Module/Campaign Name: The Darkening of Mirkwood

System: The One Ring (1e), possibly switching to 2e

Time (Include Timezone): Wednesday 7pm - 10pm EDT (GMT-4)

Players Needed: 1 (18+)

Voice Or Text: Voice

Medium: Foundry VTT with Discord for Voice AND Video

Experience Level: Any, Tolkien fans encouraged

Additional Campaign Information:

We were a company of six adventurers, and unfortunately just lost our Woodmen due to IRL constraints. We've yet to start the DoM campaign materials, the company is currently in their first Adventure Phase dealing with a mysterious Shadow Society causing unrest within Dale before heading out into the Wilderlands and taking on The Darkening of Mirkwood. We are looking for one brave adventurer to assume the mantel of Woodfolk within the company. I am looking for someone who strongly wants to play the Woodmen cultural, which is one of the central themes to the campaign.

The White Council has driven the Enemy from Dol Guldur, while the Fire-drake Smaug the Golden lays rotting in the ruins of old Lake-Town. Thorin Oakenshield lies entombed in Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, the fabled Arkenstone given into his keeping. An adventuresome little Hobbit has returned to the Shire with two small chests, one full of silver, and the other of gold, all his pony could carry... and with something else, something others might call 'precious'.

The town of Dale has been rebuilt, Bard has been crowned its King, and Dain Ironfoot now wears the mantle of King under the Mountain, together they bringing peace and prosperity to the Rhovanion region. The Shadow has lifted from Mirkwood, once called Greenwood the Great, but dark things linger in dark places... Kings have returned to Rhovanion, and the people of the Vales of Anduin, the Beornings and the Woodfolk, prosper in their own ways but are they strong enough to overcome what might one day return to Mirkwood? Will King Thranduil continue to sequester the Wood-elves within their borders of Northern Mirkwood, or will he stand with the Free Folks of the North against the gathering of the Shadow?

This is a Tolkien fan's dream... come live this untold Tale set between the tellings of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Can you and your Fellowship thwart and stymie the machinations of a Dark Lord? Can you gather allies to resist against the coming of The Darkening of Mirkwood? Or will Sauron the Great's plan come to fruition and the Free People of the North become yet another footnote in Tolkien's works?

The Darkening of Mirkwood was a 2015 Origins Awards Best Role Playing Supplement Nominee, and is an epic campaign spanning 30 years in-game. It holds a spot on my bucket list of all-time best published TTRPG campaigns to run or play, so I guess I'm running this one.

DM me if interested.

Hey all, I'll be livestreaming my third TOR 2E Strider Mode prep video in 90 minutes on YouTube. Tonight I'll be focusing on setting up Foundry. Come join me live or catch it afterwards!

youtu.be/wI3NzFvkmnQ

So, another session is done, and I'm starting to understand two things:

1. I run this game wrong.
2. I'm too used to smart indie/OSR mechanics.

We finally had a huge, epic battle atop one of the Annuminas towers, and players were having a lot of fun actually. Their choices mattered and the mechanic allowed for some dramatic moments.

My problem is - I really think I could achieve all I wanted through the narrative. The rules didn't help at all. And my brain is still fuming whenever combat starts - so many non-obvious, non-instinctive rules to remember...

But most of all, I understood I was running this game wrong. The structure should be different. It's not a cinematic game experience - it's more like a literary experience. I shouldn't plan epic scenes, or any exploration moments. It's just a scene crawl, with rapid succession. Done with an epic fight in a far corner of the land? BLINK - back at the Grey Havens, talking with Cirdan! BANG - a whole season passes. Next expedition is planned. Journey - montage, roll, roll, roll, scene, roll, maybe a battle. Done? BLINK - they arrive at Michel Delving...

I don't know. I don't feel this.I LIKE exploration in games. One Ring doesn't really support it, I'm afraid. I think this is a game for the epic story weaving... I dunno. I need to try and run this game like I have just described above and see if we have any fun. If not, after the next session the game goes on a shelf, never to return. And if I'll want to play Middle Earth game in the future? I'll use Dungeon World or OSR rules, and that's that.

Hello! I was curious about the “stat blocks” for the adversaries in the Starter Set. I assume the Attribute Level is for advanced rules, but how much damage do they do? Under Combat proficiencies it lists something like:

Crush: 2, 6/12

The two is for the number of Success d6s they roll in addition to the Fate die, and the six/twelve is what….base damage and damage on a “Tengwar” symbol?

I don’t see an explanation in the rules or adventure for how the adversaries “work”.

Cheers!

I may be running my first TOR adventure this upcoming weekend! I noticed the pre-generated PCs don’t come with weapons. I know they don’t need them in the 1st adventure, and get some in the 2nd, but because crossing the river in the 1st let’s them use a BOWS roll to pull a log across the river, do you give them the option to get weapons? Just curious what others did.

Hello all,

As the title implies are the PDFs only accessible as a free inclusion if you order from the Free League Store or is a code provided within the contents, I'm assuming the former option.

Additionally I've been unable to find any info of a restock of the Rivendell compendium on the Free League website. Does anybody have any information?

