The One Ring is the second edition of the amazing game about role playing adventures in the Eriador region of Middle Earth in the period before the War of the Ring. It’s designed by Francesco Nepitello and produced by Free League, one of my favorite game companies. The second edition has been out for a few years now (with the first edition about 10 years before that via Cubicle 7) and originally supported a boxed Starter Set featuring hobbits adventuring in the Shire. I guess Free League felt they needed a Starter Set more in line with D&D and Pathfinder 2e, so the new Starter Set Over Hill and Under Hill features a more traditional party of adventurers and a more a traditional wilderness/dungeon adventure.

As with all of Free League’s releases, Over Hill and Under Hill is a very polished box set with great inclusions: dice, two booklets (basic rules and the adventure), character sheets, standees, a battle map. What’s missing are the lovely Combat Stance and Item Cards featured in the first Starter Set. The combat stances are included on the battle map, but as The One Ring uses abstracted theater-of-the-mind combat, the standees aren’t really necessary. They’re very nice, though, and can be used interchangeably in almost any other fantasy TTRPG.

As with all Free League products, the writing, art and layout are top notch. The adventure included is pretty basic – it’s nice, teaches new players the rules, but it’s nothing to write home about. That said, the Over Hill and Under Hill Starter Set is a worthy addition for any fan of the system, unless you already own the previous Starter Set. If that’s the case, I’d recommend you give Over Hill and Under Hill a miss and save your hard earned dollars for some of the cool upcoming The One Ring releases (a new bestiary and Rohan supplement are on the way).

Here’s a short video showing all the components:

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