The Lord of the Rings news has been ramping up recently, from a first look at the third season of The Rings of Power to details about upcoming films on the silver screen. These avenues might be what most fans are paying attention to, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the future of the franchise.

For those disillusioned by recent adaptations of Tolkien’s work, the better alternative might be to look to The One Ring. This tabletop role-playing game gives fans the ability to play out their own stories set in Middle-earth, and a new expansion has just been officially revealed.

The One Ring Books: Creatures Strange and Foul, Core Rules, and The White Tower and the Hall of Gold

Creatures Strange and Foul, which was shared today on the BackerKit platform, will be a new bestiary for The One Ring TTRPG. This book dives into “a host of adversaries drawn from the shadows of the Third Age,” focusing on the kind of foes that make it hard for Frodo to sleep at night.

For now, the BackerKit page is simply advertising the upcoming product, but the project is set to launch this September. In the meantime, fans can reserve a spot for $1 to receive an exclusive dice bag when they later back the project. Along with Creatures Strange and Foul, The One Ring is also releasing a campaign expansion called The White Tower and the Hall of Gold and a revised version of the core rulebook.

The One Ring RPG Moria Artwork

Creatures Strange and Foul will naturally be more attractive to people already invested in The One Ring, but it could still be of broader interest to The Lord of the Rings fans at large. Along with the useful stats for including the foes in-game, it comes with some beautiful illustrations and lore details about everything from Ringwraiths to Haradrim.

For those more used to D&D‘s role-playing system, The One Ring expansions are also routinely converted to the 5e-based The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying system and released under different names. In this case, the 5e version of Creatures Strange and Foul will be called Of Orcs and Evil Things, while The White Tower and the Hall of Gold loses some of its aura in favor of the simpler name Realms of the South.

Truly dedicated fans can also invest in limited editions of the new books with faux leather covers and foil printing in silver or gold. Backing products ahead of launch always comes with some risk, of course, but publisher Free League has proven itself a good steward of The Lord of the Rings so far.