Welcome to Other Hands!

Other Hands is an internet resource devoted to the subject of fantasy role playing games set in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth (the imaginary world of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion). The web site takes its name from a letter Tolkien wrote in 1951, explaining the genesis of this world:

"But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic, to the level of romantic fairy-story....I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama."

-The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 144-145

Tolkien desired to create not only great literature, but an entire mythology which others could explore and extend using their own creativity and imagination. Today, a quarter of a century after his death, thousands of gamers carry on Tolkien's vision through the medium of role playing - assuming the personae of characters existing within that imagined world and participating in its saga. Other Hands aims to be the ultimate resource for this ever-unfolding drama.