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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." |
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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. |
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| 7/1/03 | Decipher Press Release |
| Continue the Journey into Middle-earth with the Latest The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game Resources from Decipher (Norfolk, VA, July 1, 2003)
Beginning with the release of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game Core Book, Decipher has produced roleplaying games that have intrigued both fans of The Lord of the Rings films and roleplayers alike. Now, Decipher�s The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game product line will continue to captivate with three exciting new releases filled with stunning artwork and in-depth information. Available in stores later this summer, these latest resources will allow roleplayers further entry into Tolkien�s Middle-earth. Designed to be used with the Coda system created by Deciphers RPG Studio, the upcoming products include the following:
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| 2/22/03 | Review of Decipher's The Two Towers LotR RPAG |
| PRODUCT REVIEW: Matt Colville, The Two Towers LotR RPAG, Decipher, 2003. The publication of a second "how-to-roleplay" boxed set in support of its Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game reveals much about Decipher's overall concept for its Middle-earth line. For one thing, it presumes a kind of mass market audience (which may well exist) that cannot be counted on to move directly from the Fellowship of the Ring RPAG/movie tie-in to the full-fledged Core Rules and its anticipated supplements, but must instead be enticed with further "how-to" sets. To be sure, ICE did something comparable with its "MERP lite" Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (LOR), but there are some notable differences. Whereas the short-lived LOR line sought to provide an interlocking set of scenarios which would eventually form a campaign in their own right, Decipher's LotR RPAG is more of a collection of game mechanics illustrations, using events from the books as training exercises. Together they form not a coherent campaign (or, in Coda system jargon, a "chronicle") but a sequence of unconnected vignettes. Unconnected, that is, as something actually played. So, for example, the first boxed set opened at the gates of Moria and led players to the Bridge of Khazad-d�m. The present product takes up not at Lothl�rien but with the pursuit of the Orcs that have captured Merry and Pippin, culminating with the Battle of Helm's Deep. The focus is not on the continuity of the intervening storyline, but on how each of these major episodes from the book can serve as a template for teaching aspects of roleplaying (or, in the case of Helm's Deep, wargaming). As I suggested in my review of the Moria adventure, this can prove quite effective as a pedagogical tool. And some of that utility is carried over into the present product. At the same time, The Two Towers RPAG begins to expose some of the limitations of this strategy. Moria was an ideal setting for teaching basic roleplaying skills and mechanics because it is a linear environment without any alternative trajectories: you're inside Moria and there's only one way out. Tracking a band of Orcs across the plains of Rohan is another matter, not simply because the freedom of lateral movement is greatly enhanced, but also because the sorts of encounters that might take place may be far more complex and unpredictable than a wandering monster whose sole purpose is to attack the PCs. What happens if our heroes meet up with �omer and decide to ride back to Edoras, giving up Merry and Pippin for dead? That would throw a major monkey-wrench into a pre-ordained course of events! The adventure book devises safe-guards to avoid this, but only at the expense of genuine roleplaying. The encounter with �omer and the meeting with Th�oden in Meduseld are accordingly scripted in order to control the possible outcomes. This may help timid players along the path to roleplaying, but it risks truncating the idea of roleplaying to a set of dice-rolls rather than organic, spontaneous exchanges. To their credit, Decipher steer clear of Peter Jackson's manipulations of the plot of TTT. For the most part, at any rate. There are "Elven Archer" counters for the Battle of Helm's Deep. The rules for conducting the battle itself, however, are admirably simple. My only criticism is that there are few guidelines as to the strategy of either side. The bottom line is that if an uninitiated prospective roleplayer asked me which "how-to" box to buy, I would have to recommend the Mines of Moria box over than the present offering. The movie tie-ins undoubtedly serve an important marketting role, but I am impatient for the real thing. | |
| 2/11/03 | Review of Decipher's Maps of Middle-earth |
| PRODUCT REVIEW: Daniel Reeve, Maps of Middle-earth, Decipher, 2002. One of the challenges facing Decipher is to keep pace with the Peter Jackson films while building a solid momentum of content that will carry its roleplaying line beyond the movies. With the Core Rules not yet a year old, Maps of Middle-earth is the first support product for LotR RPG to hit the shelves. Maps of Middle-earth is a boxed set of six 17� x 22� folding maps with an accompanying site index. Set to a scale of 1� = 30 miles (slightly smaller than ICE�s traditional 1� = 20 mile standard), each map is bordered and thus free-standing (not designed to interlock with the others). Their coverage is limited to regions visited by members of the Fellowship, and hence excludes Wilderland and northernmost Eriador. The maps cover: The Shire, West Gondor, East Gondor, Rohan, Eregion and Mordor. In keeping with Decipher�s movie tie-in strategy, Daniel Reeve (the cartographer and calligrapher who worked on the films) was recruited to render and label these maps. The result is aesthetically pleasing and evocative of what Third Age maps found in Rivendell or Minas Tirith might actually have looked like. For this reason their archaic style lends them more to use as in-game props than as exacting topographical representations. They are, in fact, being marketed as �collector�s maps,� not exclusively as roleplaying aids. Nevertheless, an element of genuine sub-creation is not absent. Alongside dutifully inscribed �canonical� sites may be found wholly novel ones, like the fortresses of Seregost in Mordor and Thaurband in N�rn. The MERP veteran will also be surprised to find sporadic locales borrowed from Pete Fenlon�s maps (often in grammatically corrected forms), such as Ann�lond and Rast Rhaen in Anfalas on the West Gondor map. It must be borne in mind that these cameos were intended not as a sop to the Old Guard but as an efficient means of filling out the blank spaces on Tolkien�s source maps. All the same, it offers some prospect of continuity with the MERP legacy. As a follow-up offering to the Core Rules, however, Maps of Middle-earth seems a bit thin. The guidebook accompanying the maps is essentially a reprint of Chapter 1 of the rulebook, and the site index provides no further original detail on the places it covers. $29.95 is a lot to pay for game props that advance a GM�s resources only slightly beyond Tolkien�s own maps or Fonstad�s atlas. I continue to wait with anticipation for something more substantial and original to sink my teeth into. Reviewer: Chris Seeman | |
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