Post by Witch-king of Angmar on Dec 26, 2006 21:26:15 GMT
The Northern Kingdom of Arnor is a vast expanse of territory. Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth shows it covering almost 800 miles at its widest diagonal point - from Eryn Vorn to the Misty Mountains above Rivendell. When Isildur turned over the Southern Kingdom to his nephew after the War of the Last Alliance, he was heading for the Northern Kingdom, its capitol being a word I never can pronounce, Annuminas. As we all know, he didn't make it, so the succession fell to his son, Valandil.
The neighbors of Arnor are Cirdain of the Gray Havens in the West; some Dunlendings to the South and fisher folk on the coast; Rivendell in the east. In 1300, an illustrious king forged out a new kingdom to the north of Arnor known as Angmar, which lasted until some short-sighted bigots ended it in 1975. (cough, cough... ahem)
Taking that period alone - 1300 to 1975 - we can find endless plots. Just so long as they don't go too far afield from the canon, anyway. Oh, yes, I like leeway, but no one is going to assassinate King Valandil and change the course of canon in that regard. That is one of my rules.
Here are some of my other rules for whatever we do:
1. No Mary Sues. They will die instantly in horrible ways.
2. No mutant balrog/pixie/dragon/elf extractions, or other strange, bizarre creations of the author's feverish imagination. I don't like them.
3. No superpowered characters - no "best" this, no the "greatest" that. No gigantic blowing up of armies, peoples, cities, or anything else. Just regular, normal magic please. Don't stress the administrator. He does nasty things like throwing horrible ice storms and blizzards that will destroy your villages and give you frost bite on your little toes.
4. Absolutely no people will come here for the sole purpose of improving their love-lives, finding dates, advertizing themselves as the hottest love bait around. Stay out of here. I don't want you. I will kill you so fast that your heart will fly out of your chest and hit the nearest tree.
5. No one who thinks that he or she IS his or her character. If you need help for emotional problems, do not come to this forum. We do not offer counseling for those who think they really are balrogs - we think you have bad breath and will kill you quickly because we find you offensive.
6. Absolutely no really nasty cursing; an occasional swear word is fine but don't go overboard, please, and absolutely no crude, obscene words.
7. No offensive posts, harassing, baiting, trolling, uncivil, rude, unruly behavior will be tolerated. You will get one warning, one only, and then you are DEAD. BANNED. People like that make the adminstrator very nervous and when he is nervous, he does strange things.
8. ABSOLUTELY NO OUT-OF-ROLE PERSECUTION OF THOSE WHO ENJOY PLAYING EVIL CHARACTERS. Treat them with friendliness and civility. Do not be condescending, snide or use veiled induendos in discussion. (Of course, in the roleplay you can be as snide and condescending as you want, within levels of decency) After all, where would your good character be if he or she did not have his opposite counterpoint? Let your light and shadows learn to play music together.
9. On the same token, no persecution of those who enjoy playing good characters. Remember, variety is the spice of life. Enjoy differences.
10. The original user of an avatar has the sole use of that particular avatar for the duration of the game unless he or she gives written permission. In other words, if a person uses a certain avatar, don't use that one for yourself.
11. A person's character belongs to that person for the duration of the current roleplay. If it is an original character (created by that person), it is his or her character forever unless another is given permission for the use of that character in writing RPG.
12. No injuring, killing, mutilating, damaging, etc. another person's character unless it is mutually agreed upon in writing.
13. The creator and/or user (in the event of an actual Tolkien character, such as Gandalf) has final edit rights when another is using his or her character in a story. It is best to work out something with another RPGer by PM so there are no surprises. Who wants to go to the forum someday and be surprised that his or her character has just been hit over the head, kidnapped and put in a tower someplace?
14. HAVE FUN - remember this is a roleplay based on the fictional world created by J. R. R. Tolkien. The purpose of the game is to have fun, not to stress and get upset, but to have fun. We should all be friendly, helpful people and help others have fun.
Now I find that the Open Scroll Archive's rating system is a very helpful one, so we will be using it here.
PG-13 - Sexual thoughts and some sexual intensity but no actual scene. This can also contain strong language and non-sexual violence.
This rating is very broad and allows for much freedom. I will allow more violent, non-sexual scenes, however. Just don't totally gross out the rest of the people here with gouged out, dripping bloody eyesockets, dismembered bodies, etc.
Those are all the rules I can think up now, but I can come up with some more very quickly.
After those preliminary, general guidelines, some suggestions I can make to be thinking about the rpg would be the kingdom of Arnor divides because of internal dissention and jealousy and becomes three kingdoms - Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. There is always good RPG material there with the endless bickering among princelings who want to seize power.
We can do an RPG about the threat of Angmar in the North. I am always happy to throw a few assorted corrupted hill men down to Arthedain, Rhudaur or Cardalan to attempt to gain some more power. Oh, there are all sorts of things. We can kidnap princesses and princes and put them in towers to let them languish there for a while. We can go on quests, look for artifacts or books. The only limit is the imagination. Start thinking and let us know your ideas. Always have an open mind and ear.
