ISSN 1081-8359 The International Journal for Middle-earth Gaming Issue 12—January 1996 EDITORIAL : In this Issue Editorial: Because we can ..............1 BECAUSE WE CAN Frontlines.......................................3 naugurating as it does the third In addition to the return of Fredrik year of our publication’s exis- Ekman’s highly informative “Digital Communications ............................4 Itence, I am proud to announce Hands,” I’ve decided to establish two new that with this issue Other Hands is regular columns for OH. The first of these Digital Hands ................................5 now available on-line as part of the Vast I have dubbed “A Taste of Things to website (vastus.com). We have high Come,” whose function will be to show- A Taste of Things to Come............7 hopes that this will greatly increase the case a particular MERP author’s work on size of our subscription base, and that it a current module project. Wesley Frank The Balchoth................................10 wall advance our vision of a global com- inaugurates this series with a prospectus munity of Middle-earth gamers. We are of Near Harad, the module that will create The Bozishnarod: still committed, however, to producing OH an interlocking “land bridge” at the inter- Using the cultures of “the old-fashioned way”— as a high qual- section of the Southern Gondor-Umbar- ity, hard copy, gaming fanzine. Khand bloc of new realm modules (un- Far Harad in MERR ...................21 Let us cut to the chase. Since our last doubtedly the most collaborative effort to date in the history of the MERP series). Aggressiveness and Morale for (double) issue we have reestablished an exchange with Estel, the journal of the The second new column getting its Non-player Characters ................29 Sociedad Tolkien Española, and (as our send-off in this issue is “Arda Lore,” a bibliography addendum makes clear) place for ideas-in-progress on any Middle- Mapping Middle-earth: many articles from OH have been trans- earth topic. The concept is that each con- An Interview with Pete Fenlon ...37 lated into other languages and are being tributor poses a question or issue of inter- discussed within Tolkien societies in est, and then attempts to draw the broad Arda Lore.....................................41 Europe. Not only that, but several arti- outline of an answer. So, for example, we cles, essays, and reviews devoted to Mid- have in this issue’s column questions such Product Reviews: dle-earth gaming are beginning to appear as “What ever happened to the Blue Wiz- Dol Guldur .....................................49 in journals like Estel, Terra di Mezzo, and ards?” “Whom did the Free Peoples be- Angmar ...........................................52 elsewhere. Let us hope that this trend will lieve the Necromancer to be?” “Was Mirkwood .......................................56 continue. Harondor ever forested?” and so on. Since “Arda Lore” does not require a CONTRIBUTORS Chris Seeman EDITING ARTWORK Fredrik Ekman Patrick "Wynne Chris Seeman Sophia Caramagno SUBMISSION Wesley Frank Tommy Martin Sonia Seeman Jeff Hatch DEADLINE Luke Porter Anders Blixt Patrick Wynne for next issue Mark Thome Steffen Solomon LAYOUT & Jason Mulligan Chris Pheby DESIGN March 1, 1996 Bernie Roessler Jason Vester Lisa Disterheft — OTHER HANDS ————————————————————————— definitive solution to any topic, I hope it be of great practical value to any GM As always, we round the menu off will encourage more folks who would running a campaign in southern Middle- with some reviews of recent MERP re- otherwise not have enough time to con- earth. leases: Dol Guldur, Angmar, and Mirkwood. tribute to OH. Bernie Roessler returns this issue with For next issue, I will be submitting a On to the main pieces for this issue. yet another in-depth piece — this time a voluminous piece on the Kin-strife cam- Luke Potter has given us a richly de- new rule idea for managing NPC combat paign I have been running, complete tailed portrait of the Balchoth and their behavior. Keep up the good work! with synopses and character stats. In invasion of the West (much of which I As promised, I am continuing my in- addition to the interview and the regular hope to incorporate into the Northern terview series on “The Making of MERP.” features already mentioned, I also hope Gondor module). In this issue I converse with master car- to coerce Jason Beresford into giving us On-line MERPlisters Mark Thorne tographer Pete Fenlon on what he does “A Taste of Things to Come” for his and Jason Mulligan have joined forces to best. I think everyone will find his re- revision of the Umbar module. There is create elaborated MERP/Rolemaster char- marks of great interest. Next issue we’ll also a good chance that someone from acter development templates