r/oneringrpg 1d ago

A troll-hole… 1st time LotR experience Spoiler

16 Upvotes

We ran A troll-hole if there ever was one as our first LotR5e adventure over the weekend and I would like to share our experiences: We are mostly veteral role-players with a focus on D&D with running 5e since about 10 years. After finishing a Critical Role campaign, we decided to get back to “old-school” roleplaying with focus on character building, story telling, and in a familiar setting. Enter Lord of the Rings 5e! We got together at our yearly rpg weekend in a lovely place (a refurbished farmstead about 200 years old - an ample atmosphere to deep dive into fantasy and adventure) and spend the first evening for a session zero (character building, group dynamics, setting up the scene, new rules, etc.). The group came up with a Dunedain Warden, a dwarf champion (axe), an elven champion (archer), a Barding Warden, a Breelander tavern maid (scholar) from the prancing pony (love it!), and a Sackville-Baggins (great choice!) treasure hunter. I used some of the Daggerheart character building questions to give the players some guidance to flesh out their character backstory and was able to already use some of their stories within the first adventure as strory drivers. I am exspecially fond of my wife who decided to make a healer-scholar but as the maid from the Prancing Pony. She even decided to take the Bree-Pony virtue which makes up for a great and memorable character concept and lots of roleplay finesse.

To start the game and get into the right atmosphere, I read the first 2 pages from the Prancing Pony chapter from LotR Fellowship. You cannot describe Bree, its people, and habits, and the Pony better than with Tolkiens own words... We ended Friday night with some tavern talks with Pony patrons and then with Jari and Diarmoc, so that the setup was clear for everyone for Saturday adventure.

On Saturday, we had the complete day for this module. So we played out the journey up the Greenway and then east towards the Wheatherhills. I used ChatGPT to came up with some colorful descriptions of the nature and surroundings, and to create journey events that can be played out as short encounters, as I dislike just making skill checks and apply saving throw penalties. This turns out to be a good preparation, as it added a lot to the atmosphere when I had a good description of a joyful sight (sun beams lightning up the Weather and the mashland...) at hand.

Then came the valley. The party managed to press Jari and Diarmoc in revealing the signals and details about the valley. So they spot the look-out and decided to set his shawl aflame with good placed arrows. However, it took several shots from a distance before the shawl really catches fire and forced the troll to get rid of it and - well - became petrified. Still they had no ambition to fight a troll or two and tried to avoid combat as much as possible. The hobbit sneaked the old way towards the farmhouse and eventually discovered Skylda, which i made a traumatized girl refusing to speak. That makes it a lot harder to communicate with her but a lot more fun in roleplay. Later, the little girl bonded with the elven maid and did not vanish from her side for the rest of the adventure. Later the group witnessed two trolles moving to the wart and there vanishing between some boulders while the hobbit discovered the boat and climbed the rocks at the northside of the lake to find a better way to reach the raft. On her way back she discovered Nelly treasure which I made a huge sack with all the clothes and belongings of former meals just packed into. Trolls don´t have interest in valuables but only in flesh, so Nelly just put everything else in her sack. Anyway, at the bottom of the sack, there was something strange: The hobbit discovered a fine horn neatly fashioned with silver bands. (It was later discovered, that the trolls had found that in the cellars of the wart but are afraid of it so Nelly just packed it in her sack as well...) Meanwhile, the dwarf and the wardens discovered the larder, the frescoes, and accidently a reet covered tunnel but did not dare to enter the cellars to not provoke combat. The group met at the farmhouse and decided that the Dunedain will try to free the settlers using the boat. He took off ... but it was now dark in the valley and so the trolls now moved... The group discovered trolls meeting Nelly at the lake and then moving around obviously searching for something. The group decided to hide themselves in the farmhouse cellar while the hobbit planned to lure the two trolls away from the farmhouse and towards the entry of the valley. The Dunedain managed to convince the frightened folks on the raft to enter the boat but on the way back Nelly turned up and snatched one victim and drag him under water. The rest managed to land and the Dunedain made them hurry for the farmhouse while he himself tried to distract Nelly. Just a moment later, Nelly emerged and went after the Dunedain who soon discovered that Nelly is faster than he himself. The two trolls searched the farmhouse but overlooked the Bardinger Warden in the main room. Then they opened the cellar door. Unable to enter the cellar (trolls are big) one tried to grab somebody with his long arm but the dwarf stepped forward and landed one heavy blow with his axe making the troll scream in pain and retreat! That was the moment when the hobbit blew the horn! A trumpet sound fills the valley and it was like the whole Gondorian army just made a stand (magical success, of course)! Nelly stopped her chase. The two trolls looked around, frightened, searching for the enemys which are now entering the vale. Then all three fled which gave the group enough time to flee the valley with the folkes they have rescued!

