The One Ring Roleplaying Game
With the release of the Rings of Power series on Amazon Prime, people are now (for better or worse) talking about Middle-Earth again. This will inevitably lead some people to look for a role-playing game so they can create their own adventures in J.R.R. Tolkein's world.
There have been many attempts at Lord of the Rings RPGs over the decades, going all the way back to the first editions of Dungeons & Dragons, when halflings were still called hobbits. All of them have had successes in what they attempted to accomplish. But, some licenses that should not have ended were lost. Success faded to shadow. System followed system. And for many years, the license passed through many hands. Until recently, when it ensnared another bearer.
The One Ring Roleplaying Game is the second edition re-release of The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild, designed by Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi. The first edition was published by Cubicle 7 and followed by Free League Publishing's current version.
The art and production on Free League's book is beautiful. It features artwork that is incredibly evocative of the setting and will vie your attention as you attempt to read the words on the page. The book itself has lightweight paper that has a stiff, parchment quality to it and feels as if you are holding a tome from the libraries of Gondor.
But, why should you use The One Ring and not just D&D 5e with a limited selection of races? What sets this fantasy RPG apart from others and makes it the preferred choice for playing in Middle Earth?
The answer is that it takes key elements of Tolkein's stories and makes them part of the game rather than simply flavor. The struggle of hope and despair in the face of great evil, journeying into the wild where lie the vestiges of kingdoms long past, and finding strength in your allies - these are all mechanical elements of the game. In short, it's about the journey and the friends you make along the way!
Fortune and Feats
Before we can dive into what makes The One Ring unique, we need to understand the framework that it's built on. The game is divided into two phases: the Adventuring phase and the Fellowship phase. The Adventuring phase is what we typically think of in a fantasy RPG - setting out on quests, journeying into the unknown, fighting the darkness. The Fellowship phase is somewhat unique in the fact the rules of the game specifically state you must take downtime. The Fellowship phase is when the heroes rest up, practice, and make new plans. In comparison, Dungeons & Dragons has optional rules for downtime that are scattered across several books but not very well implemented. In the One Ring it is an integral part of the gameplay.
The challenge resolution mechanic is a dice pool system where you have a number of Success dice (d6s) equal to the ability or skill you are attempting to use along with a Feat Die - a d12 with numbers 1-10, a Gandalf rune, and a Sauron rune. The Success dice have a rune on the 6. The Gandalf rune on the Feat Die indicates an automatic success, no matter what. The Sauron rune generally counts as a Zero, though when the Shadow has made a hero miserable, it counts as an automatic failure. When 6s are rolled on the Success dice, count them up (the rune is there to remind you to do so). If the attempt was a success, the total number of 6s determines the degree of success - 1 is a great success, 2 or more is an extraordinary success. There are circumstantial bonuses and penalties to the dice pool and even an Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic, here Favorable/Unfavorable, where the Feat Die can be rolled twice and the appropriate result used.
Building Character
Characters, or player-heroes, have 3 attributes - Strength, Heart, and Wits - to represent their physical, emotional, and mental capabilities. The attributes determine the Target Number (TN) for anything you attempt to do by subtracting the Attribute from 20 - a dwarf with a Strength of 6 attempting to climb onto a ledge would have to beat a 14.
Each attribute has 6 skills associated with it. If you are coming from D&D, it will take some to time to get used to the idea that Song is a Strength skill and Stealth is a Wits skill but it eventually settles in nicely. Heroes also have Combat Proficiencies in either Axes, Bows, Spears, or Swords and you have a score for those just like you do a Skill. Skills are rated 0-6 and determine how many Success dice you will roll. If you have a 0 in a skill you only roll the Feat Die and hope that Gandalf's rune shows up.
Every player-hero chooses two Distinctive Features, traits that describe their character and can be used to improve your chances when they come into play. Each of the six cultures presented in the core book also has a Cultural Blessing that gives them some distinct advantage.
Player-heroes also have three Derived Stats - Endurance, Hope, and Parry. Parry is a hero's ability to deflect and avoid attacks and adds to their Strength as the Target Number to be hit.
Endurance acts as Hit Points, but it can be lost from physical damage or from great exertion. Endurance acts a balance to Load (the amount they can physically carry) if their Load becomes too great, they become Weary and the 1-3 on their Success dice count as 0s instead.
Hope is a pool of points representing the reserve of spiritual vigor that heroes draw from when confronted by difficult odds. In other words, you can spend a Hope point before a die roll to gain an additional Success die. If they have the Inspired condition then they gain 2d6 instead. If a character's Shadow points (a tally of how the looming evil is affecting an individual's spirit) ever exceed their Hope, they become Miserable and the Sauron rune on the Feat die now indicates an automatic failure.
