Sanctuaries Battle of Five Armies & The Third Age of Middle-Earth All of our adventures & campaigns will take place during the Third Age of Middle-earth. Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien & Peter Jackson

Sanctuaries in Middle-earth are very important places. Before you have some experience with the game, it can be hard to fully understand why – they sound good, certainly, but what are the mechanical underpinnings that make them significant?

What Sanctuaries Do
• They are one of two stated places (the other being ‘home’) that allow characters to recover all hit points.
• They are a place where persistent conditions can be removed.
• They are a location in which the company may remain together throughout the Fellowship phase.
• They allow Fellowship phase undertakings unique to that sanctuary.
• They allow the Open Virtue undertaking.
• At the beginning of every Adventuring phase, the company are either already at or gather at a Sanctuary.
• Sanctuaries provide a focus for a shared story.

Recovery
At the beginning of each Fellowship phase, all Player-heroes recover all of their hit points and Hit Dice, unless they are suffering some specific conditions. While this is an automatic occurrence, it makes sense within a campaign that a Sanctuary has a part to play in this, and this shouldn’t be underplayed. It offers a way to build the character and importance of Sanctuaries, which in turn builds the feeling of being part of Middle-earth. Sanctuaries are implicitly tied to the Fellowship phase and the healing that occurs.

The rules are not so rigid that this healing cannot occur elsewhere. But a Sanctuary is a convenient and logical place for this to happen, allowing the Fellowship phase to flow without spending too much time worrying about where the company are.

Removing Conditions
While again not strictly limited to Sanctuaries, it makes a lot of sense for the Recovery undertaking to be centred around a Sanctuary. Rivendell, Dale or Lake-town can offer superior levels of care to a hero who has been affected by a Wight, or struck down by particularly potent Spider venom. If you wish to slow down the progress of your Player-heroes, this is something to be considered. It’s also immensely thematic to Middle-earth to retire to a house of healing for a season or two.

Shared Location
During a Fellowship phase, members of the company have the choice whether to retire to a Sanctuary together, or disband to their own homes or other locations. Sharing a Sanctuary can provide a cohesive Fellowship phase narrative, with the company all remaining and growing together. Having the company go to a Sanctuary together allows them to share the story through the Fellowship phase, each partaking in the shared events. If a company disbands for the Fellowship phase, things can be a little more disparate. How much each of these options appeals will very much depend on the given player group.

Undertakings
By opening a new Sanctuary, the company gains access to new undertakings and thus new unique abilities. Future supplements will detail new Sanctuaryspecific undertakings. A Loremaster can also create their own undertakings as they see fit.

Beginning Point of an Adventuring Phase
This is probably the most easily overlooked, and yet important, role of a Sanctuary. An Adventuring phase usually begins as the company gather in a Sanctuary. The rules are not so rigid that this must always be the case, but it makes sense for most Adventuring phases to begin at or near a Sanctuary that the company has open to them. It’s a common point to meet up, and a place to begin a journey with ample supplies and accommodation.

At the beginning of the game, if using these default assumptions, the company has only Lake-town as a Sanctuary: Bard is recruiting adventurers, there is a lot to do in that area, and it’s not too difficult a journey to many interesting adventure locations. Before too long the company will want to travel further afield, and they won’t want to cross Mirkwood at the beginning of every Adventuring phase. It is a punishing journey that can leave them ill-prepared for the quest they’ve embarked on. Far better then to unlock a Sanctuary on the far side of Mirkwood and be able to make the assumed journey in the Fellowship phase, beginning at perhaps Beorn’s House or Woodmen Town.

Reducing the need for excessive journeying is easily missed, but absolutely key. Don’t be coy about letting your players know this. It is a vital part of understanding Sanctuaries. In character, it would be most unusual for a group of travellers to meet at a place they’d never gone before and where they had no certain access to the hospitality of the house.

