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The One Ring™ Core Rules $24.99
Average Rating:4.8 / 5
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by David [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/10/2024 12:09:04

Every time I go to read this it tells me that the PDF is locked and I have to enter a password - anyone know why?



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by David [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/10/2024 12:09:04

Every time I go to read this it tells me that the PDF is locked and I have to enter a password - anyone know why?



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Georgios A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2024 09:58:16

As a first solo foray into TOR (using Strider Mode), I absolutely love it. It has very interesting mechanics, and the more I think about them, the more I like it. TOR in particular has a Target Number which is derived from the core Attributes (Strength, Heart, Wits), so what your character is natural makes a task easier or more difficult. Skills allow you to roll a number of d6s equal to your d6 level, so the more skilled you are at something, you’re more likely to succeed. I love how these two work together for the same end result, but are separate from each other. Also only by having a higher skill can you get a higher chance of getting a special success, as the attribute only effects the TN. Furthermore you always roll a Feat Die (a d12 essentially), numbered from 1-10 and having a face with the Eye of Sauron and a face with Gandalf’s Rune, which give a Misfortune or Fortune respectively. So different situations can increase or decrease the number of Skill dice, and they can also make the Feat Die be rolled at advantage or disadvantage, and the great thing about it is, that they will impact different things in the game!

Heading to the next part which is combat. I loved it. A skill roll modified by opponents Parry is made. Each character has an Endurance rating which one could think of as Hit Points, as they can take you out of combat. Each hit you receive will reduce your Endurance. Damage to Endurance is fixed, modified by any special successes rolled, and you only drop unconscious at zero. Only Wounds have the opportunity of killing a character, and that’s where armor has it’s place, as it can prevent this. There are many special successes that can be utilized by the heroes or their adversaries, and the heroes also have four (five in solo) stance to choose when fighting. There is no significant Death Spiral, with the major penalty is the risk of becoming weary if your Endurance drops below your Fatigue and Load rating. I won’t go into any more details, I just found that combat may look complex, but actually is very streamlined, with as few rolls as possible, but at the same time providing a great varied experience.

TOR has several bookkeeping stats, which all play a major role in the game. You need to keep track of your Fellowship, Endurance, Load, Fatigue, Hope and Shadow. Sounds like a lot, but they all provide a different result. Your character may start going down the shadow path, or lose hope, or become tired and need to rest, etc. These all provide an experience as close as one can get to the Tolkien books. The authors also chose terms whose name rings familiar to the LOTR trope.

The next part I adored was the Journey system. Another smart way to run hex based journeys. An event will always happen, the question is when, and what event. So depending on how good you’re at travelling, you may make the journey with fewer events or as many as 1 per hex, making you earn each hex with hard adventuring. I love how this system could also work with a hex crawl generator (like the hex power flowers), and with any success based RPG ruleset. It’s something I’ll keep on my toolset for the future, as it works great for solo, and is much better than asking the Oracle or rolling on random encounter tables.

As to the presentation, I have the hardcopy book and the art and quality of print is absolutely stunning. Production value is great, and the whole book is very evocative. Love it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Andrew [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/15/2024 09:07:39

The One RIng is the best TTRPG that I've found for invoking the spirit of Tolkien's Middle-earth.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by christopher [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/15/2024 08:51:00

Production values are through the roof. Art and layout are graphically superior to other RPG core books.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Edgar [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/10/2023 17:20:08

Free League Publishing is in my opinion the best role playing game publisher in the world. Their artwork, elegant rules and high production quality outshines anything else I've seen



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/19/2023 13:54:21

I bought the game to see if it was something for my group, and wanted to give a brief review in case it might help others decide.

Preface: Haven't played the game and probably never will, so I have no idea if the game works mechanically. I will say however, that the game is not based on the Year Zero Engine from Free League, which was a disappointment for me. It relies on a mixture of d6 and d12 with unique symbols on some of the numbers - yes rather annoying unless you like buying special dice all the time.

Graphics: The book is gorgeous and the font, style, art etc. is taken 1:1 from the LotR movies. Whether this is a good or bad thing for you naturally depends on whether you think Peter Jackson and co. have a perpetual artistic patent on visualising the world of Tolkien. I personally find it flavourful, but I can easily see why someone might be fed up with it.

Style of game: Interestingly, from my reading of the rules it seems like a game focused around exploration and travelling, instead of a combat simulator with the rest tacked on. Rather refreshing actually.

Unfortunately, but very much in line with the lore, PCs do not have access to magic. I have several players who never play games without magic, and as such I'll never run this at either of my tables.

Thus my very short overview ends as I have way too many games to read through to learn stuff I'll never run :(



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by ashley s. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/12/2023 09:07:54

A fantastic narrative driven RPG system set in the world of JRR Tolkien. The rulebook is full to the brim with amazing artwork and as a fan of LOTR and the Hobbit I had an absolute blast running campaigns in the system!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Jeremiah [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/22/2023 08:35:11

TOR 2e is my favorite game/system at this point. It captures the tone of Middle Earth unbelievably well. Journey specific rules make sure that long trips involve danger, shortcuts, mishaps and chance meetings and gives players various ways to shine no matter what skill set they focus on. Combat is always dangerous without requiring a grid map (I do use tokens/minis to give my players a sense of various combatants relative positions). Council makes formal meetings more interesting than a single roll. That said single rolls are excellent. There is always a chance of success and the crunch is pretty understandable even for new players., for each rank in a skill you add one d6 to the d12 (which you always roll) add up the roll and if it's higher than the target number for Strength/Heart/Wits which is right on the player sheet then you succeed. Or if you roll a 12 it passes automatically. Any d6s that roll a six can be spent for bonuses. Currently this is my favorite dice system out there.