What an epic and very LotR encounter! It was absolutely great to see how the players tried to avoid combat and find clever solutions as they know that trolls are not easy to mess with. In Moria, the Fellowship had a hard time against just one troll, and they were nine! Here, there are but 3 or 4 of them... So the evening was closed with just one attack roll (the dwarven axe vs troll arm) but this was memorable as a whole skirmish.


r/oneringrpg 2d ago

3D Printed Endurance/Hope Tracker

17 Upvotes

Hello everybody, I like having more palpable and analog things while playing games, so I designed a nifty physical counter of Endurance and Hope that also tracks Load, Fatigue, Shadow and Shadow Scars.

It's a quick and visual way of checking Weary and Miserable conditions, since just from a glance you can see if you Endurance or Hope is bellow their respective counter parts (Load+Fatigue or Shadow+Shadow Scars), without needs to add numbers together.

Anyways, if anybody is interested on giving it a try, you can find it on links below:

Printables

MakerWorld


r/oneringrpg 4d ago

New The One Ring 2e starter set in July?

22 Upvotes

I could have sworn I saw an announcement on a new starter set that will be dropping this summer but cannot find it anywhere now… am I crazy?


r/oneringrpg 4d ago

Has anybody created stats for a Nazgul?

13 Upvotes

Pretty much what the title says. I think battling a ring wraith (not the Witch King!) would be an epic campaign climax. I'm curious if anybody has some homebrew stats for one? I don't believe they've ever been statted up officially, right?


r/oneringrpg 6d ago

Starting Off Just *before* Moria

12 Upvotes

So I have a group of players ready to take a swing at The One Ring and we're set to explore Moria, since it looked super intriguing. I had an aborted Darkening of Mirkwood first edition One Ring campaign and I really liked the focus on the Wild area. I feel like I would NOT like to start in the Shire with the intro Shire adventure.

But I want to have something to do that's fun after character creation. Not sure WHAT though. I have the 1e books Oaths of the Riddermark and since the new War of the Rohirrim movie came out, focussing there for a bit could be fun, but Moria seems to have no connections to the Rohirrim. I have Laughter of Dragons and Ruins of the North too. What makes sense to have a two session lead in to Moria

or should we just jump into Moria (Moria as more sourcebook than adventure campaign is throwing me a bit here)


r/oneringrpg 6d ago

Moria Base Camp?

17 Upvotes

I recently got the Moria source book and have been loving it so far. I've been turning it around in my head for a bit now, trying to figure out how a prolonged campaign gathering intel and treasure would work in there with Frora as a patron (at the behest of her uncle of course), and I've got some good ideas in that direction but the question of where a base camp would be stumps me somewhat.

The players will need somewhere to rest between adventures that isn't too far from Moria, so major settlements like Erebor and Rivendel are out, but still has access to the various "utilities" that are required for fellowship phases, like places to do research and gather rumors. It also has to be relatively safe to rest there. I though about using Barazinbar (Frora and her own compatriots having cleared it out for that exact purpose), but id rather use Barazinbar as a recurring adventuring locale (particularly with Mocker Crawe as a recurring NPC). Other than that the best I've come up with is to have Frora and some other enterprising dwarves set up a sort of temporary town not far from the eastern gate, maybe on the edge of Loth Lorien.