Focus
Running through all of these points on Sanctuaries are ideas of in-world logic that save the Loremaster from having to do too much explaining. In this sense, Sanctuaries provide a shorthand: a clear place for characters to be, with some clear goals, rewards and in-world logic. While some groups may truly enjoy describing the minutiae of where they go in their Fellowship phase, others will reap the rewards of being able to say, “We all go to Rivendell together to rest and recuperate; let’s decide what happens there”.

As well as a focus for the Fellowship phase, opening Sanctuaries is a clear need for a party that wishes to travel far and wide. The search for Rivendell or winning Beorn’s favour can be the company’s aim within a campaign, whether it is the main thrust or a side quest.

What Does Opening a Sanctuary Mean?
Companies of Player-heroes have a clear drive to open Sanctuaries. Whether it’s to unlock undertakings, provide local bases of healing and rest, or find a Patron, it makes sense to open a Sanctuary.

Exactly what is happening when a company unlocks a Sanctuary? This varies from Sanctuary to Sanctuary, and indeed from game to game, but here are some ideas—Player-heroes are spending time getting to know the place and become familiar figures there. They might help the residents with their day to day problems, or assist in the expansion of a settlement. They may become familiar characters at Elrond’s evenings of tales and song, or worthy protectors of the animals of Beorn’s House. Your players may wish to describe exactly how they come to be welcomed without fail at a given Sanctuary. You may want to help them with some suggestions.

It is worth noting that the whole company must be present at the same place to open it as a Sanctuary.

Patrons Battle of Five Armies & The Third Age of Middle-Earth All of our adventures & campaigns will take place during the Third Age of Middle-earth. Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien & Peter Jackson

Player-heroes can make an undertaking to gain a Patron. Patrons are important figures within Middle-earth who have the power and resources necessary to take on Player-heroes as their agents in the world. A Patron can be a source of resources and information but – more importantly for the Loremaster – plot!

A Patron offers a place in the world and a sense of being part of something bigger. They can be called on for help, and open doors to places that a company might not otherwise be able to go. In return, a debt of service can be owed; how often or strictly this is extracted depends on the Patron. Perhaps Saruman the White is a jealous master, who covets the service of others in pursuit of a cause he considers noble and just. Gandalf the Grey is a wanderer who can be a mostly absent and unreliable Patron. And who knows what Radagast wants from the world? Exploring the potential relationships with these characters is very much part of the game.

A company can enjoy serving more than one Patron – they aren’t limited in the number to whom they give their service, and that can generate plenty of plot in itself. The great and good of Middle-earth have many different aims and motivations: some would see the world changed and renewed. Others would have it preserved for all time, unchanging. This is a multifaceted theme of the books, and a worthy one to bring to your games.

Patrons also change over time. Where once he was a benevolent seeker of knowledge to further the power of good in the world, Saruman gradually loses hope in the light’s ability to stave off darkness. His road to corruption was a long one, and he employed many helpers in his service. Playing on the conflict between what we know as readers and what we know as characters can bring huge rewards to a game. Beorn tends towards isolation and defensiveness of his own lands and peoples, yet was convinced to take up arms in the greater struggle before the gates of Erebor. That character arc can be reflected in your games, and your Player-heroes can play a key part in it. We know that there was a great battle at Dale in the War of the Ring, but that is all we know. Who were Bard’s lieutenants? Who helped his new kingdom reach the place where it could fight armies of Mordor?

Patrons in Adventures in Middle-earth are there to provide structure for adventures and hooks on which to hang the happenings you come up with. Making some decisions on the motivations of the great and the good, and allowing their plans to proceed across the years in the background, really makes the world come to life. Equally, giving the company a chance to influence those plans with their undertakings, as well as with what they do in Adventuring phases, adds hugely to the feeling of being part of a living, breathing world.

Note that a powerful NPC can send the company on adventures without being their Patron. Patrons can also come in less grand forms than Gandalf or Elrond. The elders of the Woodmen, or a merchant-noble of Lake-town could just as easily be a Patron to a company of adventurers.

