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TST Gaming Welcome back to TST 
Gaming's How to Play series for 

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The One Ring role-playing Game 
Second Edition. 

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So far we've covered everything 
you need to play the game, from 

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character creation to combat, 
and how the company functions in

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between adventures. 
Now it's time to shift 

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perspectives. 
Today we're stepping into the 

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role of the Loremaster and 
looking at how to actually run 

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the One Ring. 
What is a Loremaster? 

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The War Master, or LM, is the 
game master of the One Ring. 

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You are the world, the 
opposition, the guide, and the 

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storyteller. 
You control everything outside 

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of the player heroes, but your 
goal is not to defeat them. 

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Your role is to challenge them, 
support the story, and bring 

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Middle Earth to life. 
In more specific scenes, you'll 

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do three things. 
One, present the world, two call

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for roles, and three, agitate 
the outcomes. 

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Everything flows from this. 
You'll call for a role when the 

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outcome is uncertain. 
If it's an action that will 

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matter or failure changes 
something. 

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Otherwise, if it's something 
small and trivial, let it 

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happen. 
But some skills require more 

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than one role, and this is 
what's called skill endeavors. 

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Skill endeavors are used for 
larger tasks that require 

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multiple successful roles over 
time. 

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The rules for this work 
similarly to how counsels work. 

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First, you'll set the resistance
by determining the difficulty. 

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Simple, laborious, and daunting.
Simple requires 3 successes. 

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This is for a lengthy but 
manageable endeavor, like 

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carrying a boat to the top of a 
steep slope. 

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Laborious requires 6 successes 
and is a difficult and time 

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consuming affair, like when 
trying to search a wide area for

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a lost item. 
Daunting requires 9 successes to

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pass, and it's a hard and 
complicated endeavor, like 

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repairing a rope bridge that 
spans A bottomless chasm or 

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researching obscure lore in a 
great library. 

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This is how you know how many 
success roles are needed. 

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Next, you'll set the time limit.
You'll get to decide how many 

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attempts the company has based 
off of how much time they have 

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available. 
If it's very limited time, they 

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get 3 roles. 
If they have a short amount of 

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time, 4 roles, enough time, 5 
roles, and then if they have 

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plenty of time, it's 6 plus up 
to your discretion. 

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The next step is the execution. 
Players will make roles using 

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appropriate skills. 
Multiple skills may be used and 

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the same skill can be reused. 
The endeavour ends when 

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successes reach the resistance 
or time runs out. 

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Then the resolution. 
Interpret the results, whether 

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it was a success, a partial 
success, or a failure with 

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consequences. 
Sources of injury. 

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In most cases, player heroes 
will lose endurance through 

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combat, but the world can be a 
dangerous place at times. 

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Damage taken from other sources 
is broken down into 3 levels. 

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Moderate, Severe. 
If it's moderate, the Loremaster

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will roll a favored feet die 
roll, if it's severe they will 

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roll a single feet die, and if 
it's grievous they will roll an 

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I'll favored feet die. 
Then using the Endurance loss 

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table, it will tell you how much
damage the player hero has 

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taken. 
In the core rule book, there's a

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Source of Injuries table to 
determine which of the levels is

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appropriate for different types 
of damage, such as falling, 

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fire, poison, and more. 
Loremaster characters. 

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These are any characters not 
controlled by the players. 

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The MPCS, the Allies, the 
Patrons, the Travellers, all of 

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them fall under your control. 
But here's the key, They're not 

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built like player heroes. 
They are simplified, focused, 

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and built only for what they 
need to do in the moment. 

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Allure. 
Master character is defined by 

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the traits that matter right 
now, their personality, and 

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their role in the scene. 
If they're in a council, focus 

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on attitude and behavior. 
If they're in combat, focus on 

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their stat block. 
If they're just for flavour, 

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focus on presence of voice. 
You don't need everything, you 

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only need what matters. 
The goal isn't to simulate a 

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full character sheet. 
You're just trying to make them 

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feel real, grounded, and 
consistent. 

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And the rules for how to create 
a Loremaster character are found

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in the sourcebook Running 
Combat. 

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Now let's talk about 
adversaries. 

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Combat in The Wondering is 
streamlined. 

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Enemies are not built like 
players. 

