D&D 5E Free League's 5E-Powered Lord of the Rings Game Is Now Available

Now available in both hardcover and PDF, you can buy The D&D 5E version of Free League's Middle Earth-set TTRPG (of course, you can also get The One Ring,which is the version with its own ruleset).

The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying %E, Shire Adventures, and Loremaster’s Screen & Rivendell Compendium are all available from Free League's online store. Also available is a bundle containing the whole set.

• The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5E is the 236-page core rulebook and contains 6 cultures, 6 classses, journey rules, monsters, and more.
• Shire Adventures contains a full description of The Shire, along with five adventures.
• Loremaster’s Screen & Rivendell Compendium contains inforamation about Rivendell, rules for High Elf characters, and a screen for use by the Loremaster.

The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Depends on how you look at the revision coming next year.

If someone wants a fundamental change from 5E, 1D&D ain't it. Even if they're moving a lot of the deck chairs around, it's still the same d20, feats/skills based infrastructure.

 

[EthanSental]

I had to revisit the AiME lonely mountain pdf for the dragon entries…man, that was nicely done and had plenty of options to make the various drake types different….thanks for the reminder!

 

[zedturtle]

If someone wants a fundamental change from 5E, 1D&D ain't it. Even if they're moving a lot of the deck chairs around, it's still the same d20, feats/skills based infrastructure.

I don't think we will see a fundamental shift in the system for at least another decade and more likely two. It seems like 2015-2020 was the high point for D&D in terms of market capture, and every executive will be aiming for those (inflation adjusted) numbers. And with Wizards seemingly having advantage on self-inflicted wounds, it will be a long time (if ever) for that to happen again.

Eventually they'll get desperate. Or bought out. And then we will see radical changes. But not before then and not under current management.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't think we will see a fundamental shift in the system for at least another decade and more likely two. It seems like 2015-2020 was the high point for D&D in terms of market capture, and every executive will be aiming for those (inflation adjusted) numbers. And with Wizards seemingly having advantage on self-inflicted wounds, it will be a long time (if ever) for that to happen again.

That's logical, but so far, the market hasn't behaved the way everyone assumed it would. The brand doesn't seem to have noticeably slowed down at all. Which, of course, puts a true break from 5E even further into the future, if it ever happens at all.

 

[Dimitri Mazieres]

Recapping my observations from an earlier thread:

Thanks a lot for your analysis!

 

[Zehnseiter]

If someone wants a fundamental change from 5E, 1D&D ain't it. Even if they're moving a lot of the deck chairs around, it's still the same d20, feats/skills based infrastructure.

We should mention here that this is the infrastructure that we had since 3E. It was already used for 3 editions and probably will be used for a 4th as well. 1D&D marketing speak aside so far it looks like we will get a 5.5E and not a 6E.

So I will need to wait a few more years for a proper 6E. But then Pathfinder 2 turned out far more exacting then I expected. It will tide me over until 6E. Maybe one of all the new 5E versions from 3PP will succeed in making 5E exiting again for me. I will see.

 

[zedturtle]

That's logical, but so far, the market hasn't behaved the way everyone assumed it would. The brand doesn't seem to have noticeably slowed down at all. Which, of course, puts a true break from 5E even further into the future, if it ever happens at all.

There are arguments to be made that even bad news makes good publicity, and that D&D is seeing a major bump from the movie, plus the coming anniversary. I believe all of that is part of the froth, along with Critical Role moving away from 5e likely after their current campaign.

So, could it be better? Absolutely. The C-suite really naughty word the bed. Could it be worse? Absolutely. I came up in the 90s, and my kids first came of gaming age during the last gasps of 4E. It definitely could be worse for Hasbro. My Crystal Ball is on the fritz, so we will just have to wait and see what the gaming historians write about when they get to 'the 2020s'. It should make for good reading.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There are arguments to be made that even bad news makes good publicity

There are tons of real world examples that suggest otherwise about "all publicity is good publicity."

In this case, it's more likely the OGL and Pinkerton news just didn't reach enough people who might otherwise care, compared to the marketing for the movie and D&D in general.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't think we will see a fundamental shift in the system for at least another decade and more likely two. It seems like 2015-2020 was the high point for D&D in terms of market capture, and every executive will be aiming for those (inflation adjusted) numbers. And with Wizards seemingly having advantage on self-inflicted wounds, it will be a long time (if ever) for that to happen again.

Eventually they'll get desperate. Or bought out. And then we will see radical changes. But not before then and not under current management.

Actually, the D&D market exploded after 2020 with the pandemic opening up a lot of gaming time, and the game is doing hitter than ever in Goofle trends. We may not even have hit peak yet.