Adventures in Middle-Earth
Cover of the Player's Guide
DesignersDominic McDowall-Thomas, Jon Hodgson, Francesco Nepitello, Marco Maggi
PublishersCubicle 7
Publication2016
GenresFantasy
SystemsD&D 5e

Adventures in Middle-Earth is a tabletop role-playing game originally published by Cubicle 7 in 2016 that uses the milieu of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

Description

Adventures in Middle-Earth is set in the 60-year period between the Battle of Five Armies at the end of The Hobbit and the second departure of Bilbo Baggins from The Shire that marks the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. Adventures take place to the east of the Misty Mountains, in the Wilderlands of Erebor around the Lonely Mountain, as well as the Mirkwood Forest.[1]

The game uses a somewhat modified set of rules drawn from the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons under the Open Game License (OGL) created by Wizards of the Coast. Due to the relatively low use of magic and the lack of magical healing in Tolkien's works, the usual D&D rules and character classes built around magic and healing are not used. Instead, the system introduces new character classes, as well as new Cultures, Virtues and Backgrounds more in keeping with the Middle-earth setting. Similarly, magic items usually found in D&D are replaced by "heirlooms", items of lesser power that nevertheless are valuable in the low-magic setting.[1]

Publication history

In 2011, Cubicle 7 published The One Ring, a licensed fantasy role-playing game set in Tolkien's wilderness of Eriador west of the Misty Mountains that used an original set of rules. Five years later Cubicle 7 released a new Tolkien-related role-playing game, Adventures in Middle-earth, set to the east of the Misty Mountains that used D&D rules under the OGL. The Player's Guide was the first Middle-earth property released, a 224-page hardcover book designed by James Brown, Paul Butler, Walt Ciechanowski, Steve Emmott, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, John Hodgson, Shane Ivey, Andrew Kenrick, T. S. Luikart, Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Francesco Nepitello, James Spahn, and Ken Spencer, with interior art by John Howe, Jon Hodgson, Jason Juta, Naomi Robinson, Sam Manley, Jan Pospisil, Andrew Hepworth, and Tomas Jedrusek, cartography by Paul Bourne, and cover art by John Howe. Over the next three years, Cubicle 7 released a variety of source books and adventures for the Middle-earth setting.

In November 2019, Cubicle 7 announced that publication of both The One Ring and Adventures in Middle-earth would cease due to contractual issues with the license holder.[2] The game license for both systems was subsequently acquired by Free League Publishing in 2020.[3] In August 2022, Free League Publishing announced that it would be publishing The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, an adaptation of the second edition of The One Ring (released in 2021) that also uses a modified version of the D&D fifth edition ruleset, with preorders for the game's core compendium scheduled to open in fall 2022 and a retail release planned for early 2023.[4]

Reception

John Farrell of Gaming Trend called Adventures in Middle-earth the "reunion of two franchises [Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings] that in many ways directly created the modern conception of fantasy wholecloth." However, Farrell noted that however the two franchises had been thematically joined in the beginning, "we have seen a stark divergence in how fantasy is presented under the two legacies." Farrell liked Cubicle 7's changes to the rules to make a low-magic system more in line with Tolkien's world, but noted that "none of it can completely escape being an adaptation of a game that was never made with Middle-earth in mind." Farrell concluded by giving Adventures in Middle-earth an above-average rating of 85%, saying the game "remains an engaging and exciting experience. Adapting itself to the 5E engine has diluted it in a few ways, but has mostly given us a fresh, intelligent way to experience Middle-earth. The good design choices far outweigh the questionable ones, resulting in a stylish, exciting, dark mystery that I am eager to experience."[1]

Lindsay Janice of Gamers Decide liked the new parts of the rules system, saying the game "truly brings its own originality when being compared to other iconic games." Although she admitted that players would need to purchase a variety of books, she thought that these were cheaper and therefore better value compared to other systems. Janice concluded by giving the game an above-average rating of 8 out of 10, commenting, "Adventures in Middle-Earth is the game for those Tolkien fans that want to be more immersed in Middle-Earth and have their own character walking through the iconic hills of the Shire, or through the valley of Rivendell."[5]

Awards

At the 2018 Origins Awards, Adventures in Middle-earth won in the category "Best Role-playing Game of 2017".[6][7][8]

Products

TitleRelease Date (PDF format)Notes & Ref
Player's GuideSeptember 7, 2016
Loremaster's GuideJanuary 31, 2017
Wilderland AdventuresApril 19, 2017
Rhovanion Region GuideJuly 5, 2017
The Eaves of Mirkwood & Loremaster's ScreenJuly 31, 2017[9]
The Road Goes Ever OnAugust 29, 2017[10]
The Mirkwood CampaignNovember 9, 2017[11]
Rivendell Region GuideMarch 13, 2018
Eriador AdventuresMay 23, 2018
Bree-land Region GuideMarch 14, 2019
Lonely Mountain Region GuideAugust 9, 2019
Erebor AdventuresSeptember, 2019
Rohan Region GuideNovember, 2019PDF only
Moria2019 (cancelled)deluxe boxed set

References

  1. 1 2 3 Farrell, John (2017-11-09). "One game to bring them all: Adventures in Middle-earth player's guide review". Gaming Trend. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  2. ↑ "Unexpected Tor2 Update".
  3. ↑ "Free League Signs Deal to Publish RPGs in Tolkien Middle Earth".
  4. ↑ "Free League Announces The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying For 5E" (Press release). Free League Publishing. August 8, 2022. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
  5. ↑ Janice, Lindsay (2019-11-15). "Adventures in Middle-Earth Review". Gamers Decide. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  6. ↑ "Academy - Current Origins Award Winners". www.originsawards.net. Archived from the original on 2018-08-19. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  7. ↑ "Gloomhaven, Warhammer 40,000 and Adventures in Middle-earth win big at 2018 Origins Awards". www.tabletopgaming.co.uk. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  8. ↑ "2018 Origin Awards".
  9. ↑ "Eaves in the US update". Archived from the original on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  10. ↑ "First Copy of The Road Goes Ever On". Archived from the original on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  11. ↑ "Coming Soon for Adventures in Middle-earth: Mirkwood Campaign". Archived from the original on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
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