Bara
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2018
- Messages
- 1,320
Story
Art by Martin Grip
Dearest Balin,
Almost six years have passed already since the last time you were here. I remember very well everything you and Gandalf said when we met. You were alarmed, and I took your warnings at heart, but I don’t think you would find it surprising to know that news of a nameless threat is hard to believe here in the dear old Shire. Gandalf came to see me again, on several occasions. He seems to care about our friendship, and he says I should indeed be worried, but his vague words of warning hardly make even less of a dent in the general sense of peace and protection that we enjoy here, away in the north-west.
But don’t think that I am completely clueless! All I need to know is to have a look at… the stuff I collected in my adventures to remember that there is a wide and dangerous world out there. Sometimes I even miss it, the road, the thrill, the narrow escapes. It’s my Tookish side. But then I look at my beautiful garden, my snapdragons and sunflowers, my trailing nasturtians… how they glow, red and golden, more beautiful than any Dragon-hoard that ever was, and I am back to being a Baggins.
I hope that what I say won’t be too much of a disappointment to you. You haven’t asked yet, but I know that you mean to invite me to join you in that Moria adventure you are always talking about. I am afraid that I have spent enough time crawling in the dark under the Misty Mountains not to wish to do that ever again! But there’s a good bunch of eager lads and lasses here that you might find to your liking. Why, they are just waiting for no more than a nod in their direction from me or from our Grey friend to go off into the blue for mad adventures! Theirs is an age that is more appropriate to that type of business, believe me, and I have taught them a thing or two. I suspect that Gandalf has too...
From a letter from Bilbo Baggins, Esq. to Balin son of Fundin
The One Ring RPG Core Rules (Standard Edition)
“This is the Master-ring, the One Ring to rule them all.”
The One Ring™ is a roleplaying game based on The Hobbit™ and The Lord of the Rings™, two extraordinary works of fiction by the beloved author and respected academic, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, published in partnership with Sophisticated Games.
First released in 2011, its award-winning design was hailed as the best attempt at bringing Middle-earth to the gaming table to date, thanks to its thematic rules and painstaking attention to detail. For 10 years, players of the game have traveled far and wide across Middle-earth, adventuring for multiple decades of game time.
Today, it is time for the game to enter a new era – this new edition of The One Ring brings players further into the Twilight of the Third Age with a new hardbound volume, presenting:
- A set of updated and streamlined rules, developed thanks to years of players’ feedback and raising the game to the standards of quality that have made Free League so popular.
- A new setting to experience – the Lone-lands of Eriador in the year is 2965 of the Third Age. This is a vast land that once saw the glory of the North Kingdom of the Dúnedain.
- A complete visual redesign of art and graphics, offering a view of Middle-earth that is fresh and familiar at the same time.
Sample Spreads (Work in Progress)
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The One Ring RPG, we're delighted to offer an unique Collector’s Edition of the game. This deluxe volume is bound in faux leather with gold foil-stamped adornments and Tengwar script. The Collector's Edition is exclusive to this Kickstarter and will never be printed again.
The Exclusive Collector's Edition, With Faux Leather Covers and Gold Foil Script
“The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences, and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring.”
The One Ring is set in the Twilight of the Third Age, a time-frame comprising the events narrated in The Hobbit™ and the start of The Lord of the Rings™. Encompassing more than six decades, this period is ushered in when Bilbo the Hobbit finds the Ruling Ring, and culminates with the war fought by the Free Peoples against the Dark Lord Sauron, and the destruction of the Ring.
The year is 2965 of the Third Age, and the players create a Company of heroes, Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Men seeking adventure in the Lone-lands of Eriador. It is a desolate country, a vast land that once saw the glory of the North Kingdom of the Dúnedain, the Men of the West. Here, many wars were fought, and countless ruins dot its landscape. Shadows move along its paths, and not all of them belong to the living. It is here that the One Ring lies, a seed of the past that will one day lead the world to open war against the returning Shadow.
This edition of The One Ring moves the focus of the game to the lands of Old Arnor, with a full description of the town of Bree and the surrounding areas, including famous locales like Weathertop, Fornost and Annuminas, providing the players with a new starting point for their adventures.
