Reflections Gold - forgotten for over a YEAR - is now finished. WOOOO!

[menace64]

I'm a fan of less-than-awesome cards. Not everything should be perfect!

I'm about to pull an all-nighter at work, so tonight it's three of the six Box Topper sites in the set:

Deserts of Harad
The twilight cost of each card (except and cards) is +1 at this site.
------>
20X53

I considered giving it a Desert keyword, but since it would serve absolutely no purpose I decided against that extra bit of flavor, envisioning instead a site that is to be avoided by all creatures, save the Men of the Desert.

Lake-town
Battleground. Dwelling. Each character bearing a weapon gains muster.
<------
20X55

Pretty simple.

Shelob's Tunnel
Mountain. Underground. The companion who has the lowest strength must be assigned to the first skirmish at this site. The Free Peoples player may add a threat to assign companions normally.
<------
20X58

There's no way in Middle-earth that all of that would fit into a site's text box. Oh well! I wasn't thinking about site-recursion when I wrote this one - and I'm almost certain now that I'm reading it again that it's broken to high #$&*@! - so what you're looking at is the first pass. Let me know if it needs to be toned down. (EDIT - Toned Down.)

[Stormcrow]

Shelob's Tunnel is a bit broken in my opinion...   

[Doom]

Instead of The "freeps may add 3 threats," put "unless the freeps exert a companion and adds ?"

I would change
Deserts of Harad
The twilight cost of each card (except  and  cards) is +1 at this site.

to
Deserts of Harad
The twilight cost of each  and  card is -1. Makes a bit more sense IMO since the desert is actually helping those weirdos who live there...

[macheteman]

i think frodo and sam's abilities are fine, but i'd probably return them to their original stats.

doom, its a one time "at the end of the turn" ability, it can't be repeated again and again. which means maximum 7 cards played from deck. because you don't end your turn at site 1 and once you end it at site 9 the games over.

one thing i would change: "resistance may not be lowered."

i'd change it to: "resistance may not be lowered by shadow cards."

this is along the lines of lady of light. its mostly a matter of principle. you can take out all the resistance reducing tricks the shadow wants to throw at you, but it really isn't right to have their resistance completely untouchable. burdens need to still have an effect on resistance.

[macheteman]

as far as the sites are concerned: i would NOT change the desert one. if it was twilight reduction for those cultures, it would be just completely worthless for everyone else. this way, it could see some play in decks that are starving for twilight and want to squeeze some extra out of an opponent's fellowship.

love lake-town.

shelob's liar: it does need an easy way out. like: "the free peoples player may exert that companion or add a threat to prevent this."

[ket_the_jet]

Shelob's Tunnel
Mountain. Underground. The companion who has the lowest strength must be assigned to the first skirmish at this site. The Free Peoples player may add 3 threats to prevent that assignment.
<------
20X58

The person must be assigned to the first skirmish? Or the character must fight the first skirmish? Because I don't know if you were going for the latter.
-wtk

[menace64]

The person must be assigned to the first skirmish? Or the character must fight the first skirmish? Because I don't know if you were going for the latter.

The intent of Shelob's Tunnel is to force the weakest companion to fight; it doesn't care when that fight actually occurs. But yeah I'll tone down the cancel-cost as has been widely suggested.

I also reworded the preventative clause - what I had made it sound like by paying the prevent cost, that companion can no longer be assigned at all. Now it's a bit clearer.

Deserts of Harad
The twilight cost of each   and   card is -1. Makes a bit more sense IMO since the desert is actually helping those weirdos who live there...

You're right, of course, but just from a "Wow!" standpoint making two cultures slightly better is a lot less impressive than making fourteen slightly worse, which was my original justification for how I wrote it (and macheteman's additional comment is a great reason that I hadn't considered).

i think frodo and sam's abilities are fine, but i'd probably return them to their original stats.

But it's not as cooooool! (Which means I'll think about it lol)

i'd change it to: "resistance may not be lowered by shadow cards."

Done. Very astute point.

[macheteman]

i'd change it to: "resistance may not be lowered by shadow cards."

Done. Very astute point.

thank you. :-)

[menace64]

So after a 9-hour shift where I got to reset most of my entire department, I get to drive 2 1/2 hours across-state to spend the weekend with my family.

Hopefully I won't fall asleep on the road and die. But, at least if I do, I'll have shared these fine cards:

*The One Ring, The Willing Ring
Vitality +1
While wearing The One Ring, each time the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound, add a burden instead.
Maneuver: Wear The One Ring until the regroup phase.
Skirmish: If wearing The One Ring, add a burden to make bearer strength +2. Any Shadow player may then discard 2 cards from hand to make the Ring-bearer take off The One Ring.
"'A Ring of Power looks after itself…'"
20R+1

The inspiration, naturally, comes from the prologue of FotR when Isildur jumps into Anduin. I always wanted a slippery Ring, so when it came time to write one for the set, it's exactly what I ended up with.

Spelling it out: Throw on the Ring during the maneuver phase, and during the skirmish you can add a burden to go +2. But each time you do, a Shadow player can ditch 2 cards to make the Ring slip off.

EDIT: Dropped it from Vitality +2 to +1. Might come back to it again later.

*Passed Out of All Knowledge
Condition * Response
At the start of the regroup phase, if the Ring-bearer is not wearing The One Ring, you may play this condition to your support area. Your hand size is -1. If you can spot your Ring-bearer, he or she may not wear The One Ring; otherwise, the first minion you play each turn is twilight cost +2.
Response: Spot the Ring-bearer wearing The One Ring to draw a card for each burden you can spot. Discard this condition.
"History became legend, legend became myth…"
20R+2

First and foremost: I wanted this card to be weird. This card does not have a culture - there would be a symbol where the culture symbol would be. It is innately neither Free Peoples nor Shadow. I'm not sure how exactly it would factor into deck-building (maybe this would have diffractions like Forth the Three Hunters!) or something else would have to be done. I'm not worried about that, really.

