Race to Mount Doom

Promotional image of the TTT Race to Mount Doom kit as presented on Decipher's website.

Following the success of the Spring 2002 League Kit as a tool for community-building, Decipher elaborated on the concept with the Race to Mount Doom reusable league kits in October 2002. Expanding upon the "Encounter" system of the earlier kit, the Race incorporated a randomized and reusable system of modifiers that would alter league games. Players would progress down the "path" of unique modifiers, earning themselves harder and harder challenges to confront during each game. Participation was further incentivized by the awarding of exclusive Pins and Foils (both randomized and static promos).

Race to Mount Doom would receive a refreshed re-release the following year in November 2003, just in time for The Return of the King. This included a new wall mat using ROTK imagery and a further-expanded list of path modifiers, as well as an update to the Pins and foil promos used as awards. Race was extremely popular for the two years of its promotion, and is often referred to fondly to this day.

Unlike the league kits before it, the Race to Mount Doom had both a retail version and a home version of the kit, which omitted prize and advertisement support, and also utilized an abbreviated 5-site path rather than the full 9-site path in the full version.

For more detailed information on the contents of these kits, please see the dedicated articles below:

• Race to Mount Doom League Kit (TTT Edition)
• Race to Mount Doom League Kit (ROTK Edition)

Gameplay

League organizers (optionally with the input of league players themselves) choose 9 game text modifiers from the list provided and assign them to a Race site path, which then remains unchanging for the next 8-10 weeks. Players then begin at Race site 1 and play league matches with associated modifier in force for the entire game. Players who win a match move to the next Race site, which alters the modifiers in force for them in all following games. Once a player makes it to site 9 and wins a match, the league is concluded.

These modifiers range from beneficial to challenging, with many so impactful as to require dedicated decks to be constructed just to be functional. Since the format encourages placing easier modifiers at the start of the Race path, and harder modifiers at the end of the path, the entire system operates similarly to a handicap, meaning that stronger players (who advance quicker down the Race path) are forced to play with harsh restrictions against opponents saddled with less challenging requirements.

The included game text modifiers were crafted to sustain 2-4 Race leagues on their own, but players running subsequent Race leagues are encouraged to mix and match modifiers into their own site path, or even to invent their own modifiers. As a result, the replayability of the Race format is quite high, and scales with the game knowledge of the community running it.

See the pages on each edition for details on the specific modifiers included with kits.

Digital Versions

On LOTRO, Race sites are implemented as Support Area cards which could be clicked on or otherwise referred to.

The Race format was implemented digitally on the official Lord of the Rings Online TCG client, a feat later matched by the fan-based mLOTRO platform. In these platforms, rather than advancing after each win, players would advance after accruing a set number of league points, meaning that players would still advance if they played (and lost) enough games.

Not all of the physically printed modifiers were feasible; 12 of them were omitted. To make up for it, 10 new ones were added to fill in the gap. Other small tweaks were made to various entries, such as block symbols being removed from site mentions as the modifiers from both TTT and ROTK were mixed into the same pool.

Omitted Modifiers

The following were omitted from the LOTRO implementation:

• You must bid at least 6 burdens.
• Your adventure deck may contain sites from any block.
• Your Nazgul are non-unique.
• Each time your fellowship moves, add for each burden on the Ring-bearer.
• Shadow: Open and reveal a sealed booster pack (once per turn). You may play one shadow card revealed, ignoring all costs.
• At the start of each of your Shadow phases, you may take one card with ‘initiative' in its game text into hand from your draw deck.
• Each companion may bear no more than one possession.
• While at a sanctuary, you may heal no more than one wound from each character.
• You cannot have more than 5 companions in your fellowship. Fellowship: Exert the Ring-bearer to discard another companion.
• Your draw deck may contain up to six copies of any card (instead of four).
• You must play with your hand revealed.
• If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, your minions are each strength +1.

Added Modifiers

The following were unique to LOTRO (though of course nothing is stopping anyone from writing them in on the physical versions of the game):

• Skirmish: Play a possession on your minion.
• Your Ring-bearer (except Frodo or Sam) is resistance +3.
• Each time your fellowship moves, you may kill a companion (except the Ring-bearer) to make the move limit +1.
• Wound one of your characters after each skirmish in which you did not play a skirmish event.
• Each companion with resistance 3 or less is strength -1.
• Skirmishes are resolved in an order decided by the Shadow player.
• Each time your fellowship moves, the Shadow player may draw a card for each companion you can spot over 4.
• Each Wraith is strength +1 for each wound on a character in its skirmish.
• Fellowship: Add to play a companion from your draw deck; he or she comes into play exhausted.
• At the start of the regroup phase, you may discard your Dunland possession to take control of a site.

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