The Enemy is moving, and smoke issues once more from Mount Doom, in the land of Mordor...
Art by Alvaro Tapia
“… you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.”
In The One Ring, players create individuals who led an ordinary life until something made them realize that they were simply pretending that shadows weren’t growing nearer and nearer every year. They are not soldiers or mercenaries, nor are they subtle Wizards trying to weave the threads spun by fate: they are adventurous souls representing the various Free Peoples opposing the return of the Shadow.
The core gameplay of The One Ring revolves around two alternate phases — the Adventuring Phase and the Fellowship Phase. This structure follows the deeds of the players not only geographically, as they explore the land in pursuit of their goals, but also chronologically, as time passes and the Twilight of the Third Age enfolds.
The game mechanics have been created from the ground up to match the source material and emulate the action as depicted in The Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™. They feature a set of custom dice, but the game can also be played using a standard set including a 12-sided die and at least six 6-sided dice. The accessibility and elegance of the system fits in perfectly with other games by Free League.
This new edition of the game further reinforces the connection between its mechanics and the stories that inspired them. The rules for things like hero creation or the use of Hope have been tweaked to make the game run smoothly without sacrificing their faithfulness to the sources, while those for Journeys and Councils, for example, have been completely redesigned. New rules, like those for Magical die results, have been added to evoke elements that are vital to the theme of the game, like the subtle magic of Middle-earth.
The new edition will be compatible with modules for the first edition, requiring only minor tweaking.
Art by Martin Grip
Created for the first time for this edition of the game, the Starter Set contains everything you need to start playing, and more! Focused on the Shire, this set allows for new players to enter the world of Middle-earth from the land of the Hobbits, where all the stories began. A number of pre-generated characters allow players to take the road to adventure in no time. The boxed set, mainly written by seasoned RPG writer James Spahn, includes:
If we exceed our base funding goal, we will add more content to the boxed set as stretch goals. You can read more about these under Stretch Goals, below. A summary:
- Condensed rules, including everything you need to start playing in Middle-earth.
- An adventure compendium, presenting a number of adventures to be played using the pre-generated characters contained in the box.
- Pre-generated characters of esteemed Hobbits like Drogo Baggins, Paladin Took, Primula Brandybuck or Lobelia Baggins, and more.
- A huge full-color map (format format 720 x 558 mm) of the Shire and Eriador, created by Francesco Mattioli.
- Six square Stance Cards, used to keep track of the fighting stance of characters in combat
- A set of engraved custom dice, with six D6 Success Dice and one D12 Feat Die.
- Approximately 30 Item Cards for weapons, shield and armor, all beautifully illustrated.
- A full compendium of the Shire, detailing the land of the Hobbits for The One Ring for the first time.
- And more...
The One Ring Starter Set – Contents Added as Stretch Goals are Unlocked
We know that many of you have been enjoying roleplaying in Middle-earth using the fifth edition ruleset in the Adventures in Middle-Earth. We are working on a new edition for the 5E rules as well – but it is not part of this Kickstarter. More information about this will follow in the months to come.
We love friendly local gaming stores all over the world and want to forge an even closer relationship with you. We offer a retailer pledge, including five copies each of the core rules and the boxed starter set (including printed stretch goals), at a heavily discounted retailer price.
By taking part in this Kickstarter as a retailer, you make sure you get the games on time for the official release later this year, and you get them at a lower cost than through normal distribution channels. As an added bonus, your pledges will contribute to unlocking stretch goals, and you get access to all updates and sneak peeks of the game here on the Kickstarter.
For more information about how we work with retailers, and to get early information about our upcoming releases, sign up to our monthly retailer newsletter!
Please note that retailer pledges are only available to actual retailers. You will be asked to present your company organization number when confirming your pledge in the pledge manager.
Art by Martin Grip
With your help, we can make The One Ring even more amazing and, among other things, load the Starter Set up with even more items:
Never tried the 1E version how was the system? As they say 2E would only require tweaks to use the old material with it.
