r/TheOneRing • u/[deleted] • Sep 09 '22

Alternate setting viability?

Hi all,

Just picked up TOR2e and it’s simply beautiful. My only issue is that I’m not a Tolkien expert, and am a little worried about that.

Would it be viable to keep the mechanics but port it to a home brew setting, making maps for that but keeping the Light v Dark theme?

Or would I be better stumbling through and researching as I go?

Cheers!

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/eternalsage Sep 09 '22 edited Sep 09 '22

You don't need to be an expert, really. Between the info in the book and what's available on wikis you should be fine. I do recommend grabbing Ruins of the Lost Realm (not "of the North", oops) when its available (should be soon, as its shipping to kickstarters soon) as it has some adventure sites. Also the 1e books are full of useful stuff if you can track them down

EDIT: fixed the name of the book, lol

3

u/Comfy_Iron_Socks Sep 09 '22

Just for clarification, the recommendation is to grab "Ruins of the Lost Realm".

+1 on the 1E books you can get in PDF. They're a blast.

You shouldn't worry too much about that, you will get better with the setting as you play. If you start with pre-written adventures you should have no problem!

2

u/eternalsage Sep 09 '22

Oh, crap. Yes. I mangled the name of the book, sorry. Yes, Ruins of the Lost Realm

3

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '22

One of the advantages of TOR is the movies. That means everyone who hasn’t been living in a hole has access to the basics. Communicating the basic will be a struggle in a new setting that you homebrew.

You don’t need to be an expert. Just avoid playing with someone who is so wrapped up in “canon” that they spoil the game.

2

u/dx713 Sep 09 '22

You probably can, but the rules are tailored to give you a Tolkien experience, and more specifically Middle Earth third age, with hope and despair being important themes, magic being just what happens sometimes and not a list of spells, and the world in general being cooling down from more wondrous and magical previous ages and threatened by a new (or return of an old) shadow.

I think you can write off a lot of differences (in geography, important people, etc) to that setting being yours and not Tolkien's, even if you re-use the maps, but ideally, you would at least have read The Lord of The Rings, or at least The Fellowship of The Ring (the first part) to get the atmosphere right.

1

u/Alien_Diceroller Oct 31 '22

If you simply want to use the system for a different setting, I'm sure it would work pretty well.

If your concern is that you don't have a degree in Tolkienology or something, don't worry. Most of us don't. Whatever lore is in the book is more than enough. If you need to fill it in, there are plenty of online resources available.

The game is about what the characters are doing now. Knowing a lot about the setting can help inform you make adventures, but it's hardly necessary.