One Ring, the World of Tolkein RPG

The One Ring roleplaying game takes place five years after the events in J.R.R. Tolkein's book "The Hobbit". It is published by Cubicle 7 games. It was released August 2011.

I picked up my copy in 2012 after playing a demo game at a convention in Vancouver, Trumpeter Salute. I was and still am impressed by the layout, system and feel of this RPG. It comes in a hard sleeve that fits everything.

It comes with an adventurers book (players guide) and Loremasters book (GMs guide), player and GM map and special dice.

This is one of the sample characters. There are only three statistics but skills are fed from those. There is also valor and wisdom. The game system is detailed on Cubicle 7's website here.

The art is elegant and does not get in the way.

Each race has thier advantages to the player group, known as the fellowship. That is one of the two things about the game I really really like. The fact that you have to play as a group and are rewarded for it (it is based off of the Tolkein books after all). I also like the...

...travel. How you get to your destinations are just as important as what you do there. That can be left out of any role playing game but this has it as a keystone.

The dice are also cool. As well as having the d12 make a comeback the 11 is replaced with the eye of Sauron and the 12 is replaced with the sigil of Gandalf. When attempting something you describe what you wish to do and the hopeful end goal. If the Sauron comes up you always fail. If Gandalf comes up you succeed. The other dice determine how well you succeed or fail.

The 1, 2 and 3 are hollow because if you have taken damage and are carrying a lot, you become fatigued and the 1, 2 and 3 do not count when adding up the dice and determining success. If a 6 comes up its a bonus to your success.

The map is very cool and very Tolkien-esque.

The reason I posted this so long after buying it is that we have started playing it in my regular group and wanted to pass along my stamp of approval.