Issue 002 | 21 February 2021
Welcome to the second of a series of newsletters looking at the Tolkien-related news from the previous week and what is coming up in the week(s) ahead.
LOTRO: Online chats with Standing Stone GamesDuring the last week SSG have held two chats with members of their team.
Landscapes and world building
First up was on Wednesday 17
February 2021 with Senior World Designer “Scenario” (Matt Elliott) for a fascinating
chat about world building and landscapes in LOTRO. I highly recommend this one,
it was so informative about various aspects of game design and LOTRO in
particular, with some funny anecdotes too.
You can watch the chat on either YouTube or Twitch.tv. I’ve also taken notes and a partial transcript of the chat and posted it on this blog here.
Q&A with LOTRO's Executive Producer
On Friday 19 February 2021 Community
Manager “Cordovan” (Jerry Snook) and Executive Producer “Severlin” (Rob
Ciccolini) sat down to do a Q&A chat with the LOTRO community, looking at plans,
hopes and challenges of the year ahead.
They have posted the video chat
on YouTube and Twitch.tv. I have also written brief notes on what was asked and
the answers given here.
Free League’s The One Ring RPG
With 11 days to go, the Kickstartercampaign is currently at an amazing £792,315 (SEK 9,193,454,94) with 8,934. Twenty-five stretch goals have been unlocked.
The most recent blog update
takes a look at the Ruins of the Lost Realm book which is a combined print
collection of previously PDF-only stretch goals – Fog Over Tharbad, A
Gathering Storm, Into the Lone Lands, Old Castles Built by Wicked People, Here
Was Once a Realm of Men and The Clouds Break.
You can find out more about
this on Free League’s update section of their Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/the-one-ring-roleplaying-game-second-edition/posts/3107363
Francesco has been giving more interviews about the game here:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkhaDxhV9Mc
- https://www.whatwouldthesmartpartydo.com/2021/02/17/francesco-nepitello-interview/
On Thursday 18 February Free League ran a Q&A session with Lead Design Martin Takaichi. You can watch that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrImpPFhF6k
The Tolkien Society
The next event for the Tolkien Society will be Tolkien Reading Day on Thursday 25 March 2021. Information can be found here: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/tolkien-reading-day-2021/
The next seminar was announced as focusing “Tolkien and Diversity.” Details can be found on the link below.
Tolkien Society Seminar #2: 4-5
July 2021
Amon Hen #287 (January 2021) has turned up
on my doorstep. Amon Hen is the Bulletin of the Tolkien Society, published six
times a year, both as a printed and PDF versions. You can get this and other
goodies by joining the Tolkien Society here. In this issue articles include “One
the origin of the Hobbits: Part One” by James P. Buchman, “Tabletop Tolkien #3”
by Daniel Marchant (I get a mention!) and Colin Duriez writes about Walter
Hooper.
Upcoming talks/events
The Immanent Grove:
Memorialising the achievements of the University of Glasgow’s Fantasy graduates
24 March 2021 – oniine – free
Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow
Looking at Trees in Fantasy literature
with the University of Glasgow’s MLitt in Fantasy students
- https://fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2021/02/12/the-immanent-grove-memorialising-the-achievements-of-the-university-of-glasgows-fantasy-graduates/
- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-immanent-grove-trees-fantasy-and-the-glasgow-fantasy-programme-tickets-141403029267
International Medieval Congress
5-9 July 2021 – online - £120 (full)
/ £75 (concessionary)
Leeds University
The Tolkien sessions for the InternationalMedieval Congress have been finalised. Dr. Andrew Higgins it taking over
organising these from Dr. Dimtra Fimi. There looks to be some wonderful talks
lined up, Details can be found here:
Shelob’s around the Web round-Up
Nerd of the Rings talks with Corey Olsen (“The
Tolkien Professor”)
Prancing Pony Podcast #198 – Never Enough Tolkien:
An Interview with Ted Nasmith
Luke Shelton, Editor-in-chief of the
Tolkien Society journal Mallorn, has written a blog looking at the best (and
worst) reference books for Tolkien studies. Worth a look at:
Signum University/Mythgard Institute with the Tolkien Professor
(Corey Olsen) continue their adventures in Exploring the Lord of the Rings
with Episode 174, “The Beginning of the End of the Council” here:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q9fVkzQmFY
You can find more about this series of talks and gaming sessions here: https://mythgard.org/lotro/exlotr/
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