The One Ring/Adventures in Middle-earth License Goes to Free League

aramis erak · Mar 10, 2020

BrockBallingdark said:
There is a God! If anyone, I wanted Fria Ligan to grab TOR!

Up until FFG gutted their RPG department, FFG would have been my preferred, but FL is damned good, and would have been my second choice... I'm glad they got it.

JeffB said:
Never heard of them. Or rather don't recall hearing of them anyway.

How is their marketing and distribution power? Am I going to see TOR2E on bookshelves in the US alongside D&D like I do PF, FFG SW, etc?

Their US and UK distribution is mostly via Modiphius for Brick and Mortar. For online dead tree? Modiphius' web store, their own web store, and Amazon. For digital? their webstore, DTRPG, some via modiphius' webstore.

Of the four stores I've looked for FL games in, only one has stock on shelf of FL games. (Guardian Games, portland, OR.) 2 are happy to order it.

Fredrix said:
I think your local Gaming Store must be not great. The only Free League game that I never saw at my store is ironically my favourite, Coriolis. Oh and in other news, their Alien game is in the top five best selling games, you don’t get there without being in a few stores.

The only ones I've seen on shelves are MYZ, TFTL, and Forbidden Lands. Alien was all special orders at my FLGS, and wasn't yet out last I hit Guardian Games. (GG's 90-120 min away)

Many smaller communities, the game stores tend to stock only D&D, Pathfinder, and Palladium; slightly better ones add FFG products, BRP/CoC, Traveller, and/or Savage Worlds. If there are more story oriented games, Fate Core is likely to be on the shelf, along with Fiasco, and only the best have much else.

Palladium isn't a top seller, but it's a steady one.

RSIxidor · Mar 10, 2020

I wonder if the fact that both ME and TFTL have an upcoming Amazon show factored into this at all, or if that was just circumstantial.

EpicureanDM · Mar 10, 2020

doctorbadwolf said:
Okay, not to be a contrarian....but, I have to disagree with some of this.

You absolutely do not have to run TOR/AIME the way you describe in order to stay true to the source material. There are tales of brightness, and hope, and fellowship, and the victories absolutely can be lasting and genuine.

Meloncholy is in the world, for sure, but a fellowship and a campaign can absolutely be happy and lighthearted. Focusing on one aspect of the world to the exclusion of others isn't any more true to Middle Earth than fireballs.

Have you actually run a game of The One Ring and been able to achieve this? My understanding is that it's very difficult to play it happy and lighthearted if you play according to the rules.

Retreater · Mar 10, 2020

EpicureanDM said:
Have you actually run a game of The One Ring and been able to achieve this? My understanding is that it's very difficult to play it happy and lighthearted if you play according to the rules.

Is Tolkien's Middle Earth "happy and lighthearted?" I never read it that way, nor is Peter Jackson's LotR series presented that way, nor the more recent video games ("Shadow of Mordor," etc.) Once you leave the Shire, things get pretty darned scary.

doctorbadwolf · Mar 10, 2020

EpicureanDM said:
Have you actually run a game of The One Ring and been able to achieve this? My understanding is that it's very difficult to play it happy and lighthearted if you play according to the rules.

yep! Band of mostly hobbits, 1 elf, a very “bright flame of hope in the darkness” campaign.

Beleriphon · Mar 10, 2020

doctorbadwolf said:
yep! Band of mostly hobbits, 1 elf, a very “bright flame of hope in the darkness” campaign.

This completely doable as well, however the setting for TOR is between The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring. The world is getting darker, we know how it ends in Return of the King, so most of the rules tend to double down on you can fix things locally, but you're not going to save the world. That is a task for different group of people in the future.

Arilyn · Mar 10, 2020

doctorbadwolf said:
yep! Band of mostly hobbits, 1 elf, a very “bright flame of hope in the darkness” campaign.

Yep, you can definitely run it this way. Some of the One Ring modules have a large streak of whimsy in them.

Ethawyn · Mar 10, 2020

Ringtail said:
Awesome! I'm so glad to see this is continuing.

Now what I'm curious about is what about the progress C7 already made? Are they going to sell those art assets and already written manuscripts to Free League? Are they part of the license?

Or do they have to start from scratch? Considering the original designers are on board I'm sure we'll get something great, but I like the C7 art (and especially that Jared Blando map). It would be a shame to see it vanish.

The rules were finished, the game was set to be printed and shipped in late 2019/early 2020, so they'd made a lot of progress. Folks from Free League have confirmed on their forums and on the TOR Discord that it will be Francesco Nepitello's 2E version that he designed for C7 with some dials adjusted.

Here's the comment from Tomas on the Free League forums (translated by a Swede):

"That's correct. We will look at all the material together with Francesco and maybe turn a few dials here and there, but the game will keep Francesco's ruleset."

And here's what Nils from FL had to say on the Discord:

We will use the TOR system, it's Francesco's game and we don't want to fix what is not broken. Regarding Simon Stålenhag, he is a partner/co-owner of the company, we've been fortunate enough to publish him since day one

The later half of the comment was in response to someone wondering if Simon Stålenhag might do the artwork for the TOR line. It's obviously very oblique, but it makes we wonder if they are planning on doing all new artwork for it and having Simon do it. Alternatively, maybe they'll use C7 stuff for the core but call on Simon for the artwork on future editions. Either way, I think he'd be a wonderful person to do Lord of the Rings art.

I hope they can at least purchase and print Blando's map.

mach1.9pants said:
It'll be interesting to see what comes out from them. I checked out Sophisticated Game's website, anything but sophisticated However Free Leagues games are top notch production value. I wonder of we're going too see all of AiME reprinted, or just taking over from where C7 left off? Obviously TOR will be all new, as it is 2e

I'm curious about this as well. C7 owns all of the art assets for TOR 1 and 2, while Sophisticated Games owns the rule system and IP rights. I suspect that means that if they were to reprint 1e stuff they'd have to purchase all of the assets off of C7 and I'm not sure if they'd want to or if C7 would even be willing.

aramis erak said:
Guardian Games, portland, OR.

Hey that's my FLGS! Love them.

Ringtail · Mar 10, 2020

Ethawyn said:
The rules were finished, the game was set to be printed and shipped in late 2019/early 2020, so they'd made a lot of progress. Folks from Free League have confirmed on their forums and on the TOR Discord that it will be Francesco Nepitello's 2E version that he designed for C7 with some dials adjusted.
...
The later half of the comment was in response to someone wondering if Simon Stålenhag might do the artwork for the TOR line. It's obviously very oblique, but it makes we wonder if they are planning on doing all new artwork for it and having Simon do it. Alternatively, maybe they'll use C7 stuff for the core but call on Simon for the artwork on future editions. Either way, I think he'd be a wonderful person to do Lord of the Rings art.
...
I hope they can at least purchase and print Blando's map.

Hoh boy, that's a lot of stuff I like to hear. Time will tell I suppose!

JeffB · Mar 10, 2020

Retreater said:
Is Tolkien's Middle Earth "happy and lighthearted?" I never read it that way... Once you leave the Shire, things get pretty darned scary.

Depending on the time period, sometimes it's pretty rough in The Shire too.

The One Ring/Adventures in Middle-earth License Goes to Free League

Fria Ligan | News

aramis erak

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RSIxidor

Adventurer

EpicureanDM

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Retreater

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doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle

Beleriphon

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Arilyn

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Ethawyn

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Ringtail

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JeffB

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