Fellowship Phase

FELLOWSHIP PHASE
Heroes are not always busy navigating deep caverns, fighting back the Shadow, or fleeing from dangers beyond their ability to face. Even the most eager of adventurers need some time to rest and enjoy what life has to offer, spending days practicing a craft, reading a good book, or even writing one.

Whether it is spent in the pursuit of a noble goal, or simply resting comfortably to recover energy before setting out on the road once again, the time characters pass when not adventuring is called the Fellowship phase.

HOW A FELLOWSHIP PHASE WORKS
A Fellowship phase is a session of play driven by the players’ choices. While during the Adventuring phase, players usually react to the Loremaster’s storytelling, during a Fellowship phase they get to elaborate upon their characters’ stories and ambitions. The Loremaster is the final judge regarding the interpretation of the rules, but is invited to sit back and follow what his players have to say about their characters.

A Fellowship phase marks the conclusion of the current Adventuring phase, and as such ideally takes place at the end of a gaming session.

THE PASSING OF YEARS
The default pacing of gameplay for The One Ring sees a group of adventurers take part in one adventure per year of game time. If this pace is kept, then a Fellowship phase can also be used as a milestone to mark the end of one year of game time and the beginning of the following one.

On average, a Fellowship phase marking the passing of a year should represent a pause from adventuring lasting for approximately an entire season.

Three months are enough for any companion to return home from any location in the Seven Principalities and leave him some time to be among his family and folk. Moreover, spending the colder months of a year as a Fellowship phase is a natural choice, as it will leave the warmer seasons open for the following Adventuring phase: a life in the Wild is an unforgiving one, and adventurers prefer to have a roof over their heads when the wind is howling and the land is buried in snow...

STRUCTURE
A Fellowship phase lasts from a week to one full season of game time, depending on the Loremaster’s structuring of the game. At the beginning of a Fellowship phase, the players must choose whether the company retires somewhere to spend the phase as a group or if they temporarily disband and each hero returns home by himself. Once they are set upon a decision, they start taking individual turns to tell the Loremaster and the other players what they are going to do and where they are going to do it. In addition, players get to record the growth of their characters by spending their Experience points and Advancement points.

DESTINATION
The players are free to spend the phase at any place they have already visited during the game.

Players should generally choose a place within a reasonable distance from the area where they were adventuring during the recent sessions of play, also taking into consideration how long the Fellowship phase is going to last and where and when they have agreed to meet up afterwards.

The Company Repairs to a Sanctuary
A number of locations are considered sanctuaries, special places particularly suited to support the needs of a company of adventurers, and inhabited by a host willing to welcome them

Characters in a sanctuary dedicate their time to telling and listening to stories and to the exchange of adventuring experiences

The Company Disbands Temporarily
When a company disbands temporarily, each player chooses the location where his character repairs to. Usually, heroes return home, as the player has decided that maybe the character needs to spend some time among his own folk, to refocus or meditate, or that he intends to develop his personal relationships at home. When a hero intends to invest his earned Treasure, he needs to return home.

Standing Upkeep
Adventurers find friendship and allies in unlikely places, but are very quick to lose their respectability at home, unless some measure is taken to prevent that. When a companion passes a year’s end Fellowship phase away from home (see Year’s End below), he must reduce his Standing rating by one point, unless he spends a number of Treasure points equal to his current Standing rating.

ACTIVITIES
When players start relating their characters’ actions, they should respect the time limit set by the duration of the phase and a geographical limit, defined by the place where their characters are supposed to be spending the phase.

Players are free to nar rate in detail what their characters do, as long as they abstain from activities that require the introduction of new background information (like exploring a location they have never visited before, or making the acquaintance of personalities they haven’t encountered yet, etc.). In general, they should avoid doing things that are better suited to an Adventuring phase.

Considering these restrictions, when his turn comes, each player is allowed to develop his character by spending his Experience points and Advancement points, and then he is entitled to choose one single undertaking for his hero to pursue.

This chapter describes several typical undertakings for a player to choose from, but players are invited to exercise their creativity and find new and exciting ways to spend the phase. Often, players need look no further than the recently concluded Adventuring phase, as the story that was just completed might have provided several leads worth following, like a new friendship to consolidate, or a new sanctuary to be granted access to. Any activity that could have a lasting impact on the character can be considered an undertaking

SPENDING EXPERIENCE POINTS
Heroes may spend their accumulated Experience points to gain a new rank in either Wisdom or Valour, and to enhance their proficiency in their Weapon skills. Players are not obliged to spend all the Experience points they have received at once, but may save them from session to session to acquire more expensive upgrades, or they may spend a portion of them to get a smaller upgrade and save the remaining points for later. Whatever their choice, players should pick their options wisely, as the choices they make when spending Experience points determine the growth of a player-hero.

Players keep track of how many Experience points they gain and how many they spent so far by updating the relevant boxes on their character sheets.

Buying a new Valour or Wisdom Rank
Heroes may buy a rank in Valour or Wisdom if they have enough points to attain the new rating: the first column of the Experience Points Cost table below indicates the cost in Experience for buying a new rank. The character also gains a new Reward or Virtue

Heroes cannot buy more than one rank in either Wisdom or Valour during the same Fellowship phase. When a player-hero advances in either Wisdom or Valour, care should be taken to adjust the scores of all related abilities and features.

Buying Weapon and Cultural Weapon Skill Ranks
The only method for a player-hero to raise the proficiency of his Weapon skills is to spend Experience points.

Players are free to raise their skills as they see fit, as long as they have enough points. Players can buy multiple ranks in the same Weapon skill, as long as they pay the cost of every new level.

