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T 
HE 
L
ORD
 
OF 
 
THE 
R 
INGS 
™ 
Trading Card Game Comprehensive Rules 4.0 
Page 1
T 
HE 
L 
ORD 
 
OF 
 
THE 
R 
INGS 
™
T
RADING
C
 ARD
G
 AME
C
OMPREHENSIVE
R 
ULES
4.0
If you have never played a trading card game...
The best way to learn is from a friend whoalready knows how to play. If your friends aren’tplayers yet, we suggest you begin with a
StarterRulebook 
, which is included in starter decks andavailable for download.
If you have played this game before...
These
Comprehensive Rules
provides completedocumentation of all rules for
The Lord of the Rings 
TCG as of October 2004. It replaces andsupersedes all previous rulebooks. It is dividedinto three sections.
Section One
is a chronological overview of gameplay.
Section Two
provides complete rulesto the game, organized alphabetically by topic.
Section Three
provides entries on individualcards, including errata and clarifications.
 W 
HAT
’
S
N
EW 
?
 All material from the
Shadows 
Starter Rulebook is included here. The most important updatesare:• Changes in the Open format to the way sites areplayed on the adventure path, and the additionof regions. (See Section One: “Moving yourfellowship,” “Playing sites,” “Adding twilighttokens for movement,” and “Building YourDeck”; or Section Two: “building your deck,”“moving your fellowship,” “region,” and “site.”)• The increased role of resistance in the game,and the effect that has on burdens. (See“resistance” in Section One or Two.)• The addition of the keywords “lurker,”“muster,” and “toil.” (See the Section Twoentries for those terms.)Note that none of these new rules take effectuntil the release of 
Shadows 
. Until then, Openformat games continue to use King block sites,and players still play them to the adventure pathand add pool as before – that is, as defined forthe Fellowship block, Tower block, and Kingblock formats. (See Section One: “Formats” orSection Two: “format.”)
S
ECTION
O
NE
: O
 VERVIEW 
This section of the Comprehensive Rulesmirrors the presentation of a Starter Rulebook.Important concepts are explained first, followedby game setup and an explanation of the turnsequence in order.This section is offered only as a chronologicaloverview of gameplay. There are few examples of play, and few specific rulings. For such material,refer to Section Two. Again, if you are not familiar with the game, we strongly suggest you begin with a StarterRulebook, rather than the Comprehensive Rules.
I
MPORTANT
C
ONCEPTS
K 
INDS
 
OF
C
 ARDS
Most cards in
The Lord of the Rings 
TCG areone of two basic kinds: Free Peoples or Shadow.There are also sites and The One Ring, which areneither Free Peoples cards nor Shadow cards.
 
Free Peoples cards
Free Peoples cards represent the forcesof good. Each player has his ownfellowship, made up of a Ring-bearer and othercompanions. When you take your turn, you play and use your Free Peoples cards.
Free Peoples cards have a light colored circular field in the upper left corner.
 
Shadow cards
Shadow cards represent the forces of evil and corruption. When anotherplayer takes his turn, you play and use yourShadow cards to hinder that player.
Shadow cards have a dark colored diamond-shaped field in the upper left corner.
C
 ARD
T
 YPES
There are nine different card types in the game:The One Ring, site, companion, ally, minion,possession, artifact, event, and condition.Companion, ally, and minion cards are alsocollectively referred to as character cards.
T
HE
O
NE
R 
ING
This card type represents the uniquely powerfulitem that is the focus of the story of 
The Lord of  the Rings 
. In the middle of the card, The OneRing has its subtitle. It has no twilight cost.
There are several versions of The One Ring,represented by different cards, but you’ll only use one version at a time.
S
ITE
Site cards represent locations in Middle-earth,and are used to chart the progress of the game.Nine sites are placed in your adventure deck, andare kept separately from the other cards you draw and play during the game, which are placed inthe draw deck.
 
Site cards have a dark compass inthe upper left corner.
This symbol is used on sites from the
Shadows 
expansion set onward, differentiatingthem from sites found in previous sets (which usea different compass symbol, and may also use ablock symbol).
C
OMPANION
 A companion is a Free Peoples character in yourfellowship.
 A 
LLY 
 An ally is a character that helps your companionsfrom afar but does not move with them.
 
