MIRKWOOD DISCUSSION

[Gilthalion]

Edit: 06/30/2004

Please note that Gilthalion is no longer moderating this wonderful RPG. And it will not be edited into a fanfiction as far as I know.

All the rules found in The Red Book of Westmarch, the first topic in the Shire Forum, will now apply to the playing of this game.

At present I am awaiting contact from the last game owner for this RPG concerning re-opening it for play.

Refer all your questions to me, if you will.

Thank you for your patience!

~*~ Piosenniel, Shire Moderator

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Hello and welcome to the MIRKWOOD RPG! I am Gilthalion, your Moderator.

I've started this topic thread to introduce you to the basic rules and constraints of this RPG (Role Playing Game). You can sign in here and I will tell you how to best enter the tale! This is also available for OOC (Out Of Character) discussions about the game itself. This is the place for questions and answers. Please communicate here. I am slow answering emails, and generally do not answer game related questions by email. I am sometimes (Weeknights Central Time) available on the Barrow Downs Chat and will happily chat with you about the games on those occasions.

First of all, this RPG is a WRITING game. When we have "finished," the text will be edited and published as a collaborative Fan Fiction on the Barrowdowns.com website! With that in mind, try to write as well as you can, with the fewest errors you can manage and the most imagination you can muster. Try your very best (and we are not so very critical) to write in Tolkien's style and spirit.

Secondly, this RPG must work within Tolkien's Middle-earth as much as possible. There will be no 12th level Hobbit Mages, you can't be a wizard, and you can't play a major character from the books. As Moderator, I will handle any interactions with "actual" characters, such as King Thranduil or Legolas Greenleaf. I might assign such a role to certain individuals at my discretion. Wildly impossible characters or events will be deleted.

I will sometimes edit your posts. I am not being mean when I do this. I am not saying that I don't like you or your writing! But sometimes, for reasons that might only be known to me, I will add or subtract a little something from your post. Don't feel bad when this happens! When I have the time, I will correct egregious language errors. If I see a post that seems too far from the Tolkien feel, I will be certain to edit it. I might let minor errors or problems pass, and save those edits for the final product.

Be aware that this game will move a little slowly. Also, you will find that people tend to drop in and out. Some folk will write a lot, and some will write a little. Some folk post quickly, and others have to take more time.

Our story begins several years before the War of the Ring. Your characters will not be aware of the events surrounding that war, since they have not happened yet! Nevertheless, some of the characters from LORD OF THE RINGS are alive and active at the time, so you might meet one by chance.

Mirkwood in these days is largely inhabited by elves. There may be some men on the northwest fringes near the valley of the northern Anduin. Erebor is inhabited by Smaug and the lands about the Lonely Mountain are desolate. The Lakemen are in Laketown upon the Long Lake. The Elves of the Golden Wood are far away and have not been seen in centuries by their distant relatives in the Woodland Realm of Thranduil. The great forest has become unwholesome in many places, especially in the south. Dol Goldur is there, and the Necromancer has been vanquished. Yet, the evil place stands and has been left unguarded since that day...