So on Saturday this happened...
I was playing THfG 2-handed, using slightly-modified decks based on Beorn's decks (https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/beorns-path-part-7-deck-tuning-the-hunt-for-gollum/), substituting Glorfindel for Denethor just because I'd never played with Glorfindel. My Tactics / Spirit deck is Eowyn, Legolas, and Thalin - a starting threat of 27. My Leadership/Lore deck is Aragorn, Theodred, and Glorfindel. That's a whopping starting threat of 32 but, what the heck, it's only a game, right?
Everything's shuffled, I'm all set to go, so I start this game like every previous game, with the Setup:
"Reveal 1 card per player from the encounter deck, and add it to the staging area".
As a sign of things to come, the first card is "Old Wives' Tales":
"When Revealed: Discard 1 resource from each hero's resource pool, if able. Exhaust any hero that could not discard a resource from its pool."
Since this is Setup, I have no resources so all 6 heroes are exhausted.
The second card is "Signs of Gollum", which seems like a good thing as it's a needed Clue. It's "Guarded" so I then deal another encounter card for it, which is "The West Bank", a 3 threat location.
I don't remember my starting hands exactly, but I drew only 2 allies - Snowbourn Scout and Gondorian Spearman, neither of which have any willpower. Things could be better, but I get my allies on the table and get 1 progress token on the location when Snowbourn Scout enters.
Of course, I have no ready heroes and no allies who can quest so I resign myself to taking a first-turn quest-phase threat hit. And that's when the full fury of this game shows itself.
The first revealed encounter card is "Eastern Crows". Only 1 threat, but it surges. The next card is, you guessed it, another "Eastern Crows". Another 1 threat, another surge. The next card is "Hunters From Mordor", only 2 threat but because there's a Clue in the Staging area it gets +2 threat, for a total of 4. And I still have another encounter card to draw.
I take a deep breath and reveal..."Goblintown Scavengers". It only has 1 threat but it's "When Revealed" effect is a doozy that I have no way to cancel:
"When Revealed: Discard the top card of each player's deck. Until the end of the phase, increase Goblintown Scavenger's Threat by the total printed cost of all cards discarded in this way."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
My Tactics / Spirit deck draw is another Gondorian Spearman - 2 cost, so 2 threat.
My Leadership / Lore deck draw is Faramir. 4 cost, 4 ****ing threat.
I decide to laugh.
Turn 1 Total Staging Area Threat is 16:
"The West Bank" - 3
"Eastern Crows" - 1
"Eastern Crows" - 1
"Hunters From Mordor" - 2 (+2 for the Clue card)
"Goblintown Scavenger" - 1 (+2, +4 from player deck discard boosts)
As you'll recall my heroes are completely exhausted from all the "Old Wives' Tales" gossip, so Turn 1 Total Questing Willpower is 0.
Player 1 threat increases from 32 to 48. Player 2 threat increases from 27 to 43. After less than 1 turn.
I was so amused at this point that I went ahead and played it out. I somehow managed to get to Quest stage 2B before the inevitable Threat-Out.
I'm hopeful that sharing my misfortune will provide some amusement to you, some catharsis for me, and maybe score me some karma points. This game can be a real jerk sometimes. 
