New One Ring Adventure Anthology Lets Players Take on Saruman

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Free League Publishing is heading to Isengard with Hands of the White Wizard, a new adventure anthology for The One Ring RPG. The upcoming book collects six adventures that allow players to participate in the rise and fall of Saruman, as he transforms from benevolent sorcerer to would-be tyrant during the early days of the War of the Ring.

The book will be coming out later in 2026, but is is available to pre-order now in both hardcover and PDF from Free League. Notably, a version of the book will also be available that adapts the materials for the D&D 5e ruleset. Below, we take a closer look at what this new anthology is all about.

What is “Hands of the White Wizard” about?

Hands of the White Wizard is an adventure anthology for The One Ring RPG set between TA 2965 and the early days of the War of the Ring. As the title suggests, the focus of the book is on Saruman the White at a time when he is still generally considered a force for good in Middle-earth and holds significant influence over various kings and councils. Each adventure gives players the chance to interact with Saruman and his agents, either working on his behalf or quietly investigating his schemes.

According to Free League, the six adventures can be run individually or as one complete campaign, with players able to accelerate Saruman’s fall or even attempt to redeem him.

The anthology will also be released in a 5E-compatible format for The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying under the title Trials of Saruman, which will feature the same adventures adapted for the D&D 2024 ruleset.

What is The One Ring RPG?

The One Ring is Free League’s official tabletop roleplaying game set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. The current second edition of the game focuses primarily on the lands around Eriador in the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Rather than dungeon-crawling for treasure like most fantasy TTRPGs, however, the game is more about epic journeys, complex social encounters and difficult moral choices.

Mechanically, The One Ring uses a custom dice pool system built around a Feat die (d12) and Success dice (d6s). Players roll a pool of these dice based on their character’s skills, aiming to meet or exceed a Target Number. Players can also choose between familiar species such as hobbits, humans, dwarves and elves, as well as classes (known as “Callings”) which reflect various roles in the setting. Gameplay is also structured around Adventuring Phases (quests and exploration) and Fellowship Phases (downtime and recovery) and features its own unique Journey rules that allow players to take on various roles during long and dangerous treks across the wilds.

Notably, the game was first published by Cubicle 7 in 2011 and was created by Italian TTRPG designers Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi. Free League later took over the license for the game in 2020, releasing a second edition in 2022 after a successful Kickstarter. Since then, they’ve expanded the line with new region guides, campaigns and a starter set, in addition to spinning it off into the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, which essentially repurposes content from The One Ring game for the D&D 5e ruleset.

How much is “Hands of the White Wizard”?

The hardcover copy of Hands of the White Wizard will retail for $46 USD (excluding shipping and taxes). If you pre-order the book you’ll also receive a PDF version which will be delivered via DriveThruRPG. The book will also be available separately as a PDF, although Free League has not yet confirmed a price.

When will “Hands of the White Wizard” be released?

Free League has not announced an official release date and Hands of the White Wizard is currently listed only as a pre-order. As with other Free League releases, however, a wider retail launch through local game stores is expected to follow once fulfillment for direct pre-orders is underway.

Why is “Hands of the White Wizard” worth checking out?

• A look at an iconic villain: Saruman remains one of the most complicated and important characters in Middle-earth lore, yet this really marks the first time we’ve seen him appear in any modern Lord of the Rings RPG materials.
• A new flexible anthology format: In the past, we’ve seen Free League release larger setting guides and campaigns, but we haven’t really seen any anthologies that allow Loremasters to run adventures as one-shots or a complete campaign.
• Dual-system support: Free League continues to release content concurrently for both The One Ring and the 5e-compatible The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, which means fans of both systems will be able to run the content.
• Solid production value: Free League produces some absolutely gorgeous books, and while we haven’t yet got our hands on the finished product, the initial art and sneak preview pages look stunning.

Final Thoughts

Hands of the White Wizard looks set to offer something a little different from the usual Middle-earth adventure, presenting a deeper look at one of Tolkien’s most complicated figures. It remains to be seen, however, if this new adventure anthology will capture all the epic drama of Saruman’s rise and fall.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this in the days ahead and will be offering our own review closer to launch. In the meantime, you can pre-order Hands of the White Wizard now from Free League.