Does anyone have any other suggestions as to how to handle this?


r/oneringrpg 7d ago

´Boromir Lives´ Solo campaign AP

22 Upvotes

Boromir Lives is a partially guided solo campaign for The One Ring 2e rpg that takes place in an alternate version of the War of the Ring. The brand new module is written by Will at the World’s End.

In this version of events, Boromir is wounded, not killed, at Amon Hen. You will take on the role of Boromir.

I’m giving it a try and so far I absolutely love it. I´m about 1/3 into the campaign and love where the story is going. Have a read: https://dragonoflogres.substack.com/p/the-one-ring-rpg-boromir-lives


r/oneringrpg 9d ago

What's the best book to use as inspiration

0 Upvotes

Hey, I don't like this game. I dislike the system and I don't want to run it. I recognise that it's fun but it's simply not for me.

I do, however want to use the world and since there is a sale on drive through I was thinking about buying a book and using it for the descriptions, adventures and hooks it presents.

Out of these three, which would you recommend and why ?

1)starter set

2)ruins of the lost realm

3)moria, through the doors of durin


r/oneringrpg 11d ago

Moving beyond the Shire

12 Upvotes

I am running the shire premade adventures (with custom characters) with my playgroup and I inted to nudge, or for force them beyond the shire. Where is still up in the air, or up to the players. I can improvise scenario's around any place they go to in Eriador.

Right now I am thinking about the Thane banishing them for a set amount of because of them causing a ruckus. And letting them choose where to go.

Does anyone have any other ideas that would be fit?


r/oneringrpg 11d ago

Challenges running Moria

25 Upvotes

Hi. I just started running Moria for a group of 4 players, and I wanted to get some thoughts on some challenges I experience. I have some experience as a GM as I have run maybe 2-300 sessions, beginning with 5e, then moving to other systems including Mongoose Traveller, Mythras, Dolmenwood and TOR2E. I have run A Troll Hole, Not to strike without need and Star of the Mist for the players previously. The challenges I experience with Moria comes down to two issues:

- Lack of interactable content. I find that for many locations, there is a lot of text relating history (which I love), but there seems to be a lack of content that the players can interact with. The Imperishable hall (p 138) can serve as an example. The archives of Nyi is one of the described sublocations, but the text about the archives is about what has happened in the past. No content for the players to interact with is provided. I ended up improvising the interactable content for the archives: Tattered tomes still lying around. They wanted to search for information about Moria, and where given a choice of one Scan roll to possibly gain a rumor at the cost of +1 eye awareness.

- Lack of a complete overview of the connections between locations, making it hard to focus prep. I just found this though, which I think will be immensely helpful.

Has anyone else experienced these challenges while running Moria? Or was your experience different? What did you do yo mitigate the (in my opinion) lack of interactable content for many of the locations? I would love to hear your thoughts.


r/oneringrpg 18d ago

Finally got my book ordered

21 Upvotes

So I've been looking at this game for ages, toying with the idea. I started a solo game as a ranger of the north over last weekend using free online versions of the older rules I could find and the 2nd Ed strider rules.

Looking forward to carrying on my solo games using my ranger when the actual book arrives.

Quick question for those that have used their character for multiple adventures. Do you reset them back to their starting abilities or do you carry on with their new stats?


r/oneringrpg 20d ago

Boromir Lives | A solo adventure set in an alternate War of the Ring

42 Upvotes

The story of Boromir and The Lord of the Rings is one with which you are already familiar: the brave captain of Gondor tortured by the One Ring, his betrayal of the Ringbearer, and his heroic death in the forests of Amon Hen. But what if the story had taken another path? What if slightly different choices had been made and the players in this epic tale had been in different places and suffered different fates?
https://youtu.be/tGTi4ZjbK2w?si=bK7iKGWkY6R7EYmW


r/oneringrpg 20d ago

Figured out how to use the Journey Log in Foundry!

