In the world of Middle-Earth, for eons now the forces of good and evil have fought one another.
Defeated at the end of the Second Age, Sauron who rules over the forces of evil has been slowly but steadily regaining his power all through this Third Age. More and more often, his agents have made their mark on the world and now, the forces of good must unite under one banner and oppose him.
Whose side will you fight on? And who will emerge victorious?
Game Setup
This is a game for 5 to 10 players. After sign-ups are closed, each player will be either on the side of the Free Peoples or a Minion of Sauron. Distribution of these allegiances depends on the number of players:
| Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Free Peoples | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Minions | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
All Minions of Sauron will be told the names of the other Minions, while the Free Peoples receive no further information.
Furthermore, one member of the Free Peoples will be given the role of Gandalf, while one Minion will be the Witch-King of Angmar. Depending on the amount of players, other roles may be assigned as well (see below).
The GM will randomly determine the order of Leadership.
Game Play
The game consists of between three and five Quests.
Gather the Party
First, a Party must be gathered to go on the Quest. The size of the Party depends on the number of players and which Quest is being attempted, according to the following table:
| Players | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 1st Quest | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2nd Quest | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 3rd Quest | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 4th Quest | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 5th Quest | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
The current Leader must choose this many players and reveal their names in public. All players must then vote to either APPROVE or REJECT the proposed Party.
The Party is approved and goes on their Quest if they receive a majority of approvals (a tied vote means the Party is rejected). If the Party is rejected, Leadership passes to the next player in the order who will make a new proposal. Should there ever be 5 Parties rejected for the same Quest, then the Minions win the game immediately.
Voting may be done in private or in public. Once all votes are tallied, everyone's vote will be revealed.
Undertaking the Quest
Each player going on the Quest must either SUPPORT or SABOTAGE the Quest. The Free Peoples must SUPPORT, Minions are free to SUPPORT or SABOTAGE at will.
The Quest is successful only if every member of the Party supports it; if one or more sabotages occur, the Quest fails. Note that with games of 7 players or more, the 4th Quest requires at least two sabotages to fail.
Supporting or sabotaging is done in private. Once all actions are tallied, only the tally is revealed and not who did what.
Victory
The Free Peoples win when they complete 3 Quests successfully, unless the Witch-King can find and kill Gandalf.
The Minions of Sauron win when they sabotage 3 Quests, when the Witch-King finds and kills Gandalf, or when 5 Parties are rejected for the same Quest.
Roles
All roles are optional except Gandalf and the Witch-King.
GANDALF - FREE PEOPLES
At the start of the game, Gandalf will be given the names of all the Minions of Sauron.
WITCH-KING - MINIONS
At the end of the game, if the Free Peoples succeeded in 3 Quests, the Witch-King may guess which player is Gandalf. If he is right, the Minions win the game.
ARAGORN - FREE PEOPLES
At the start of the game, Aragorn is given the name of Gandalf. Adding Aragorn helps the Free Peoples.
DENETHOR - MINIONS
At the start of the game, Denethor's name is NOT given to Gandalf. Adding Denethor helps the Minions.
GOLLUM - MINIONS
At the start of the game, Gollum's name is not given to the other Minions, nor is Gollum told the names of the other Minions. Adding Gollum helps the Free Peoples.
SARUMAN - MINIONS
At the start of the game, Saruman's name is given to Aragorn in addition to Gandalf's. Adding Saruman helps the Minions.
BOROMIR
There are always two players with the role of Boromir. One of them starts the game on the side of the Free Peoples while the other starts on the side of the Minions.
At the start of the game, the Minion Boromir will have his name revealed to Gandalf and the other Minions, but will not be given any names. The other Minions will also be told he is Boromir.
During the game, the two Boromirs may swap sides, always remaining opposite one another (see below for the rules). During the game, they must follow all rules of their current allegiance (most notably, Free Boromir may not sabotage a Quest).
Note that Roles are never revealed to other people, only names or allegiance (Free Peoples/Minions) with the sole exception of Minion Boromir.
For example, Gandalf knows the names of all the Minions (except Denethor) but not what each player's Role might be. Similarly, Aragorn would receive the names of Merlin and Saruman without knowing which is which.
Optional Rules
Boromir
Boromir will either switch allegiance in a random manner or in a predetermined manner:
Random
5 cards are prepared, 2 that force the Boromirs to switch and 3 that leave them their current allegiance.
After Quest 2, one card is drawn from this deck, shown to all players and then discarded. This is repeated after every subsequent quest.
Predetermined
7 cards are prepared, 2 that force the Boromirs to switch and 5 that leave them their current allegiance.
At the start of the game after all names are revealed, the top 5 cards are drawn and shown to all players. The first card takes affect right before Quest 1, the second right before Quest 2, etc.
IMPORTANT! In this variant, the Minion Boromir must sabotage any Quest he is sent on.
Boromir bis
Another Boromir-related variant allows both Boromirs to receive the other's name at the start of the game.
The Palantír
The last player on the Leader list may start the game with a Palantír.
Immediately after the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Quests are resolved, the player holding the Palantír must choose another player, whose allegiance will be revealed to him in private. The Palantír then passes to the targeted player.
The Palantír may not be used on a player that has used it himself.
Adding the Palantír helps the Free Peoples.
The Ring of Power
When the Leader proposes a Party, he must also assign the Ring to one of the players he chose; he may not keep it for himself.
When the player who carries the Ring is sent on the Quest, he may publically select one other member of the Party after they have all chosen their actions. His action for that Quest will be revealed privately to the player who used the Ring on him and the opposite action will be counted for the Quest's result, ie. a sabotage will be counted as a support and vice-versa.
Note that this does not change what actions a player on a Quest can take. Free Peoples may still only choose to support, but the Ring may afterwards turn that into a sabotage.
Formalities
No communication between players about the game may happen outside the public thread. PMs between players are NOT allowed, neither are phone calls, talking in another thread, letting things slip while having a drink, etc. Do not talk about the Resistance.
Each player is solely responsible for clearly communicating to the GM and the other players. Making things like votes and party proposals stand out by using colors, bold text, bigger fonts and such is strongly encouraged. If anything gets missed, it is the fault of the player who did not make himself clear enough.
Votes for or against a party may happen in public or private. Only the last vote will be counted (based on the timestamp).
In order to make the game move smoother, it is strongly recommended to PRELOAD your support or sabotage of the Quest while the party is being voted on. This allows the GM to make a single update, counting the votes and handling the quest all at once.
If a player becomes absent, the GM reserves the right to replace him.
If a player fails to vote, the GM reserves the right to close the vote without him.
If a player fails to provide a Quest action, the GM reserves the right to default the action to support if the player is Free Peoples and sabotage if the player is a Minion.
If a player fails to propose a Party, the GM reserves the right to move on to the next Leader in the order.
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