Welcome to the Khazad-dûm
Through the Doors of Durin - Behind the Screen
Moria might just be the oldest MegaDungeon in fantasy, and Through the Doors of Durin for The One Ring by Free League captures both the grandeur and horror of this colossal underground kingdom. It's absolute gold for any GM looking to run a campaign steeped in history, mystery, and exploration. I've run many campaigns before, but this one? This one is pure Mithril, no doubt. Like Twilight: 2000, I’m going all in—running an open-table campaign, online and offline, until they burn my stuff or Balrog Come!
Welcome to Khazad-dûm
Moria is HUGE. Forget about mapping this SuperMegaDungeon in the traditional way—Free League’s approach is more indie, with a point-crawl method that makes this immense space manageable while keeping its grandeur. The book gives you a macro-level view of how Moria's halls and deeps are organized. Then it zooms in on key Landmarks, those legendary and forgotten locations described in The One Ring core book—places for your players to uncover. Add to that the Journey Rules (here with a "Delver" role replacing "Hunter") and some brilliant tables for generating a location’s purpose, current use, and condition. It’s like a perfect blend of point-and-depth crawl conceits. Instead of mapping every inch of Moria, you get the tools to flesh out its atmosphere, mysteries, and history on the fly, or be like me, pre-roll these, and stat up a dozen blank cards!
Lore Roots: Balin's Expedition and Beyond
Through the Doors of Durin is steeped in Middle-earth lore, and it offers rich possibilities for setting up different campaigns around Moria, all rooted in the late Third Age. The book offers up plenty of motivations and patrons for exploring the halls of Khazad-dum...however, in the appendices is the real treasure: Options to recreate Balin's expedition, Aaragorn or Gandalf's excursions to Moria. These moments are full of written details, speculation, and unanswered questions—a GM’s dream! I chose to run Balin’s expedition as the backdrop for my open-table campaign. It’s got everything: tragedy, heroism, dwarven determination, and an inevitable sense of doom. The 5-year in-game timeline from Balin's arrival to his death is pure gold for sandbox play. And the book includes tons of other hooks: a treasure index for Moria, hidden lore, plenty of Orc factions, and even whispers of... Nameless Things deeper in the dark.
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