r/oneringrpg

I am thinking of combining some elements of the One Ring RPG with parts of D and D (mostly 3.5). In general, I want a high fantasy, low-magic system, but one in which magic does exist for the players. (It could be powerfully but taxing or consistent and not too strong or some combination of the two). Are there spellless or weaker versions of the Paladin, Bard, and Ranger I could look at? I was thinking of using some of the rules from Midnight 2e which limit use of magic. I’m not opposed to high levels, but I don’t want reality-warping spells to be ready at-hand.

Hey everyone!

I'm looking to run Hands of the White Wizard for some friends of mine this year, and I was looking at some of the other books published for TOR 2e. I've read that this campaign ramps up in difficulty pretty severely by the end and so I thought it might be good to drop an additional adventure or two in among those listed in the campaign, to give the party some more opportunities to advance and to acquire some treasure before the final showdown in the morgul vale.

My budget for new RPG books is somewhat limited at the moment, so I was looking to get some advice on which of the other books to pick up. Since as-written, the party goes to Moria twice, it would make sense to pick up Doors of Durin. But out of the other published material, which ones have the best "drop in" adventures which can be added between the party's tasks for Saruman?

Hey Gang,

I have spent a couple months on & off vibing a character creator & sheet app for TOR 2E. I have sadly yet to be able to play with my buds (we're stuck wrapping up a 5e campaign haha), but I have read the book a couple times over at least.

I built this because a huge hold up in our group is ease-of-use for systems & character management for new systems, especially since we only play remote these days. My goal is that this improves our chances to play this game long term once we make the move.

My hopes is that this makes the game a little for some folks to play as well!

Some disclaimers:

• Yes, this was made with AI. I could have used AirTable for manual building, but it just wouldn't have looked as nice
• Yes, this is free.
• No, I haven't had the chance to play the game, so bare with me haha
• I only have the Base Book, no expansions.

Message me if you want the link! I want just a few people to use it, so I can hammer out issues when possible.

Hi so i recently got the core rulebook for TOR and realms of the three rings expantion, and since i dont really have no one to play it with i decided to go with strider mode. Then i got to the character creation and created high elf of rivendell since i love elves so obviously (+shes messenger), but i have a problem to make a backstory for her that feels deep tragic and "Tolkienish" and playable at the same time. I think i want her to be age similar to legolas since he was an only elf in the fellowship so it feels accurate (if i remember correctly people say hes around 500-2000yo). I dont know anything i come up with just doesnt feel right, and i just dont know and remember the lore as much so maybe if you have played an elf you can share your characters backstories for inspo or tell how your creating process was? Thank you in advance<:

It started with The Hobbit treasure hunter sneaking up on the elven camp, like she didn't want to be spotted, and being caught by Brethil the scout.

It led to Brethil and Sulrien being willing to lead the elf party members into the forest, but being wary of inviting men and especially the Hobbit.

This led to The Hobbit going into a massive rant about racism. Which led to Randur apologizing on Brethil and Sulrein's behalf. Which led to him submitting to the whole party's demand to loot the entire grove for all its worth, with the exception of the Heart of Tindailin, in recompense for this insult.

This led to Randur later noticing the party's gifts from Galadriel and further apologizing on Sulrein and Brethil's behalf, and saying he's even MORE happy they came to his aid, which lead to both The Hobbit and one of the men in the party asking "Oh so now we have Elven gifts we see more legitimate in your eyes? I suggest you stop being so racist and just look outside your own confirmation bias and racial echo chamber".

So we now have all three elves considered, it seems, irredeemable, another man in the group who looked through Thalions diary and actively ignored everything apart from "oooh, maps to grab!", them actively getting bored from the mystery and "elf B.S." and a big question mark if whether the group will even uphold the promise of handing over the Heart of Tindailin.

This is not intended to be a rant of "why aren't the players doing what I want" or "why aren't they caring about the story I'm crafting". I just wonder what's gone so wrong that my flawed elf npcs are just viewed as the KKK, and I'm worried that my players are slipping into bad habits of being "dice gremlins" when I mentioned at the outset that this game is about being at least more heroic than usual. I'm also not happy with two back-to-back sessions being about modern day identity politics, Nor am I happy that in the lead-up The Meeting with Herunen and no one will actually care about About him or Thalion or Mirwen or anything other than themselves.

I'm also not entirely sure that the party will be accepting of the consequences of looting and bullying, And Be ready with a laundry list of excuses ("I'm a curious Treasure hunting Took, of course way I'm gonna act like this").

