Goblin Hacker

Today we get our first look at the new face of the Moria culture and a new keyword, Horde. Goblins return, angry and swarmy as they were in The Lord of the Rings TCG and the Horde keyword allows them to call back their friends from the dead.

With such a powerful ability, it will be important to balance these Orcs with low power and vitality. But we want the Goblin King and his minions to be a force to be reckoned with!

Let us know what you think in the comments.

If He Loses

The counterpart to yesterday's If I Win card.

Take a look at Maarten's Blog for a peek at Sméagol, who we've cast as a Follower for now. 

Keep checking back for what Gollum looks like!

If I Win

We're making great progress on the set, and while the final text isn't finished I want to keep posting card ideas so everyone can give us their feedback on them.

Today I venture into Gollum culture, where you can see we'll be showcasing both a Sméagol and a Gollum card. Can you guess what the next card is?

Keep the comments coming!

Growl of the Warg

I wanted to throw up a card before the weekend to get feedback on a replacement for the burden mechanic that we have been working on.

Simply put, replace the word "resistance" with the word "courage" and replace the word "burden" with the word "doubt".

Story-wise I think this makes much more sense. The journey of Thorin's company is at risk of failing if they lose their courage. They lose their courage as they begin to doubt themselves, their leader, their tasks.

Let me know what you think! 

A special thanks to Maarten who has been a phenomenal collaborator. I look forward to working on this set with him more!

Balin, Son of Fundin

Today's card introduces one of the new mechanics in The Hobbit TCG: Loyalty.

Loyalty 

When the Leader of the company is about to take a wound, you may sacrifice a companion with Loyalty to prevent that wound by placing the companion in the dead pile.

(Note that we have replaced the keyword Key-Bearer with Leader)

Let me know what you think of the new mechanic!

Bower of the Council

I am going to be pausing cards for a bit as I want to come up with a full set list and fleshed out card texts before creating new cards, but while I do that I needed to complete my site template anyway, so I created this site. 

What do you think of how it looks? (I'm less concerned about the text as it will most likely change, but leave your thoughts on it if you feel compelled!) 

I know that the collector box still needs to be removed/changed.

Key to Erebor, Thorin's Birthright

The new One Ring! In another departure from the rule of the Lord of the Rings, I've removed the concept of burdens. I alluded to how resistance doesn't make sense in prior posts, and neither do burdens since Thorin isn't at risk of being corrupted by any means. 

Instead, the focus of Thorin's journey will be on the loyalty of the company, and how his companions are willing to put their lives on the line for him.

On a side note, I'm particularly proud of this dream card as it's the first time I used GIMP to edit images for creating the card. Let me know what you think!

Elrond, Of the White Council

Here is another take on Elrond, and the faux-ally card type. I'm trying to strike a balance that would make you want to play this card, but not make it too powerful. 

There's no reason we can't have two versions of a companion either.

What do you think?

Elrond, Counsillor

So today I am suggesting another major departure from the Lord of the Rings TCG rules: No more allies or followers. I always found allies to be unnecessary, and the followers rules to be difficult for new players.

Instead, I suggest that anybody that would be an ally, is a companion that is simply discarded at some point.

What do you think? Keep the comments coming!

Beguile

My first foray into a non-character card! I have two concerns:

1. These cards are too powerful. Obviously we don't know how good a Troll is, but you can always assume that canceling a skirmish is powerful.
2. I'm being too literal to the movie. I think Lord of the Rings TCG did this as well, but there doesn't need to be a card for every scene of the movie, and even cards that are from the movie don't need to match the events exactly.

What do you think? Leave a comment!

Azog, The Defiler

I thought it was high time to start making some minions, even though I'm not quite ready (I'd really like this to be on a Moria template at least, if not a completely new template!).

I also want to start introducing "flavors" to each of the cultures. Gandalf focusing on spells, Shire (Bilbo) focusing on stealth, Dwarves focusing on strength and loyalty, and Azog's Orcs focusing on Dwarf hate.

Let me know what you think!

Gandalf, Friend to Thorin

Here's my first foray into a non-Dwarven card for The Hobbit TCG.

I wanted to mention that I'm intentionally leaving Resistance off of these companions as I don't think it will apply to the version of the game I have in mind (Without a One Ring and burdens, resistance just doesn't apply, right?).

You'll note the relatively low cost, strength, and vitality on this Gandalf. As mentioned in prior comments, if we're going to allow 14 companions, they need to be relatively beatable. Even with the twilight you provide each time you move 14 companions, the Shadow side would need to be able to play at least 14 minions to even have a chance at overwhelming or killing the Key Bearer. 

More to come. Keep the comments coming!

(If anyone has a hi-res Moria template, please let me know!)

Thorin, Son of Thrain

Here's the next dream card!

Thanks for all the comments on Fili. There's some great work on making dream cards going on at The Last Homely House as well. Unfortunately, the site is not always up and is often slow, so I'll continue creating and hosting dream cards here as well.

This card introduces a concept mentioned by Nate in the prior comments, "Key Bearer." My intention is for the Key to Erebor to be similar to The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings TCG. One companion can carry the key, and there are consequences (most likely a game loss) if that companion dies.

I'll keep making dream cards and coming up with proposed rules for The Hobbit TCG. I'm definitely thinking that the Rule of 9 should be changed to account for the larger troop, as mentioned in the prior comments; however, we then need to make the companions weaker, or the minions stronger.

Let me know what you think!