The Two Towers™ to Add New Keywords, Gameplay Formats, and More!
The November release of The Two Towers base set will bring some exciting
changes in how you can play The Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card
Game. Gameplay formats will be introduced to allow players access to new
challenges and rewarding story situations. Of course, players will still
be able to use all of the cards they have purchased in past sets. First,
some terminology.
The Two Towers will be the first release in the Tower Block (the two expansions
will be Battle of Helm's Deep and Ents of Fangorn). The Fellowship Block
comprises The Fellowship of the Ring™, Mines of Moria™, and Realms
of the Elf-lords™.
Let's look at how the introduction of the next block will affect gameplay.
The Adventure Path
Since day one, players have been asking what will happen to the Adventure
Path with the release of The Two Towers. The short answer is that things
will continue pretty much as they are currently. As the story of The
Lord of the Rings is divided into three parts, both in book and movie,
it will be so with the Adventure Path.
Here is the appropriate passage from The Two Towers rulebook:
Adventure Deck
The sites provided in The Two Towers base set have site numbers identified
with the Tower symbol (abbreviated here as T).
The Tower Block adventure deck is numbered from 1T
to 9T, just like The Fellowship Block adventure
deck is numbered from 1 to 9.
This is an alternative to the sites from the Fellowship Block, not an
extension of those sites. The game will always have only 9 sites in the
adventure deck.
You may not mix sites from different blocks in the same adventure deck.
Minions
For playing minions, use only the site number, not the site identifier.
A Moria Orc is roaming at site 3 (Fellowship Block) and at site 3T
(Tower Block), but is not roaming at site 4 or 4T.
Allies
For the home sites of allies, use the site identifier. An ally from
the Fellowship Block has no home site in the Tower Block.
Elrond's home site is 3, not 3T.
Splitting Fellowships
Another question that players are wondering about is what will happen
to gameplay when the Fellowship breaks up in the story. Here are the rules
that deal with this:
Ring-bound and unbound. Only companions can be unbound or Ring-bound
(not allies or minions). Any companion without the Ring-bound keyword
is an unbound companion.
Exception: All versions of Frodo and Sam are Ring-bound.
A lot of development time was spent exploring this issue. Should the implementation
be rules based or card based? The conclusion was that the best option for
the game was to add keywords to the characters traveling with Frodo. There
are a variety of mechanics that use the Ring-bound keyword for both the
Free Peoples and Shadow.
Gameplay Formats
Several new gameplay formats will also come into being with the release
of The Two Towers. Following is a brief look at each of them.
Open
This format will allow all non-site cards that have been released in one
of the base sets or an expansion. While Tower Block is the current block,
the Tower Block sites will make up the adventure deck. With the release
of The Return of the King set in November 2003, King Block sites will be
used.
Fellowship Block
This format uses any card that has been released in The Fellowship of
the Ring, Mines of Moria, or Realms of the Elf-lords.
Tower Block
This format uses any card that has been released in The Two Towers, Battle
of Helm's Deep, or Ents of Fangorn.
Casual Play
While all tournaments will be held in either the Open or block format,
casual play does not have to conform to a given format. The way the adventure
decks for The Lord of the Rings TCG are structured, any two players
with a deck can show up and have a game, regardless of which format their
decks are from. Things may be a little quirky on the site path, but the
game is still playable. The reason is that the Shadow Numbers on similar
sites from different blocks (5, 5T, and 5K,
for instance) will be roughly equivalent. Site 5 in Fellowship Block has
a Shadow number of 6 and text about the Balrog, and site 5T
in Tower Block may have a Shadow number of 7 and text about Saruman.
The design team will also be doing everything possible within the guidelines
of the story to preserve the playability of cards from previous blocks on
the current site path. For example, there will be an underground site in
the Tower Block, allowing the Balrog to play there in the Open format.
Ratings
In the current environment for The Lord of the Rings TCG, each
player has four basic ratings:
• 1v1 Sealed
• 1v1 Constructed
• Multiplayer Sealed
• Multiplayer Constructed
This will not change as the game progresses. Every tournament, regardless
of the card pool, will fall into one of those categories. There will not
be separate ratings for each block.
Championship Circuit
The Championship Circuit for 2003 and beyond will be diverse. Decipher's
Game Management Authority (DGMA) has many events planned including: Premier
Series Qualifiers; Territorial Open Championships; Continental Championships;
Premier Series Events; World Cup; World Championship; and pre-release tournaments.
Each of the different gameplay formats will be represented at some level.
Some events might be Open, while others are Tower Block or Fellowship Block.
Be sure to read all of the event details to make sure that you bring an
appropriate deck.
The Lord of the Rings TCG is getting ready to move onward to the
next evolution in gaming. However, that doesn't mean that the past will
be forgotten, or even missed. For those who loved the Fellowship Block –
continue to play it. There will be newcomers who may prefer the Tower Block.
There is common ground in the Open format and in all types of casual play.
The future of The Lord of the Rings TCG is bright and flexible. The
journey continues on November 6th, in stores everywhere!
Tom Lischke
Game Designer
Decipher TCG Studio
tom.lischke@decipher.com
Dan Bojanowski
Organized Play Coordinator
Decipher Game Management Authority
dan.bojanowski@dgma.com
September 27, 2002
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