The One Ring: Ruins of Lost Realm is an expansion resource book for the roleplaying game. It is also interesting due to its status as an example of Middle Earth spreading beyond the material written for it by J. R. R. Tolkien. Detailing the realm of Eriandor.
This was a region that remained mostly unexplored in the works of the original author. As a result new material is drawn up both pulling from the likely connections in existing middle earth material and elsewhere. Taking this combined approach between each of these is a risky but fairly necessary endeavor for a volume on the region.
Page 87 features reference to some of the obscure material from Tolkien’s legendarium, particularly dealing in a memorial of sorts for a group of previous adventurous hobbits. It’s a very nice touch, and given that the mild reference has helped to inspire other works of fantasy it was very good to see that the book included such words. The distinctive mix goes into the even less clearly connected when dealing with the location of an additional palantir. This is expanded upon in a section starting on page 58 called “The White Towers.”
One interesting decision comes in the section “The Queen’s Hall” on page 84 in which the work of Tolkien is referenced without using something already extent in Middle-earth. Specifically, a potential seed for Adventures is planted that is not only blatantly reproducing the work of the Pearl Poet but actually noted as “The Green Knight.” While the material fits very well into a setting filled with other fantastic elements, it is hard to deny that one might find it a little jarring if they are familiar with the story as connected to the Matter of Britain.
Once again the artistic design in this volume is delightful. A number of largely displayed gorgeous fully painted pieces punctuate the book, with even more drawn artistic pieces being spread throughout. On their own these would help to serve as minor aesthetically pleasing elements in such a book, yet the frequency and quality once again make it so that this volume works almost as well as an art book as it does for any other purpose. Personal favorites include the page 18 illustration for the section on “Swanfleet” and the two page chapter marking illustration on pages 50 and 51 leading into “Landmarks” which makes it likely. The front and back end papers each sport large color Maps of the region the book describes, which manage to be beautiful and very much informative. Indeed the team behind the book seemed proud enough that a folded map featuring this art was included as a separate piece in the book.
The One Ring: Ruins of the Lost Realm continues a quality book series, and does so with a section of the Middle Earth setting that would prove difficult to expound upon. The artistic design continues to be fantastic, to the point of justifying the book on its own. It is the writing that becomes more interesting in this volume as opposed to the core book as the material inside is forced to draw on areas aside from the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. The results should satisfy anyone seeking to game, and casual fans of the setting may have trouble distinguishing the new additions from the expansions on older material. Definitely well worth picking up and looking over.
(Free League 2022)
