NNeewwss FFrroomm BBrreeee The Official Middle-earth™ PBM Newsletter Issue 33, March ‘07 “Strange as News from Rewriting the Tolkien Canon Bree…” The Lord of the Rings Chapter 9 By Michael Martinez The process of reinventing Tolkien goes on accept the published Silmarillion as an continuously. It's been going on in one form authoritative source of information on The Talk at the or another since The Lord of the Rings was Middle-earth. Prancing Pony… first published, perhaps even since The Featured Articles Hobbit was first published. Christopher's revisionism was not intended Rewriting the Tolkien Page 1 to mislead or stoke up the fires of a Canon: Michael Martinez But reinvention is no longer the purview of particular point of view. He was striving to the critics, either the cynical foes of the open the doors to his father's imagination a Economic Strategies: Page 2 Tolkien literary legacy or its staunch little wider, and provide a glimpse of things Mike Johncock defenders who good-heartedly reclassify that might have been, had oh so many other The Flagship Challenge Page 4 Tolkien's motivations and inspirations things happened or not happened. Cup: Mike Sankey according to their own visions. J.R.R. Tolkien himself was the worst The Flagship Gaming Page 6 In today's world, everyone reinvents possible revisionist, dropping mythology Awards Tolkien, although some are more active than after mythology, only to turn back to them Game End Information: Page 6 others. Fan fiction writers, for example, to borrow ideas, names, themes, and even Clint Oldridge inject their own visions into Middle-earth, occasional characters. But these were his carving out parallel universes in a quantum worlds to revise. He was the craftsman, Dragon Lord 1650, Are Page 11 fashion faster than hard-core fans can cry sifting through his pile of previously you Ready for a Challenge?: Terry Wilson "Foul!". partially completed works to see what could be reused, incorporated into a new work. And there are hard-core, self-appointed Regular Features pontificators who have taken it upon The Tolkien critical world, both professional Games Starting Soon & Page 4 themselves to sew up all the texts in concise and amateur, is today awaiting the Face to Face News little histories that prove that there was publication of two books that may settle indeed only one mythology, that all some questions. But more likely they'll add Hall of Fame: Page 9 Game Winners passages can be used interchangeably to fuel to fires that simply won't go out. The argue any point, and that Tolkien really History of The Hobbit and The Children of A-Z: Page 11 meant what his after day spokesmen feel is Hurin are not themselves canonical works, Tom Bombadil most important. though they will be heard to speak with the voice of authority. Player Ratings Page 13 The trouble with revisionism is that it invariably displays its colors before it's Revisionism continues today at all levels, complete. It can salt the waters of many and Tolkien purism itself is bound to be Middle-earth PBM wells and deprive people of the sweet taste questioned regarding whether it provides Middle-earth PBM is a turn-based of pure Tolkien literature, but the books any value. True purism, free of any agenda, strategic game set in the world of themselves remain untouched. The initial at least provides a baseline for the study of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. For more impressions of readers remain untouched, Tolkien's various mythologies. It knows details, please take a look at our even if the revisionists win a few battles better than to treat all the stories and website: www.middleearthgames.com here and there with magical treasures that versions as if they are part of a single, combine the various mythologies in ways concise whole work. they should never be joined. The reinvention of the Tolkien canon cannot It's unfortunate that Christopher Tolkien wholly obscure the original works Featured Artist himself anointed the process by writing and themselves, but unfortunately it can position Pauline Marshall. publishing a Silmarillion that took on the itself so as to be mistaken for authority by force of canonical text. By the time people less schooled in the arts of Christopher tried to explain what he had reinvention. done it was too late. Even after the publication of the 12 volumes of The Taken from Michael Martinez’s Blog: History of Middle-earth, most readers still http://www.tolkien-studies.com/blog Page 1 of 15 Economic Strategies Mike Johncock There has been much discussion on the Middle-earth forum 4) Disbanding characters regarding economic issues. As Australian team captain I liaise This is very unpalatable in some cases, but can make the with my team-mates regularly to ensure we are doing what is difference between life and death. Many of the DS multi-class necessary to have the economic upper hand. It is a constant characters have second, third and fourth skill abilities that only effort to which our team pays close attention as we attribute a lot add to cost and will rarely if ever be used. Khamul, for example of value to wining the economic war. Here, then, in the interest costs 2600 gold a turn and a max rank of 40. Unless you value of sharing economic theories in Middle-earth, is my input stealth 30 agents as worth an extra 2K a go, he's really draining regarding economics. the bank. Adunaphel is another example as she Overview costs 2000 gold a go and The general consensus of players I can't even fall back on have sided with, and my own stealth as a valid opinion as a result of discussions justification, since she with those I've opposed is that the has no agent skill. DS are incredibly poor, and need to Mages are another offset their team deficit or they'll character issue. The DS die before they get going. As the have more than they can FP, then your object is to bankrupt really afford or need, and the enemy into submission or keep getting more productive removing their MTs until back-up characters on line like capitals are no longer available. As campers and thieves is DS, the objective is to survive long important. The DS have enough to have your superior 2xM70, 2xM60 and SNAs, characters and artefacts win 11xM50, which can be the war for you. So with this in used to hunt artefacts, mind, here are some ideas on make some curse squads dealing with economic issues and do some reveal pop or perceive secrets type stuff. So any mage Dark Servants below 50 needs to do At game start the DS team have a some quick talking to deficit of roughly 100,000, and avoid the chop in my need to name 48 new characters, opinion, not that I've had adding 29,000 to costs. So they much success in have to make large economic gains convincing my team or they'll be dead very quickly. mates of that. Finally, Ways of dealing with such deficits there is the issue of are: disbanding the low-life guys that need to train 1) Taxes for 20 turns to become Taxes are the easiest way to start useful. By this I mean offsetting this deficit. Raising to any character that has no 60% for all nations will reduce the command ranks, or a deficits by 68,000, leaving a deficit of over 60,000. Only maximum of rank 20 in agent/emissary or 30 in mage. Rhu,WK, Harad and maybe the Drld have tax bases that would Characters like Virsh, Rosalyn and Ar-Glar. Replacing warrant raising above 60%, and of these nations Harad would disbanded characters does generate additional costs, but is risk degrading his unfortified pops, and the DrLd would be quickly off-set by the new characters’ ability to camp, steal or giving up his loyalty-inspired population defence. maybe recruit to capture pops, whichever is appropriate. 2) Disbanding armies 5) Capturing more pops than you’re losing This is another way to cut costs and can be done in some If you are doing this early on then the FP need to pick up their theatres. However, for the most part the DS will be recruiting efforts as the game is all but over. But far more of the DS are not disbanding. Disbanding troops saves cash, but you run the vulnerable to attack than the FP: Harad, Mirkwood and Angmar risk of you loosing extra pops because you can't defend them. are all under a real threat of military assaults driving the DS out of that area. Agents can counter the FP in some of these theatres, 3) Selling food but not all of them, so expect more economic pain from the Pulling food out of existing armies can net the team over military outcomes, especially early on. 150,000 gold for very little effort. Some nations really benefit from fed armies, but others can easily afford unfed moves 6) Deliberate bankruptcy without much compromise to their manoeuvrability. What I call the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the one. A very rare strategy where if you see a nation is facing imminent death, then you bankrupt the nation deliberately to put maximum stores in pops that you then transfer to your allies. For Page 2 of 15 example, the IK is going to go bankrupt as both his capital and Barad Paras both have sizeable armies on them that will attack 4) Countering retirement of characters resulting in an immediate tax raise to over 100%.