2017 wishes/predictions for LOTR LCG

By Gizlivadi, in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

I don't know much about LotR lore so I can't comment on that, but I would love to see new products and mechanics for the game, being them official or fanmade. I'm relativelly new to the game, so maybe some of those have already been done, if so, I appologize.

1-. New card type: Havens . I agree with Gizlivadi that there should be positive locations to play and deckbuild around. There have been some fanmade atempts, but I would like for the devs to try to figure them out.

2-. New card type: Agendas . This has also been done by fans, but I thorougly enjoy the deckbuilding options that they bring for games like AGoT 2.0 and would like to see similar versions for LotR. Something like if your heroes share a trait/sphere, you get X benefit and Y penalty.

3-. The revival of Treasure cards. I know that they were transformed into Boons and Burdens for the LotR Saga expansions, but what I would like to see is a new mechanic that works around the scoring system/victory points. My take on the Treasure cards would be similar to the loot system of RPGs. Everytime you defeat an enemy/explore a location, you place one random card from the loot/treasure deck on the victory/loot display (separate them to avoid interactions with existing cards?). At the end of the quest, if the players were successful, they as a group can buy X victory points worth of Treasure cards. They can add them to their decks for the rest of the campaign (see below).

4-. New POD product: Saga/Campaign decks . A deck of 20/40/60 cards for each cycle consisting of new Campaign cards, Boons and Burdens to tie each quest together as a Saga, and Havens, Treasure cards, and Agendas to improve the thematic experiense. They seem to be willing to revisit old quests with the nightmare decks, so there's already a precedent. This new Saga/Campaign decks could attract a whole new bunch of players that were underwhelmed by the lack of campaign (and progress) in the base game, and have the potential to increase the replayability of the cycles.

5-. Revised core set . The core set could benefit from a revised edition with an improved rule book, a new reference rule book (like they are doing for every new LCG) containing all the new keywords, word descriptions, action timings and the FAQ entries that are exception to the rules; and revised versions of underpowered/overpowered the cards and distribution of the cards. A POD conversion kit could be sold separatelly for the old players who already own their cores.

This has already been done by the community on several occasions, but I would like for them to make it official. They have done revised edition for other board games and they have no issues on updating the errata cards on future printings.

6-. Tied to the point above: Improved solo rules . The solo gamers are a huge part of the player base, however, the official rules don't cater to them at all. It's obvious that the game is designed and tested as a 2 player co-op game which can make the solitaire experience not so great/balanced. There have been some attempts by the fans (the Fellowship variant on BGG comes to mind) to improve the expeirence. So official rulings in the new rule book wouldn't hurt. Adding new game variants in it wouldn't kill me either.

Will update when I have something else to add.

I hope you stay tuned to my 'Road Goes ever on' blog?

It ties in directly to many of your points and I'd love to hear your opinions on my versions of solo rules, havens, modified early cards etc.

It would be nice in 2017 they ran a complete print run for all the cycle packs. I started late to this game and despite it still being active (given deluxe expansions are still being released) it's impossible to get some of the older/original cycles.

Ally Aragorn

YES.

A spirit hero then the ally. I'm greedy like that.

1) Fill in Hero version/Ally version cards of Hero Only or Ally Only cards, specially thematic characters like all the dwarves from The Hobbit and the Fellowship from The Lord of the Rings. I would love to be able to pick any 3 dwarves (of the 13 from the unexpected party) as heroes and have the rest of the dwarves playable as Ally cards, or any 3 of the fellowship as heroes and have the rest of the fellowship playable as Ally cards.

2) A "2nd edition" of LotR LCG that doesn't obsolete the "1st edition" but instead provides new/different game mechanics that allow for a Player VS Player (PVP) aspect. I have been seeing some discussion about introducing Havens and good locations, a game mechanic that was used by Middle Earth Collectible Card Game (MECCG) that was produced from 1995 through 1999. Utilizing most "1st edition" player cards, the "2nd edition" can add cards that could create a PVP aspect to the LotR LCG game (maybe similiar to MECCG or other CCG formats).

It would be nice in 2017 they ran a complete print run for all the cycle packs. I started late to this game and despite it still being active (given deluxe expansions are still being released) it's impossible to get some of the older/original cycles.

All cycles are still being reprinted. So anything that goes out of stack is sually back 2-3 months later.

Apologies for the necro. I just stumbled across this thread in a google search and couldn’t help but be amazed at how many wishes have come true three years later.

Saga completed, ally Merry and Pippin, Dale trait explored, hero Radagast and Saruman, famous artifacts, agendas (in the form of contracts), Thranduil hero, Rosie ally (and she delivers!), Smeagol hero, revised core set (HoG fixed, but SoG left untouched in its imba glory), heck we even got a versus mode of sorts!