It’s a dangerous business going out your door, and Free League Publishing’s The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying will prove it! Now on D&D Beyond, the legendary world of J.R.R. Tolkien has been adapted for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, including new rules for characters, setting information, monsters, and more!
Let’s explore what this volume contains and how it gives you everything you need to bring Middle-earth to life at your table!
What You’ll Find in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying
This digital volume contains the following, all of which are designed to evoke the grounded yet epic spirit of The Lord of the Rings in your games:
- 6 Callings (the equivalent of D&D classes)
- 6 Heroic Cultures of Middle-earth (a combination of D&D species and backgrounds)
- 6 Rewards (traits that improve gear)
- 42 Virtues (the equivalent of D&D feats)
- 22 new monster stat blocks
- A full setting guide to Eriador in the Third Age
- 6 Patrons (including Gandalf!)
- New rules, including Shadow points, Councils, Journeys, and more!
All of the maps and tokens from this volume have been integrated into D&D Beyond’s toolset, so you can save time planning encounters, searching for information, or rolling up characters ready to adventure in Middle-earth!
Welcome to Middle-earth

Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth is ripe for adventure, with an ocean of deep lore, compelling geography, interesting politics, dangerous foes, and plentiful secrets.
All of the history of Middle-earth would be impossible to fit into a single tome, so The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying takes players to one of the most recognizable times and locations amongst fans: Eriador in the Third Age.
Eriador in the Third Age
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying is set in the year 2965 of the Third Age, just 20 years after Bilbo’s perilous journey to the Lonely Mountain and roughly 50 years before Frodo first steps out his door with Sam and the One Ring.
In this volume, you’ll explore Eriador, the northwest region of Middle-earth, which is home to familiar locations, such as the Shire, the Grey Havens, Rivendell, Moria, and Bree-land. It is a wide expanse that’s not fully explored in The Lord of the Rings book trilogy or movies, leaving plenty of room for undiscovered adventures.
You’ll encounter various servants of the Shadow, uncover ancient secrets, and, if you’re lucky, run into some familiar friendly faces.
Patrons
One of the ways you can interact with Middle-earth’s more esteemed individuals is through the Patron mechanic. Some extraordinary folk have already begun the fight against the Shadow and have managed to amass the power and influence to aid our heroes. If their goals align with the party’s, these Patrons may take the heroes under their tutelage, giving them a number of benefits.
The Patron examples in this volume range from Bilbo Baggins to Gandalf the Grey and even Tom Bombadil–each of whom has a unique influence and grants advantages that can shape your journey.
The Rising Shadow
In the timeline covered by the setting, darkness has crept back into the world. While your heroes may not be confronting the Dark Lord Sauron himself, they will undoubtedly come across his deadly servants, like Evil Men, Orcs, Trolls, and Wraiths.
Throughout their adventures, your heroes must contend with these forces and the Shadow that burdens their souls. Characters can gain Shadow points, and if they accumulate an amount equal to their Wisdom score, they will suffer permanent, detrimental effects. While certain experiences and foes may make a hero gain Shadow points, they can be reduced during a Fellowship phase.
A Fellowship of Heroes
While adventures are dangerous and can make you late for dinner (or get you killed), they are the heart of every great story. Some folk are born with a spark that drives them out their door, and others have adventure thrust upon them.
In The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, characters may feel more grounded than their typical D&D counterparts, as magic is subtler in Middle-earth. Additionally, Callings (similar to classes in D&D) only go up to level 10, ensuring that players are in for a grittier adventuring experience.
Callings
Callings represent the features a character has access to, as well as their virtues and beliefs.
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying includes six Callings:
- Captain: A charismatic fighter who leads his fellows in battle.
- Champion: A vigorous warrior and weapon-master.
- Messenger: A swift courier with a knack for negotiation.
- Scholar: A studious, learned individual with knowledge so profound that it approximates magic.
- Treasure Hunter: A quick, nimble, and cunning burglar.
- Warden: A roaming sentinel who guards against the Shadow.
Heroic Cultures
The diverse folk of Middle-earth each have their own histories and hardships. But when adventure calls, those who answer can carve their names into legend—whether they are the descendants of great heroes or simply find themselves in the right place at the right time.
