i like FFG's new boons and burdens idea, but i notice that the boon card which has been spoiled is really just another event card.
it says…
Set-up: Attach to the ring bearer.
Action: Add Mr Underhill to the victory display to choose an enemy engaged with you. Until the end of the round, that enemy cannot attack you.
i'm guessing that we wont have to put them into our player decks to be drawn later -- like we currently have to do with the treasure cards -- because if we had to do that then they really would just be another event card. seeing as they've printed the word "set-up" on it, i think they will probably allow us to attach them to frodo at the very beginning of the game.
but what do you think will happen when we use it? i know that we can only use it once per quest, because it goes straight into the victory display, but what about the next quest in the story? if we use it, will we still be able to carry it forward to the next quest, or will it be gone forever? it's got the keyword "permanent" on it, so maybe we will be able to keep it forever. if that's the case, then i can see frodo becoming quite a powerful character later on in the story if he manages to attach multiple boons to himself.
but if it's just a one-time use thing, then i'd always be reluctant to use it in case i need it further on in the story.
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it will be really good if they have boons for other characters too. the quest could say something like "if you win the quest using this particular character (from the actual story), then you get a boon for him". and it can only be attached to him, and him alone. so that will encourage us to use that character in all the subsequent quests too. we will start building up the characters and make them more powerful as they progress through the story.