Index -> Introduction

Introduction

What is The Lord of the Rings Online Trading Card Game?
A collectible, turn-based strategy game, between two or more people, re-enacting Frodo's fateful quest to destroy the One Ring, eluding Sauron's minions and the treachery of Saruman while taking the Ring from Hobbiton to Mt Doom.

The game is played using your own customizable deck of cards, featuring scenes from all three The Lord of the Rings movies.

How is it collectible? What is a Trading Card Game?
While most card games have just one deck that never changes, a trading card game (or TCG) works differently. In a TCG, you customize your playing deck using any of the hundreds of cards in the total set. A wide variety of cards lets you build a deck that reflects your playing style, as well as ensures that each game is different - because of this, it is possible for a TCG to have a strategic depth far greater than the usual computer strategy game.

In The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, each card represents a companion, minion, ally, possession, event, condition or site from the story. It is either a Fellowship card, meaning it represents something that will help the fellowship reach its goal, or a Shadow card, meaning it represents something that is intended to prevent the fellowship from reaching its goal, or it is a Site card representing a location such as the Chamber of Mazarbul or Osgiliath where the Free Peoples and Shadows meet.

Instead of buying cards in a single deck, you buy cards in starter packs, containing a pre-built deck ready to play, or booster packs, containing 11 random cards. The "Trading" part of the name comes from the way that players often trade the cards that they buy with others, in order to get the particular cards that they want to build their deck, or just to complete a collection of all the cards.

Once you've built a deck, you're ready to play. For an interactive tutorial, click here.

How does this work online?