The One Ring is the next tabletop RPG to get the D&D 5E adaptation treatment
Taking D&D back to its Tolkienesque roots.
Tolkien roleplayers are feasting well this year, as The One Ring 2nd Edition tabletop RPG has just announced a new slate of books that will make it compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.
Publisher Free League dropped the news at Gen Con 2022, saying that the latest edition of the Tolkien-ful tabletop game is planning to adapt its rules to the world’s most popular RPG. Called The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, the resulting version is planning a core compendium that will supplement the base 5E rules found in Wizards of the Coast’s trio of books.
Free League’s press release mentions the compendium will detail “six original heroic cultures from the land of Eriador, six new classes, a host of terrifying adversaries, and comprehensive rules for journeys, councils, wondrous artefacts, and the subtle magic of Middle-earth.” Importantly, the world and lore of J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels will remain the setting of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying and will trade out its predecessor’s phase-based rules for the near-ubiquitous d20 system at the heart of D&D.
The RPG will also release the Shire Adventure scenario module as a standalone book, ostensibly detailing adventures that take place solely in and around the Hobbit’s homeland, similar to The One Ring 2E’s starter box. If it follows in The One Ring’s footsteps, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying will take place before the events of the novel as depicted in Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films. In the Twilight of the Third Age, the land of Eriador will host the group’s adventures through lands still made perilous by the growing influence of The Shadow.
The One Ring crowdfunded the long-awaited 2nd edition of its popular tabletop RPG in March of 2021, ultimately raising over $2 million to produce a book that just recently won an ENnie award for its artwork. The game also released solo player rules, called Strider Mode, designed by Ironsworn and Starfoged’s Shawn Tomkin. This isn't the first Free League RPG to build a bridge between the Swedish studio and 5th Edition rules - Symbaroum's adaptation trades a critical bit of its core appeal for a vision of dangerous delving that feels better fit to D&D's combat system.
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying will skip crowdfunding and open its pre-orders this fall for both the core compendium and Shire Adventures books, and all purchases will give immediate access to digital PDF versions of the rules. Free League did provide a price for either book but said fulfilment is currently planned for “Q1 2023.”