The Experience Points Cost table below indicates the cost for raising any combat skill, whether an individual Weapon skill or a Cultural weapon skill

Improving a Weapon Skill from a Cultural Weapon Skill
It is possible to buy a level for an individual Weapon skill belonging to the category of a Cultural skill group the hero already possesses, starting from the proficiency level of the Cultural weapon skill.

While there is no savings in buying a specific Weapon skill, players may choose to do this if planning to later make the new individual Weapon skill a favoured skill (as Cultural weapon skills cannot be made into favoured skills).

SPENDING ADVANCEMENT POINTS
Players spend Advancement points to raise their Common skill ranks, using the costs in the table below. Players are not obliged to spend all their Advancement points, but may save them to acquire more expensive upgrades during a later Fellowship phase. Players can also buy multiple ranks into the same Common skill, as long as they pay the cost of every new level individually. Any remaining Advancement points are kept track of using the appropriate space on the back of the character sheet

UNDERTAKINGS
When a player is done updating his character’s abilities, he may choose to undertake a task for the rest of the Fellowship phase. Here is a list of typical endeavours that characters may choose during a Fellowship phase

MEET PATRON
A patron is a usually renowned or powerful personality, who may from time to time offer a company a purpose to go adventuring, often providing support and counsel. Companions may choose to meet a patron when they are spending the Fellowship phase in the location where the individual is to be found, if the patron is available for a meeting. A company may have several patrons at the same time, if its members are able to satisfy the requirements to ensure their allegiance (very often, these characters ask something in return for their friendship).

GAIN NEW DISTINCTIVE FEATURE
A player who has played his adventurer for a long time might eventually grow tired of the set of distinctive features of his hero, and feel the need for a change. During a Fellowship phase, a player may replace an old Distinctive feature with a new one (it is not possible to gain a new Speciality

The new Trait may be chosen from any list of Distinctive features, or even invented by the player (who in this case needs the approval of the Loremaster).

HEAL CORRUPTION
Heroes reduce their current Shadow rating attempting a Craft or a Song roll with TN 14. On a successful roll, they reduce their score by two points on a success, four points on a great success, and six points on an extraordinary success

Characters spending their Fellowship phase in a sanctuary are entitled to two rolls, while heroes who returned home are allowed a single roll instead.

Companions belonging to different cultures resort to different methods to get rid of corruption: Dwarves usually turn to the forge to burn their frustration smiting the red iron on the anvil, Elves and Men generally create, play or recite poems and songs.

RAISE STANDARD OF LIVING
Having several chests filled with gold under the bed makes it far easier for an adventurer to go around with a pouch filled with coins. Players spending their Fellowship phase at home may reduce their heroes’ treasure rating to raise their Standard of living as far as out-of-pocket expenses and the acquisition of equipment are concerned.

It costs 1 Treasure to spend one month at a Prosperous standard of living, and 2 Treasure to spend it at a Rich one. At the end of the month, the character must spend the amount again or revert to his previous Standard of living. Players may invest as much Treasure as they like to maintain their characters at a higher standard of living for longer periods of time.

RAISE STANDING
as a demonstration of their worth, affluence and loyalty to their culture, and as a mean of acquiring influence among their own folk.

Players spend Treasure points to raise their Standing rating, using the costs indicated in the table below. Players can also buy multiple ranks, as long as they pay the cost of every new level individually.

OPEN NEW SANCTUARY
In the course of their exploration of the Seven Principalities, the company of adventurers will sooner or later find new places they might consider suitable for resting during a Fellowship phase. If, during an Adventuring phase the company has entered a location and has established friendly relations with its denizens, they can make it a sanctuary, securing permission to enter it regularly to spend there a Fellowship phase.

To turn a suitable location into a sanctuary, all companions must spend the phase there and choose Open New Sanctuary as their current undertaking. The collective undertaking cements their relations with the important personalities of the place.

YEAR’S END
When a Fellowship phase sees the end of a year of game time, as soon as all players have taken their individual turns, the Loremaster takes back the storytelling initiative to update the company on the changes that have taken place in the world that their characters are entitled to know about. Middle-earth is a living world, whose history is unfolding at the same time as the player-heroes live their lives: for this reason, the Loremaster keeps the players informed on the actions of important personalities and the passing of major events affecting the land.

Player-hero Intervention
Players with a Standing score are allowed to elaborate on the year’s end narration, to testify how their heroes may have affected events taking place in their home settlement or region. When the Loremaster has finished describing the changes occurring in their homeland for the current year’s end, one or more players may intervene to let their characters participate in the events taking place (all players belonging to the same culture may take part in the narration together).

Player-heroes may affect the course of events either directly or indirectly, depending on whether they can plausibly be present or possess the resources or abilities to make a difference.

A player argues his case to intervene, describing how his character might have affected the current course of events; if the Loremaster accepts, then the player can propose a task roll summarising his intervention. Upon a successful roll, he briefly describes an alternative course of events describing the presence of his character or the effects of his influence.

Standing Rating
The intervention of a player must be proportionate to his current Standing score. An ordinary intervention, like being present when an important personality happens to pay a visit to a character’s home town, requires a Standing of at least 1 (and probably a successful Courtesy roll). More dramatic or less plausible interventions require a higher Standing. For instance, being invited to speak at an exclusive gathering of the Magician is unlikely for heroes with a rating of less than 4

Starting the Following Adventuring Phase
When the Loremaster has finished bringing his players up to date and the players are done with their intervetions, the Fellowship phase is over. The next Adventuring phase will take place during the first season of the following year. If the Fellowship phase took place during the year (i.e. the Loremaster is running more than one adventure in that year), then skip this last phase and proceed straight to the start of the next adventure, with the characters leaving their sanctuary or reforming the company at the appointed place