for the three see whether we can land an interview the MERPlist will be submitting an arti- cultures described in ICE’s 1st edition with Jessica. Ney-Grimm, the MERP cle on a Númenórean campaign set in Far Harad module. This will certainly series editor and art director. eastern Middle-earth. See you all in April! Chris Seeman January 31, 1996 BIBLIOGRAPHY ADDENDUM Luis Goñi “No, no hay Eldar en la Cuarta Edad” Estel 11: 34— Reglas Opcionales para M.E.RP: Magia y Habilidades Secundarias (Co- 42 [response to Jorge Quiñonez’ article from OH 2, misión de Rol de la S.T.E.) [20 page pamphlet containing- reprinted in Estel 10] variant magic and secondary skill rules for MERP; inquiries Jorge Qiñonez “Niente Elfi nella Quarta Era?!” Terra di Mezzo 2: should be directed to: Francisco Soliva Garcia, C/ Dos de Abril 22-23 [translated from OH 2] 19, 1a, 46006 Valencia, Spain] Chris Pheby “La corruzione nella Terra di Mezzo: un esame José Luis Goñi “Acerca de los semi-elfos”.Estel 8: 7-13 [makes all’uso e le conseguenze del potere” Terra di Mezzo 2: 56—58 reference to ICE and to Jorge Quiñonez’s article in OH 2] [translated from OH 1] Eduardo Martínez Santamaría “Chris Tubb: su peso en mithril” Mieuel Navarro Mañez “Critica del Juego de Mesa “The Hobbit” Estel 8: 17—21 [discusses the Mithril miniature series] Estel 12: 9 [review of ICE’s new Hobbit boardgame] Pablo Ginés “La Religión en el Reino de Gondor” Estel 8: 39-42 Pablo J. Ginés Rodriguez “Cuando ICE tomó cartas” Estel 12: [discusses the religion of Gondor with reference to Chris See- 10-11 [review of METW] man’s article in OH 2] Pablo de la Torre Plaza “Los colores de Arda” Estel 12: 34— Paco Solvia García “Guia de pintura para miniaturas de Mithril 41 [ideas for painting Middle-earth miniatures] (parte 1)” Estel 9: 49-54 [guide to painting the Mithril minia- Luis Goñi “Acerca del Poder y de la Magia” Estel 12:42—48 tures—the Fellowship and the Gondorian army] [discussion of magic and power in Middle-earth; makes refer- Jorge Quiñonez “No hay elfos en la Cuarta Edad?” Estel 10: 6-10 ence to article in OH 4] [translated from OH 2] Sergi Ibarra “Middle-earth PBM” Estel 10: 27-29 [information Other Hands Errata on the play-by-mail game] OH 9: p. 14 [last column, second paragraph] 250 (not 200) years Jose Miguel Odero “Sobre Gandalf y La Religión en Gondor” should appear as the typical lifespan for Dwarves. Estcl 11: 9-15 [response to Pablo Ginés’ article in Estel 8] OH 10: p. 9 “the above material would meet the heating and Paco Solvia García “Guia de pintura para miniaturas de Mithril COOKING (not “cooling”) requirements for a year...” (parte 2)” Estel 11: 19-25 [guide to painting the Mithril mini- atures — Orcs, Trolls, and Half-orcs] Fine Print Other Hands is an international gaming journal devoted to fantasy role-playing set in J.R.R. Tolkien's secondary world of Middle-earth. It is a quarterly, nonprofit publication welcoming submissions dealing with any aspect of gaming in the context of Tolkien's world: scenario ideas, rule suggestions, gaming prod- uct reviews, gamemastering aids, bibliographic resources, essays on Middle-earth, and whatever else our readership would like to see in print. In a word, Other Hands aims to be the definitive Tolkien-related gaming journal for a worldwide role-playing community: Within the pages of Other Hands, the interested gamer may publish materials with reference to any game mechanics he or she chooses (including Rolemaster and Middle-earth Role Playing). Such gaming material may deal with any time period ol Tolkien's world, and need not be bound to what has already seen print in Iron Crown's modules. Other Hands provides this freedom because it is a nonprofit publication. Subscription rates are as follows: inside the USA—1 issue $3/4 issues $12; outside the USA—surface 1 issue $3.50/4 issues $18. Payment should be made to Chris Seeman: PO Box 1213, Novato, CA 94948, USA. No Eurochccks, please! Submissions arc welcome in any form (preferably legible), but arc easiest to edit when received on a floppy disk. Word for Windows is the editing software currently in use, so if there is any question as to the readability of your disk, please save your document in ASCII or text-only format and include a hard copy. All submitted materials remain the copyright of the author unless we are otherwise informed. All submissions must be sent to Chris Seeman: PO Box 1213, Novato, CA 94948 (USA). Please write me or call it you encounter any difficulties, my phone number is (415) 892—9066. Please note also that I may be reached over Internet: [email protected] — 2 ———————————————————————————————————— ———————————————————————— ISSUE 12 JANUARY 1996 — FRONTLINES There’s been quite a bit of news to relate since our last column, so let us dive into the thick of things.