31 Days of Character Creation #15 – The One Ring 2e

I’ve always been a bit leery of tabletop RPGs derived from pre-established and highly developed settings. I think that can take away GM and player agency because you feel pressure to follow the lore rather than do your own worldbuilding.

The One Ring’s way around this is to set its games during just before the birth of Frodo Baggins, as the darkness is growing across Middle Earth. Here is how the game is described on its official website:

Enter the world of Middle-earth with The One Ring™, the official tabletop roleplaying game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Designed specifically to evoke the atmosphere of The Hobbit™ and The Lord of the Rings™, the game contains rules for creating heroes and sending them off on adventures in a land threatened by the growing Shadow.

This beautifully illustrated, full-colour hardcover manual presents Middle-earth as it was twenty years after Bilbo Baggins’ remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The great events narrated in The Lord of the Rings™ are still fifty years away, leaving plenty of room to narrate stories worthy of an epic.

I rolled up a character and ended up with Pervinca, a Hobbit of the Shire. Here is her story:

Unlike most of her kin in the Shire, who preferred the comforts of home and hearth, Pervinca was drawn to the mysteries of the wider world. Her merry disposition ensured she was welcomed wherever she wandered. Her faithfulness to her companions never wavered. She possessed an uncanny talent for burglary—not out of malice, but as a means to snatch those priceless treasures without being caught. Whether sneaking past a sleeping troll or pilfering a rare trinket from a dragon’s hoard, Pervinca’s nimble fingers and quick wit served her well…so far.

During her travels, she crossed paths with Haldor, a wise and wandering scholar from Gondor, and Maeglin, a reclusive Elven smith from Rivendell. Together, they discovered map in a burnt down home deep in the forests. It leads to a hidden vault rumored to contain one of the lost Seeing-stones of Arnor. As Sauron’s shadow extended over Middle-earth, whispers spread that agents of the Enemy were also seeking the artifact. Driven by a desire to protect her beloved Shire, Pervinca and her allies embarked on a perilous quest that would test their courage, cunning, and camaraderie.