Campaign Microsite for the Fellowship of the Ring

Nine Companions, One Quest, Zero Digital Presence

When the Fellowship of the Ring set out from Rivendell, they had a clear mission and absolutely no way of keeping their allies informed. Dispatches were slow, intelligence was patchy, and Sauron's forces were monitoring all conventional communication channels. The Fellowship needed a secure, real-time digital home for the quest.

The Challenge

This was not a straightforward brief. Key requirements included:

  • Real-time tracking of the Fellowship's position across Middle-earth
  • Secure access for allied parties at Rivendell, Lothlórien, and Minas Tirith
  • The ability to handle the Fellowship splitting into multiple groups with separate tracking threads
  • Profile pages for all nine members, written for both longtime allies and newcomers
  • A dispatch system for posting updates without revealing operational details

What We Built

The microsite launched within three weeks of the Fellowship departing Rivendell:

  1. An interactive map of Middle-earth updating in real time as position reports arrived
  2. Authenticated access for approved parties, with tiered permissions by location
  3. Member profiles with collapsible full-history sections beneath shorter introductions
  4. A dispatch feed with category filters — progress, threat reports, and general news

View our full range of campaign and microsite work.

A remarkable piece of work. The interactive map alone was worth the commission — it is far clearer than any of Bilbo's sketches.
Gandalf the Grey, Wizard, Istari Order

Key Features

Interactive Map

The centrepiece of the microsite: a fully interactive map of Middle-earth updated in real time as position reports arrived from the Fellowship. Allied parties could filter by companion and zoom to any region from the Shire to Mordor.

Member Profiles

Each of the nine companions received a dedicated profile page covering race, homeland, skills, and role within the Fellowship. Pages were written in two registers — a brief introduction for newcomers and a full history for established allies, toggled via a single expand control.

Dispatch Feed

A structured update feed allowed the Fellowship’’s allies to follow progress without sensitive operational details being exposed. Posts were categorised as progress, threat reports, or general news, with tiered access controlling visibility by recipient.

Multi-Group Tracking

When the Fellowship split at Amon Hen, the system handled three simultaneous tracking threads without architectural changes — a decision made during discovery that proved its worth far sooner than anyone had hoped. Redundancy, as Gandalf noted, is never wasted.