Article:Helm's Deep Sourcebook Review

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Mass Combat System

The Role of War

This section details the three major battles from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of Five Armies, The Battle of Helm’s Deep, and The Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Within each of those subsections are discussions of the events of the battle, how they affected the main characters and the world around them, and how the battle could be used as a template for a battle or battles in your chronicle.

Parameters of Battle

This section addresses the roles of the Narrator and players in epic combat along with discussing pre-battle prep for a Narrator and helpful hints for aiding the roleplaying aspect in combat of this nature.

Unit Creation

This section is about filling out a Battle Sheet detailing one side’s army. It defines each of the unit attributes, what the entries are and how to enter a unit on a Battle Sheet, and gives numerous listings of example units from The Two Towers. Unit attributes are defined in abstract, textual descriptions and numerical values that are simply stipulated, while offering no meaningful way to derive them (base values for types of units, modifiers based on type, race, etc.). The explanation given for this is that such a level of detail is too granular and will have no impact on the actual outcome of unit creation. For example, some units can be described as “Heavy”, but there are no clear modifiers to a unit’s attributes for having a “Heavy” unit as opposed to “Medium” or “Light”.

Combat: Abstract & Tactical

This section is the meat and potatoes of the Mass Combat system. It explains the steps to complete for each round of combat, how long a round of combat is per the size of combat, and details a list of Mass Combat maneuvers. The difference between the abstract and tactical systems is minimal, but in practice the tactical system can lead to a time-consuming event if not thought out in advance. The differences are primarily in how the battle is described -- descriptively (abstract) or through a Battle Web (tactical) -- and minor differences in the effects of the Mass Combat maneuvers. A Battle Web is a graphic overlaid upon a map of the site of battle distinguishing arenas (locations for unit conflict with attributes of the total number of units allowed and type of terrain of the arena) and the difficulty of the path between different arenas. All in all, the difference between the two is fairly small but the choices are fairly adaptable to accommodate a Narrator’s preference for how to run mass combat.

Character Attributes

Orders and Packages

Helm’s Deep doesn’t offer any new Basic or Elite Orders, yet makes two new Order packages for Warrior: Derndeeper and Fastweard. The Derndeeper is a specialist in stealth, speed, and underground combat. The Fastweard serve Rohan with their love of extreme heights, climbing mountains, and combat effectiveness in these environs. Though not explicitly canon, they are reasonable extrapolations for types of warriors who defend the fortress and other outposts in the White Mountains like Dunharrow, and there are a couple of examples of high-ranking NPC’s of these packages.

Abilities

There aren’t any new Racial or Order abilities in Helm’s Deep, but it does offer optional modifications to two of the Captain Elite Order abilities: Fires of Devotion and Hero’s Strength. Their changes are made to correlate their effects with the use of the new mass combat rules, nothing more, so if you decide not to use the new rules, these changes mean little to you.

Traits

There are five new traits offered, corresponding to the new Order package choices in the Helm’s Deep Sourcebook: (Edges) Fleetness, Master of Heights, Mobile Archer, (Flaws) Constrained, and Light-blind. Fleetness and Mobile Archer are good edges, applicable to many different Orders and character concepts, while Master of Heights will probably see limited use. Constrained would be another trait that could get some decent use, but Light-blind is not likely to get used all that often considering its limited thematic aspect.

Equipment

Orodrist, Axe of Endorion

This battle-axe is a famed weapon that helped define and found Helm’s Deep long before the Eorlingas came to the plains of Calenardhon. It helped defend a contingent of Dúnedain against a barbarian horde by cleaving a hole into the mountainside, creating the entrance to Aglarond. Its wielder, Endorion, bore it with poise and ferocity, protecting his brother and the few remaining men who managed to escape into the caves. He gave his life in their defence, but managed to single-handedly fend off the invaders and they fled. Though a unique artifact, its concept is interesting and could easily be imported into Dwarf-centric campaigns or as part of a Dwarf-hoard.

Maps & Art

The rumors are true: the art and pictures are color for up to about the first 30 pages and then the rest are in black and white. Personally, I could care less about that, but I would have made different choices for those on page 9 (an enlarged picture of a Nazgul not making much sense in this publication, or any other for that matter) and 82 (a picture of Elrond during the Last Alliance from The Fellowship of the Ring; though a picture of mass combat, it didn’t really fit with the publication). All the original art was great, but there was one in particular that caught my eye: a painting of the Glittering Caves on page 14 -- its detailed features and simple grace that can catch your eye at the last moment causing you to double-take on it as you flip through the pages.

NPC’s

Of the NPC’s detailed in Helm’s Deep, two are from canon: Erkenbrand and Gamling. The others are subordinates serving as captains of the different divisions in the fortress. The details given about the characters are limited, but leave much room for imagination. Aside from fully-statted individual characters, there are also templates for many types of the soldiers in Helm’s Deep. I didn’t try to break down the characters to see if they adhered to standard chargen for the Advancements allotted them, but they seem fine to me. The one thing I would alter in many of the canon characters in the publications is that their Renown should be much higher. Take Erkenbrand for instance... he has Renown 6 and he is the Lord of the Westfold, commander of one of the most well-known fortresses in the region, and one of the most respected men in all of Rohan. This to me is unacceptable.

Adventure Hooks

There are both adventure hooks and some rough outlines for chronicle ideas as well. In my opinion, they come across as run of the mill fare, but there is a couple that did pique my interest. First is the hook called Flotsam, about the discovery of a small man-sized craft that came floating down the Deeping Stream from inside the mountain. The other hook is called Cave- dwellers, about rumors and phantasmal sightings of pale-skinned man-like creatures deep within the caves of Aglarond. Though the others didn’t catch my eye, I’m sure they could be easily tweaked to fit into many different games as well.

In Conclusion...

Narrators

I would recommend it for Narrators for its wonderful treatment of this part of Rohan in its flavor text, but the crunch is quite light, which is a good or bad thing depending on the type of info you are looking for. When it comes to the Mass Combat system, it may seem like a lot on first impression and possibly a little overcomplicated, but if you take your time with it, it is a worthy revision for the system. As a Narrator, if you don’t plan to play a game in Rohan, especially near Helm’s Deep, aren’t looking use Mass Combat in your game, are satisfied with the CRB rules, or would rather use house rules for it, then don’t waste your money.

Players

I wouldn’t really recommend this book to players unless 1) they are die-hard players of characters from Rohan, or 2) they want to get a leg up on the new Mass Combat system. There is a lot of good background on this region of Rohan and some of Rohan’s history in general, which is ripe for a character’s history and motivation. The few character stat options (Order Packages and handful of traits) won’t help the majority of PC’s, so don’t look at this book for those sorts of things.

Collectors

Pros: The book is about a great part of Middle-earth and one of the most pivotal points in The Lord of the Rings. Even though much of the art and movie stills are in B&W, to me, it still is a great book to look at. The cover is softback, the pages are made of a heavy paper stock, and the binding doesn’t appear to be all that flexible -- these attributes don’t make it a bad book, but it’s not up to par with previous publications nor even as good as the Moria books for print quality, but it still looks good on the shelf, it’s great reading, and it’s one more book to acquire in the set.