The six Heroic Cultures found in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying are as follows:
- Bardings: Followers of King Bard and hardy survivors of Dale.
- Dwarves of Durin’s Folk: Stout warriors and craftsmen from under the mountains.
- Elves of Lindon: Immortal guardians of Middle-earth’s fading splendor.
- Hobbits of the Shire: Humble and small-sized folk with surprising bravery.
- Men of Bree: Sturdy and independent dwellers of Bree-land.
- Rangers of the North: Mysterious wanderers and exiles of a fallen kingdom with a duty to protect.
New Rules for Adventuring in Middle-earth

Whether your heroes are creeping through a dark forest, negotiating with a powerful faction, or catching up on some well-needed rest, The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying features custom rules that make gameplay feel distinct from the fifth edition of D&D:
Journeys
Perilous and spanning travel sequences are oft associated with Middle-earth, and they are vital to gameplay in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying. The volume provides in-depth rules for journeys across the rugged, wondrous lands that stretch between bastions of civilization.
These rules are designed to make travel an integral part of every adventure, with the goal of immersing players in the wild landscape of Eriador. Characters must plot their intended path carefully, for example, avoiding crossing dangerous, swift-running rivers without bridges, and cannot dare to climb high-mountain ranges unless they know where passes are located.
Traveling in the game can be dangerous. You never know what might await heroes who venture into the wilderness. These uncertainties take the form of events that can fatigue the party and cause Exhaustion.
Councils
Social interactions of utmost importance have new rules in The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, where they are referred to as Councils. These rules are used to simulate intense discussions between two parties that can have long-lasting ramifications.
This system includes a variety of phases in which the party needs to succeed on skill checks to convince their audience to heed their plight. The checks are made more difficult if their audience is at odds with their purpose, and things can turn out badly for parties found to be dishonest or outrageous in their requests. Think of what might happen should your heroes ask Elrond Halfelven for help, or Tom Bombadil!
Fellowship Phases
A Fellowship Phase is the downtime between adventures and can last days, weeks, or an entire season. This is the time provided for heroes to rest, reflect, and regain their strength before the next adventure.
During these phases, characters can choose from a number of undertakings that will provide lasting benefits. They can study maps, write songs, or just focus on easing the Shadow’s weight on their spirit.
It’s Time To Go on an Adventure!
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying is now available on D&D Beyond and has been integrated with D&D Beyond’s suite of digital tools. With these aiding your quest, you can easily plot your travel with Maps, seamlessly search for content in the compendium, and roll up a hero with the Character Builder!
Will you strike out to find the remains of Annúminas and the secrets it hides? Maybe you’ll escort a Hobbit farmer along the rough roads of the Bree-land to the Inn of the Prancing Pony? Or perhaps you’ll find some good in this world that’s worth fighting for, no matter the cost.

Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.
i found this post from DDB on the support thread last night, thought it best if I posted here as it addresses these concerns.
In short, the guidance for character creation is to: 1) Don't choose a background. The LOTR background is selected on the species screen. 2) Enter the LOTR skills using the custom skill interface (the gear on the character sheet). This means that in the character builder, you'll need to switch over to the sheet to make it (but its not hard.) There is not a way to hide the unused skills. Shadow points are not supported, so track them in the Notes column.
There are a lot of bugs with the sheet, many of the skills and crafts won’t show up and it is having trouble with the backgrounds, showing up in the racial section but not granting the skills or equipment. I hope this gets ironed out, I was expecting better. For some reason.
Will they be adjusting the sheet specifically for LotRRP?
These rules have different skill sets, will they be available in the character creation tool?
Okay so reading the threads I have found the answer...
I love the fact that D&D Beyond are branching out into other realms of 5e OGL works, but if you're charging the $29 US for the privilege, one would expect that the rules variations are already available in your character creation tool before offering the content online.
I bought this book through Freeleage, and it came with a digital pdf, it would be awesome to not have to repurchase it again and that it works with the same code that’s sent to DrivethruRPG, is nonsensical to re-buy this books if we already have them.
