The One Ring

If you like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in book and/or movie format then you should consider this game. Of course, if you don't, this probably won't interest you ;-)
I do so I will carry on......


Reviews
http://www.geeknative.com/50023/one-review-rule-review-one-ring/
http://ringen.squarespace.com/loremasters-journal/2014/12/7/the-one-ring-rpg-review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRP5hT0nXyA

The One Ring is a translation of what was originally an Italian RPG and it far and away the most Tolkieness attempt at a Middle Earth RPG ever. Actually the title is a bit of a misnomer as the One Ring is really not a part of this game, but I suppose you had to call it something Middle Earthish and most of the more appropriate titles have already been taken ;-)

TOR is set 5 years after the events in The Hobbit (book or movie) concluded and is set in the same area of Middle Earth explored in The Hobbit. This is a good choice IMHO as it gives you background while at the same time limiting, to some extent, the Middle Earth to a manageable chunk of real estate.

Characters are chosen from the "good" people that live in this area namely, Bardings, Beornings, Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, Elves of Mirkwood, Hobbits of The Shire, and Woodsmen of Wilderland.

The system used is, basically, roll a number of d6 equal to your skill and add d12 Feat die, add then all together and if you beat the TN, usually 14, your test or task is a success. Any sixes rolled on the skill dice, determine the level of success. If you roll a 12 on the d12 (The Rune of Gandalf) the roll is an automatic success no matter what else was rolled. If you roll an 11 on the d12 (The Eye of Sauron) the d12 counts as a roll of 0. You can use a Hope Point to add the value of the controlling attribute, of the skill, to the die roll after you roll the dice to turn a failure into a success, obviously only if the attribute value is high enough to make the difference ;-)

A character also gets Feats, like in Fate, but these more powerful. If you have a Feat you think applies in a situation, and one one at the table objects, you can just say that you are using the Feat, skip the die roll altogether, and just declare a success, albeit an basic success.

There are quite a few other Tolkieness touches for each character including Callings, Virtues and Rewards to really individualize your character.

There is a lot of extras published already to support this game, including a multi-year campaign, to keep you busy for a long, long time......

As I said in the beginning, if you are a fan of Tolkien style fantasy (and opposed to D&D style) you can immerse yourself in this game and you don't even have to read the book, just watch the movies :)

As usual, the reviews go deeper into aspects of the game, so if you are interested have a read or watch the video review.

It is near the top of my recommendations, and my top fantasy game.