The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game is the third title in the series by publisher Ravensburger, the previous two entries featuring The Wizard of Oz and The Princess Bride. These are all unique tabletop games that use unfolding storybooks as the basis for telling iconic stories from film and literature. While the previous two releases were fun and effective, The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book is a strong step forward in the format with a sense of maturity and accomplishment.
It’s a great mix of charm and lightweight gameplay that finds its groove when played by different age groups. Both adults and children can be immersed in the story and have a firm grasp of the structure and mechanism, making it perfect for families. The main attraction is the book itself. Each set of pages is a familiar new chapter in his JRR Tolkien trilogy. It’s a hard, solid instruction manual reminiscent of a children’s board book. The illustrations are vivid, the graphic design is excellent, and the presentation and system integration make immersion easy.
All the expected beats are here. The Hobbits depart the Shire, form a group, pass through the gates of Moria and Helm’s Vallis, and finally arrive at the Mouth of Mount Doom. Each of the eight chapters utilizes a handful of special rules and objectives on top of a very concise core ruleset. Forming is done on the pages of a book.
The flow of play is somewhat similar to mainstream cooperative strategy games such as Pandemic and Horrified. All players share control of the protagonist, managing small cards while moving characters such as Frodo and Gandalf around the map. Use different sets of cards to complete your goals and advance the story. For example, in the first chapter, you must move all four hobbits to Bree, then discard one of his cards with the symbol of Sauron and two of his with the symbol of the foot.
It’s pretty simple overall, requiring player discussion and cooperation to organize the sequence of actions for each turn. Challenges arise through plot decks. It acts as a timer and provides the injection of chapter-specific random he events. In Shire’s example, many of the conspiracy effects cause black rider patrols. This can impede your path, block movement across the board, and trap any hobbits left exposed.
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A very basic trade-off between progressing conservatively while building the perfect card hand and aggressively manipulating to quickly push towards your goals in every story chapter. There is. The best strategic approach is to choose the right moment to risk loss without being reckless.
One of the best elements of tension is the track that represents the growing corruption of the ring bearer. This is enabled when playing special ring cards as wild options or for chapter-specific effects, but each such use advances a token under the corruption track. , sitting ominously atop the book, offering a watchful eye and ever-present temptation to linger in all eight chapters. It ends hopelessly. Using the ring card is the game’s most interesting decision and captures the theme of the trilogy nicely.
The strongest moments reside in creative interactive storytelling. Those familiar with Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s films will instantly recognize each vignette. It captures the joy of reliving the property and interacting with its most powerful scenes: battling cave trolls, riding atop ents, and tossing rings into the Crack of Doom. And each challenge is an interesting puzzle to figure out how best to achieve your destiny.
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It’s not exactly groundbreaking board game design, but it’s a clever abstraction of many of the story-driven campaign games that currently dominate the board game market. It captures some of the spark of huge crowdfunded titles like Gloomhaven and Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood, leveraging narrative and story to drive linked sessions of the game. But it does this with a familiar set of rules that most people can quickly understand.
It’s important to realize that this is aimed at families and younger audiences. This adventure book facilitated several nights of shared storytelling and bonding. The strategic demands aren’t overly complex and don’t offer the rich gameplay that enthusiasts tend to look for in adult gaming groups, but they accomplish everything they’re intended to do and are worth it.
It’s also clear that this is the current peak for this adventure book format. The scenarios are unique on each page, featuring stronger variety and creativity than both previous iterations on the system. The unexpected mechanical twist instills a sense of mystery that makes you want to keep going and experience the next chapter to see what awaits. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to capture , and how future story beats will unfold. Those iconic moments always come with a certain thrill.
Above all, this product really understands its audience. The entire book can be played in a few hours, with each chapter lasting about 20 minutes. You can stop playing between chapters and pack up, or just leave the game set up and wait for the next session. The diversity and charm of the content is real, and participants will be engrossed in the whole adventure and demand a careful mind. It’s simply a success.
where to buy
The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game is available exclusively at Target.
