Hi!

I want to show the game to some friends this weekend, but I see that is recommended to have 2 core set to play in 3 or 4. I did a few games (i just have core set), but i think we could still play in 4 players just with only core set… right?

(Obviously, each of the 4 players will play with one of the 4 pre-made decks of 30 cards.)

It's so or not? Suggestions?

 Yes, it is possible. You will need some way to keep track of the threat level for two additional players (4 10-sided dices or a piece of paper). You might also run out of the damage/resource/progress tokens so have some substitutes ready.

 I tried playing with 4 players as soon as I got the core set. We just tracked threat on a separate piece of paper. It was so much fun! I really liked the way the 4 starter decks interacted with each other. I hope your group has a great time with it!

 Thank you guys! ;)

It's also a bummer that not every one will be able to have a good amount of Gandalfs, but it's not a show-stopper. Extra change works well for game tokens (ie pennies, nickels to represent 5 tokens, etc.)

It's also a bummer that not every one will be able to have a good amount of Gandalfs, but it's not a show-stopper. Extra change works well for game tokens (ie pennies, nickels to represent 5 tokens, etc.)

 I've played bunches of three/four player games with a single core set. I use dice for the extra threat trackers. I've never had a problem with too few tokens. Sure there is a lack of some of the better cards, but that's generally more than made up for by having three/four players.*

*Some of the later quests can get harder with more players as some especially nasty cards are more likely to come out and you can get some obscene threat and/or enemies pile up in the staging area, but the core set quests get ridiculously easy with more players.

By all means, go for it!
As they say: The more, the merrier!

If you have problems with the tokens, use 10-sided dice instead of progress tokens and/or d6 to represent damage/resources - you could also use every player-interactive token as only resource OR damage, and dice to represent the other - this way, you won't get confused to which die is representing what. :)

Good gaming!

For a while I enjoyed 4-player games the most, it was really covering so much ground. After a while I came back to liking 2-player the most, and some of the quests are crazy hard for 4-players - almost to the extent Dol Guldur is hard for solo play.

Bottom line, go for it, certainly a great experience.

lleimmoen said:

Interesting. I've never played with more than 2. Which quests are particular hard for four players? I would guess definitely Massing, but which others?

Yeah, definitelly Massing. But also quests like Road to Rivendell as it is harder to keep threat low for all four players - at least we never did and the ambush could really screw a player - also the chances of getting the bad two cards at the wrong moment are higher. And surely Redhorn Gate, when it showed up it was the time when we were playing lots of 4-player games and we were kinda shocked by it. And in a similar way I was then almost shocked how much easier it got when I played the quest solo. Finally, Flight from Moria we haven't played that much but I guess it must be harder with so many do X where X is the number of players.

lleimmoen said:

I would say that I have tried to sneak past the Nameless Thing alone and never succeded, but when we were 4 trying to flee from Moria, the combination of cards and the symbiosis between the decks made it a easy quest.

Tornak said:

Ok, it may very well be so. As I said, I haven't played that one much, I really disliked the quest. And the only time we played it with four players we won it on round 1 thanks to Boromir.