Dear Chris,

Thank you very much for your kind gifts to the role playing game commission of the Sociedad Tolkien Española (STE). We have discussed the first two issues of Other Hands, and all agree that the journal will become the main discussion forum for Tolkienian role-players in coming years. I will be writing an article about Other Hands in Estel (our society bulletin) to inform all members of STE about subscription information. We are happy to see that we are not alone in our estimation of the Middle-earth Role Playing system—ICE's Middle-earth looks very different from that of The Lord of the Rings.

I believe that there are two main reasons why ICE's treatment of Tolkien's world does not differ substantively from other conventional fantasy settings: the treatment of races and magic. These topics will be the principal subject of our commission's activity, which will include:

1) a complete description of all races, with special attention devoted to the treatment of language and manners (both very important, we believe, since role-playing is an oral activity). Of course, races not invented by Tolkien himself will be omitted from our examination (ICE's Umli and Half-trolls, as well as Half-elves, since these do not properly constitute a "race").

2) conversion of the magic system. This is an enormous problem, in part because the members of our own commission are themselves divided. As for myself, I believe that the correct approach would run as follows: there are only five wizards (the Istari); Men and Hobbits are not a magical by race, so they cannot work magic (although they may use magic items they come across); Elves can use songs of power to create magical artifacts; Dwarves can use magic only to improve their own creations (e.g., the magic toys described in The Hobbit and LotR). But this is only my own interpretation of Tolkien (others on the commission defend other positions).

At present, we are discussing the Noldor (a lengthy process, as the members of our commission are spread over six different cities). We plan to celebrate our First National Convention in Pamplona in March, which should speed up our discussions. I am the mail-keeper for the Convention, so you can get more information about it from me, if you are interested.