T 
HE 
L
ORD
 
OF 
 
THE 
R 
INGS 
™ 
Trading Card Game Comprehensive Rules 4.0 
Page 2
M
INION
 A minion is a Shadow character that attacksother players’ fellowships.
P
OSSESSION
 A possession is a weapon, suit of armor, or otherkind of object used by a character.Most possessions tell you who their bearer canbe, which is the kind of character you can play them on.
 A 
RTIFACT
 An artifact is a unique weapon, suit of armor, orother kind of special object used by a character.Though artifacts are played and used muchlike possessions, they are a different card type. Artifacts are not affected by cards that affectpossessions.
E
 VENT
 An event is a card played from your handrepresenting an important occurrence, which youdiscard after you play it.
C
ONDITION
 A condition is a card representing a significantchange in the world, which stays in play untildiscarded. Most conditions play to your supportarea, though some play on other cards, and tellyou who or what their bearer can be.
C
ULTURE
Most cards are part of a specific culture. A card’scolor, its background texture, and an icon in itsupper right corner indicate its culture. Your deck may contain cards from several different cultures.Site cards and The One Ring are not part of any culture.
Culture names and symbols
Free Peoples cards Shadow cards 
∂ Dwarven ≤ Dunlandπ Elven ◊ Gollum∑ Gandalf Ω Isengard◊ Gollum † Menµ Gondor ∆ Moria≥ Rohan ¥ Orc∫ Shire ∞ Raider√ Sauron¢ Uruk-hai≈ Wraith
 V 
ITALITY 
 All characters in the game have vitality. Thisnumber represents a character’s life force,stamina, sturdiness, and will to live.
 Wounds
 When a character is wounded by an enemy attack, his vitality is depleted. Place a woundtoken on the character to illustrate this. Glassbeads (preferably blood red) make good tokensfor this purpose. When you “wound a character,” you place only one wound.Each wound a character has reduces its vitality by 1. When a character’s vitality is reduced to zero,that character is immediately killed. (Reducinga character’s strength to zero does not kill thatcharacter.)
Healing 
 When a wound is removed from a character, thisrepresents resting or healing. When you “heal acharacter,” you remove one wound.Generally, your fellowship only heals at asanctuary – that is, a site 3 or site 6 – you reachon the adventure path. At the start of your turn when your fellowship is at a sanctuary, you may heal up to 5 wounds from your companions (notallies).
Killed
 When a character’s vitality is reduced to zero,that character is immediately killed. Place killedFree Peoples characters (companions and allies)in your dead pile. The dead pile is separatefrom and next to your discard pile. Place killedminions in your discard pile. When you have a unique companion or ally inyour dead pile, you cannot play another copy of that card, or any other card with the same title.(You may play another copy of a non-uniquecard that is in your dead pile.)
Exert
Sometimes you may exert a character by placinga wound on that card to show that the charactertakes an action that depletes his vitality.Exerting a character is different from woundinga character, even though both require placementof a wound token. Cards that prevent woundscannot prevent a wound token placed by exerting.Once a wound token is placed, whether fromexerting or wounding, it can be healed by any effect that heals a wound.No player may exert a character who is exhausted(who has only 1 vitality). If the effect of anaction says a character “must exert” and thatcharacter is exhausted, then nothing happens. Toexhaust a character means to exert that characteras many times as you can.
R 
ESISTANCE
 
Companion cards have resistance.This number represents a companion’sability to withstand the lure of TheOne Ring. Some characters have a ring aroundtheir resistance icon, meaning they can be chosenbegin the game as your Ring-bearer.Companions preceding the
Shadows 
expansionset (other than versions of Frodo or Sam) do not
 
T 
HE 
L
ORD
 
OF 
 
THE 
R 
INGS 
™ 
Trading Card Game Comprehensive Rules 4.0 
Page 3
have their resistance printed on the card. Thesecompanions have a resistance of 6. Allies have a resistance of zero.
Burdens
 When your Ring-bearer loses will against thepower of The One Ring, you place a burdentoken on him. Glass beads (preferably black)make good burden tokens, but anything you won’t confuse with a wound will do.There are many cards that add or removeburdens. Burdens are only placed on yourRing-bearer. Each burden on your Ring-bearerreduces the resistance of 
every 
companion in yourfellowship by 1.If your Ring-bearer’s resistance is reduced tozero, he is corrupted, and you lose the game.Only your Ring-bearer can be corrupted. If theresistance of any of your other companions isreduced to zero, there is no immediate penalty,though your opponent may play Shadow cards totake advantage of this.
S
IGNET
 