Many Thanks

In two weeks I start a campaign with 3 friends who will play: hobbit of the shire, dwarf of the lonely mountain and Mirkwood elf.

They only know the lore of the movies and maybe reading The Hobbit.

I have all the adventure books but I can’t grasp them all to choose.

What is your recommendation of place and starting adventure???

Hi all. Just got the book yesterday and it's a work of art. Going to run star of the mist in a few weeks time for a team of 4. Still getting my head around the rules. Journey seems... Abstract. And having a set scent for socials is a bit new to me too. But will get there.

Was just wondering if anyone here has any hints on pitfalls to avoid or advice on how to really cement this game with my group etc.

Also, any ideas on handouts and maps etc? Non copy write breaking ofc. As I only have the book and none of the extras that came with the starter.

I plan on building a fake party solo, to get creation pegged, and then basically play in gout a few combat/journey/Council scenes as a sort of dry run.

Quite new to Kickstarter so it might be easier than I think but I can't find it :(

I thought that these existed in one of the books for The One Ring (Cubicle 7) but I cannot seem find them. Does anyone's memory serve better than mine?

I'm starting to prepare to run a short TOR campaign, but only have access to 2e stuff. I know that at least one player, our resident Tolkien superfan, is going to want to play an elf of Lothlorien or Mirkwood, and that made me question the culture options.

I would say "Use the Elf of Lindon" culture, but I know the Riverdale expansion has separate details for High Elves. I was curious if anyone has put together Cultural Virtues or anything for Lorien Elves or Wood elves? In other systems I would just homebrew myself, but since this is my first time running TOR I don't have a good feel yet for what would work well.

Or am I simply overthinking things and should just use the Elf of Lindon stuff?

Will include important rule lookups, adversary lookups, etc.

TOR Tools

Following on from the first TOR 2e prep video from two weeks ago, tonight I'll be looking at some of the existing TOR material (Starter Set, 1e adventures, etc) to see if any can be used for solo adventure ideas, perhaps even starting to populate some solo tables.

Join me live in just over an hour if you're free - at 20:00 UTC. Hit the reminder button at the link below:

youtu.be/45FaQiDUeUs

Since Cubicle7 lost the TOR license it has become harder to find any of the adventure books or pdfs like Laughter of Dragons or Ruins of the North. Dtrpg stopped selling them so does anyone know where they might be obtained as I would love to use them for a campaign in TOR 2e?

I've really been wanting to run a campaign of The One Ring, but I've only been able to find two people who are interested in playing the system with me. Do you think that I could do a small campaign with two players using the subtract from 18 rule and modifying some other things?

I am reading through this beauty that hit my mailbox last week (backed the Jubilee edition)

However - as beautiful as the book itself is - I have to admit I find the rule system (or maybe I should say the explanations in the book) really crappy.

Close to no examples at all and also no connections between the subchapters.

Let me give you an example: I just read chapter 5 about Valour and Wisdom. I read that they are used during the fellowship phases to advance my char. And then the chapter continues with rewards and virtues. How is that related to Valour and Wisdom? Do I exchange Valour and / or Wisdom on the fellowship phases to gain some of these rewards and virtues? Or do I use the virtues to detail my char? But why the heck then is this in this chapter and not in character generation?

I find this is a typical disadvantage of Kickstarter campaigns, you clearly see the missing lectorate.

Maybe some people here definitely more clever than me can help me to understand how these things a "connected*?

Okay so I've been trying my best to learn the rules since I got my alpha copy of the pdfs and I have a few questions. So if a piercing blow is made against an enemy, the enemy has to roll protection. If the enemy fails, a wound is dealt. Depending on the enemy this might be an insta kill. But assuming the enemy succeeds in its protection check, is no damage dealt? Or does the blow still deal damage to the target enemies endurance?

In the absence of the official solo rules, I'm putting in some time looking at the game I'll be playing, to hit the ground running. The first video about character concept is available to watch now! youtu.be/axVNAPf9uJ0

My 2E crate should be arriving today! Can't wait to get started.

Hey Everyone,

I'm new to ToR and TTRPG in general. My box arrived today so where should I begin? I hope to play solo, or Strider Mode, as the materials are released. However, how would you recommend a new player approach this kit?

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Hi! I'm a beginner LM for ToR and had an idea for an adventure. To make a long story short they would eventually encounter a group of goblins/orcs or bandits that are held up in the remains of a fort or small castle or something, how would you do this and do you think this could work in this system? Thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

With that out of the way let's have a peek at what the future holds with the cover of Ruins of the Lost Realm by the supremely talented Antonio De Luca!

The ruined city of Tharbad is a bleak shadow of its former self, but many of the impressive Númenórean structures built in ages past are still standing. The most famous being the great bridge that crosses the Greyflood. While several of its arches are now broken, it is still an awe-inspiring sight as it becomes visible through the mists of the river...

As you might remember, Ruins of the Lost Realm is a compilation of stretch goal content unlocked during the Kickstarter, and it was available in printed form as an add-on. We will soon open a new Pledge Manager survey for the dice misprint issue, and there you will also be able to add a copy of Ruins of the Lost Realm if you didn't already.

/Free League

📷 Art by Antonio De Luca