Ruins of the North Preview

[Andrew]

A little while back we showed off the coverfor Ruins of the North, the next supplement for The One Ring Roleplaying Game (#1 on ENWorld’s chart of best-rated games!). Well, ahead of its forthcoming release, we thought we’d take a closer look at the first three adventures found within.

Much like our first adventure anthology, Tales from Wilderland, Ruins of the North contains a new collection of adventures that can be played as standalone scenarios, or run sequentially to form a thematically linked series. Unlike Tales from Wilderland, Ruins of the North is set west of the Misty Mountains in the lands surrounding Rivendell, giving players their first taste of adventure in eastern Eriador (as described in the recently released Rivendellsupplement).

The first adventure takes the companions from the foothills of Gundabad across the Misty Mountains and into Angmar, and hence serves as a fantastic way of bringing an already-established company of heroes from Wilderland and into Eriador. The other five scenarios are all based out of Rivendell, and set in the various lands around the Vale of Imladris.

They’re all nominally set after 2954 and before 2977 (the notional end of The Darkening of Mirkwood campaign), but as none are strongly tied to any date the Loremaster can use them whenever in the Tale of Years it best suits him.

The first three scenarios in the supplement are:

Nightmares of Angmar by James R. Brown – A company of heroes embark on a desperate mission to recover the stolen children of the Black Hills from the Goblins who took them. They must find safe passage through snow and peril into the mountains of Angmar and its ruined capital of Carn Dûm, where a terrible threat now lurks.

Harder than Stone by TS Luikart – A fearsome servant of Sauron has arrived in Eriador to rally the Trolls to the service of his dark master. The heroes set out to find out more about this ‘Ogre Captain’ and discover both a sinister plot against the Free Peoples of Eriador and an unlikely ally!

Concerning Archers by James M. Spahn – Bilbo Baggins, at Rivendell researching his book in the company of Glorfindel and Lindir, asks the heroes to search the ruins of the north to prove that there really was a regiment of Hobbit archers that marched to fight in the Battle of Fornost. To do so they must search a forgotten battlefield and enter a long-abandoned ruin, all the while contending with spirits, Orcs and the ghosts of the past.

Come back on Monday when we’ll take a look at the second half of Ruins of the North and the challenges it poses to a company of heroes!

[Eluadin]

@Andrew what an introduction and preview! Of the three authors mentioned, one I know and his work really resonates with the game and Tolkien. (And for that matter...my own tastes!)

Now I can't wait to see what the other authors have in store for us and C7's vision of Middle-earth in the Twilight of Third Age.

Best regards,
Scott

[Bram Corolev]

Can't be happier to see this preview! The first adventure in the summary has already captured my imagination. It evokes memories of Aragorn and his companions pursuit of the orcs in The Two Towers, as well as Howard Shore music that accompanies it. My players will someday be in for a real treat. As for the next preview, I never thought I would look forward to a Monday so much.

[shipwreck]

[Mim]

I hear that. I am so looking forward to this book, especially now.

Thanks for letting us know Andrew, and please continue to drop these tidbits for the future books.

[Glorelendil]

Can't wait to get it, but I don't know why I torture myself buying these things then leaving them unread in case I have a chance to play rather than LM.

[Fridokind Wargaug]

If the adventures are set before 2977, how does it work with DoM? Should the group of adventures change between Eriador and Wilderland? Or maybe leave Wilderland for a couple of years to play RotN and when they come back they see a bunch of tragedies they could have prevented

[jamesrbrown]

Maybe the things they do in Eastern Eriador will have some impact on the events in Wilderland, even in a small way! Everyone can make a difference, but it will certainly take more than 1 group of companions hearing the call. Even the Fellowship of the Ring was separated to muster the cultures and figures of Middle-earth to war.

[Indur Dawndeath]

Great news!!
The timing is perfect, we've just completed Tales of Wilderland.
We did that while following Darkening. Now I just need to come up with a good reason for the players to travel back and forth between Eriador and Wilderland, but then again that shouldn't be a problem, Wilderland is their home...

Can't wait to see the PDF being released

[Majestic]

Sounds awesome! Gives us a reason to keep our eye on the website!