A few questions ...

[Yloquen]

This question is related to the game I mentioned, that I'm writing. I have actually gotten to rule implementation and enforcing though I'm at the beginning and now I'm considering how to do everything I need.
About Black Breath - my feeling is that you shouldn't be able to select its bearer as a target. So, say someone among your Fellowship has Black Breath and you play a healing spell. You play the ability, pay all its costs and then look for target. If no target can be found, the spell will fizzle, which is roughly the same as if you select the Black Breath wearer but the spell has no effect on him.
The implementation of Hard Choice - Is spotting Aragorn additional cost (similarly to Magic's - as an additional cost to play X, do Y), or is it only needed after you play it and then if you cannot spot him, the effect is not applied. This second option seems to have the advantage of allowing you to get rid of cards you don't want (say if Aragorn is dead).

[ket_the_jet]

You must spot Aragorn to play Hard Choice; however, the target for the effect can be anyone, even an unwounded or non-healable companion.
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Here is another example to understand the concept of paying costs. Most decks that run Gandalf run some form of condition removal. Deep In Thought is a very common condition that is run with Gandalf.

There are three costs to playing Deep In Thought. One is and the other two are spotting requirements--Gandalf and . The twilight used to play Deep In Thought does not count toward the that you must spot. So you cannot play the card unless you can spot Gandalf and (before you add the to play the card).

There are a ton of maneuver events that can generate twilight. Another common card is Roll of Thunder. This card costs . There are two costs for this card. Spotting Gandalf and . Since Roll of Thunder is a fairly common card in decks with support, many people use it to generate the twilight necessary for Deep In Thought. You may play Roll of Thunder as long as you complete the requirements--adding twilight and spotting Gandalf, even if there is no possession or artifact to discard.

To bring this back to Hard Choice. There are two costs. Paying and spotting Aragorn. The effect is healing someone with the Aragorn Signet twice. You can play this event even if you have no companion with the Aragorn signet in play, as long as you can spot Aragorn and pay .

I think that Black Breath would likely be errata'ed as a clarification if a Players Committee was created so that it would look more like Swept Away or Steward's Tomb*.

Black Breath
Condition • Support Area
Skirmish: Transfer this condition from your support area to a character skirmishing a Nazgul. Wounds cannot be healed and burdens cannot be removed from bearer.

That is what the card would look like to be more in-line with the game as it now stands.
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Sorry to keep this going, but think about Sam, Faithful Companion or Sam, Frodo's Gardener.

Each of them has a Fellowship ability that you can use. In the case of Sam, Faithful Companion, Bill the Pony is X-Listed in Movie Block; however, you can still use Sam to look in your draw deck and basically give yourself a free shuffle, even though you cannot play Bill the Pony.

Similarly, even if you don't have Sam's Pack in your deck (it costs ...so you might as well at least run the first copy...) you can use Sam, Frodo's Gardener to "look for" Sam's Pack and then choose not to play it.

It is odd, yes, but that is the way the rules work!
-wtk

[Elessar's Socks]

About Black Breath - my feeling is that you shouldn't be able to select its bearer as a target. So, say someone among your Fellowship has Black Breath and you play a healing spell. You play the ability, pay all its costs and then look for target. If no target can be found, the spell will fizzle, which is roughly the same as if you select the Black Breath wearer but the spell has no effect on him.

If it's for a game you're working on Yloquen, by all means spell it out. Different setups IMO between "Target: A card. / Effect: Do X to the card." and "Effect: Do X to the card that can most complete X."

The implementation of Hard Choice - Is spotting Aragorn additional cost (similarly to Magic's - as an additional cost to play X, do Y), or is it only needed after you play it and then if you cannot spot him, the effect is not applied. This second option seems to have the advantage of allowing you to get rid of cards you don't want (say if Aragorn is dead).

Spotting is a requirement, and requirements must be met before costs can be paid. If you can't spot Aragorn, Hard Choice will return to your hand from the void (step 2 of "playing a card" in the 8/13 CRD).

[Yloquen]

It seems to me that I'll have to take into account both situations.

1) A card, which requires a target, to be played at all (e.g. a weapon).
2) A card, which can be played without target, and consequently, its effect is lost.