Like any tabletop roleplaying game, the character's stats define what they can do and how well they do it. But unlike, most TTRPGs the stats also reflect their state of being and how the hardships of the world weigh on them. This is an important aspect of Tolkein's writing. The Ring grows heavier the more it corrupts Frodo. Boromir is swayed by the Ring because his doubts and waning hope leave him vulnerable to it. The ability to reflect a character's external and internal conflicts as part of a rules system makes The One Ring a superior choice than standard Dungeons & Dragons.
The Journey
In the Lord of the Rings most of the story is framed around overland travel. Bilbo and the dwarves must travel to the Lonely Mountain. Frodo must first take the Ring to Rivendell and then on to Mordor. The story is built around the events that happen along the way before the climax of the story when they get to their destination. An RPG set in Middle Earth should emphasize this and lay out a strong case for how Journeying works. Unfortunately, one of the big critiques of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition is that the concept of overland travel and exploration is not as fleshed out as dungeon exploration. Often, the trip between two points is either glossed over or consists of a random encounter. The One Ring, again, excels at capturing this component of a Tolkienesque story.
Journeying in the One Ring has structure and yet it is light on rules. While there are basic rules to set the stage, the heart of it is in shared storytelling between the Loremaster (the name for a DM or GM in this game) and the players. The structure does assume that there is a start and finish, though Journeys can be strung together between points.
The adventurers in the group (referred to here as a Company) take on one of roles that aide them in their journey. There must be a Guide, Hunter, Lookout, and Scout. The Guide makes a test to see when unforeseen events happen along the journey and then the Loremaster makes a roll to determine which character or characters will face the event, what kind of event it is, and what the consequences of that event will be. The Loremaster and the player(s) making the event test then improvise a scene and how the hero(es) attempts will overcome it.
The process then continues until the heroes reach their destination or are thrown completely off course. The burdens and wear of the road will likely result in Fatigue that the company will need to recover from or be hindered by in the next Adventuring Scene.
This is a simple, yet elegant, way of involving the entire table in the journey and can make the "in-between parts" as memorable as the scenes.
Fellowship
As mentioned earlier, The Fellowship Phase is a built-in downtime mechanic that is integrated into the game. In a Fellowship phase, the Loremaster reacts to the Players' choices rather than the Players' reacting to the Loremaster's narration. Players are encouraged to describe what their characters do in this downtime such as resting, recovering from injuries, following leads, and exploring opportunities that may have arisen in the previous Adventuring Phase (Fellowship Phases always follow Adventuring phases). This is also when they may improve their characters by spending their Experience Points.
Fellowship phases also take a longer amount of time than an Adventuring phase, weeks and months rather than hours and days. This accounts for the passing of time in the world and also brings about changes in the seasons. Once every three Fellowship phases there is an extended Fellowship for the winter Yule season. During that time, the heroes return to their homes and pass the cold in warmth and comfort. The heroes all age one year and gain a number of Skill Points equal to their Wits. This is essentially leveling up in The One Ring. The Yule Phase is also an opportunity for the Loremaster to share news about the changes in the world and rumors of what is to come in the next adventuring phases.
Given that Fellowship phases (with the exception of Yule) are intended to be taken as a group, this encourages the players to roleplay their characters interactions with each other when combat is not on the line. Giving the players a built-in portion of the game in which they must think about what their character does when not adventuring opens up a whole world of storytelling possibilities that you might not find in other fantasy RPGs.
Worldbuilding Wrap-Up
As this is DMing the World and we talk about worldbuilding primarily, I like to wrap-up my reviews with how the product can be used in your own campaign worlds. Given that this is a “core rules” product, that may seem impossible to do. But, I do believe that you can look at The One Ring and find something applicable for your own creations.
If you want to play a Middle-Earth game, this is what you need. The rules don't require a steep learning curve and you will evoke the feeling of the world through play. Should the Lorekeeper be a Tolkein scholar? It would definitely be helpful to be familiar with the material, but there are so many blank areas on the Middle-Earth map that you can create your own locations and people without problem.
You may not have any interest in playing a game set in Middle-Earth but the rules of this game could be applied to any fantasy setting. You may not have the ever-looming shadow of Sauron in the world, but the weariness and burdens of being a travelling adventurer are universal and can create a grittier sense of realism.
You may not have interest in learning an entirely new rules system, but do want to bring some of the concepts mentioned here to your game. That is definitely possible. The Journey mechanic is something that can easily be kit-bashed into another rules set and would make a great way to spice up that bare bones Overland Travel in D&D 5e. Don't be afraid to borrow what you like from here and use it in your own homebrew rules.
I definitely recommend this game for anyone who wants a fantasy RPG without the super-powered magic you find in other games.
You can purchase The One Ring at the Free League Press website, your local game store or through our Amazon Affiliate Link.
