Light'em up, knock'em back, and roll for initiative...
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Another mistake in the smilie code, all fixed now.
We have some very unfortunate and unexpected news to share. Contractual differences arose recently which we have been unable to resolve, and so we have decided to end our licensing agreement with Sophisticated Games. It is with regret that we have made this very tough decision to withdraw.
This means we will cease publishing The One Ring and Adventures in Middle-earth™ in the first half of 2020. Unfortunately, this doesn’t give us enough time to release the much-anticipated The One Ring – The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game second edition.
As many of you know, our first edition of The One Ring is eight years old, and we had high hopes of a full product line to support our second edition. Our team have worked incredibly hard on this new edition; with many of the announced titles already written and edited, so being very close to completion makes this decision even harder.
Although we were very close to the finish line when these issues arose, as gamers ourselves we did not feel it was right for the game, or fair to you, to release a new edition which we would be unable to support.
We appreciate how passionate so many of you are, especially those who have followed our journey from first edition or have pre-ordered the second edition. Thank you for your support over the years.
Sophisticated Games commissioned The One Ring RPG from Francesco Nepitello back in 2008. The game that he - with Marco Maggi - created, exceeded our best expectations and has gone on to become one of the best - and successful - Role Playing Games of all time. Francesco and Sophisticated Games have had many other collaborations since then.
We were saddened - and indeed surprised- to learn this week from Cubicle 7, our long term distributor and publishing partner, that they had decided against publishing the 2nd edition of TOR. This came in the middle of some discussions on the dynamics of how Francesco, Sophisticated Games and Cubicle 7 should work together in the future. But at no stage had there been any suggestion that TOR2 would not be published.
Fans of the game should be assured that Sophisticated Games, in conjunction with Francesco and Marco, will do their best to rectify the current uncertainties.
Speaking to Dicebreaker, Free League developer and project lead Martin Takaichi described the publisher’s relaunch of The One Ring - designed by original co-creator Francesco Nepitello - as “a proper second edition of the game, not a new version altogether”.
“Most of it will be familiar to anyone who has played the first edition, but of course there are a number of tweaks, revisions and improvements that have been introduced,” Takaichi said. “It retains the same core system where you roll the 12-sided feat die plus a number of success dice to try and beat a target number.”
Takaichi revealed that “aspects” of gameplay from the cancelled Cubicle 7 edition would be included in Free League’s version, combined with the open-world elements seen in fantasy throwback RPG Forbidden Lands, cited by Nepitello as an influence on the new edition’s journey system.
“Something Free League has always tried to bring into our games is a sense of openness and freedom, be it the hex-crawl of Forbidden Lands or the Mystery Landscapes of Tales from the Loop,” Takaichi said. “Several of the sourcebooks for The One Ring - like The Heart of the Wild, my personal favourite - did something similar, but we really want to bring a bit more of that sandbox-inspired gameplay into the new edition.”
The revised RPG will feature a different visual style - including black and white interiors from Forbidden Lands illustrator Alvaro Tapia and cover artwork by Coriolis artist Martin Grip - and take place in a new period of Middle-earth history, moving around 20 years forward from The One Ring’s original timeline.
The core rulebook will focus on the region of Eriador, which previously appeared in past supplements for the RPG but will be explored in greater detail in the new game, Takaichi said. The developer added that The One Ring 2E would also feature places new to the RPG, including The Shire, which will be the focus of the game’s starter set.
Free League currently plans to release The One Ring 2E in the first half of 2021, according to Takaichi. The game will launch with a core rulebook, starter set, Player’s Companion - including additional rules for playing as other inhabitants of Middle-earth - and a supplement set in Eriador. The starter set will include playable versions of characters from Tolkien’s books.
The studio is also working on a new version of Moria - The Long Dark, the adventure set in Khazad-dûm originally planned for Cubicle 7’s first edition of the game before being delayed - and subsequently cancelled - alongside its second edition.
“I know this is *the* sourcebook everyone was waiting for for the first edition, and we of course jumped at the chance to make it for the second edition,” Takaichi told Dicebreaker, adding that the revised supplement will likely release under a new title. “We've decided to start from scratch to really get the sense of Moria we've always envisioned ourselves, and [roleplaying designer] Gareth Hanrahan is currently busy working on an expansive supplement! There aren't many details I can share about this project, but rest assured we are giving Moria all the attention it requires.”
More than likely. I like Free League and the high quality games/products they publish. Over the years, I've owned several of their RPG lines in some form or another. I really like their Forbidden Lands fantasy game and have everything, in print, for it. Everything from the simple system to the black and white art feels like an RPG you'd have seen in the 80s. Good stuff.