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They're designed to be fast to 
run, easy to understand, and 

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dangerous. 
Every adversary has a simple 

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stat block, things like 
endurance, parry, armor, attack,

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special abilities, resolve or 
hate, and that's pretty much it.

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If you've already watched our 
combat video, you already know 

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how the combat structure flows. 
But running enemies well 

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requires a different kind of 
touch. 

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Don't play enemies like 
optimized game pieces. 

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Play them like they belong in 
Middle Earth. 

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Give them different tactics. 
Orcs may swarm and overwhelm, 

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Trolls crush and dominate, 
whereas wolves harass and 

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isolate. 
Think of instinct, think of 

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purpose, and think of the story.
Now we move from physical danger

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to something much more 
important, Shadow. 

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What shadow is Shadow represents
fear, despair, greed, and 

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corruption. 
Your hero might survive the 

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journey, but the question is 
what did it do to them? 

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Heroes gain shadow points from 
Dread, Greed, Sorcery, or even 

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misdeeds, and some of these 
could be resisted with shadow 

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tests, some cannot. 
The way that shadow tests work 

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is based off of what type of 
shadow it is. 

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If it's Dread, it requires A 
Valor check. 

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If it's greed or sorcery, it 
requires a Wisdom check, and 

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success is reduced the shadow 
gained. 

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But failure means you take all 
of it, and this can become 

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dangerous if shadow equals or 
exceeds current hope because it 

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makes the hero miserable. 
That means rolling the Eye of 

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Sauron is now an automatic 
failure. 

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But before Shadow reaches that 
breaking point, a hero can 

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choose to harden will clearing 
all current shadow but gaining a

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permanent shadow scar that 
lingers on until it's healed 

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later in the Fellowship phase. 
But if the shadow reaches Max 

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hope all roles become I'll 
favored. 

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The hero has to suffer a bout of
madness, and afterwards the 

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shadow resets. 
But they gain a permanent flaw, 

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which leads them down a dark 
path that may complicate things 

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for them as well as their 
company. 

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Why this matters. 
This is the heart of the game, 

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because the real danger isn't 
just staying alive, it's trying 

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not to let despair and darkness 
overcome you, and keeping the 

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shadow at Bay. 
Treasure and Hordes. 

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Now let's talk about treasure in
the One Ring. 

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Treasure is not just loot, it's 
story. 

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What treasure is Treasure 
includes wealth, relics, 

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precious objects, wondrous 
items, and sometimes shadow. 

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A horde is a major treasure 
cache, such as troll stashes, 

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lost ruins, ancient Wealth, and 
this is where the big rewards 

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live. 
But sometimes the shadow of 

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greed comes with it. 
Players don't just take 

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everything, they evaluate the 
treasure, decide what to keep, 

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risk shadow when they claim it. 
Treasure becomes a choice, not 

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just a reward on how often to 
give hoards. 

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This comes straight from the 
rules. 

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On average, the Company should 
find a maximum of two hordes 

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during the same adventuring 
phase, a lesser horde and a 

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greater one, or a single 
Marvelous Horde. 

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Treasure is meant to be rare, 
meaningful, and earned. 

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Finally, we get to talk about 
the Eye of Mordor. 

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This is how the enemy becomes 
aware of the Company. 

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The Eye represents suspicion, 
rumors, growing attention. 

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The more the players act boldly,
the more they are noticed. 

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You track an awareness level and
increase it when players draw 

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attention, use violence, 
interact with shadow, or even 

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leave evidence behind. 
As awareness rises, enemies 

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begin tracking them. 
Encounters become more dangerous

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and the enemy begins to hunt. 
This is not a punishment, it's a

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pressure. 
It makes players think, do we 

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stay hidden? 
Do we act now? 

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Is this action worth it? 
It can lead to Revelation 

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episode that can shift the 
story, reveal threats, and 

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increase the stakes. 
My final advice is you don't 

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need to be perfect. 
Just focus on the flow, the 

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players and the story and the 
rest will really come together. 

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And don't be afraid to create 
some house rules for your game 

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in order to better realize the 
vision of the type of game you 

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want to run. 
And that's how to run the One 

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Ring as a Loremaster. 
If you follow the series so far,

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you now have everything you need
to both play and run the game. 

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But if you are interested in 
solo play, then join us next 

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time for the Strider Mode video.
Thanks for watching and I'll see

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you in the next adventure.