The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Dead Marshes
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Dead Marshes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Dead Marshes
Difficulty Level = 5
The Dead Marshes is played with an encounter deck built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: The Dead Marshes, Sauron’s Reach, and Wilderlands. (Sauron’s Reach and Wilderlands can both be found in the The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game core set.)
Escape Test
While playing this scenario, players are at times instructed to make an escape test. These tests represent Gollum’s attempts to escape their pursuit.
To make an escape test, a player first commits characters to the test. A character must exhaust to commit to an escape test. Each committed character counts its Ò strength for the test. After committing characters to the test, the players may take actions or play event cards. If a single player is required to make an escape test, only that player may commit characters he controls to the test. If the party is required to make an escape test, all players have the option of committing characters they control to the test.
Once the characters are committed, a number of cards (as instructed by the card text dictating the escape test) are dealt from the encounter deck. Many of the cards in this encounter deck have a bold "Escape" value. Any card that does not have a printed escape value is considered to have a base escape value of zero. When dealing cards for an escape test, ignore all other effects on the dealt cards. Once these cards are dealt, the total committed Ò is compared to the total dealt escape value to determine if the escape test is passed or failed.
If the total committed Ò is higher than the total dealt escape value, the escape test is passed, and nothing happens.
If the total committed Ò is equal to or lower than the total dealt escape value, the escape test is failed, and the players follow the instructions for failing the escape test from the card that required the test be made.
After an escape test, all cards dealt for that test are placed in the encounter discard pile.
Example: The card "Nightfall" reads: "When Revealed: The first player makes an escape test, dealing 2 cards from the encounter deck. If this test is failed, place 1 resource token on Gollum and raise each player’s threat by 2."
When this card is revealed, Tom, the first player, decides to commit Éowyn (4 Ò) to the escape test. Tom has the option of committing more than 1 character, but he does not wish to do so. After committing Éowyn, Tom deals 2 cards from the top of the encounter deck. These cards are the Giant Marsh Worm (which has an escape score of 2, and Through the Mist, which has an escape score of 3). Since the committed Ò of 4 is lower than the total escape score of 5, Tom has failed this escape test. He follows the instructions on the Nightfall card, and places 1 resource token on Gollum and each player’s threat raises by 2. Finally, the cards dealt for the escape test are placed in the encounter discard pile.
Reset the Quest Deck
While playing this scenario, players might be instructed to "reset the quest deck to stage 1B." To do this, the players take the previously defeated stage 1 quest card, and return it to the quest deck as if they are just beginning that stage. Since the quest deck is resetting to stage 1B, the setup instructions on side 1A should not be followed again. Any progress tokens that were on the current quest are removed before the quest deck resets. Progress tokens that were on the active location, however, remain on that location. All other cards, including those in the staging area, remain unchanged.