The One Ring Roleplaying Game Has Two Starter Boxes:

Two starter boxes for the mortal men doomed to die!

What happens when one of the best Middle-Earth roleplaying games has two starter boxes? If you’ve got the money, the easy thing to do is buy both.  What if you’re budget conscious and need to save some money? I can offer some direction to make sure you get the starter box that best fits your gaming group.

First, if you haven’t heard of The One Ring roleplaying game, let me bring you up to speed. It is the award-winning roleplaying game for Middle-Earth enthusiasts by Free League.

The game was designed by Francesco Nepitello. He is no stranger to Middle-Earth themed board games, having designed The War of the Ring, The Battle of the Five Armies, and Hunt for the Ring. His work on The One Ring allows the game to capture of the essence of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing and the overall themes of hope and despair in times of peril and tragedy.

This is not your typical hack and slash tabletop roleplaying game. The idea of simply killing monsters, stealing their stuff, and selling it at a village does not fit into the setting material and game design. Rather, players journey through Middle-Earth helping people and fighting back the shadowy forces of the Dark Lord.

There’s combat in the game, but it is not the core focus of the game.

Free League now has two beautifully created Starter Boxes for the game.  Each is worthy of purchasing in it’s own right, but they do have some differences.

Before I go into them, you should know one important piece of information: they’re actually a great deal for their price.

The game has specially themed d6 and d12 dice (though you can get by with standard ones). Each starter box comes with a set of themed dice. The retail price of the dice is nearly two thirds of the price of the starter box.

So, if you’re planning on buying their dice, you should by a starter box and get the extra goodies that come with it.

Which starter box is right for you? It depends on what you want out of it. Do you want stuff or a specific type of adventure? Let’s break it down.

The Adventures

One of the main differences are the type of adventures in each box. The first starter box is a cozy mystery set in the Shire, while the new starter set is a dangerous journey to investigate a sinister threat.

The first starter box was is just named The One Ring Starter Set. I’ll refer to this one as the first starter box. It has the image of the hobbits on the box.

The linked adventures in this box are called The Conspiracy of the Red Book. The stakes are relatively low; you are aren’t saving Middle-Earth from the approaching darkness. Instead, the adventures are hiccups and hijinks in and around the Shire. The pre generated player characters are all hobbits. It’s more innocent in scope. This isn’t to say it’s bad; I like the adventures.

You and your players should just be aware of the scope of things going into it. The adventures have the same charming quality as the Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass cartoon of The Hobbit from 1977. These adventures did take longer to complete than the new starter set.

The new starter set is called Over Hill & Under Hill Starter Set. It has three linked adventures that form a mini campaign.

The adventures in this box is larger in scope than the adventure in the original starter set. The pre generated player characters are a mix of humans, an elf, a dwarf, and a hobbit. Starting at the Prancing Pony in Bree, the fellowship travels through the Lone Lands to stop a perilous threat. I prefer the adventures in this set. The majority of players want to journey to far off locations and face dark threats.

I believe this adventure is a crowd pleaser, as it’s more in line with what people think of when they’re asked to play a game set in Middle-Earth.

Both starter sets teach the basics, as the adventures are created to go through the various rules of the game. It really boils down to what type of adventure you want: a cozy hobbit mystery or an overland journey with threats.

Rules, Maps and Dice

The obligatory starter rules are in each box. These haven’t changed much and aren’t really deciding factor. Each set comes with a set of special dice and a beautiful two-sided map.  The first starter box’s map Eriador on one side and the Shire on the other. There are lots of Eriador maps out there, but very few Shire maps. The Shire map is gorgeous. I have mine framed in my office.

The Under Hill & Over Hill box has a different map. One side is same Eriador map as the original starter box but the other side has a combat diagram. The combat diagram is very useful and well drawn in it’s own right. Characters have different combat stances in The One Ring, which dictates how effective they are in combat. The diagram gives a visual representation of what stances which player and monster is in and their target. It’s very useful.

Extras

The two boxes really differ in this area. The original starter box has a wonder Shire source book, as well as a deck of cards that have various armor and weapons images and statistics. This are very helpful, especially when learning the game.

It also has stance cards, which are the size of coasters more than cards. One side of the stance cards show you each combat stance and their associated bonus and penalties; the other side shows different journey roles and their associated skill roll. The stance cards are a fantastic tool.

Frankly, I’m surprised Free League doesn’t sell them separately because they’re so useful. I prefer the extras in this set. They’re more functional for players.

The Under Hill & Over Hill set does not have the armor and weapons cards, nor the stance cards. Instead, it has thick card stock standees and stands. Each pre generated character has a standee, as well as the various enemies you encounter in the adventure.

The art is good, but the standees don’t serve too much of a purpose, other than putting them on the combat diagram. Over time, I’ve grown fond of paper standees since they take up less storage space. I already have too many plastic warriors in my game room.

If you want your extras to service a function than the original starter box wins out here. If you prefer paper miniatures, it’s always great to have Middle-Earth themed ones.

Conclusion

If you have enough finances, I suggest getting both starter sets. They’re different enough that you’re not doubling up on things, other than the dice – but who doesn’t want more dice!

If you can only get one, consider the below list.

Original Starter Box

• Hobbit centric box set in the Shire
• Shire source book
• Low stakes, cozy, mysterious adventure
• Full of functional items for players
• Map of Eriador and the Shire
• Dice

Under Hill & Over Hill

• Eclectic group of adventures (main cultures)
• Starts in Bree and leads to the Lone Lands
• High stakes adventure that is journey based
• Map of Eriador and a combat diagram
• Dice

If you’re practical and just want the most stuff for your money, I would suggest the original starter box. If you want a more Lord of the Rings type adventure with a various cast of characters, I suggest Under Hill & Over Hill.

Regardless of which you choose, you won’t be disappointed!