Near Death in Fornost - The One Ring 2e Strider Mode Report 1

Rescuing a Foolish Lad

I decided to sit and play some Strider Mode for The One Ring 2e by Free League Publishing. I like this game, as a side note, not because it is Tolkien and Middle-Earth (though that is a big part) but because it is a game that has narrative story elements but makes tools via strider mode for solo gaming, zero prep, and is a game that cares about timekeeping.

I’ve decided to experiment with my solo gaming with 1:1 time since journeys and time are important aspects of the core rules. The following is the first solo adventure I sat down to play.

Gandalf in Bree

My character’s name is Arvegil and he is a ranger of the north. I chose to have my patron be Gandalf the Grey. Meeting Gandalf at the Prancing Ponying, I rolled on the Strider Mode tables to determine that Gandalf learned that someone had gone missing and was potentially captured by the enemy. A young lad from Bree named Linwood wanted to prove himself. He heard that a local farmer had some goods stolen by servants of the enemy. Striking off, Linwood thought he would be heroic enough to retrieve them by himself.

He has been missing for three weeks. With little hope of finding the young man, Gandalf turned to Arvegil to look for him. Perhaps he is still alive somewhere.

Fornost

Using the oracles and tables in strider mode and performing some skill checks, Arvegil determined that Linwood went north from Bree towards the ruins of Fornost. Most, except for the rangers of the north, shun this place as it was once the seat of the Witch King long ago, and the area is still tainted by his there in the past.

Some travel rolls were made while traveling to the location. The journey to Fornost was great and full of success for Arvegil, as he aced his rolls and found some shortcuts, allowing him to shorten the travel time to Fornost by one day.

Of course, arriving at Fornost, an accursed place, changed his luck for the worse. Stepping into the city’s ruins and using some rolls in the core rules and Strider Mode, I determined that the ground gave way beneath Arvegil, and he fell some distance into an old chamber. During the fall, his longsword was broken!

The room was dark and musky, but other areas looked like they had collapsed recently. He found a small entrance into another room, and there found Linwood half dead, clinging to life. The boy must have also fallen through and crawled into the space for cover. Arvegil soon learned why he wanted to be covered. Arvegil also found an old, dented helm of an old King of Arnor in the room. He put the helm on and carried the boy from the small room into the main room, which he fell into. As he entered, I failed an Awareness check and did not notice the goblin archer looking into the hole I fell into. Immediately, combat ensued. I had Arvegil assume the stance in Strider Mode, which allows the solo game character to shoot and fire missiles. It grants a few other bonuses, such as forcing those in melee to have a -1D penalty for rolls.

Arvegil launched a shot with his bow at the goblin, damaging him. The goblin returned fire and seriously wounded Arvegil. His wound would take nine days to heal. He returned fire and wounded the goblin, killing him. He successfully used an Athletics check to climb out of the room and haul Linwood up. Traveling back while wounded was difficult, and it took five days to return to Bree. But it was accomplished. Arvegil will be back in Bree and recovered on August 3rd. In the meantime, he has elected to rest and recover his health and hope. Perhaps he can find a blacksmith in Bree skilled enough to go from shoeing horses to fixing a longsword blade (unlikely).

All in all, it was fun. I want to continue trying to master this game, as it is deceptively crunchy and complex. Maybe I will run it for friends soon, and with my Mines of Moria book arriving soon, I may indeed run it.