the final round:
Dungeons & Dragons (5e) vs The One Ring (2e)
in the beginning, along with a lot of scribbly scattered notes and spreadsheets of metadata on each RPG book, I mapped out my relative prior experience with each of the 16 systems, like so:
None-- The One Ring (2e), Cyberpunk RED, and A Song of Ice and Fire
Barely any-- Wrath & Glory, Scion: Hero, and Exalted
Some-- Pathfinder (2e), Shadowrun (5e), Mage: the Awakening, and Changeling: the Lost
More than some-- World of Darkness, Star Wars: Force and Destiny, and 7th Sea (2e)
Lots-- Vampire: the Masquerade (5e) and Dungeons & Dragons (5e)
there were some idle thoughts about coming up with a color code to go along with this, even. maybe it would've started with grey, then blue, yellow, green, up to a nice purple for the ones I've played most, or something like that? not important, I suppose. arbitrary distinctions to signify those slightly less arbitrary.
in any case, The One Ring has already vanquished one of my most-played RPGs. does it have what it takes to beat the other?
either way, it will feel like Tolkien wins.
we recently finished listening to The Fellowship of the Ring narrated by Andy Serkis. so excellently done-- all the voices and the singing. I loved it. at least 20 years have gone by since I last read the book myself. I still mean to reread them all at some point, but who knows when. there is such a richness in that story. it is beautiful, touching, deep, and timeless. I'm not saying anything here that hasn't been said a hundred times.
last week, we gathered friends at our table to begin another D&D campaign. I'm still working on putting the finishing touches on my first-ever bard: Ennagold Lindenrill, a wood-elf from Waterdeep. the rest of the party shall include a couple of wizards, a couple of clerics, and a paladin. it's exciting to be gearing up to play once again after about a year and a half spent in other game systems.
judging these two against each other is as expectedly challenging as most of the last few matches have been. which do I value more? the focus, simplicity, and artistry of the newer book, or the flexibility, openness, and mainstream appeal of the older? which deserves this more? the world-changing system that paved the way for pretty much all the others, or the beautiful latecomer based on a world-changing fantasy that paved the way for it in the first place?
| SYSTEM | Dungeons & Dragons (5e) | The One Ring (2e) |
| cover tagline = | "Arm yourself for adventure." |
"Enter the world of Middle-earth..." |
| publisher = |
Wizards of the Coast |
Free League Publishing |
| pub. date = |
2014 | 2020 |
| original cost = |
$49.95 | $49.85 |
| length = |
11 chapters / 320 pages |
10 chapters / 240 pages |
| my exp. level = | very much lots | none prior |
the easy part is judging these two on aesthetics. The One Ring will probably never lose on that count. I bet the designers of this book put as much attention and effort into its appearance as Tolkien himself put into the elvish language. it seems to me almost as perfect as any functional book could ever be (semi-garish cover notwithstanding). beyond the surface of the pages, too, the aesthetics of this epic storyworld come with all the depth and richness of their source material. it's lovely.
and while The One Ring is soaked in the vibes of deep green-grey forests and cozy, semi-lit hobbit holes, D&D injects all that with a little more brightness. the saturation is turned up, the gleam of adventure a little more polished against a grab-bag stage-set of fantasy. they aren't opposites, but we might say they are different shades of the same hue: The One Ring a deep piney dark-olive, like those magical woven elf-cloaks in shadow; D&D more like new grass, or spring-time oak leaves in the sun, or a green leather satchel freshly polished. you can tell serious, weighty stories in either game, but D&D will always feel lighter to me.
judging on mechanics, I have a harder time choosing which I like more. The One Ring is simple and unique. it's character creation options are very focused, its gameplay processes similarly so. destiny and heritage and lore combine to draw strong lines around the possible story arcs. player characters rotate through adventuring phases and fellowship phases. journeying, counseling, and resting are given just as much attention (if not more) than combat.
D&D divides its gameplay slightly differently into exploration, social interaction, and combat. it's close enough to the same ingredients, but used in a significantly new recipe. and much like an easy, endlessly-adapatible recipe (like this one-- so easy and so fun to mix and match with), D&D feels infinitely flexible. dial down the combat and add more exploration or skill challenges or socializing if you're feeling like it-- it'll still taste awesome. it will still be exciting.
in terms of approachability, do these games come out equal? as I've said before, D&D has the advantage of being very well known, with an established fan base and a widespread community to help ease new players into it. practically, playing D&D can be as basic or as convoluted as you choose.
without the same relatively longstanding advantages, The One Ring does just fine. I like its organization and approach a bit better, and that beautiful simplicity earns it plenty of points here.
if we wanted to get quantitative about it, we could tally
things on a rough scale like so, dividing a pool of 10 points per category between the two systems...
| SYSTEM | Dungeons & Dragons (5e) |
The One Ring (2e) |
| points for aesthetics = | 2 |
8 |
| points for mechanics = | 6 |
4 |
| points for approachability = | 6 |
4 |
| total = | 14 | 16 |
a close match if there ever was one, eh? and honestly, I keep wanting to fudge the points further. (full transparency: I have fudged them up and down and back already a few times. this is my tournament, so it's allowed, right?) I mean, are the aesthetics of D&D so very lackluster in my eye? and maybe shouldn't the mechanics be weighted more heavily, given that's what the game is essentially built out of?
but beyond my trusty old three-pronged rubric... I wrote last time that I value vividness, simplicity, and consistency in these forms of interactive art. I seem to have the most imaginative fun with a clear framework in which to invent freely, wildly, with all the power of the game's limitations to help me build something cool.
so which of these truly offers me more of that feeling?
in another prior match-up, I also wrote that compared to D&D, The One Ring's
character creation process seemed so limited, so relatively constrained.
this remains pretty much my only grasped-at disappointment with The One Ring, I think. a barely-there complaint. and yet I concede that there is a nice structure to it and to everything else in the game,
though. it's fitting, given the game's setting and all that. it's a great framework for narrative gameplay, narrow and vivid
in its scope.
on the other hand, D&D has a bigger, wider frame. just as sturdy and serviceable, if far less technically beautiful.
I think what really makes the most sense, to me today, is to add a fourth category and do a little bit more math. so here we go-- along with aesthetics and mechanics and user-friendliness, I'm going to look quantitatively at flexibility.
and there, using this arbitrary system I've suddenly applied across this match, I'd give D&D a whole 7 and The One Ring the remaining 3. it's still awfully close, but D&D ekes out the higher score. 21 to 19.
imagine approximately three seconds of a low and subtle drumroll for us, please?
the 2023 champion of the Tournament of RPG books: Dungeons & Dragons (5e)
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