Moria, Through the Doors of Durin
Moria, Through the Doors of Durin is a campaign/setting supplement for The One Ring, written by Gareth Hanrahan, Francesco Nepitello, Shawn Tomkin, and Matt Click and published by Free League Publishing.
By Aaron T. Huss
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Moria is a campaign and setting guide for games placed in or including the old Dwarven lands of Moria, set nominally shortly after the events in The Hobbit when Balin attempts to recover Moria from its orc and goblin infestation. However, the bulk of the book is presented as a source book allowing for gameplay before and after this time. Although there is a map that identifies the entirety of this umder-the-mountain locale, the fully detailed locations are meant to support the use of the locale during Balin’s campaign. Effectively, the entire book has an assumed time period but allows the Loremaster to explore beyond those events.
I was always wondered how a game set in Middle-earth is not going to feel like one of the books or movie adaptations, but there is so much history written into the setting that keeping things interesting means moving away from the well-known canon and delving into everything else. Moria dives into that concept of using the greater canon to its fullest extent and does it perfectly! I am not biased toward this RPG and setting despite the fact that I prefer non-vanilla fantasy, but this book would have me coming back for more, and that’s what I want to delve into.
Moria, or rather the Mines of Moria and the Dwarrowdelf, has a vast history all of its own. Being one of the great Dwarven cities of old, it was once a flourishing city with vast treasures and miles of mithril being utilized and traded across the lands. Once a great darkness fell upon the city, it was abandoned after much loss and eventually became overrun by orcs, goblins, and the balrog. Although it has a prominent position within the greater canon of Middle-earth, it is here that the fellowship crosses through (you know, “Speak friend and enter) and where Gandalf defeated the balrog, only to be dragged down and subsequently reborn. Despite it’s lacking presence in the prominent novels and movie adaptations, it’s design as a standalone locale is huge and covers many decades of possibilities!
Free League focuses on the fact it has multiple methods of approach in your games, especially depending on the year the game is based in, and provides an incredibly detailed setting sourcebook to accommodate them all. Your players can take part in the attempted, and failed, recapture of these lands after the events in The Hobbit or maybe you want to revisit it after the balrog is disposed of after the events in the Lord of the Rings. Or maybe you want to grab a location completely elsewhere on that timeline and base the game around the events described in the timeline. This is the power of how the setting is presented as you are given a wealth of knowledge of regions within the Moria comprised of smaller areas of importance. If playing while these lands are overrun by orcs, all the bestiary are contained within, including the balrog. There’s no shortage of opportunities.
The book can also be used as a journey through Moria for the sake of making it safely to the other side. Mechanics are provided specifically to focus on this journey through these ancient hallways and the horrors they. I can’t say that the opportunities are endless because the location does have a predefined history. But the opportunities are vast and the book itself really opens up the mind to the vast opportunities that can be explored throughout Middle-earth. For this is a land that has existed for multiple eras with pockets overrun by evil that were once vast treasures of dwarves, elves, or humans. This is the book that really expands what else you can do with The One Ring and how you can consume additional canon to make this game all your own!
Moria, Through the Doors of Durin is such a great book! The artwork and cartography are beautifully crafted throughout and you get a different approach compared to a lot of the previous supplements. This is a whole new world within Middle-earth to explore!
