Thread by @ProDMTimothy

I know this's probably the coldest of possible takes but, in re-listening to the BBC Lord of the Rings radio drama, I realized how GOOD of a magical item the One Ring is.

From a DM's perspective, I mean. A quick thread.

#DnD #TTRPG

Let’s get the obvious things outta the way first.

It’s a conduit of Sauron’s evil and a fragment of his soul. Makes you invisible when you put it on. Reference to the Nieflungs. The MacGuffin that the entire plot hinges around. All that granted.

Is the Ring intelligent? Sure. Yet not in an obvious way. It can't speak, it can only influence your behavior in ways never expressly spelled out in the text. It "abandons" Gollum but how does it do that?

It doesn’t have any real agenda aside from returning to Sauron and, even then, that’s only the most convenient option. The way the Ring tempts people, it’s clear it just wants to be wielded by a Dark Lord. If Aragorn used the Ring to supplant Sauron, that’d be peachy keen too.

This means the Ring is an NPC in the creepiest way. It can’t be reasoned with, it can’t be convinced, it doesn’t feel – it just wants.

The Ring charms people. Makes them want the Ring, desire the power it could grant them. Shows them visions sometimes – personalized to the target – of their future glory. Boromir sees victory for Minas Tirith, Sam sees flowers in Mordor.

The charm also has these awesome roleplaying hooks. There’s never an explanation as to why the term “precious” is associated with the Ring. No matter who wields it – Gollum, Bilbo, Isilduir – they refer of the Ring as “precious”

You can just see Tolkien handing a note to one of his players.

“The Ring is precious to you. It's your and yours alone. Don't let anyone else touch it.”

He uses the charm to great effect too. It charms NPCs like Galadriel and Faramir but it also charms PCs. Boromir’s whole character is building to get charmed by the Ring. Hell, it even charms Frodo at the very end, as a last ditch effort to survive.

That’s not all, though. The Ring has an entire suite of monsters completely devoted to it. He’s homebrewed the Ringwraiths; death knights that once possessed weaker versions of the same item, now bound to hunt the Ring eternally.

They have all kindsa cool powers – flying mounts, spectral forms, necrotic knives – but their coolest one is that they can sense whenever you use the Ring and are drawn to it. What a hook for a powerful artifact!

Speaking of which, the invisibility is another adventure hook too. It’s not actually invisibility – it’s etherealness. Guess who else is on the Ethereal Plane and can see you whenever you wear it – the Big Bad.

Plus, we know the Ring is way above their power level. Gondorians constantly talk about wielding the Ring like a weapon against Sauron and that temptation is always there.

How delicious is that – maybe it can save you now but it only brings more trouble.

It goes without saying the item is cursed, right? Yes, it’s effectively the Horcrux of the Big Bad but carrying the item for two long corrodes your soul, fills you with need and want and obsession. It preserves Bilbo’s life and, the moment he loses it, he ages decades in a year.

Plus, the lore. The lore!

The Ring has a whole complex history – who made it, why, how it was nearly destroyed, how it was lost, how it was found again. It's no ordinary +1 ring of protection.

IT. HAS. POETRY. ABOUT. IT.

This says nothing about the countless minor powers the Ring has.

I always loved how it gets heavier, the closer Frodo gets to Mordor. It knows what they're trying to do and it's literally increasing its mass to make that harder.

All this – from an item a PC just randomly picked up in a cave.

Talk about a loot drop.

What's the point to all this?

I think the One Ring is a masterclass in how to derive story from the magic items the party finds on their adventures. It produces countless plot hooks and endless drama and always keeps you guessing about what it'll do next.

It rules them all.