This carries through in the interior of the book. Despite the cover claiming this is an adventure module, it is really a regional splatbook, detailing Rivendell, its inhabitants and the resident flora and fauna. There is a very detailed plan of the…for lack of a better description…the estate and its immediate grounds. It all feels very lived in and homey.

I have to say, this is an accomplishment that I don’t think Tolkien achieved. I never really understood why Bilbo was so keen to retire to Rivendell. Elrond, in just about all his incarnations, seems like an utter drag to be around, and that extends to his housemates, with the possible exception of Glorfindel. Here they seem to be quietly fun. Well, not Elrond, but everyone else seems chill and into music and food. It seems like good company, and I like a house with lots of fireplaces.

Denis Loubet is the primary artist. There are some Liz Danforth illustrations as well, but my suspicion is that they were first published elsewhere. There is a portrait of Bilbo that doesn’t seem to be by either of them, where he looks like a very specific sort of non-verbal English drunkard and I find it amusing and jarring in equal measure.

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