The next weird thing is that it's a response condition. Could it have been "Condition * Support Area"? Sure. But I like it this way lol.

Now let's get into the text itself. If the Ring is not being worn at the start of the regroup phase (Flavor: It's fallen out of knowledge), you drop your hand from 8 to 7 (the world becoming ignorant, less aware of its own peril), which also means that the Ring must not be around (Ring-bearer can't put it on), and minions cost more (they are without their master so they're harder to come by). But the payoff is in - potentially - a massive draw somewhere down the line.

I worded this card specifically so that (just like I did for Hid From the Sun) the Free Peoples text is only active during his turn, and likewise for the Shadow player. You won't be able to use this card against your opponent.

I like this card a lot, and it's definitely one of the strangest things I've ever submitted to this forum!

One more for luck on the road:

Where the Shadows Lie
Event * Response
If the fellowship moves to a mountain site, discard 2 Shadow cards from hand to add . The Free Peoples player may not use skirmish special abilities at this site.
"The one place in Middle-earth we don't want to see any closer. And it's the one place we're trying to get to."
20R44

I know, I know, there's no cultural enforcement here. But I figure it's already a limited-use event. Not only do you need a mountain site, but you need 3 Shadow cards to ditch. The payoff is still pretty fantastic!

EDIT: Dropped the cost from 3 cards to 2. I think it really is pretty balanced now; a lot of fellowships would be hurting from a loss of skirmish abilities...

Well I'm off to the car. Hopefully I'll survive this trip and will get to see some reviews!

[macheteman]

conceptually i like your ideas. the ring is especially interesting. but what if you never use the special ability? then you have a vit+2 ring which you can put on for free and has a 1:1 wound burden exchange. goodbye ATAR. maybe make it vit+1. you don't want to overshadow any other cards.

passed out of all knowledge is also interesting, because you can regroup draw for your shadow or your fellowship. thats cool. i'm still not quite sure WHY its a response condition, what is it a response to? other than that its fine. it might see some play.

i like where shadows lie. but i'm not sure it will see the light of day. maybe in a sauron death deck. i mean if you have 8 cards in hand, you play this guy, then ditch 3 more shadow cards, you now have 4 cards in hand, so you might have like 1-2 shadow cards left. at that point pray you have enough twilight to drop a sauron and hammer them whilst they can't use skirmish special abilities. idk, it feels like one of those rares that people overlook for ages and then someone finds a way to break it.

[Gartax]

I must admit you had great ideas!!

The ring is weird.. not sure about what I think about it. It sound good, but I fear it to be too strong or too weak!!!!

As for where shadows lie it sound deadly in a 10 cards shadow deck (ithil stone + isildur). Sound cool!!

[Doom]

"Passed out of all knowledge". I don't really see a point to this card. And regarding the unique culture, my "culture-less cards" weren't exactly met with widespread approval.

EDIT:

It also seems a bit broken, say with Gil-galad/Namarie combo. Ability to draw, say, 5 cards a turn when you still have 8 in hand. That's a huge filtering advantage

[menace64]

I'm a little busy today, but I'll read through the reviews from over the last few days and work on bringing the cards into line.

*Beregond, Guard of the Tower
Companion * Man
Strength-6
Vitality-3
Resistance-6
Knight.
Each time Beregond wins a skirmish, you may spot a follower to heal Faramir.
"'All penalty is remitted for your valour in battle, and still more because all that you did was for the love of the Lord Faramir.'"
20R21

Seriously, why did Decipher never make Beregond!?

EDIT: Rewrote his text entirely, weaving Faramir into it and keeping the theme tied up with followers.

*Bergil, Child of Gondor
Follower
Resistance +2
To play, spot a knight.
Aid – Discard a card from hand.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may remove a threat.
"Bergil clapped his hands, and laughed with relief. ‘All is well,' he cried. ‘Come then! We were soon going to the Gate to look on. We will go now.'"
20R22

I think Followers, on the whole, are pretty boring cards. They aren't really flavorful and they just come off as clunky. Oh well.

EDIT: Deleted the burden removal.

*Sceptre of Annúminas
Artifact * Staff
Bearer must be Aragorn, Elendil, or Isildur.
While bearer is not the Ring-bearer, each companion is resistance +1.
At the start of the regroup phase, if you can spot less than 3 burdens (or no threats), you may make up to 2 companions gain muster.
"'…the token of our kinship from afar…'"
20R+26

Might need to be more powerful. What do you think?

EDIT: Global resistance bonus, simplified the muster text.

[macheteman]

beregond: perfect.

bergil: as you said, followers aren't so great. thats hardly your fault. gondor has basically no burden removal giving them an easy way out isn't so great either. maybe this: "Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may remove a  threat or add a threat to remove a burden."

idk, something less straightforward.

scepter: i feel like it needs to be slightly more accessible, like maybe while the total number of burdens and threats it less than 5. or maybe, while you can spot less burdens than threats. another option for the resistance part, you could make it +1. across the board. ring-bearer or not. that might be nice. because unless you really need cycling, i can't see this being played much. at least with a +1 resistance boost you could drop it in for your ring-bearer. but if you did i'd probably limit it to 2 companions gaining muster.

my 2 cents. btw, hang onto that arkenstone, its definitely going to be in one of the DC brawls and i noticed its on your docket for this set.

[menace64]

Ahh yeah I always forget that Gondor's got trouble with burdens. I rather like your idea.

I'll go with +1 resistance across the board for the Sceptre, along with 2 companions getting muster. I also tweaked the cost a bit.