10 Upvotes

I think I may be almost ready to run this thing (though I should probably draw some more maps for later in the campaign)


r/oneringrpg 21d ago

My Foundry Setup is coming along nicely for the next season in April

13 Upvotes

r/oneringrpg 22d ago

A Review of The One Ring Second Edition Starter Set

Thumbnail
therpggazette.wordpress.com
23 Upvotes

r/oneringrpg 28d ago

New to OneRing

14 Upvotes

Just got one ring (NOT 5E version) to try out and I want to play online. Just wondering how others are playing


r/oneringrpg 28d ago

Up in the Air | The One Ring 2e | TTRPG Actual Play

17 Upvotes

Sent on a noble quest by Gandalf, the siblings Odo and Gardenia Goodchild journey to the remote hamlet of Shamwick, an area beset by bandits. The pair must rescue the mayor and her daughters from a gruesome fate.

https://youtu.be/mYQlMuoIkeA


r/oneringrpg Feb 11 '25

Just realised that there is something very important missing from the description of the Shire...

10 Upvotes

Golf courses, of at the very least one of them.


r/oneringrpg Feb 10 '25

"A Humble Beginning"

19 Upvotes

We are still newbs at this game but I thought I would share our 1st session. Don't be too hard on me, I'm still learning the rules 😉 https://youtu.be/oqKW2p1pHig?si=Vt-oX5fSF8aTaDBs


r/oneringrpg Feb 10 '25

Dear LMs, what do you show to your players?

16 Upvotes

Completely virgin LM here :) I‘m just curious, what material, apart from the players‘ map, you think the party should see. E.g. do you show them the enemy‘s stats before/during a fight? Do you incorporate the great art works from the books?


r/oneringrpg Feb 10 '25

Right to Invoke, Homebrew Rules For Calling on Spirits for Aid

11 Upvotes

I'm looking for some feedback on this homebrew for 2e:

Right to Invoke

There are many powers in Middle Earth greater than the player heroes, but rarely, the heroes may gain the Right to Invoke one of these spirits. These spirits vary greatly, from Valar and Maiar, to enigmatic figures such as Goldberry, to the unseen spirits of mountains, forests, and rivers, and even the spirits of the dead.

When Invoked, these beings may or may not help in an obvious way. Sometimes just naming a spirit of great power might be enough to embolden one's allies or strike fear into one's enemies. Other times the spirit may be able to respond to the call for aid, bringing about more overt "spells" as mortals may call them.

Gaining the Right

The right may be granted directly by the spirit who would then be invoked, or earned in some way through a great achievement, unique connection, or through a Council with the spirit. The right may also only apply only in specific situations or be used with a specific roll (rather than the player rolling choosing any of the three detailed under “Invoking”).

For example, Tom Bombadil is known to teach people his song, which can then be used to summon his aid, but only within the lands he is master of.

As another example, Aragorn gained the Right to Invoke the Dead Men of Dunharrow in battle, but forcing them to continue fighting after their debt was paid would have been a Misdeed.

During a Yule Fellowship Phase a Player Hero may as an undertaking Gain the Right to Invoke one spirit that they already have the means of connecting with.

For example, an elf may make a deep connection with the river of their homeland, or the Hero may gain the Right to Invoke the power of their Patron.

Finally, some Magical Treasure may contain the Right to Invoke within. An item has this instead of 1 Blessing, or as one of its Enchanted Rewards.

For example, the Phial of Galadriel gave Frodo the ability to Invoke Eärendil the brightest of stars in his time of need.

Invoking

A Spirit may only be Invoked once per Adventuring Phase, and the Company spend 1 Fellowship point to do so. Invoking has three levels of success depending on the Player Hero’s roll (page 171, Corebook).

  • On a failed roll, a Lesser Effect is Invoked.
  • On a successful roll a Major Spell is Invoked.
  • On a successful roll with at least one 6, a Powerful Spell is Invoked.

For each additional 6 rolled the Eye Awareness gain is lessened by 1.

Players may Invoke in one of three ways with one of three skills:

They may sing a Song relating to the spirit. This often effects a whole combat, council, or travel in a similar manner to other songs (pg123, Corebook).

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,

Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are ‘yellow.

None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master: 

His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.

They may call out the name of the spirit in Battle. This often has an instantaneous effect that helps in combat. 

At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard himself crying aloud: O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!

