In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Deck-building Game, you take on the role of Frodo, Legolas, Aragorn, or one of their brave and heroic allies in the struggle against the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron! While you begin armed only with the courage of the free peoples of Middle-earth?, you will add new, more powerful cards to your deck as you go. Your goal is to defeat the deadly forces that serve Sauron as you make way towards Mount Doom to destroy The One Ring.

Each player takes on the role of an iconic hero from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King including Aragorn, Eowyn, Gandalf, Legolas & Gimli, Frodo & Samwise, Merry, or Pippin. Each hero comes with a special card unique to that character and usable only by that player.

Each player starts with his own basic ten-card deck and draws a hand of five cards each turn. Power is the currency you will use to buy new, stronger cards to add to your deck. The goal of a deck-building game is to craft your personal deck into a well-oiled machine. There are six different types of cards that can be acquired: Enemies, Allies, Artifacts, Maneuvers, Fortunes, and Locations.

To bolster their existing deck of cards, players use Power to acquire cards from "The Path," a large, central stack of cards that supplies a five-card line-up from which players make their purchases. Each player will always have five face-up cards to choose from each turn, so every turn there are new options and surprises. The Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King Deck-building Game also introduces an all-new feature: THE FINAL JOURNEY OF THE ONE RING Map. Can you deliver The One Ring to Mount Doom and then destroy it? Some of the cards you play will move the Ring of Power towards Mount Doom on the map, while the minions of Sauron will delay the Ring on its journey. If you fail to destroy The One Ring, Sauron may be too powerful to overcome...

This special Journey Map adds an exciting new element to an already great game!

When a player has amassed enough Power, he or she may defeat more powerful enemies from the "Archenemy" deck. Archenemy cards are represented by the notable enemies from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King including Shelob, The Witch-King, and the Eye of Sauron! When an Archenemy is defeated, a new one appears and makes an Attack against each player in the game! Players can defend themselves with Defense cards like "Hobbit-Sized Armor" or "Courage is the Best Defense" and several others.

The objective for each player is to acquire the most Victory Points at the end of the game. Every card acquired during the game has a Victory Point value with the Archenemy cards providing the most Victory Points. In the end, the player who has accumulated the most Victory Points from the cards in his or her deck wins the game.

The Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King Deck-building Game is a complete game on its own, but is also 100% compatible with The Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers Deck-building Games. This allows players to custom create their own unique Lord of the Rings Deck-building Game experience using cards from all three games.