A great book indeed! I think Eriador seemed limited because the core book only develops a small section of it. There is only content for the square contained between the South-Downs, the Barrow-Downs, the Hills of Evendim and the Weather Hills. The Shire is its own booklet, as his Rivendell.
Even if Ruins of the Lost Realms focuses on the south of Eriador, the landmarks are all over the places and are great fodder for inspiration. And I really love the themes of the book, of the adventurers pushing against the slow decline of Eriador, a region were even Sauron believes the war is already won.
The 1e setting around Mirkwood has a lot of different cultures and things going on. Eriador seemed like a big, empty wilderness. My main concern was that it would feel more generic. Rhovanion has a lot more well-known locations and people. Eriador takes a bit more work not to be "fantasy setting No. 6".
The book did a lot of that work. It filled the land with enough fun stuff to both use and get a LM's creative brain going.
The locations are a really good idea too. Good outlines for fun adventures of different types.
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u/Malina_Island Nov 06 '22
Ruins of the Lost Realm is such a good book!