The One Ring 2E remains the premiere way to experience the Lord of the Rings world on tabletop. Unlike the combat-oriented D&D 5e, The One Ring puts great emphasis on the diversity of skills a council requires. Plus, the ever-shifting balance between Hope and Shadow adds a lot of the original novels’ tension, showcasing the rigors of adventures upon heroes. But what if you wanted to play among Middle Earth’s darkest forces?
In Darkness Bound by UnwaveringLeaf is a hack of The One Ring 2E that allows for a full-on evil playthrough. The supplement replaces Heroic Callings with Shadow Callings, Paths of Doom with Paths of Shadow, and a deeper exploration of evil races such as the Orcs. What impressed me most about this hack was that unlike other “evil” TTRPGs that advertise themselves on the “fun” of being a bad guy, this remains entirely somber. Rather than remixing DnD classes into evil versions, the hack takes a far more narrative approach.
Much like in Tolkien’s original work, evil may reign, but in the end, it is never rewarded. In a reversal of roles, evil characters struggle with the light within them. The moment they feel remorse for their actions, the moment their hand hesitates from taking an innocent life, that is when they meet their doom. The One Ring 2E’s facilitation of this concept is why it’s one of the best tabletop RPGs for high fantasy.
Mechanics-wise, the hack is even more daunting than that of the heroes. In sharp contrast to the claim that being evil is “easy”, In Darkness Bound shows how much someone sacrifices in their malice. It’s no coincidence Tolkien depicts the worst of his villains as malformed and inhuman, literally lesser than who they were before.
From existing LOTR media, the hack reminds me a bit of The Bright Lord DLC for Shadow of Mordor. While that fanfiction of a game is plenty controversial, I can’t help but admire the big swings it takes with its lore. The Bright Lord was a great concept, a “light” mirror to Sauron’s darkness, despite using the same brutal methods. Perhaps with this hack, you may accomplish a more “lore-friendly” evil story than Shadow of Mordor did.
You can check out In Darkness Bound on itch.io here.
For a significantly less doomed experience, the Wargamer Discord is the perfect place for some fellowship.
Source: Wargamer