Player options are good with a half dozen different heroic cultures (Rangers, Hobbits, Breelanders etc.). Weapons are pretty simple but there are a fair amount of features that can be added or famous weapons found with unique attributes. Callings and Patrons add some different flavor to what you can do and how well you do it.

Loremaster (GM) info and advice is solid. Definitely helped me prepare to tell a story in Middle Earth which is certainly a bit intimidating. Every time I read through it I find something new. Some think the selection of Adversaries (mostly enemies for combat) limited but really it covers pretty much everything you could encounter in the setting. Sections on specific regions are very cool and generally have a few adventure seeds if you look at them through that lens. Also they often have handy tables for encounters or complications if you need a little inspiration.

A few warnings. The setting in the core book (and everything published so far for 2E) is Eriador, so the map, info, player options are almost entirely set west of the Misty Mountains. No flashy magic in this, it's very subtle when it does exist (mostly elves). This is for heroic player characters, Misdeeds have serious consequences. Combat is dangerous and not always the best option. The design of Landmarks (interesting places where adventure awaits, one included in the core book plus the framework to make your own if you like) is pretty sandboxy, I like it but some do not. Final warning, your gonna want all the books. I have yet to be disappointed, the design, information, rules, art, and pretty much everything else is peerless in my opinion.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Will C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/02/2022 12:38:26

The One Ring 2e is an excellent rpg. When I saw LOTR rpgs I thought "What's the point? You can just use other fantasy rpg rule sets and set it in Middle Earth if you want." However, after researching this game and finally buying and playing it, I can see why this exists. I have played The War of the Ring which was also written by Francesco Nepitello and it's pretty clear this guy knows his Tolkien. The rules of TOR are made to emulate the themes and feelings of Lord of the Rings and it works really well. This is entirely geared towards fans of Tolkien's works and is not a game for everyone. This is for people who want to play HEROES. Not a group of murder-hobos.

Pros: I really like how Shadow works here. Players can make cruel or unjust actions but they really have to think about the cost of those actions. The Load system is also really good and simple which is what you want if you're actually going to use it. Combat feels much better than in D&D. The simple change of Hit Points to Endurance is terrific and with the constant possiblity of Piercing Blows and Superior Successes, combat is dangerous and doesn't just feel like whacking away at a big number until it gets down to zero.

Cons: There's not much to dislike here. I have given this 4 stars instead of 5 mainly because I think the scope of the game is too small. I wish they included the whole map of Middle Earth instead of just Eriador. As well, I wish the rules included races from more cultures like Gondor and Rohan. The last thing that I dislike is most of the artwork. The full page colour pieces are terrific but a lot of the pencil sketches are pretty boring. There's a few good ones but most of them, especially all the Heroic Culture art, are very uninspiring. Every bit of art in these books should make players want to play that character or be in that story.

I am also making a series of videos to help explain the rules as well as review the game. You can find that here



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Wilfred G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/23/2022 14:10:01

Even though I love this game, unfortinetly I need to rate it low. Free League is being passive agressive and not making Ruins of the Lost Realm available to the average customer, leaving us with little or no material for adventures, if they make Ruins of the Lost Realm available to us low born, poor non kick starters, and do it very soon, I may come back and change this to a 5 star rating.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Seb G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/12/2022 15:37:29

Great game, used to play Adventures in Middle Earth, which is also great, but the 5E rules did not reflect the particulars of Tolkien's world as well as these.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Gavin [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/22/2022 18:46:27
Almost 2 years later and the PDF is updated.

Hasn't been updated with the errata, even though they state in the errata that for some of it to just wait for the updated PDF (in other words, there are mistakes which they won't even tell us about) It's now been 3 months and no update. Free League have burnt me as a kickstarter backer as they don't respond to requests about when it will be updated.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Jonathan S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/04/2022 12:53:25

Physically, this is a beautiful book. The artwork mostly consists of monochromatic sketches which fit the weathered look of the book. As for the game mechanics, without play-testing, my first impression of the myriad, layered-on rules and fiddly bits left me wanting something simpler and more straightforward to bring to the table. However, after re-reading and slowly digesting all the game mechanics, I think the abundance of fiddly, little stats to track with their Tolkien-inspired nomenclature (Hope, Shadow, Valor, Fatigue etc.) may actually be the best way to get the players fully immersed in the Middle Earth experience. I think it's a good sign that I'm left wanting more content beyond Eriador and I'm looking forward to seeing what an official, full campaign would look like, taking full advantage of the journey, fellowship, and character progression rules. For a lengthy, detailed review check out https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/19/19061.phtml



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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The One Ring™ Core Rules
Publisher: Free League Publishing
by Carlos S. R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/15/2022 08:18:38

Me encanta. El arte del libro es precioso y el sistema de juego parece muy entretenido. Deseando empezar a jugar.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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