HoME Brainstorming Thread

[TREX]

We could give him the "Ringbearer" ability. That could start him with the ring, and give him a additional 1 on the 20 die to counteract it. I think that should cover that part. I know he has the blade Sting, Which is a goblin/orc killing blade, so something to say that he can start with that treasure glyph. I'd say give him an ability that helps him press on.(Of course sam helps there too.) Other than that, not too sure what else I'd give him.

[caps]

I don't think we want to specify that any characters start with any given treasure glyphs. I think we should leave that kind of specification to scenario parameters.

[TREX]

This is not the post you are looking for.

[caps]

Those are some cool ideas, TREX. We'll have to pull them back out when we get to Legolas.

[caps]

I thought I would go ahead and kick this thread back off. I have some old drafts from back in the day that I never shared. Here they are.


Legolas v1

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = LEGOLAS

UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = PRINCE
PERSONALITY = JOYFUL
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/5

LIFE = 4
MOVE = 7
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 180

COMPETITION
Add 1 to Legolas' Attack for each Order Marker on a friendly Dwarf Army Card, to a maximum of +3 Attack.

DEADLY WARRIOR
When attacking with Legolas, you may add 3 to his range or attack one additional time.

Gimli v1

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = GIMLI

UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ??
PERSONALITY = ??
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/5

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4
POINTS = 170

COMPETITION
Add 1 to Gimli's Attack for each Order Marker on a friendly Elf Army Card, to a maximum of +3 Attack.

FEROCIOUS BRAWLER
After Gimli destroys an opponent's figure he may move up to one space and then attack an additional time.

Legolas v2

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = LEGOLAS


UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = PRINCE
PERSONALITY = JOYFUL
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/5

LIFE = 4
MOVE = 6
RANGE = 4
ATTACK = 1
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 110

MASTER ARCHER
When Legolas begins to attack, if he is unengaged he may either:
*Attack up to two additional times.
*Add 2 to his Range number and attack one additional time. Or,
*Add 4 to his Range number.
When Legolas begins to attack, if he is engaged, add 1 to his attack dice.

DWARVEN FRIENDSHIP
Add 1 to Legolas' attack for every Order Marker on any Unique Dwarf Army Card you control. If at least one Unique Dwarf Army Card is in your army and all Unique Dwarves you control have been destroyed, add 1 to Legolas' attack.

ELVEN LIGHTFEET
Slippery Ice and Heavy Snow only count as 1 space when moving. Legolas is never attacked when leaving engagement with a Squad figure.

Gimli v2

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = GIMLI

UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = FIGHTER
PERSONALITY = RESOLUTE
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/4

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 2
DEFENSE = 2
POINTS = 110

MASTER WARRIOR
When Gimli begins to attack he may either:
*Choose an adjacent figure. If Gimli inflicts at least one wound on another figure, the chosen figure receives one wound.
*Roll 2 additional Attack Dice. Or,
*Add 3 to his range.

ELVEN FRIENDSHIP
Add 1 to Gimli's attack for every Order Marker on any Unique Elf Army Card you control. If at least one Unique Elf Army Card is in your army and all Unique Elves you control have been destroyed, add 1 to Gimli's attack.

DWARVEN STONEFEET
When rolling defense dice against a normal or special attack, add 1 automatic shield to whatever is rolled. Gimli may never be moved by any special power on any opponent's Army Card and may add 1 to his height when moving up or down levels of elevation.

To be honest I think I like the v1 versions much better than the v2 ones. I think the v2 ones are too complex. But they're worth considering depending on how the polls turn out.

[caps]

I've been thinking about different approaches for Gandalf as well. This is brainstorming, so in here all ideas are on the table. I've been pondering powers themed around his wisdom, and his pity/mercy/love of small creatures.

This one seems thematic and fitting for both a "The Hobbit" Gandalf and a FotR Gandalf the Gray

STEWARD OF THE SMALL
Small figures adjacent to Gandalf may roll 1 additional attack die when attacking an adjacent figure.

