Review – LOTR Roleplaying 5E: Trials of Saruman

To summarize: of the 5 Istari, or wizards sent by the great powers of the Undying lands, 2 went far to the East, and little is known of them after that. Of the other 3, one is Radagast the Brown, a lover of trees, flowers, and animals. Another is the Grey Pilgrim Mithrandir, also known as Gandalf. And the final and greatest of the 5 is called CurunÍr, also known as Saruman. He is head of the order of Istari, the white wizard, and chief adversary to the Enemy, tasked with rallying the free peoples of Middle-earth against the growing Shadow of Mordor. He has not fallen yet, and is calling your party to Isengard. 

Content Guide

None of the images in the book are particularly scary, but there are a few orcs and monsters to be found, as well as a few images of locked up or restrained characters that the party might try to save. Also running throughout the book is the theme of Saruman’s slow decent into paranoia and eventually, madness. Players will fight with humans, orcs, monsters, and possibly magic-users. There are several ways the party could meet a terrible end, especially in the last 2 stories, which take place in 3000 (right before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring). 

Review

The introduction and opening pages of the book do a great job in setting the stage and getting players and Loremasters to see Saruman’s position: he has the solemn duty of coordinating all the efforts of opposing the Dark Lord, and the only other wizards at his disposal seem content to hang out with animals or just wander around smoking pipe-weed with tiny Hobbits. Then Gandalf goes and has a hand in defeating a dragon, restoring Dale, and wiping out the goblins of the Misty Mountains, and he didn’t even have the decency to consult with you first? It’s no wonder Saruman relies on spies and subterfuge by the time he crosses paths with the party. 

Players could end up crossing paths with Saruman in a few different ways: either sent by their own Patron to see what he’s up to, or to seek his knowledge or aid on a quest they are currently on. In any case, the stories in the book are described as best played out over long periods in-between them, so that the players can see the stark changes between their visits. Depending on how many Shadow points Saruman accumulates, the changes might be small like the Mead-Hall being closed, or they could be eye-opening like the lake being drained or the trees lining the main road to the tower all being chopped down. 

Each of the 6 chapters after the introduction are different adventures that Saruman sends the player’s characters on in order to strengthen his position or give him more information. In some cases, players will be retrieving NPCs or artifacts deemed of the utmost importance by the White Wizard, and how well players do on each of these adventures will either slow or speed up his corruption to the Shadow. For instance, if you did everything he asked on an adventure and did no misdeeds, he might only gain 1 Shadow point. But if you went in loud and killed everyone when he told you to use discretion, he might disapprove of your methods (but might be still happy with the outcome) and gain 2-5 Shadow points. Sometimes he even will gain Shadow points if you bring him certain items of power—keep in mind, he’s slowly being corrupted, so you don’t want to hand him anything that might speed that up!

My favorite adventures were the last 2, The Quest of Moria and The Ithil-Stone, due to their proximity to the trilogy of books and the possibility to interact with more well-known characters in Middle-earth. One amounts to a rescue mission into the “Mines” of Moria while the other could see the players attempting actions that would have far-reaching effects into the established lore of Tolkien’s universe. Also, (and this shouldn’t be a surprise but small spoiler alert here), they both have a high chance of failure which would result in both player character’s deaths and Saruman succumbing to the Shadow. 

Trials of Saruman is an interesting book that would best work being weaved around another story, so that players can spend months or years (in-game) away from Isengard so each time they see the White Wizard’s tower it looks vastly different than before. Unless the players roll amazingly well, Saruman is almost guaranteed to eventually use his palantir and decide the only way forward is to align with Mordor. But, there is a tiny hope that they might be able to slow, or even briefly halt his doomed slide into madness. Just a fool’s hope. 

A review copy was provided by the publisher.