Unlike some other Kickstarters (Mythic Games I’m looking at you), Free League is delivering on time. The print copies are complete and shipping, and the PDFs of the books have been made available to backers. Hopefully we’ll see the hard copies arrive soon (though with the shipping crisis it is hard to say).

I have recieved PDF versions of the starter set, loremaster’s screen, Rivendell booklet, and core rulebook and I am very impressed thus far.

The new books look great (at least in electronic form) and they are organized better than 1e (which had character creation before the chapter on fundamental characteristics).  The language is more clear, and the layout is good.

The starter set is a new thing Free League had brought in. It has a 28 page rulebook (all page counts are from the PDF and includes covers) pregenerated characters, a 36 page small campaign of linked adventures, a 56 page booklet on the Shire including encounters, notable places, and people. It also comes with 2 maps (Eriador and the Shire), stance/journey cards to make it easier to track who is in what stance or doing what job while travelling, and finally a deck of equipment cards, detailing weapons and armour options. I think it’ll be a great way to teach people TOR while exploring the familiar area around the Shire.

The core rulebook is about 100 pages shorter than the 1e book, coming in at 248 pages, with savings coming from better writing and layout. EDIT: I had stated there was no adventure included in the 2e rules. I was wrong, there is one in the appendix!

One of the things I like best about TOR is the combat and 2e doesn’t make many changes to it. Combat is abstract (no 5′ steps or full actions or facing/flanking rules) but makes so much sense. Player characters assume one of three close combat stances which represent how much risk they are taking. Forward, for instance means it is easier for you to hit others, but it is also means it is easier to hit you. In combat you will see players move between stances as the fight ebbs and flows which is great.

Weapons also make sense, but there has been a change between 1e and 2e. Let’s start with 1e. Weapons have:

• a damage rating, which reduces the endurance of a foe when hit;
• an edge rating, that indicates how easy it is to wound an opponent; and
• an injury rating that is the difficulty of the protection (armour) save to prevent a wound.

While it may seem like a lot of rolls, itsn’t. If your attack roll is above your edge rating, the enemy makes a protection check (based on their armour). You do not roll damage, so most attacks are only one roll, when a piercing blow is threatened, two. Most mooks die as soon as they are wounded. Large foes may need 2 injuries to fall, as do heroes. This helps to keep combat fast.

Thanks to the edge rating, weapon choices are more interesting. You may choose an weapon that does a lot of damage, or one that has a higher chance of injuring, or one that if it threatens an injury will surely get through all but the strongest armour.

In 2e, the edge rating has been removed. Piercing blows happen on a roll of 10 and up for all weapons. At first I was very much against this change, but the change is a little more nuanced than I thought. In 2e, when you roll a success icon, instead of doing additional damage like in 1e, you can choose to do more damage, make yourself harder to hit, or add a bonus to your feat die to make it easier to get a piercing blow. Not all weapons have the choice of all the options, or the same benefit from them. This means that spears (which can gain a +3 for a piercing blow) become far more interesting despite their relatively low damage. Having the edge of a weapon replaced by the spending of success icons gives the players more choice in combat. I like that.

Journey rules and councils have also changed, and I am still wrapping my head around them. Once I have a chance to play these rules I’ll do a proper review but so far it looks like changes are for the better with rules being more clear and easier to use.

I am still working my way through all of the documents but am very happy with what I have seen and am keen to run a game later this month. If you haven’t backed the kickstarter the game should be available for purchase soon after fulfilment. When it comes out I recommend you take a look if you have ever wanted to play in Middle Earth or check out TOR. For those looking for a deeper look at TOR 2e, please check out my thoughts after having played it here.