Dwarrowdelf Campaign: Introduction

Lately, I’ve been thinking about theme and to what degree a sense of adventure is really built into the play experience. I’ve seen some that have played or tried the game argue that LOTR LCG is nothing more than a glorified puzzle, with little to no theme, or at least the theme is overshadowed by the need to continually build decks out of disparate pieces to beat each scenario. Needless to say, I disagree with this view and feel that this game is rich with theme and great stories that you can talk about long after a particular scenario is over. Of course, a card game like this brings with it some necessary abstraction. After all, we are not playing a Middle Earth simulator or in-depth RPG campaign. So it is perfectly possible for people to bring what they want to it or to experience it in quite different ways, with some perhaps truly encountering the game as merely an exercise in mechanics and solving puzzles. On the other hand, some players will build stories and scenes in their minds as they play, drinking in every last detail, piece of artwork, and word of flavor text as the world of Tolkien opens before them. Personally, I fall somewhere in between. There are certainly times where I find myself simply boiling the game down to X’s and O’s and figuring out my best move step by step. On the other hand, I do have many moments where a certain situation in the game evokes a story or imagery in my head.

With all this in mind, I’ve decided to see if I can up the ante on storytelling and theme in my experience of LOTR LCG. The introduction of Campaign Mode in The Black Riders Sage Expansion has to be one of my favorite innovations in the game so far, as it brings a kind of continuity that was sorely missing beforehand. Right now, players mostly experience scenarios as individual bite-sized experiences, rather than elements of a story that really weave together to form a larger narrative. Of course, the use of rule inserts in the Against the Shadow cycle to include lengthy story text, which has now continued in the Ring-maker cycle, has helped to remedy this as well. However, the idea of a set of the same heroes continuing the same story is one that appeals to me. Unfortunately, Campaign Mode is restricted to The Lord of the Rings Saga Expansions, but I would like to see it expanded to the regular cycles as well. While I hold out hope for Print on Demand packs in the future that add special Campaign Mode rules and Boons and Burdens to each cycle (make it happen, FFG!), I’ve decided to take the Campaign Mode rules and apply them to one cycle to see how it improves the experience.

After getting some input on Facebook as to which cycle I should tackle, I’ve settled on a Dwarrowdelf Campaign. Although it would have been possible for me to create a bunch of house rules and my own custom Boons and Burdens for this cycle, and although I have no problem with custom content, I wanted to seek out a means of playing Campaign Mode that did not involve altering any existing rules or creating any cards of my own. The one place that is ripe for doing this is deck building, since I can put whatever restrictions I want on myself in terms of building decks without impacting the actual rules. So here is what I settled on for the Dwarrowdelf Campaign.

First, I am using all of the Campaign Mode rules from The Black Riders rulebook and will choose 3 heroes that will undertake all 6 scenarios together:

– Any hero who is in my discard pile at the end of a scenario will be counted as a Fallen Hero. I can replace that hero at a permanent +1 penalty to my starting threat.

– If I want to replace a hero that did not fall, I still have to pay the permanent +1 starting threat penalty.

– Unfortunately, there are no Boons and Burdens. I toyed with the idea of custom rules regarding choosing certain treacheries to carry over or certain attachments to stay in play, but as mentioned before, I opted out of house rules altogether.

Keeping my heroes together is certainly a good first step to giving the feeling of a real campaign, and preventing heroes from coming back to life also gives an added weight to losing a hero. This alone does add a bit more story punch to the play experience. However, without Boons and Burdens, this didn’t seem like enough to really make this a true Campaign Mode. So I added some restrictions to deck building to make things even more interesting:

– Any unique ally that is in my discard pile at the end of the game due to being destroyed or discarded from play by an encounter card effect (rather than simply discarded from hand by Protector of Lorien, for example) is considered to be a Fallen Ally. This means that I have to remove them from my deck and can’t use them for the rest of the campaign. In order to keep track of this, I will put allies that are removed from play this way into a separate “dead pile”. For all game purposes, they will be treated as if they were in the discard pile. This restriction is basically just applying the Fallen Hero rule to allies, but helps to give an added weight to sacrifice and death that Tolkien’s story warrants. So if Gildor gets smashed to pieces by the Watcher in the third scenario, he doesn’t get to waltz nonchalantly into Moria with the rest of the party for the next quest.

– I will only be allowed to change my deck when the heroes have reached a logical shelter point in the story. This means that my deck will have to remain the same during The Redhorn Gate and Road to Rivendell. I can then make changes (other than the heroes) once the heroes reach Rivendell. From there on out, the deck will have to remain unchanged through The Watcher in the Water, The Long Dark, Foundations of Stone, and Shadow and Flame. This represents the fact that the heroes should only be able to change their equipment and recruit new allies at a haven like Rivendell, not when they’re deep in the Mines of Moria! If I can no longer include a unique ally because of the Fallen Ally restriction, then I will be allowed a replacement ally of the same sphere.

With all of these rules and restrictions applied, I believe that there should be a strong campaign feel to the experience. However, I’ve never tried this before, so this is also an experiment to see how much this kind of Campaign Mode really adds to the cycles. As a final note on the guidelines for this endeavor, I should speak on how I will handle winning and losing.

– Losing a scenario does not mean that I will start from the beginning again. While this is perhaps the most thematic option, I just don’t have the time to keep replaying through the cycle multiple times. Instead, losing simply means a replay with none of the dead allies or heroes counting from that play.

– However, I must play every quest through to an actual victory or loss and can’t simply choose to quit a game because it looks like I might lose. This means that I may end up playing a quest out when things look bleak and actually win, but at the cost of losing valuable heroes or allies. I must keep all wins and cannot simply replay a scenario to avoid losing a character.

Soon, I will begin the journey through the Dwarrowdelf cycle. This campaign will have a little input from you readers out there along the way. The latest TftC poll gives you a chance to vote for what kind of deck I should use. In addition, if anyone has any additional ideas about how to spice up my Campaign Mode rules, please comment below, although keep in mind that I’m avoiding anything that directly changes existing rules. Restrictions to deck building are fair game though! And if you have a deck theme idea that isn’t on the poll, feel free to share that below as well. Join me soon for a discussion of the company of heroes that will be undertaking this quest, along with their equipment, allies, and tricks!