Shadow
Challenging an almost all-powerful Enemy and facing its terrible minions is bound to instil a sense of fear and doubt in the Player-heroes, a sentiment that in time comes to weigh heavily on their hearts and minds.
In the game, this burden is represented by the accumulation of Shadow points, and by the sources that force their gain.
In the course of play, the Player-heroes see their Shadow score ebb and flow, as they gain points during the Adventuring Phase as a consequence of their actions, and then they possibly lose them by making a Shadow Test, by strengthening their resolve (see Harden Will), or by mending their spiritual hurt during a Fellowship Phase (see Spiritual Recovery, Chapter 7).
Shadow points are kept track of by marking them in the appropriate box on the character sheet, next to a hero’s Hope rating. Heroes cannot accumulate Shadow in excess of their maximum Hope score (any additional points gained do not raise a hero’s Shadow score).
Shadow Tests
A number of sources of Shadow allow players to make a roll to cancel, or at least reduce, the amount of points gained. Called Shadow Tests, these rolls are based using either VALOUR or WISDOM, depending on the specific source of Shadow.
Shadow Tests are resolved as any other roll, by using a Feat die, plus a number of Success dice equal to the character’s appropriate rating.
When a Shadow Test is passed, the hero reduces the number of Shadow points gained by 1 point on a success, plus 1 for each Success icon () rolled.
The sources of Shadow that can be resisted with a test (Dread, Greed, and Sorcery) are described later in this chapter.
The Consequences of Shadow
A creeping threat, Shadow becomes truly dangerous when the number of points accumulated by a Player-hero matches or overcomes their current Hope score:
When this happens, Player-heroes become Miserable, and see all their rolls hampered by the fact that rolling an icon on the Feat die results in failure, regardless of the TN and the actual result obtained by the roll.
But Player-heroes suffer even more serious consequences if their Shadow gain is left unchecked:
Player-heroes whose Shadow score reaches their maximum Hope rating are so overburdened by their fears that they become Ill-favoured on all rolls.
There is only one way to recover from such depths of desperation — the Player-hero must experience a bout of madness.
A bout of madness is a violent outburst, a dangerous crisis that frees a Player-hero from the burden of the Shadow, but that may have serious, long-term consequences (see Madness).
Harden Will
Adventurers who are struggling under the burden of the Shadow may tap into their innermost reserves of spiritual energy to harden their determination, before it’s too late. For some, this effort takes the form of a demonstration of desperate strength; others enjoy a moment of clarity in their darkest moment, when all seems lost, and suddenly all doubts are cast away:
In game terms, Player-heroes whose accumulated Shadow does not yet match their maximum Hope score may choose to remove all their current Shadow, replacing it with a single Shadow Scar.
A Shadow Scar is a ‘permanent’ Shadow point that can be removed only during a Yule Fellowship Phase, by choosing the Heal Scars undertaking (see Chapter 7), but is otherwise considered as a normal Shadow point for all purposes.
Sam’s plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue.