to 2 stealth cards into hand from your discard pile. Add a threat for each unbound companion you can spot.
"‘Nice Master! Nice hobbit, come back to poor Sméagol. Good Sméagol comes. Now let's go, go quickly, yes.'"

I like this, but I think I would change it a little to "Add a threat for each other companion you can spot" - this incorporates the Sam/Sméagol dynamic in the flavour.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

You Keep Nasty Chips
Event • Response
If a card is about to be placed in the discard pile, exert Sméagol to return that card to your hand instead.
"‘Even you couldn't say no to that....'"

Seems like hand clog, but yeah it works. If you said "If a card is discarded" then no it wouldn't.

Right. I tried to be real tricksy (but not false) with the wording.

We Must Go Now?
Event • Response
If the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, spot Sméagol and a Ring-bound Hobbit to take up to 2 stealth cards into hand from your discard pile. Add a threat for each unbound companion you can spot.
"‘Nice Master! Nice hobbit, come back to poor Sméagol. Good Sméagol comes. Now let's go, go quickly, yes.'"

I like this, but I think I would change it a little to "Add a threat for each other companion you can spot" - this incorporates the Sam/Sméagol dynamic in the flavour.

You know, I had almost exactly that in a previous rewrite, and decided against it. But you're right...it makes sense, and seems balanced enough unless you're using a huge fellowship (in which case stealth doesn't make sense anyway, right?). So consider it done.

[Thranduil]

I'm not sure the threat-adding needs to be part of the cost, though. I think the card is clearer with the threats as an afterthought, and I don't think it's too powerful not to have to add threats if you're maxed out.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

You Keep Nasty Chips
Event • Response
If a card is about to be placed in the discard pile, exert Sméagol to return that card to your hand instead.
"‘Even you couldn't say no to that....'"

Coolio.

We Must Go Now?
Event • Response
If the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, spot Sméagol and a Ring-bound Hobbit and add a threat for each other companion you can spot to take up to 2 stealth cards into hand from your discard pile.
"‘Nice Master! Nice hobbit, come back to poor Sméagol. Good Sméagol comes. Now let's go, go quickly, yes.'"

Sounds about right.

[sickofpalantirs]

Dropped Go Away to being a freebie. Thanks!

Just a couple random cards today. Sorry for the delay, but at least it's not as long as last time, right?

You Keep Nasty Chips
Event • Response
If a card is about to be placed in the discard pile, exert Sméagol to return that card to your hand instead.
"‘Even you couldn't say no to that....'"
fine.

We Must Go Now?
Event • Response
If the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, spot Sméagol and a Ring-bound Hobbit and add a threat for each other companion you can spot to take up to 2 stealth cards into hand from your discard pile.
"‘Nice Master! Nice hobbit, come back to poor Sméagol. Good Sméagol comes. Now let's go, go quickly, yes.'"

uh...fine I guess.  kinda confusing wording.

[DáinIronfoot]

Tweaked the wording of We Must Go Now? so that it's not part of the cost and not nearly as confusing. The solution was so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it before. :doh: Good now?

[sickofpalantirs]

I was going to suggest but actually felt that'd be kinda awkward...but now that I see it it really isn't.  Happy days.

[DáinIronfoot]

Cool beans.

Well, after a brief delay, I've got some tales to squeeze in before a busy weekend begins...along with some Sméagol/Hobbit synergy. Enjoy!

•Of The River Folk
Condition
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot a Ring-bound Hobbit. Bearer must be Sméagol.
This condition's twilight cost is -1 for each Ring-bound companion you can spot.
Each time Sméagol wins a skirmish, you may reinforce a or token.
"‘You were not so very different from a hobbit once, were you... Sméagol?'"

Pity and Mercy
Event • Maneuver
Tale. Exert a Ring-bound Hobbit to make Sméagol resistance +3 until the regroup phase, or exert Sméagol to make a Ring-bound Hobbit resistance +3 until the regroup phase.
"‘Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life.'"

Poor Sméagol Is Lost Now
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, add a burden.
Response: If a Ring-bound companion is about to be overwhelmed in a skirmish, exert Sméagol and discard this condition to make that companion strength +4.
Response: If a Ring-bound companion is about to be captured, exert Sméagol and discard this condition to prevent that.
"‘Leave me alone, gollum! You hurt me. O my poor hands, gollum! I, we, I don't want to come back. I can't find it. I am tired. I, we can't find it, gollum, gollum, no, nowhere.'"

[Thranduil]

•Of The River Folk
Condition
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot a Ring-bound Hobbit. Bearer must be Sméagol.
This condition's twilight cost is -1 for each Ring-bound companion you can spot.
Each time Sméagol wins a skirmish, you may reinforce a or token.
"‘You were not so very different from a hobbit once, were you... Sméagol?'"