Some Free Peoples character cardshave a signet, found in the lower leftcorner of the card. Cards with thesame signet generally give bonuses to each otherand work well in the same deck.Each signet is based around an importantcharacter in the story. The available signets are Aragorn, Frodo, Gandalf, and Théoden.
T
 WILIGHT
P
OOL
The twilight pool is an area on the table wheretwilight tokens are placed. The tokens in thetwilight pool represent how dangerous the worldis for the fellowship. Glass beads (preferably black) make good twilight tokens, but any convenient tokens will do. Keep a large reserve of twilight tokens handy.
Twilight Cost
In the upper left corner of each Free Peoples andShadow card is that card’s twilight cost. Thisis the number of twilight tokens that must beadded to or removed from the twilight pool toplay that card. When you play a Free Peoples card, you must
add 
a number of twilight tokens (from thereserve) to the twilight pool equal to that card’stwilight cost. When your opponent plays a Shadow card,he must
remove 
a number of twilight tokensfrom the twilight pool equal to that card’stwilight cost. A Shadow card cannot be playedif its twilight cost cannot be met by the tokensavailable in the twilight pool.In game text, you will find phrases like “Add ⁄” which means, “Add 1 twilight token to thetwilight pool.” You must meet any requirements to play a card(or perform an action) before paying its costs.
P
HASE
A 
CTIONS
During each phase of a turn, one or more playersare allowed to perform phase actions that use a word matching the name of that phase. These words are printed in boldface and followed by acolon.Each phase action lasts for the duration of the phase named in the boldface word (unlessotherwise specified).
The effects of a phase action with the keyword 
Skirmish:
last only for the skirmish phase in whichit is used.
Each phase action must be completely performedbefore another phase action can be performed.Phase actions cannot be combined. An action labeled with the word “
Response:
” isnot a phase action. Responses are explained laterin this rulebook.
E
 VENTS
Most event cards have a phase action that defines when you may play that card from your hand.The game text on that event may be performedonly once for each copy of that event played. Youcannot play an event during a phase that doesnot match its phase action.Discard an event after you play it, and before thenext action is taken. Even after being discarded,an event often has an ongoing or delayed effectuntil the end of the phase, or until a specifiedphase or condition is met.
S
PECIAL
A 
BILITIES
Besides events, other types of cards may have aphase action as a part of their game text calleda special ability, which may be used only whilethe card is in play. (The boldfaced word defines when you may do so.)Each special ability is optional; you don’t haveto use it if you don’t want to. You may use eachspecial ability as many times as you like (evenrepeatedly during the same phase), as long as youmeet the requirements for it and pay its costs.
 W 
HEN
, E
 ACH
T
IME
,
 AND
W 
HILE
 A few special words or phrases you’ll see in gametext govern the timing of an action, just like thenames of phases that are in phase actions. Theseinclude when, each time, and while; each isdescribed below with an example.•
 When
is used if an effect can happen only once.
When you play this possession, you may draw acard.
This game text activates only once, whenthis card is played.•
Each time
is used if an effect can happen morethan once.
Each time you play a possession or artifact on your companion, draw a card.
If youplay one possession, this game text activatesonce; if you play a second possession, it activatesagain, and so on.•
 While
is used if an effect is continuous.
While  Merry bears a weapon, he is strength +2.
Whenyou play a weapon on Merry, this game text isactivated; if that weapon is discarded, then thisgame text “turns off.”Each of these effects has a
trigger 
describing whatmakes it happen. The trigger is always describedfirst, and followed by a comma.
S
ETTING
U
P
 
THE
G
 AME
Players need a supply of wound tokens(preferably red) and twilight tokens (preferably black). Each player will also need a player marker(a differently-colored token) that shows wherehis fellowship is on the adventure path.
 Who goes first?
In the Starter Rules, players decide randomly  who goes first. Normally, however, players bidburdens to determine this.Players place secret bids for the right todetermine who goes first in the game. Thebidding is done with black tokens, which willbecome burdens on your Ring-bearer.Each player secretly places a number of burdensin his hand (you may bid zero). When all playersare ready, simultaneously reveal the bids. Thehighest bid wins the right to choose where hegoes in the turn order. Any choice is available.Next, the second highest bidder chooses from theremaining positions in the turn order, and so on.Keep track of each player’s bid, as these tokens will become burdens on his Ring-bearer.If there are any ties, then the tied players resolverandomly who chooses first among them.
Tom, Chuck, Tim, and Mike are playing, and the initial bids are Tom 3, Chuck 4, Tim 3, and Mike 1. Chuck wins the right to choose, and he chooses to go first (placing 4 burdens on his Ring-bearer).Tom and Tim are tied, so they flip a coin, and Tom wins the tiebreak. He chooses second (placing  3 burdens on his Ring-bearer). Tim chooses to go fourth (3 burdens), leaving third for Mike (1burden).
The first player sits down, and the others then sitin clockwise order around the table according totheir choices.
 Adventure Deck 
Take all 9 of your site cards and place themface down in a pile on the table. This is youradventure deck.No other player may look through youradventure deck during the game. You don’t have to keep your adventure deck inany order. Just look through it to get a card whenyou need to.The first player chooses any site from hisadventure deck and places it on the table to beginthe adventure path. This becomes site 1. Eachplayer places his player marker onto that site. All players use the same adventure path for theirplayer markers. The cards that make up thatpath are taken from the adventure decks of theplayers.Place the adventure path off to the side, oppositefrom the twilight pool. That leaves room in themiddle of the table for minions.
Starting Fellowship
In the Starter Rules, players select their startingfellowships based upon which deck they have.Normally, however, players customize theirstarting fellowships.
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