You cannot play non-unique allies or put non-unique allies into play.
Forced: When you control exactly 9 unique characters, flip this card over.
You cannot play allies or put allies into play.
Each character you control gets +1 
+1 
and +1 
Forced: After a character you control leaves play, flip this card over.
You cannot include attachments in your deck.
Setup: Choose 14 different Item or Artifact attachments from your collection and shuffle them together. This is your loot deck. Flip this card over and place your loot deck facedown under it.
"And I assure you there is a mark on this door – the usual one in the trade, or used to be. Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonably Reward, that's how it is usually read.
–Glóin, The Hobbit
The active location gets +1 quest point for each attachment attached to it.
Forced: After you travel to a location, attach the top card of your loot deck faceup to that location as a guarded objective. If that attachment has the guarded X keyword, ignore it.
Forced: When the active location is explored, you may put each guarded attachment on that location into play at no cost, or add it to your hand.
Your deck cannot include ally cards.
Each of your heroes can have 1 additional restricted attachment. Reduce the cost of the first restricted attachment you play on each of your heroes each round by 1.
Refresh Action: If each of your heroes has at least 2 restricted attachments, flip this card over.
"...we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left."
–Aragorn, The Two Towers
Each of your heroes can have 1 additional restricted attachment and gets +1 for each restricted attachment on it.
Action: Exhaust this card to heal 1 damage from each of your heroes.
"With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter!"
–Aragorn, The Two Towers
You cannot choose more than 1 starting hero.
Setup: Search your deck for an attachment with a printed cost of 1 and put it into play. Then, flip this card over.
”...the rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my card.“
–Gandalf, The Return of the King
The first non-unique card you play each planning phase does not require a resource match.
Action: Exhaust this card and raise your threat by 1 to (choose two): Ready your starting hero, add 2 resources to your starting hero's resource pool, or heal 3 damage from your starting hero.
“...this shall be his great task, and maybe the end of his labours.”
–Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
You cannot include more than 1 copy of a card, by title, in your deck.
Response: After you play an event from your hand, choose one: reduce your threat by 1, draw 1 card, or add 1 resource to your hero's resource pool. You can only choose each option once per round.
"I must go to this lords' council and learn what I can."
–Gandalf, The Return of the King
You cannot choose more than 2 heroes during setup.
Setup: Choose a non-neutral unique ally from your deck and put it into play. Add the sum of that ally's printed , , , and hit points to your starting threat. Then, flip this card over and attach it to that ally.
“I am a messenger of the King,” he said. “You are speaking to the King's friend, and one of the most renowned in all the lands of the West.”
–Pippin, The Return of the King
Attached ally loses the ally card type and gains the hero card type.
Attached character cannot be readied more than once per phase.
Messenger of the King is immune to card effects while attached character is in play. If attached character leaves play, remove Messenger of the King from the game.
Your deck must be exactly 50 players cards and include exactly 10 cards from each of these four spheres:
and
You cannot include more than 2 copies of any card by title in your deck.
When choosing your starting heroes, you may choose 4 heroes instead of 3. Each of your heroes must belong to a different sphere.
"You can trust us to stick to you through think and thin – to the bitter end."
–Merry, The Fellowship of the Ring
Your minimum deck size is 100 cards.
Your threat cannot be reduced by player card effects.
Action: Exhaust this card and raise your threat by 1 to look at the top 2 cards of your deck, draw 1, and place the other on the bottom of your deck.
Forced: When you would be eliminated by reaching your threat elimination level, flip this card over instead.
Your threat cannot be reduced by non-contract player card effects.
Heroes you control do not exhaust to quest.
Forced: When this card is flipped to this side, reduce your threat by 10. Search your deck for a card and either add it to your hand or play it, reducing its cost by 3. Shuffle your deck.
Thus came Aragorn... borne upon a wind from the Sea to the kingdom of Gondor...
–The Return of the King