The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Murder at the Prancing Pony
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Murder at the Prancing Pony Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Expansion Symbol
The cards in the Murder at the Prancing Pony scenario can be identified by the expansion symbol (a rearing horse) printed before each card's collector number.
Easy Mode
To play Murder at the Prancing Pony in easy mode, remove each card with a gold-bordered encounter set icon from the encounter deck and add 1 resource to each hero's resource pool when setting up the game.
Scenario Rules
The Investigation Deck
Begin the game by following the Setup instructions on stage 1A. When the players are instructed to "build the Investigation deck," do the following: Take the 4 remaining Suspect enemies and the 4 remaining Hideout locations, plus each copy of Taken by Surprise, and shuffle them together without looking at them. This is the Investigation deck.
The players are not allowed to look at cards in the Investigation deck except when resolving the Investigate keyword or instructed by a card effect.
The Investigation List
The Investigation List on page 5 of the rules has the name of all 5 Suspect enemies and all 5 Hideout locations. During the game, players should check enemies and locations off of their Investigation list in order to help them determine the correct Suspect and Hideout by process of elimination.
Suspects:
- Todd the Troll
- Susie the Spider
- Wolf-pelt Jake
- Johnny Goblin-fingers
- Old Orc-eyes
Hideouts:
- Bill Ferny's House
- Staddle Hiding Hole
- Combe Storehouse
- Archet Trading Post
- Chetwood Campsite
Investigate X
Investigate is a new keyword that represents the heroes' efforts to solve the crime. When an active location with the Investigate keyword is explored, the first player shuffles the Investigation deck and looks at the top X cards. Then, he places those cards back on top of the Investigation deck in the same order.
While the players are at stage 2B, the Investigate keyword on the active location is resolved before the second Forced effect on that stage.
Immune to Player Card Effects
Cards with the text "Immune to player card effects" ignore the effects of all player cards. Additionally, cards that are immune to player card effects cannot be chosen as targets of player card effects.
Making the Accusation
In order to advance from stage 2B to stage 3A, the players must "make the accusation." To make the accusation, the first player names 1 Suspect and 1 Hideout. Then, he reveals the facedown, out of play Suspect and Hideout cards and adds them to the staging area.
If the revealed Suspect and Hideout are the same as those named by the first player, the accusation is correct and the players have successfully identified the killer and the outlaw's secret hideout.
If the out of play cards are not the same as the ones named by the first player, then the accusation is not correct, and the heroes have embroiled themselves in a deeper plot by pursuing the wrong Suspect or investigating the wrong Hideout. If the accusation is not correct, search the Investigation deck for each just named card that is not already in play and add it to the staging area. Then, raise each player's threat by 3.