I am soliciting the group for ideas of Hobbit themed magical items that might have been left behind when they migrated west. My party is traveling around the Misty Mountains, the vales of the Anduin, and Mirkwood right now and would love to have them stumble on some ancient Hobbit hole.

I have been thinking about dwarven or westernesse craftsmanship since the Eotheod and Khazad-dum were in this region around the same time the Hobbits inhabited it.

Title. I know there are ‘Great Orcs’ in the rulebook, but I don’t know whether they mean Uruk-Hai are Great Orcs or that they are their own thing

Mae govannen!

On Sunday, me and my usual troupe of players ran through the starter module for The One Ring 2E, Over Hill and Under Hill, and I thought it might be nice to post up a review. If you want my final notes/ a TL;DR, it'll be at the bottom of this post!

Initial Notes

I've been a GM for ttrpgs for 10+ years, having been running things since High School. I've mostly run D&D 5e and Pathfinder 1e, but have been looking to branch out and try some new systems. I was first drawn to The One Ring after reading about it last year. After finishing a Pathfinder campaign, I spent some time going over other systems and felt this would be a good fit.

On a personal note, I've been a Tolkien fan ever since I saw the films as a kid. I've loved his world, and have spent a lot of time poring over his books and the lore of Middle-Earth over the years. I'd say I have a relatively deep understanding of the setting.

The Players

I offered some pregens to my players, but also let them make their own characters. A couple of them took that opportunity, and found it to be relatively quick and easy, while also giving a lot of choice. For our party, we had a Ranger Champion, an Elf Messenger, a Hobbit Warden, and a Barding Captain. The Captain and the Warden were custom characters, whereas the Messenger and Captain were the pregens (that I had made!). Following the advice of the book, the players' Target Numbers were made by subtracting their Attributes from 18, instead of 20 for a one-shot.

Tabletop Info

We used Roll20 for this one-shot, using their sheets. I would say that the sheets are adequate, with alright automation. I think that Roll20 is a bit behind the times, but at the moment I can't really switch to a better VTT.

Things We Liked

Overall, this module presents a really solid foundation for the systems of The One Ring. It introduced us to the Journey, Combat, and Council mechanics in ways that I found mostly satisfactory. On my end, I also found prep and running the game to be a breeze compared to something like Pathfinder or D&D 5e - building NPC stat blocks took all of five minutes, and they didn't have particularly complicated abilities for combat. Combat was my biggest worry - my players, coming from Dungeon Games, are more used to the tactical combat grid. However, they all seemed to enjoy it greatly - one player even remarked that it had just enough crunch to make enough decisions, while also feeling very lightweight.

The Journey mechanics were also very well received. Most other journey and exploration mechanics in other games they have tried left something to be desired, and so this felt like a breath of fresh air. One player wished that there could have been more encounters while traveling, as they had a relatively easy time succeeding at the Exploration roll. This was, of course, a consequence of their Target Numbers being lower.

When it came to more free-form play, players liked the numbers of skills that they had. They also enjoyed the kind of granularity when it came to character customization. They also enjoyed the setup of the world, and felt that the module was tonally very consistent with Tolkien. I will say, as a Tolkien fan, the game was much more like the books than the films.

Things That Could Have Been Better

The biggest problem my players had was with the Council system. Part of this was user error - I didn't quite know how to run it well, having never done so before - but the other part was the way it was presented in the module. In this module, in order to get information from a child in a ruined village, it suggests running a Council. However, this felt very low-stakes for the system, to the point of it feeling unnecessary. The abstraction of the Council also felt odd for the situation. A couple of my players enjoyed it and understood it, but one player did not like it whatsoever. I believe that it may be better suited to larger and more important situations, rather than the somewhat small situation presented.

TL;DR

I really enjoyed running this. Honestly, this was the most fun I've ever had GMing something. I also did not feel so out of place or pressured, and I felt energized rather than exhausted when it came to running it. I also felt prep was so easy, and involved things I enjoyed doing.

My players also enjoyed this system, and said they would enjoy a longer campaign. I would be very excited to run a campaign - especially because it will necessarily involve mechanical systems not touched upon in the one-shot - and am considering doing so in future.

All in all, I would recommend this system immensely, especially if you're looking for something lighter-weight and are a big fan of Tolkien. I don't think you need to know everything about Middle-Earth, but it's definitely for people who are at least familiar with the setting.

Hi everyone! Just wondering. Can the virtue Foresight of their Kindred be used to reroll wound severity rolls?

I assumed it cannot, as it says 'reroll any one roll... from an adversary targeting them'. It sounds like it stops enemy attacks that sort of thing. Not a more nebulous wound severity after the blow has already connected.

