Lord of the Rings kicks off a crowdfunding campaign in July

Justin Gary was a professional Magic: The Gathering player before he created his own hit deckbuilding game, Ascension, back in 2011. But after releasing 17 sets in the original fantasy world of Vigil, Gary is following Magic’s example by branching out. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth was Magic’s first full Universes Beyond set, and Gary’s Stoneblade Entertainment is launching its first licensed version of Ascension: a set based on The Lord of the Rings, which will be crowdfunding on Gamefound starting in July.

“Let’s be honest, anyone that’s built a cool fantasy world owes the legacy of The Lord of the Rings,” Gary told Polygon in a video interview. “If you’re going to bring an IP over into your game engine, I cannot imagine a better fit, which is why I organically started there, and I’m pretty sure Magic was the same way.”

Gary started experimenting with a Lord of the Rings version of Ascension before he even got the license. The base game has four factions – Lifebound, Enlightened, Void, and Mechana – and Gary turned those into elves, hobbits, humans, and dwarves. Just like in a typical game of Ascension, players compete to recruit powerful heroes and defeat monsters that appear in a shared center row. Again, Tolkien offered plenty of powerful foes to battle. The Lord of the Rings: Ascension will bring back an old Ascension mechanic where defeating some monsters earned players a trophy as a way to convey the friendly competition between Legolas and Gimli.

There will be some big changes to embody the themes of fellowship, corruption, and temptation that Gary said are key to good Lord of the Rings game adaptations, like War of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth. Players will lose points at the end of the game based on their corruption score, which goes up whenever the Eye of Sauron card appears in the center row. But players will also be tempted by cards and effects that allow them to draw more cards or gain other benefits if they increase their corruption.

“We try to make the characters really come alive based on that,” Gary said. “Boromir is a great fighter, but when he reaches nine corruption, you have the option to banish him to defeat all the monsters in the center row. We want to create really cool moments that feel like what happens in the books.”

The game can be played competitively or in a co-operative mode where up to four players face off against a deck controlled by Sauron, as they compete to achieve certain objectives before gaining too much corruption. The players all control a different member of the Fellowship supporting each other to achieve victory.

Ascension: Lord of the Rings will consist of three different sets, one for each book in Tolkien’s trilogy. They can be played independently or combined together in a way similar to Shards of Infinity: Saga Collection, a super set that included multiple expansions.

“Fans of Ascension will recognize some of these core mechanics that we’re bringing back, but every one of them is presented in a new way to make it really feel like The Lord of the Rings and present both new gameplay and story moments that we’re really excited about,” Gary said.

Image: Stoneblade Entertainment

Ascension’s adventures in Middle-earth could continue, as Stoneblade also has the rights to adapt The Hobbit. Magic followed a similar path, and will be releasing a set based on The Hobbit on Aug. 14. But Gary isn’t worried about the competition.

“When I first made Ascension it was primarily something for me and my friends to play between rounds at a Magic tournament, because it really appeals to Magic players,” Gary said. “I think the more Magic players are excited about Lord of the Rings content, the more likely they are to try Ascension: The Lord of the Rings. A $50 price point for as much as you want to play is a drop in the bucket compared to what they’re going to spend on a Magic set.”

The July crowdfunding campaign will offer the chance to buy a special collector’s edition with premium components boxes designed to resemble books on a shelf. The game is expected to be delivered to backers and retailers in early 2028.