The marketplace page shows "A Middle-earth adventure for 1st to 10th level characters." so is there an actual adventure present is is it just bait and only the rules how to run LOTR in 5e?
I'm probably not the first to note this - but the downloadable versions of the pdfs have some oddities in them.
On the downloaded pdf character sheet the 'Weapon' section just auto populates whatever is typed in that section.
On the downloaded pdf journey sheet, the same situation occurs when trying to fill in the 'Company' section and the 'Ponies & Horses' section - it just auto populates the fields.
I have no opinion on the 'don't waste your money' issue - that is probably a personal question for everyone.
However, classes going up to level 10 is a feature not a bug of a 'low magic' campaign setting. In my view all of the D&D classes (Champion excepted) are full of what I call 'Player ****' i.e. over the top player character superpowers. It is off the rails power gaming and unbalanced to boot - for instance, Barbarian Rage is effectively equivalent to the 4th level spell Stone Skin - that is cast as a bonus action for crying out loud and doesn't cost 100gp. Yeah, that's totally balanced!
The basic mechanics of 5e are excellent - the massive amounts of magic/powers cause endless issues *IF* you want to run something less magical/super powered.
The Tolkien world is an inspiration for our hobby. The folks that developed this Lord of the Rings - pre War of the Rings (in my view) have captured the spirit of the world exceptionally well. It is a low-magic world.
Purchased. So cool. Any plans to release Mines of Moria, the Adventure book as well?
We can only hope! With Wizards releasing the Final Fantasy set for Magic: The Gathering next year, it's conceivable.
This link to the support page might help- it shows that the new skills like Riddle, Hunting, etc, need to be added using the "Custom Skill" feature, and that yes, you are expected to use the backgrounds listed under the races. This is because their backgrounds work differently than a background in D&D. I do hope they can make it seamless.
Just bought it and tried to build Legolassi, my first Lindon elf but... none of the sources work and no game specific skills etc. Hope there is a fix soon.
This is a common woe across the internet that I see a flaw in. That concept doesn't quite cover the work that goes into updating the original digital material to the particular platforms that make use of the original content though. There is a lot of work from many people that make that happen. Should it be free? You are paying for the effort that went into making the original source available on the platform you are using.
Here's an example you suggest and a thought experiment - You buy your Free League book and PDF from source and that also gives you rights for the digital material across all platforms that use it e.g. D&D Beyond, Roll20, Foundry, Alchemy, Tale Spire. To cover those sunken costs in those other platforms, your primary purchase is at least tripled in cost to make up for the other work later down the line and lost licensing revenue. Would that be preferable? Pay a big premium to grant unlimited access to whatever platforms may use that material?
Then again...
Expecting WotC to do any actual work..., thats the true Xmas magic.
Wow. After all the years of making custom LOTR campaigns my adventure has ended, I destroyed the ring, and now you have forged a new one.
I love this though, it takes me back to watching the movies late at night I cant wait to purchase!
PREACH!
It is hard to expect much from a company who has laid off most of the talent required to execute upon the simple things you want to see completed. Heck, they cannot even successfully mail a hard copy of their own DMs guide without first accidentally sending me an incorrect email (telling me that my already paid for pre-order was being canceled, followed by a "whoops" message later that same week).
I suppose your instinct to hold-off a bit before purchasing anything else is correct. Perhaps we need to wait until there is news they are actually bringing talent back into to the workplace.
This sounds amazing!
What do you mean no homebrew options? I've created and gotten them to work with D&DB just fine.
I've had players in my D&DB campaign use those homebrew classes just fine.
I must've missed the part where any of this content matters outside the context of using it to, I dunno....play the Lord of The Rings game.
I must've ALSO missed the part where any of the design or balancing was required to consider anything outside the context of, I dunno....playing the Lord of The Rings game.
And I suppose there's a chance I missed someplace where they DIDN'T explain that the content of the DndBeyond release is a 5E-compatible conversion of a completely different game system and how that likely explains, go figure, why there are similar or identical mechanics and/or player options.
Gosh. You seem to have waaaaaaay more figured out than me. I should learn to read better.