Potential Sanctuaries and Patrons of Wilderland
• Rivendell: Elrond
• Beorn’s House: Beorn
• Lake-town: The Master of Esgaroth
• Dale: King Bard
• Erebor: King Dáin Ironfoot
• Rhosgobel: Radagast
• Isengard: Saruman the White
• Wilderland: Gandalf the Grey
• Mountain Hall: Hartfast
• Woodman-town: The elders of Woodman-town
• Woodland Hall: Ingomer Axebreaker

The Shadow Battle of Five Armies & The Third Age of Middle-Earth All of our adventures & campaigns will take place during the Third Age of Middle-earth. Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien & Peter Jackson

In the Middle-earth TTRPG, "the Shadow" is the all-encompassing force of evil that emanates from Sauron and his minions, representing the growing despair, corruption, and weariness that threatens to overwhelm the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. It is not merely a metaphor but a tangible, pervasive influence that affects the mind and spirit of heroes, much like how the "One Ring" corrupted Boromir.

Mechanically, this psychic and spiritual burden is tracked through the accumulation of Shadow points, which players gain from experiencing dread in blighted places, desiring tainted treasure, performing misdeeds, or being subjected to enemy sorcery. These points serve to highlight the game's central theme: the constant struggle against a powerful, encroaching darkness that wears down even the greatest of heroes over time. As characters accumulate more Shadow, they risk becoming miserable, developing lasting psychological flaws or "Shadow Scars", and potentially falling entirely under the Enemy's sway, emphasizing that moral choices and exposure to evil have a profound and lasting cost in this setting.

Shadow points represent the psychological and spiritual toll of struggling against the growing darkness of the Enemy. Accumulating Shadow points reflects a character's growing weariness, sorrow, and potential corruption, mirroring themes from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, such as the Ring's effect on Boromir.

If you roll less than or equal to (Shadow - Wisdom) on a d20 check, you suffer a Bout of Madness. After a Bout of Madness, your Shadow resets to 0, but you gain one permanent Shadow point and one Shadow Flaw.

The Overall Effects of Shadow Flaws
• First flaw has no mechanical penalty; in fact you gain Inspiration by roleplaying it, like background traits.
• Second flaw means you can no longer gain Advantage on any check that would be affected by your shadow weakness.
• Third flaw means you gain Disadvantage on all Charisma checks except when directly roleplaying your flaw (e.g., checks to lie if your flaw is Deceitful).
• Fourth flaw means you have Disadvantage on all Charisma checks and all Insight checks; and any time you face an opportunity to do an evil deed related to your flaw, you must pass a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or succumb to the temptation.
• Fifth flaw means your character succumbs to the Shadow and becomes an NPC. They might depart Middle-earth (elves), go into exile, commit suicide, or permanently turn to evil.

Removing Temporary Shadow Points
During the Fellowship Phase, Player-heroes can undertake the Heal Corruption activity (or similar culture-specific endeavors) to remove Shadow points.
• The character must make a DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) ability check. The difficulty and nature of this check can be modified by the Loremaster (Game Master) to suit the character's personality or the circumstances. For example, a Dwarf might use a Strength check with blacksmithing tools, or a Hobbit might use a Charisma check related to music or gardening.
• If the check is successful, the character removes 2 Shadow points.
• If the result is 25 or higher, the character removes 4 Shadow points.
• Performing this activity in a Sanctuary grants advantage on the check.

The number of Shadow points removed depends on the character's success in finding peace and respite from the burden of their adventures. Removing Permanent Shadow Points (Shadow Scars) Permanent Shadow points, gained through specific traumatic events or character choices like suffering a bout of madness, are much harder to remove.

• They can only be removed during a special Yule Fellowship Phase by choosing the Heal Scars undertaking.
• Permanent Shadow points gained from a bout of madness can never be healed.

The accumulation and slow reduction of Shadow points is a core mechanic reflecting the constant struggle against the Enemy and the inevitable weariness and sorrow it brings, a key theme in Tolkien's world.