Shadows Creep from the North Downs, and Your Fellowship Must Answer the Call
Publisher: Free League Publishing
Designer: Francesco Nepitello, Jacob Rodgers
Players: 2–6 + 1 Loremaster
Playtime: 3–4 hours (longer for less experienced players)
Genre: Tabletop RPG
Release: 2025
Opening Hook / First Impression
Over Hill and Under Hill drops you into Middle-earth the right way: not as legendary heroes, but as ordinary folk drawn into trouble they don’t fully understand yet. A quiet evening at the Prancing Pony in Bree turns into rumors, unease, and the sense that something old and unpleasant is waking up in the North Downs.
As a starter set, it succeeds because it understands Tolkien’s pacing. This isn’t about spectacle. It’s about slow pressure, long roads, and the creeping weight of Shadow. Free League’s presentation reinforces that from the first page, making this one of the more confident RPG starter boxes in recent memory.
Overview / Core Gameplay
Players take on the roles of pre-generated heroes tasked with investigating a growing threat beyond Bree. The campaign carries the group through forests, ruins, marshlands, and goblin-infested tunnels, gradually revealing what’s stirring and why it matters.
Each session revolves around The Adventuring Phase, which blends travel, encounters, and roleplay. Journey rules are front and center: players assign roles like Guide, Scout, or Hunter, face travel events, and accumulate Fatigue and Shadow as the road wears them down.
What makes this work is how cooperative the design feels. Every role matters. One character’s strengths often exist specifically to protect someone else’s weaknesses, reinforcing the idea of fellowship as a mechanical necessity, not just a narrative theme.
Mechanics & Flow
The system uses The One Ring’s d12 + d6 dice pool, where players roll a Feat Die alongside a number of Success Dice equal to their skill. Gandalf runes mean automatic success. Sauron’s Eye introduces spells doom. It’s simple, readable, and loaded with thematic weight.
Journeys are where the system shines. Travel isn’t filler; it’s a source of tension and consequence. Role assignments, event rolls, and accumulating Fatigue make long distances feel earned rather than skipped.
Combat is stance-based and positional rather than tactical-grid heavy. Choosing Defensive or Forward stances affects survivability and damage, while Hope and Shadow track the emotional cost of pushing too far. At four to five players, the system feels best balanced. Smaller groups work, but the loss of role overlap reduces tension slightly.
The campaign unfolds in three clear acts, with Fellowship Phases providing downtime and recovery. The structure makes it easy to run in short arcs while still delivering a satisfying narrative arc.
Theme & Components
This box has strong table presence without being excessive. The art leans into muted colors and watercolor textures, emphasizing unease and melancholy rather than epic fantasy bombast. It fits the tone perfectly.
Inside the box:
- A large double-sided Eriador map (with a combat grid on the reverse)
- A condensed rulebook and campaign book
- Five pre-generated heroes with rich backstories
- Custom dice (2 Feat d12s, 6 Success d6s)
- Standees, heroes and enemies
Setup is quick, teardown is painless, and storage is well thought out. Everything fits in the box, no organizers needed.
Ease of Learning / Accessibility
This is a good starter set, but not a beginner-proof one. The rules are clearly written, but mechanics like Shadow, Hope, and Journey roles assume some familiarity with RPG concepts. A patient Loremaster will help a lot.
That said, the pre-generated characters and structured opening get groups playing quickly. Expect about 15 minutes from box to table. Complexity ramps up gradually and settles at a comfortable mid-weight level.
This set is best suited for Tolkien fans, RPG hobbyists, or families with teens who already enjoy tabletop roleplaying. Absolute newcomers may need guidance, but the effort pays off.
The Table Experience
At the table, the game excels at quiet tension. Players lean over the map, debate risky choices, and feel the sting of bad travel rolls long before swords come out.
A single unlucky Eye result can derail a plan, while a well-timed council roll can shift an encounter entirely. Moments of success feel shared. Failure feels personal in the way Tolkien stories often do.
One session ended with a desperate song rallying the party out of despair, followed immediately by groans when a blocked route forced an exhausting detour. Those swings between hope and weariness are where the game lives.
Final Thoughts / Verdict
Veteran RPG players and Tolkien fans will get the most out of it, while newcomers may need a steady hand to guide them. Replayability is strong thanks to scalable threats and the open nature of Eriador, and the box naturally leads into the full core rulebook.
You can purchase it here
Special thanks to Free League for supplying the set to review
Summary
Over Hill and Under Hill is an excellent entry point into The One Ring RPG. It captures the setting’s tone, supports it mechanically, and delivers a complete campaign without overwhelming the table.
Pros
- Strong thematic cohesion between mechanics and narrative
- High-quality components with practical table use
- Complete, ready-to-run campaign in one box
Cons
- Not fully beginner-friendly without RPG experience
- Best balance at 4–5 players
- No character creation included
