Making Monsters-Some Musing on Battle Companies Character Development

 I really like Middle Earth SBG. All the characters from novel and film are represented with individual profiles, rules and skills that work well. The rules are fun, easy to learn but increasingly complex and subtle with higher level characters. There are scenarios written for all the major events from LOTR and quite a few minor ones and some from outside the franchise as well as a lot of “what ifs”. The game has obvious failings at battle level, it’s too intricate and too slow at games above 600-800 points but works great as a skirmish game, or as a skirmish within a battle or as a contest between heroes.

Battle Companies adds the aspect of developing characters from rookie to champion and this adds a whole new aspect. The game is fun, its fast too. Most games can be played in an hour or so. Its easy to write scenarios for and most factions are represented so there is a lot of variety. The skills are quite varied and there are a lot of them so that individuals develop a real sense of character.

I have played enough games now to have a better understanding of how the game works, to appreciate its good points and to recognise some of its limitations and weaknesses. Development is at the core of the game and I decided to look at this aspect in a bit more depth.

Warriors are awarded experience points for playing scenarios and causing a wound, a maximum of two points per game. Heroes are additionally awarded points for winning scenarios and for each wound they cause. For every 5 experience points accrued a warrior rolls for a chance to get promoted to hero.  For every 5 points a hero gains, they roll on their chosen path for a new skill/stat increase 

In my recent campaign, I had two characters “max out” on development. Both of them started as Uruk Hai warrior scouts, one armed with a bow, Ogbad, and one armed with a sword only, Gargul. At the end of the first campaign, the Rescue Campaign, they were promoted to heroes. At this point they are given 1 point of Fate and when they next advance, they have to choose a “path” Ogbad chose the path of the ranger and Gargul chose the path of the warrior. Subsequently they have each played in nineteen games, the Quest for the Lost Dwarven Ring campaign, and achieved all possible advances in their chosen path, Ogbad in game 18, Gargul in game 19.

These guys are now monsters by any reckoning. 

 There is no maximum, no ceiling for advancement. The rules say that in the “unlikely event” that all the advancement choices have been taken, the character may embark on a second path. Fair enough, but it does not seem at all unlikely and I am sure that eventually all heroes will have advanced in all paths and will all be pretty much the same character

In fact, Ogbad has chosen Path of the Adventurer as his second path and has rolled Master of Terrain as a skill. In his last two encounters with the Zara Hai, Ogbad earnt ten XP in each, that’s two advances in each game. As most choices are duplicated in the different paths, stat increases for example, the choice becomes increasingly limited as the character develops. Ogbad has already chosen so many of the options in this path that there are only 4 more options he can take.

This combined with the fact that injuries are fairly rare, fatalities rarer still. Once the war band gets to a good size, influence points begin to accrue so that healing herbs can always be purchased which reduces the chance of injury even further

So, what’s the solution? Several possibilities come to mind

 1) step method- each skill after the first requires an additional experience point to attain. First skill at 5 points second at 6 points 3^rd at 7 points etc

2) first 5 skills are gained at every 5 points, second 5 skills are gained at 10 points each, third 5 skills at 15 points etc

3) limit the number of advances, have a ceiling, eg 10

4) roll after each advance after the (5^th, 8^th, 10^th)?  level 6 equals no more advances

The first two ideas are similar so let’s consider them together. Table One compares the experience points required to advance to each level using three systems. The existing system and each of the first two described above. Unlike some games systems experience points are not counted in the “cost of the character” and so are irrelevant apart from the function of advancement.

Table 1

 

It’s obvious that either solution will result in a slower advance of the character and still allows exponential advancement. If I had used system one for Ogbad he would only be half the Orc he is and would be waiting a very long time to get to where he is now.

Method 3) A fixed ceiling. Where would it be fixed? Would that vary for different characters? Maybe a random roll of 5 d6 decides the level ceiling for the character? 

 

What is an appropriate level to advance to? What level would “existing” heroes be if they had developed through the BC system? How many advances would it take for bog standard Uruk Hai scout to get to the equivalent level of Lurtz, the super cool, slightly camp, rock hard Uruk from the films?

 

I think most players of the game would consider Lurtz a go-to-choice for an Isengard army so he seems a suitable standard to achieve as a BC Uruk Hai scout. 

Using the BC method of advancements how many experience points would it take to become Lurtz?

 

The following ratings do not include cost for weapons, just stat increase and skills, If Lurtz had developed in BC his weapons would be free. 

 

So, 138 points using BC method, Lurtz costs 90 points in the Armies book. I think he is cheap at 90! If Lurtz started as a Uruk Hai scout it would have required 22 skill increases to achieve his eventual eminence. 

In the online fanzine SBG, numbers 1 and 2, a similar approach was used by Tom Harrison on all the characters in the ME SBG universe, to work out which were best value for the points. In issue 1 he did all the warriors (Woses warrior topped the chart @9 points cheap), in issue 2 he did all the good guy heroes (Kings Champion 80 points cheap and Erkenbrand 50 points cheap) and in issue 3 he did the baddie heroes. I haven’t got issue three but I bet Lurtz is in the top 3!

SBG 1 and 2 are available as free downloads here https://www.dchobbitleague.com/fan-made-supplements.html

 

Here is the same chart for Ogbad

 

Ogbad’s Great Bow and Heavy Armour add 10 points to his cost bringing his total to 128 points

Gargul is an even more powerful hero, I bet he would kick Lurtz butt all over the place! Gargul weighs in at 168 points and 10 points for his war-gear making 178 points. 

So, should the ceiling be at Lurtz level? Gargul has already passed that!

 The problem with having a fixed ceiling is the same as having no ceiling in that it would tend to produce heroes with the same stats and that would be boring.

Rolling for variable ceilings will produce the fore knowledge that the character can only get so far or remorse when a character who “was meant for better things “dies at a lower level than his ceiling

 Method 4) Variable growth. Roll a d6 each time the character advances 6= development ceases

I like this idea as it would produce a wide range of character levels and diversity always leads to more fun. Where would the game be without the lower level dudes! The Merrys, Beregonds, Gorbags, Erestors etc of Arda, they can’t all be Aragorns! The idea can be refined so that the roll is made at every 5^th advance and there is + 1 factor for each next level.  

This means that occasionally a great hero will step forth and ascend to the top level and the average should still be fairly high at 15 -20 advances but there will be a scattering of lower rank heroes too.

This idea could be further refined by making the last skill a free choice from any path or a one-point increase in either Might Will or Fate even if such an advance would increase the number above the normal maximum limit.  

I am going playtest this with my next BC campaign

Here are the profiles for Ogbad and Gargul