I’m building a fan-made web adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth. It supports the base game and the Allies expansion. This is a private-entertainment project and is not affiliated with the game’s publishers or rights holders.
One game, two ways to play
Two people can play live in separate browsers, with both boards updating as moves happen. They can also use the same room asynchronously, more like play by email. The game state lives on the server, so a player can close the page and come back later. Persisted games survive server restarts and browser reconnections.
The room flow supports public, unlisted, and password-protected games. Players choose seats in a lobby, and private participant details stay with the people in the room.
The server runs the game
The rules engine is deterministic and server-authoritative. A browser submits a proposed move; the server decides whether it is legal and produces the next state. Each player receives a view redacted for their seat, so facedown cards, the other player’s Allies, private choices, and other hidden information do not leak into the page.
The game works on desktop and on phones. On a smaller screen the board is split into focused surfaces for the table, map, player state, opponent state, and chronicle instead of shrinking the full desktop layout until it is hard to use.
Identity, notifications, and chat
Guest play only needs a name. A player can optionally verify an email address to keep the same identity across browsers and devices and receive a notification when a turn is ready. Signing out or switching accounts only changes the local device session.
Room participants can write messages beside the game chronicle. Chat is stored and displayed in chronological order with game actions, but it does not change the authoritative game state. Spectators cannot read or post those messages.
Before there is a public play link
I still need to settle the access model and the rights-safe treatment of the game’s artwork and trademarks before I expose a public play link.
Links coming soon