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by Dunheved

The Realms of the Three Rings dropped in a while ago, and I haven't really had much chance to play a lot of the contents. But, it's been nagging me to add another 'review' here before Hands of the White Wizard gets its final printing.

So my comments here come from a very limited application of the materials provided.

First the structure of the book has similarities with Ruins of the Lost Realm. It's broken up into some main threads - four in fact - each with varying numbers of minichapters.

And now I am not so sure the order these threads are presented is the best.
1. An outline "history" of Tolkiens elves, and an overview of each of the three territories as they stand at the end of the Third Age / the timeliness of this game. This is a nice and sensible introduction to the book as a whole.
2. "The Days Darken" - here we get a few (4) outline plots for the LM to include in their story hooks. This is something that perhaps I now feel should be placed after the third thread.
3. "Landmarks" - very similar to earlier books, (Ruins of the Lost Realm; Moria) in presentation. A collection of twelve named locations (many of which have been written to touch or loosely connect with true Tolkien places) with their geography, and some points of interest to help flesh out these places. This section should have followed the "History" in part 1 to my mind: but its a small quibble from me.
4. "Appendices" - being two elven Cultures (or maybe sub-Cultures) and some ideas for special, powerful Elf Lords, adding a strong hint for how to do Elf Solo play with a true, classic elf hero of old e.g. think Glorfindel.

So much for the contents.
My impression of it is as follows:
A. I have read this book through a couple of times now. And I have tried dipping in to find a good hook for me to plan some elf-stuff for my own game. And so far it has not been 'gelling' with me.
I am not sure exactly what it is that makes this book less connected to my Middle-earth than the others. I have been unable to make it feel like it fits comfortably with the earlier books of TOR2E. Which is worrying, because I love this game, and I don't want to fall out of love with it.
I suspect that I don't like the tone of the "Days Darken" thread. This is a book about Elves. And as the professor himself says "elves are good people". It should have a heavier emphasis on what makes the elves both different and what makes them "good" compared to mortals. The lines in "Days Darken" describe elves with mortal vices and flaws - and I don't get the impression that these faults are spectacularly elven in nature. Just as our own legends and myths of Greek, Roman or Norse pantheons are exaggerations of HUMAN frailties, so are the flaws and issues of these Elves. Yet, the elves of Middle-earth have concerns with the Land itself, not so much with each other. I don't feel that these elves have a concern for the lands of Middle-earth; and they don't exhibit even the sadness and disappointment that Tolkien reflects in his elves for the increased dominance of the mortals (especially humans).
In short I am not connecting to these elves (and the Greco-Roman style of artwork for the elves doesnt help overcome this btw)

B. BUT at least the actual Landmarks are OK.
For example I like the Isle of the Sorceress, and the descriptions of most of the other places. This is a part of the book where I feel I will be able to use the text for my Players to run across, handle, and move on. This collection of spot-locations is better for me - as a Loremaster to use - than those of Moria in fact. The very flexibility of this information helps get past most of my concerns above.

C. I have some small gripe that the Wood Elves of Wilderland were not added in as a Culture too. In an Appendix, you can throw in related things, and the Wood Elves could have made it, even if they were no more than the relevant part of the Peoples of Wilderland pdf file. ( Its still only a pdf thing to date, Spring 2026, and it should be addressed.)
The Elf Lord rules are one of the best ideas for solo playing so far. You get a really powerful figure which compensates for the fact they are a Fellowship of One. It wouldn't take too much to construct Hero level figures for mortals by these rules. This is a genuinely attractive part of this book - and I can see a use for these Elf Lord rules to be used to introduce the game to a Player new to role playing games or a younger Player .

I'll stop here for now though.

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