I'd prefer going the other way, so make it cost then "This condition's twilight cost is +1 for each unbound companion you can spot." Seems to fit the flavour better.

Pity and Mercy
Event • Maneuver
Tale. Exert a Ring-bound Hobbit to make Sméagol resistance +3 until the regroup phase, or exert Sméagol to make a Ring-bound Hobbit resistance +3 until the regroup phase.
"‘Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life.'"

Yeah, fair enough. Not sure how useful this is, but it's fair enough.

Poor Sméagol Is Lost Now
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, add a burden.
Response: If a Ring-bound companion is about to be overwhelmed in a skirmish, exert Sméagol and discard this condition to make that companion strength +4.
Response: If a Ring-bound companion is about to be captured, exert Sméagol and discard this condition to prevent that.
"‘Leave me alone, gollum! You hurt me. O my poor hands, gollum! I, we, I don't want to come back. I can't find it. I am tired. I, we can't find it, gollum, gollum, no, nowhere.'"

Interesting. I feel like the first ability is really powerful, though I suppose it is all offsetted by the adding a burden. I reckon it's fine.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

•Of The River Folk
Condition
Resistance +1
Tale. To play, spot a Ring-bound Hobbit. Bearer must be Sméagol.
This condition's twilight cost is -1 for each Ring-bound companion you can spot.
Each time Sméagol wins a skirmish, you may reinforce a or token.
"‘You were not so very different from a hobbit once, were you... Sméagol?'"

Think its fine as it is. Maybe even should cost 3.

Pity and Mercy
Event • Maneuver
Tale. Exert a Ring-bound Hobbit to make Sméagol resistance +3 until the regroup phase, or exert Sméagol to make a Ring-bound Hobbit resistance +3 until the regroup phase.
"‘Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life.'"

Make it free.

Poor Sméagol Is Lost Now
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, add a burden.
Response: If a Ring-bound companion is about to be overwhelmed in a skirmish, exert Sméagol and discard this condition to make that companion strength +4.
Response: If a Ring-bound companion is about to be captured, exert Sméagol and discard this condition to prevent that.
"‘Leave me alone, gollum! You hurt me. O my poor hands, gollum! I, we, I don't want to come back. I can't find it. I am tired. I, we can't find it, gollum, gollum, no, nowhere.'"

Awesome.

[DáinIronfoot]

Not much in the way of skirmishing for Sméagol so far, so here are a couple potent events to help out in that department. Enjoy!

Don't Look At Us!
Event • Skirmish
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to make a minion skirmishing a Ring-bound companion strength -3 (or -4 if that minion is a or minion).
"‘I can't find it. Ach!' He got up and clenched his long hand into a bony fleshless knot, shaking it towards the East. ‘We won't!' he cried. ‘Not for you.'"

Stiffening and Listening
Event • Assignment
Stealth. Exert Sméagol twice to spot a minion; that minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase. Any Shadow player may remove 2 burdens or 2 threats to prevent this.
"...his uneasiness grew, and every now and again he stood up to his full height, craning his neck eastward and southward."

Are these TOO powerful?

[FM]

I actually think the second one is... "meh". Two exertions and 3 twilight for a "cancelling" that can (and most likely WILL whenever it is good enough to do so, it's more of a bluff card) be prevented? I think it's too much. Also, I always say this when people discuss MtG cards with me, cards that give your opponent the choice are NOT good. They surely might seem so, and some of them might make the cut in certain decks/formats, but ultimately, you have to keep in mind when creating such a card that, barring bad opponents and huge bluffs, players will be paying the full cost of the card for the worst effect EVERY TIME.

[sickofpalantirs]

Not much in the way of skirmishing for Sméagol so far, so here are a couple potent events to help out in that department. Enjoy!

Don't Look At Us!
Event • Skirmish
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to make a minion skirmishing a Ring-bound companion strength -3 (or -4 if that minion is a or minion).
"‘I can't find it. Ach!' He got up and clenched his long hand into a bony fleshless knot, shaking it towards the East. ‘We won't!' he cried. ‘Not for you.'"
fine. It just seems like that it should cost 0 to me...

Stiffening and Listening
Event • Assignment
Stealth. Exert Sméagol twice to spot a minion; that minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase. Any Shadow player may remove 2 burdens or 2 threats to prevent this.
"...his uneasiness grew, and every now and again he stood up to his full height, craning his neck eastward and southward."

cannot be assigned to a skirmish by either player would be clearer, in addition I think it should be a maneuver event and cost 1-2 with exerting smeagol once.

If you didn't have 2 burdens or threats could they not prevent it?

[DáinIronfoot]

Stiffening and Listening
Event • Assignment
Stealth. Exert Sméagol twice to spot a minion; that minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase. Any Shadow player may remove 2 burdens or 2 threats to prevent this.
"...his uneasiness grew, and every now and again he stood up to his full height, craning his neck eastward and southward."

cannot be assigned to a skirmish by either player would be clearer, in addition I think it should be a maneuver event and cost 1-2 with exerting smeagol once.

