A Fellowship Phase is a gameplay instance driven by the players’ choices — while during the Adventuring Phase players react to the Loremaster’s storytelling prompts, during a Fellowship phase they get to elaborate upon their Player heroes stories and ambitions, and to mark their adventurers’ progression. The Loremaster is invited to sit back and follow what the players have to say about their characters.
Players are encouraged to narrate in detail what they do during a Fellowship Phase, not necessarily limiting themselves to those activities with a direct gaming effect. For example, the adventurers might inquire about leads, problems, and opportunities that have arisen during the preceding Adventuring Phase.
All Fellowship Phases are structured as follows:
- Set duration
- Choose destination
- Perform Updates
- Choose Undertakings
Set duration
To give the Player-heroes a real break from active adventuring, a Fellowship Phase should last a minimum of one week, up to an entire season.
Choose Destination
The players are free to select any location the Company has visited so far. The journey required to reach the chosen destination is considered to take place ‘behind the scenes’, unless the players have a mind to play out the details.
Perform Updates
The players may now spend their accumulated Experience Points, to improve their Player-heroes’ Skills and Combat Proficiencies, and to acquire new VALOUR or WISDOM ranks. Additionally, the time spent in front of a cosy hearth while enjoying an everyday life confirms to the Player- heroes that their efforts are not wasted, and restores their faith in a brighter future.
Training
Players spend Skill points to develop their Player hero’s Skill ratings, using the Experience Points Costs table below. They don’t have to spend all their points at once — Skill points can be saved to acquire more expensive upgrades during a later Fellowship Phase. Any remaining points are kept track of by using the appropriate space on the character sheet. During a single Fellowship Phase, players can buy a maximum of one rank in each Skill.
Growth
Players spend Adventure points to buy a new rank in either WISDOM or VALOUR, or to enhance an adventurer’s Combat Proficiencies. As with Skill points, players do not have to spend all their Adventure points at once, but can save them to acquire more expensive upgrades later.
Players may buy a rank in a Combat Proficiency, VALOUR, or WISDOM if they have enough Adventure points to attain the new rating as set out in the Experience Points Cost table. When Player- heroes reach a new VALOUR or WISDOM rank, they also gain a new Reward or Virtue (see page 78).
During a single Fellowship Phase, players can acquire a maximum of one rank in each Combat Proficiency. They can also buy a rank in either WISDOM or VALOUR, but not in both. If a new attribute value is attained, the scores of all related abilities and features must be updated accordingly.
Spiritual Recovery
During each Fellowship Phase, all Player-heroes automatically recover a number of Hope points equal to their HEART score, and they recover them all at Yule.
If the adventuring phase resulted in a positive outcome in the fight against the encroaching Shadow, all members of the Company get to remove a number of Shadow points as decided by the Loremaster
Choose Undertakings
During an ordinary Fellow ship Phase, the Company as a group chooses one single undertaking. Additionally, during each Fellowship Phase (ordinary or Yule), the Company is entitled to choose one additional undertaking, selecting it among those that are listed as free, based on the Callings represented among the Player- heroes.