You could push it out to be an aura.

I also thought about a "wisdom" power where he makes opponents change one Order Marker every round. The problem is I'm not sure how often he actually foiled the Enemy's plans in FotR. It seems they tended to foil his. BUT this power would sometimes work to the other player's advantage, so maybe that's okay? We could call it "THE WISDOM AND FOLLY OF GANDALF."

[caps]

Most of my ideas for Boromir unfortunately would not work well with him as a Human Champion, in my opinion. We would have to balance him for the Knights of Weston and he would be overpriced without them.


Anyhow, here are my ideas.


ONE SHIELD DEFENSE
(see Crixus's card for text)


COMBAT CHALLENGE
(see Tandros Kreel's card for text)






You could use just these two powers and have a pretty thematic Boromir in my opinion.


I've also been playing with a HORN OF GONDOR power, but I'm wondering if it would be better as a scenario effect. Anyhow, here are the two versions I've come up with


HORN OF GONDOR
After Boromir receives one or more wounds from an opponent's figure, each player may move up to 2 figures up to 4 spaces each. Each figure moved with the Horn of Gondor must be able to move within 5 clear sight spaces of Boromir.


This would be very problematic with Knights of Weston. They're already very mobile with Sir Gilbert. This would make them rat-like on top of that!



Here's the alternate version


HORN OF GONDOR
After revealing an order marker on Boromir, if he has received one or more wounds from an oppponent, you may use Horn of Gondor. If you do, each player may move up to 2 figures up to 4 spaces each. Each figure moved with the Horn of Gondor must be able to move within 5 clear sight spaces of Boromir.


You could take out the order marker bit, and I'm not sure if it should happen before or after moving. But if you take out the order marker bit then it becomes problematic with Knights of Weston.



The wording in italics is kinda gross, but it's the "standard" way to word this kind of thing and ties in to a bunch of FAQs about how these powers are supposed to work; without the FAQs the corner cases become an unwieldy mess.


Maybe you can see why these seem like they might be best left as either a Treasure Glyph or a scenario effect.

[caps]

... which brings me to treasure glyphs. One of the ideas we had before that I'm still fond of is to make a lot of the special items into treasure glyphs instead of powers on people's cards. Scenarios could give the Fellowship an extra edge by assigning the glyphs to the Fellowship.

Some glyph ideas:

Horn of Gondor
Sting
Glamdring
Narsil
The One Ring (obviously)
Elven Cloaks (from Lothlorien; no hit zone when unengaged, anyone?)
Barrow Swords (for the hobbits, to give them a little more bite)
Bilbo's Mithril Shirt

etc.

If we really wanted to get wild we could try to put point values on them so that people could "opt in" to extra complexity by drafting treasure glyphs to put on their heroes. This might help even for variety in scenarios; give the Fellowship X number of points for figures and X number of points for treasure. Better replayability that way, perhaps.

[caps]

I still mostly like the Strider we had before (although I would probably drop the terrain power to simplify the card) but there's other directions we could go with it too.

I have ideas about the hobbits, too, but my computer battery is dying and I should really go to sleep anyway. Looking forward to hearing y'all's thoughts!

[Splash]

Love Competition; "That still only counts as one!"
The V1 Legolas and Gimli as a whole I really like.

[Ninja Status]

I like Legolas and Gimli a lot. For Boromir I was envisioning a sort of cheerleader power that would activate when he builds up wounds. Something like..

Courage of Gondor
If Boromir has at least 3 wound markers on his army card, each friendly figure adjacent to Boromir may add 1 to their attack and defense value.

It needs work, but if we were to incorporate something like this I’d make his life around 6ish? Maybe give him an average/below average base defense to start?

[boromir96]

I’d like to see 2 iterations of Boromir. A FotR one with a Horn of Gondor power, and a class of Protector maybe? And a Champion of Osgiliath version that bonds with KoW and Macdirks.