Many years ago, the dark lord Sauron forged the One Ring to control the races of the Middle Earth. He was defeated by the human prince Isildur, who took the ring to himself. But such was the evil power of the ring that it brought misfortune to whoever dared to bear it, corrupting their souls. Eventually, the ring ended up by Frodo Baggins, a peaceful hobbit who was unaware of his possession's true nature. Realizing that the only way to be free of the ring's power would be to destroy it, the wizard Gandalf tells Frodo to carry it to Sauron's land, Mordor, and throw it into the lava rivers of the Orodruin volcano, thus saving Middle Earth from destruction.

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I is a fantasy role-playing game based on The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the Lord of the Rings book trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. The events of the game follow those depicted in the book rather closely, though a few important characters and occurrences are not present, and many quests have been added. Characters belonging to various races and nations join Frodo on his quest; these include key figures from the book as well as several characters unique to the game.

The game is rather open-ended, allowing the player to roam vast top-down environments and undertake side missions in addition to the main storyline, which must be followed in order to complete the game. Combat takes place in the same area as exploration, and is turn-based. The player has full control over the actions of the characters in the party. These characters can also be swapped, equipped with weapons and armor, and use various skills (individual and shared), such as sneaking, perception (to find hidden items), unique "words of power", and others.

The CD version of the game features cutscenes taken from the animated Lord of the Rings movie by Ralph Bakshi. The original floppy release often required the players to read story-related text from the manual; the CD version inserts this text into the game itself at the appropriate places. It also adds an automap feature to the game.

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Alternate Titles

"El Señor de los Anillos, Volumen Uno" -- Spanish title

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Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title
	J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I
	J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I
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User Reviews

One game to find them, and to aimless wandering bind them	YID YANG (162563)
This game introduced me to the book!	Lev Epshteyn (11)	unrated

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The Press Says

Top Secret	Mar, 1992	5 out of 5	100
Joystick (French)	Feb, 1991	96 out of 100	96
Génération 4	Feb, 1991	94 out of 100	94
Tilt	Mar, 1991	17 out of 20	85
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	Aug, 1992	10 out of 12	83
Joker Verlag präsentiert: Sonderheft	1992	74 out of 100	74
PC Player (Germany)	Sep, 1993	52 out of 100	52
Power Play	Mar, 1991	46 out of 100	46