* LotR TCG * The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game

[The Barrow-Wight]

Have any of you played the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game by Decipher? Sharkû and I have been playing it for a while, and we’ve decided that it would be great if we could see if there are other Downs members who play or if we could get some new people interested. I thought I would start with a basic description of the game and then see if anyone has questions or comments.

What is The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game?
LotR:TCG is a card game based on the Peter Jackson films of the Lord of the Rings. The beautifully made cards show images from the films, and play is designed so that games often follow along closely with the story line of the movies. Two or more players, each with decks divided evenly with Free Peoples and Shadow cards, try to move their Frodo card successfully along an Adventure Path or to prevent the other play from doing so. Because each deck must have the same amount of Free Peoples and Shadow cards in it, the game is very balanced and immensely fun to play.

Types of Cards
Like any card game, you must have a deck of cards. In the case of LotR:TCG, you will have several different kinds of cards in your deck. These include Frodo and the One Ring plus companions, allies and minions, events, conditions, possessions and artifacts, and sites.

Companions (Free Peoples)
Samwise, Gandalf, and Aragorn are oft-seen companion cards, but other characters such as Eomer, Faramir, and Haldir are also companions. These cards are played to protect Frodo and each other from the attacks of the opposing player’s minions. They remain on the table until killed.

Allies (Free Peoples)
Elrond, Galadriel, and Treebeard are ally cards. They are played to assist the companions with healing, protecting, and other skills. They remain on the table until killed.

Minions (Shadow)
The Witch King, Saruman, and the Balrog are minion cards. There are many minions, few as powerful as these three, but all used to attack the opposing player’s companions and allies. They remain on the table until killed or the end of the turn.

Events (Free Peoples and Shadow)
These cards do many things, but some events cards increase (or decrease) the fighting capabilities of companions, allow hobbits to sneak away from skirmishes (explained later), or cause the other player to discard cards from their hand. They are discarded immediately after they are played.

Conditions (Free Peoples and Shadow)
These cards change the environment of the game. They do such things as limit what cards the opposing player can use or increase a player’s capabilities if certain other cards are on the table. Conditions usually remain in play until the end of a turn or the entire game.

Possessions and Artifacts (Free Peoples and Shadow)
Sting, Shadowfax, and Narya are examples of possessions and artifacts. They increase the capabilities of the companion or ally cards they are played on or give them special abilities. They remain with the companion or ally they are played on until that card is killed. Minions can also have possessions (The Balrog's whip and sword are two examples).


Sites
Site cards are special because they are not shuffled into your deck. Instead, each player has nine site cards set aside and, depending on who is ahead in the game, the sites are laid out one at a time in an order that roughly follows the movies. This is the Adventure Path that players must move their Frodo card down in order to win the game.

Summary
As you can see, there are many different kinds of cards and endless possibilities of combinations. In the next section of this article, I will describe the different cultures of cards that exist in Lotr:TCG. Until then, here’s the page where you can see all of the cards in the game:
Card Lists.

Please feel free to ask any questions or post any comments here on this thread. Our goal it to familiarize more people with the game and maybe get a few more to join us!

[ March 09, 2003: Message edited by: The Barrow-Wight ]