I'll hold off on changes until more reviews roll in, but for now I'll say that I don't think the "by either player" is strictly necessary. Not a bad thought, though...you know I preach for clarity even when it doesn't seem strictly necessary. Yeah, I might do that after all.

If you didn't have 2 burdens or threats could they not prevent it?

That's my understanding, yes, which is why in this case, I'm not sure I agree with you, FM. Yes, sometimes the "get out of jail free" option for the opponent is too lenient. But if done right, I think it makes for a difficult decision for that player either way, and this is likely one of those times. Two burdens or two threats can he HUGE, especially since it's entirely possible (as SoP pointed out) that it's not something you'll necessarily be able to pull off no matter HOW bad you want to.[/tt]

[Thranduil]

Don't Look At Us!
Event • Skirmish
Spot Sméagol and add a burden to make a minion skirmishing a Ring-bound companion strength -3 (or -4 if that minion is a or minion).
"‘I can't find it. Ach!' He got up and clenched his long hand into a bony fleshless knot, shaking it towards the East. ‘We won't!' he cried. ‘Not for you.'"

Yeah, fair enough. Title rather similar to DLAT though...

Stiffening and Listening
Event • Assignment
Stealth. Exert Sméagol twice to spot a minion; that minion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the regroup phase. Any Shadow player may remove 2 burdens or 2 threats to prevent this.
"...his uneasiness grew, and every now and again he stood up to his full height, craning his neck eastward and southward."

Difference between this and "choice" cards (I'm thinking of things like Vectis Dominator, to use a MTG analogy, which I think is a terrible card because of the opponent's choice involved) is that this one can be built around - if you're already running burden and threat removal, then it may be that the Shadow player will not be able to prevent it. Nevertheless, it does seem a bit expensive for an (albeit powerful) effect that is not guaranteed to go off.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

I dropped the cost of Stiffening and Listening to , but I'm hesitant to change it from two exertions, since the idea was to prevent dropping two or three copies of the event at a time. But if you think it still needs further tweaking, let me know.

Yesterday was skirmish-related events, and today it's skirmish-related conditions. Enjoy!

Tricksy Lights
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. If any number of burdens are about to be added by a Shadow card, discard Sméagol (or exert him if that Shadow card is a twilight card) to prevent that.
Response: If the fellowship moves to a marsh site, discard this condition to play Sméagol from your discard pile.
"‘Don't you heed them! Don't look! Don't follow them!'"

Pitifully Anxious To Please
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Ring-bound companion is about to exert, you may exert Sméagol instead.
Response: If a special ability is used in a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion, spot Sméagol and discard this condition to cancel all effects of that special ability.
"From that moment a change, which lasted for some time, came over him. He spoke with less hissing and whining, and he spoke to his companions direct, not to his precious self."

[Thranduil]

•Tricksy Lights
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. If any number of burdens are about to be added by a Shadow card, discard Sméagol (or exert him if that Shadow card is a twilight card) to prevent that.
Response: If the fellowship moves to a marsh site, discard this condition to play Sméagol from your discard pile.
"‘Don't you heed them! Don't look! Don't follow them!'"

Interesting card, and fair enough. Doesn't seem to need uniqueness though.

Pitifully Anxious To Please
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Ring-bound companion is about to exert, you may exert Sméagol instead.
Response: If a special ability is used in a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion, spot Sméagol and discard this condition to cancel all effects of that special ability.
"From that moment a change, which lasted for some time, came over him. He spoke with less hissing and whining, and he spoke to his companions direct, not to his precious self."

I might prefer the title "Anxious to Please", and it doesn't seem like a cost condition - I could see myself paying for this. I like the flavour of the first line, very interesting.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

Tricksy Lights
Condition • Support Area
Stealth. If any number of burdens are about to be added by a Shadow card, discard Sméagol (or exert him if that Shadow card is a twilight card) to prevent that.
Response: If the fellowship moves to a marsh site, discard this condition to play Sméagol from your discard pile.
"‘Don't you heed them! Don't look! Don't follow them!'"

Think you need to make the first part a response, or change the wording to "Each time". Other than that i like it.

Pitifully Anxious To Please
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Ring-bound companion is about to exert, you may exert Sméagol instead.
Response: If a special ability is used in a skirmish involving a Ring-bound companion, spot Sméagol and discard this condition to cancel all effects of that special ability.
"From that moment a change, which lasted for some time, came over him. He spoke with less hissing and whining, and he spoke to his companions direct, not to his precious self."

Nice but id make it unique as the first part is powerful so would be powerful to be backed up and i dont thnik stacking 4 of those nuke special abilities is fair.