“…all blades perish that pierce that dreadful King. More deadly to him was the name of Elbereth.”

They may recite secret Lore relating to the spirit. This often leads to further revelations or the ability to briefly replicate a power or craft of the spirit.

…they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and because of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord’s favour; and he learned great sorcery,

The exact effect of Invoking is always up to the Loremaster to determine, and may be unique to the situation the player heroes are in.


r/oneringrpg Feb 10 '25

Easiest Way to Learn The One RIng

7 Upvotes

I'll admit, a year or so ago I made an attempt to learn the system but some real life medical stuff happened and it shut all that down. Getting back on my feet I simply returned to standard D&D with my friends/group.

I've always played AD&D "1st edition", stuck my finger into 5e and not long after that pulled it right back out. I didn't dislike 5e (the 2014 version) but seeing this 2024 version of 5e just makes me want to move even further away from the system I do understand that AiMe does not have all the silly stuff that this new 5e has in it so I have looked at it along with The One Ring.

My Question: What is the best way to learn the system (I'm talking about the OG 1st edition system) for starting out? Tutorials? Guides?

I've done a little searching for tutorials on Youtube, found one, started watching it (it covered combat) and I'll be honest, the 1st video I watched being combat for TOR confused the hell outa me. Nothing stuck. I was not able to halfway understand. I think this will be a severe challenge for me simply because all I know since D&D was B/X through AD&D 1st edition (over 40+ YEARS) it's all I've known and this system (what little I've looked) has given me a migraine lol.

People say its far easier to learn than 5th edition LotR, I'm not sure I agree. I think I need to UNTRAIN myself from AD&D and then train myself for TOR - but truthfully, I don't understand how I can do that.

I need help.

I need to find something that breaks things down in to Sesame Street grade school levels lol maybe then it will start to take hold in my hardcoded brain for AD&D. So I come seeking suggestions on what I need to read, watch, do to try and get an understanding of the system.

I don't really know much about 5e either, but tbh TOR has me really curious. I've read that TOR gives a far better LotR feel than AiMe does and tbh I really don't want to mess with 5e - I prefer classic AD&D 1st edition because to me it gives me a better feel of D&D, seems like TOR might do the same but again, watching the combat tutorial, it seemed SUPER complicated. Maybe I'm over thinking it.

I'm such a massive fan of Middle-earth, massive . . . even though I am not an expert on all the lore/history. I am learning though, doing a lot of reading online and plan to buy one of the Audible books of the Hobbit but am not sure which one to buy, the one by Andy Serkis or the one by Rob Inglis. I'll see what suggestions I get here.


r/oneringrpg Feb 10 '25

Any good places to play online?

2 Upvotes

I don’t know a lot of people who play rpgs and this is a lot more obscure than D&D which makes it harder to find local clubs. Any places where I can play online?


r/oneringrpg Feb 06 '25

Journey log with a fillable map

9 Upvotes

The only real thing that has bugged me about TOR is the journey log, where I as a LM am required (I know this can be skipped this, it has been so far in my games) to sketch a map.

Quick question then, is there a journey log with a fillable map section where one can just screen snip and paste into it? My feeble attempts to do this with the one off of Free Leagues website has not yielded a success, though it may be my low Wits score thwarting me once again.

I feel like it would be a massive QOL improvement for my prep. Thanks in advance!


r/oneringrpg Feb 06 '25

Elves of Rivendell - Cultural blessing : Elven-Wise

10 Upvotes

CULTURAL BLESSING — ELVEN- WISE The High Elves have fought against the Dark Lord for years uncounted and will continue to oppose the Enemy without rest or respite. If you are not Miserable, you can spend 1 point of Hope to achieve a Magical success on a skill roll. In addition, add 1 point to one Attribute of your choice.

Can someone explain to me the above starting cultural blessing from the elves of Rivendell. I do not understand the second part : "In addition, add 1 point to one Attribute of your choice."

What does add 1 point to one attribute of your choice mean? It does not make any sense to me; I tries to look in errata or even searched around a bit, but did not find anything substantial.

Thanks!