Hey everyone! I'm starting a new 2e campaign and would love suggestions for the best tutorial scenario to run. My group recently finished a D&D campaign and we want to do a tutorial session for TOR with pre-made characters so we can get a feel for the game before we jump in and create new ones.

With that in mind, what scenario would be best? "Star of the midst" from the handbook? "Over hill, under hill" from the starter set? Something else?

Thanks in advance :)

I can't decide, from the text in the adventure, if Herunen should literally 'stop anyone from getting in the water', or if I should follow the example of a streamer, and allow my PCs to discover Aranwe before Herunen arrives back in his lair.

Been thinking - given the low population density for Eriador, is it feasible for the Black Numenoreans ship to be able to support 500 warriors?

I guess the largest Spanish galleon was 60o sailors, so the size of the ship isn’t unrealistic. Just it seems hard for them to find a port on the Eriadorian coast that could have a food surplus sufficient to feed 500.

The only option would be to contract with farmers in the Shire to ship food down the Greyflood, but then how would Sauron then have no clue about hobbits and the Shire?

As title. What tool you use for npc generation? Personally i'm searching for a deck of card but none of them match with middle earth vibes

My campaign is all the way in Lindon still but i like to prepare in advance. My fellowship will encounter this duo one day for sure. The question is: how to represent them best on the table?

I'm having a blast!! Here is the synopsis so far. Spoilers from Ruins of the Lost Realm are covered if you are a player.

TA 2750

Prologue: A ill-fated story of friendly rivalry, rashed oaths, friendly fire, and misguided accusations ended up with Curunir the elf of Lindon slain by his former friend Thorvar the ranger of the north. Thorvar, now mad, run away, died and became a fell spirit under the lingering power of Angmar. Curunir's friend, Findrethiel, stole the Wall of Doriath (a magical shield) from Lindon and chased Thorvar the Wraith.

Session 0: To get the hang of the game, I played one session where Findrethiel travelled to Tindailin>! and fought alongside Thalion the elf versus roaming orcs!<. My original plan was to play back and forth in time but I found it too convoluted.

TA 2965

Campaign proper: Nynren of Redleaves the messenger is a Dunlending exile, adopted by travelling hunters & sheperds. When singing at the market in Bree, he attracts the attention of Galdor, emissary of Cirdan. Nynren receives a mission: to escort Rosanna Took the hobbit scholar while she investigate the fate of Findrethiel, Thorvar the Wraith, and/or the Wall of Doriath.

How I am playing the investigation: The starting clue is Tindailin. Then I use oracles to see what new clue we should find there and to which other landmark it points. Custom progress tracks indicate when we found out the final fate of the Findrethiel & Thorvar (are they alive?) and the shield (where is it?).

The story so far: We reach Tindailin >!and quarrel with the elves. There is a tense singing council with Herunen the water spirit, which releases Aranwe in exchange of Nynren's oath of bringing Mirwen back to the pond for confrontation (another rash oath?!<). Herunen tells us Finrethiel went towards Tharbad.

In Tharbad we sneak inside >!and learn about Amelia Kern the treasure hunter. We manage to become friends and she helps us.!< We investigate in the Old Library. New clue: a record about Findrethiel's passage and alliance with a Dwarven expedition towards Moria. However, we have attracted Tharnow's attention. He wants us to lead him to Moria and rob another dwarven expedition that just passed through, or Amelia will suffer consequences. We are in a tight spot.

We travel towards Moria with Tharnow, some thugs, >!and a very-much-not-happy Gwileth the scout!<. We met a Dunlending travel party, led by >!Frecana!< the heir of Freca. After a council, Nynren gets safe passage for them >!and also a crush on the princess!<. Then, approaching the West Gate of Moria, we found the dwarven expedition slaughtered by orcs. Eventually, we get in a fight with those orcs too. Tharnow dies but together with Gwileth we kill the Orc Chieftain. We are exhausted, wounded, and with no idea how to enter Moria. We decide to regroup.

Fellowship phase. Gwileth goes back to Tharbad to deal with the fallout of Tharnow's death. >!Nynren stops to pay homages to Frecana again: he hopes she is a force of good, but will she be swayed by this naive, honest young man?!< Then Nynren and Rosanna goes back to Bree/Hobbiton to spend time with their families. Galdor puts Nynren in touch with Daza Redhanded the Dwarf of Nogrod, which will be leading a small expedition to Moria. Onwards they go!

>!More hooks for the future: the heroes have seen the Black Numenoreans roaming Eriador on their dark businesses. Arcinyas has learnt that a fool man is going into Moria: he will leverage his crush on Frecana and manipulate him into researching ring-lore.!<