Note to Moderators - if you want to help in rewriting these rules or add something, just tell me.
The neighbors of Arnor are Cirdain of the Gray Havens in the West; some Dunlendings to the South and fisher folk on the coast; Rivendell in the east. In 1300, an illustrious king forged out a new kingdom to the north of Arnor known as Angmar, which lasted until some short-sighted bigots ended it in 1975. (cough, cough... ahem)
Taking that period alone - 1300 to 1975 - we can find endless plots. Just so long as they don't go too far afield from the canon, anyway. Oh, yes, I like leeway, but no one is going to assassinate King Valandil and change the course of canon in that regard. That is one of my rules.
Here are some of my other rules for whatever we do:
1. No Mary Sues. They will die instantly in horrible ways.
2. No mutant balrog/pixie/dragon/elf extractions, or other strange, bizarre creations of the author's feverish imagination. I don't like them.
3. No superpowered characters - no "best" this, no the "greatest" that. No gigantic blowing up of armies, peoples, cities, or anything else. Just regular, normal magic please. Don't stress the administrator. He does nasty things like throwing horrible ice storms and blizzards that will destroy your villages and give you frost bite on your little toes.
4. Absolutely no people will come here for the sole purpose of improving their love-lives, finding dates, advertizing themselves as the hottest love bait around. Stay out of here. I don't want you. I will kill you so fast that your heart will fly out of your chest and hit the nearest tree.
5. No one who thinks that he or she IS his or her character. If you need help for emotional problems, do not come to this forum. We do not offer counseling for those who think they really are balrogs - we think you have bad breath and will kill you quickly because we find you offensive.
6. Absolutely no really nasty cursing; an occasional swear word is fine but don't go overboard, please, and absolutely no crude, obscene words.
7. No offensive posts, harassing, baiting, trolling, uncivil, rude, unruly behavior will be tolerated. You will get one warning, one only, and then you are DEAD. BANNED. People like that make the adminstrator very nervous and when he is nervous, he does strange things.
8. ABSOLUTELY NO OUT-OF-ROLE PERSECUTION OF THOSE WHO ENJOY PLAYING EVIL CHARACTERS. Treat them with friendliness and civility. Do not be condescending, snide or use veiled induendos in discussion. (Of course, in the roleplay you can be as snide and condescending as you want, within levels of decency) After all, where would your good character be if he or she did not have his opposite counterpoint? Let your light and shadows learn to play music together.
9. On the same token, no persecution of those who enjoy playing good characters. Remember, variety is the spice of life. Enjoy differences.
10. The original user of an avatar has the sole use of that particular avatar for the duration of the game unless he or she gives written permission. In other words, if a person uses a certain avatar, don't use that one for yourself.
11. A person's character belongs to that person for the duration of the current roleplay. If it is an original character (created by that person), it is his or her character forever unless another is given permission for the use of that character in writing RPG.
12. No injuring, killing, mutilating, damaging, etc. another person's character unless it is mutually agreed upon in writing.
13. The creator and/or user (in the event of an actual Tolkien character, such as Gandalf) has final edit rights when another is using his or her character in a story. It is best to work out something with another RPGer by PM so there are no surprises. Who wants to go to the forum someday and be surprised that his or her character has just been hit over the head, kidnapped and put in a tower someplace?
14. HAVE FUN - remember this is a roleplay based on the fictional world created by J. R. R. Tolkien. The purpose of the game is to have fun, not to stress and get upset, but to have fun. We should all be friendly, helpful people and help others have fun.
Now I find that the Open Scroll Archive's rating system is a very helpful one, so we will be using it here.
PG-13 - Sexual thoughts and some sexual intensity but no actual scene. This can also contain strong language and non-sexual violence.
This rating is very broad and allows for much freedom. I will allow more violent, non-sexual scenes, however. Just don't totally gross out the rest of the people here with gouged out, dripping bloody eyesockets, dismembered bodies, etc.
Those are all the rules I can think up now, but I can come up with some more very quickly.
After those preliminary, general guidelines, some suggestions I can make to be thinking about the rpg would be the kingdom of Arnor divides because of internal dissention and jealousy and becomes three kingdoms - Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. There is always good RPG material there with the endless bickering among princelings who want to seize power.
We can do an RPG about the threat of Angmar in the North. I am always happy to throw a few assorted corrupted hill men down to Arthedain, Rhudaur or Cardalan to attempt to gain some more power. Oh, there are all sorts of things. We can kidnap princesses and princes and put them in towers to let them languish there for a while. We can go on quests, look for artifacts or books. The only limit is the imagination. Start thinking and let us know your ideas. Always have an open mind and ear.
Note to Moderators - if you want to help in rewriting these rules or add something, just tell me.