These sources are far more esoteric. These are online links to English translations of some of the old mythologies. They are for those fans who wish to immerse themselves in the literature which inspired Tolkien, perhaps coming to understand that inspiration better as a way of writing Tolkien-inspired work. They will be for reading on those dark fall and winter nights which approach us (well, those of us in the northern parts of the northern hemisphere!).

The Beowulf translation is not my favourite; that honour belongs to Seamus Heaney's 2000 bilingual edition, but unfortunately I cannot find even a sample of it online. This one looks good, though; done by W.H. Auden 'tis claimed. (I wonder if there is a Tolkien translation available?) I cannot vouch for the other translations.

Beowulf (Old English)

The Eddas (Norse)

The Nibelungenlied (German)

Bethberry

[ August 25, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ]

Moving this excellent resource back up to the top.

I'd just like to add something to this thread which Genandra of Mirkwood posted August 10 on the Barrow Wight's thread, "Different Styles of RPG..."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you, Genandra. This was precisely my intent in starting this Resource thread--to help with plausibility.

Bethberry

Does anyone have any information on the use of rarer medieval weaponry like greatswords, epees, polearms, etc.?

On a similar tangent, does anyone know any good sites on ancient Chinese or Japanese weapons?

[ September 08, 2002: Message edited by: Ransom ]

An site with some information on Medieval Europe is:

Mostly Medieval

It has a nice selection of facts, as well as a section on Medieval medicine, herbs, and folk remedies.

[ September 08, 2002: Message edited by: Ransom ]

Thanks for that link, Ransom. I found the medicinal herb one very easy to navigate. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Last week my son showed me a site which discusses D&D character development. That info is too specific to D&D to be of much use for RPGs here, but that got me thinking. I found a couple of online sources which discuss character development for fiction which might be interesting here.

There are probably as many different ways to flesh out characters as there are writers. Many of you probably go through points like this intuitively. Remember that nothing here is engraved in stone, but perhaps the advice can get you to think about characters from a different perspective.

Fiction Writer's Character Chart

More on character development

And, since every great character needs a tellingly appropriate name, here's a list of Old English names, which I have shamelessly copied from Shieldmaiden's post in the Rhohan Discussion thread. I'll add other name links that I might find later.

Old English names

Bethberry

[ September 10, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ]

Bethberry, I have not given my comments of your page. I could have not better myself. I feel this information is interchangable no matter whether you write RPG or not, it is still a great resource.

I am myself a writer, though at times it probably does not seem so. What I have found distrubing is how much people do not research and rather assume then know for sure.

I suppose we are on the same thought pattern. I have posted two threads about how to better role play. In the end it comes down to how to work with other people and how to develop an idea and translate it to words.

here is my link contribution
http://www.angelcynn.org.uk/

This is an reanactment group for Anglo-saxon society. Great site! I have so many other links and books I use for research, I could not list them all.

Eol

I'll plunder my bookmarks for useful stuff...

A tree of Germanic languages... so you can keep the languages you need for the translation in order.

Time to put away your fancy dresses, this is what Tolkien said he imagined the clothes of Men in the 3rd Age to look like: the famous Bayeux Tapestry.


I'm not sure whether the
Ardalambion has been mentioned yet in this thread... at any rate, it is good (and scholarly!) enough to be mentioned twice anyway.

Two sites I have linked to a couple of times already: Old English Grammar (if you think you are capable of inventing your own Rohirrim names) and Old English Pronunciation. Well, you won't need that urgently, but still.

Finally, probably my favourite non-Tolkien site: Sacred Texts.
Of special interest for Tolkienophiles may be the resources on Christianity (Tolkien liked Augustine I think), the complete Anglo-Saxon corpus, Prose and Poetic Edda, the Norse Annals and lists of rulers, and the Kalevala.

[ September 23, 2002: Message edited by: Sharkû ]

Those are nice visuals on the Old English site, Eol. Thanks!

*curtsies on a first meeting with Sharkû*

I am in awe of these links, particularly the Sacred Texts one. I hadn't connected that Augustine would be central for Tolkien. Thinking of Tolkien in light of Augustine's predestination will be interesting. Now, if only I didn't have so much reading to do for AAwtK....

Bethberry

Now I've got sailing ships in two RPGs. Anyone know where I can find out about how many miles such a ship would cover in a single day? sharon

Child,

The Atlas of Middle Earth has a small section called "Pathways" which charts distances travelled for each day travelled from September 3018 III to March 3019 III, pp.157-161.

It also lists ranges for speeds on p. 156. Here is the info on ships:

Small boats with current:
drifting 2.8 mph
paddling 4.1 mph
ships against current:
rowing 4.7 mph
sailing 7.2 mph

This is all the info on ships, but the detail for everything else is fascinating.

Bethberry

Bethberry --

Thank you, thank you. You are a fount of information. I guess I will assume that if I were sailing north up the Anduin, I should be going against the current. sharon

Does anyone have any links to discussions of Middle Earth economies and trading systems?

For the RPG 'An Audience with the King' words like 'seed money' and 'upfront investment' come to the tip of my tongue (well, really the tips of my fingers [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]) but they aren't of course relevant here. I don't know enough about the rise of the capitalist system in early modern Europe to be able to write about the developing trading alliances in the early IV Age.

Suggestions, anyone?

Bethberry

I was fascinated by the Bayeux Tapestry link, but wanted to find bigger pictures. Well, look HERE for larger, or HERE for even larger images.

[ October 10, 2002: Message edited by: The Barrow-Wight ]

Logically, since middle-earth in the first years of fedualism, I would say barter trade would be the popular form of economic trade. The use of gold and precious metals in the form of coin is a easy way to go about it.

I feel middle-earth would have a combination of both, one dominating in one area more then another.


Eol

Here is a great resource on the use of elephants for tactical warfare (Mumaks!)

Elephants

Right on with the elephant link, Pio!

I was going to add my Swordsmanship thread to this resource.. only to find it had it had already been included! Thank you, Mithadan. And thank you, Bethberry, for your kind comments.

-Maril [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Character development by C. J. Cherryh

Here's some more helpful info.

-Maril [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

Well, since Bb haven't posted it, I'm going to do it [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

here is the link for a tool quite usufel for those with spelling and context problems (like myself):

Merriam Webster Toolbar

it goes with IE 5 or higher and gives opportunity to learn meaning of new word without changing pages - it's enough to highlight the word in question and press enter.

I hope it helps

[ October 19, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

The best resource for Tolkien-plausible RP is, of course, to read other high-quality RPGs and the books themselves. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Need a reference for nice, "hobbity" sounding names? I just used this site:Warwickshire Wildflower Checklist

What about the presence of magic in Middle Earth? I've looked through that LOTR Role Playing Games Core Book at one of the functions I recently attended and it had a whole bunch of information about magic in it and the certain spells one could learn how to cast (mostly door-locking spells or beast speech). It also said that there could have been wizards and mages tutored by some of the original Five sent around 1050 was it? T.A.

Is magic not allowed to be used in Barrowdowns RPGing? Otherwise, I might have some solid information on the subject to post here if I'm allowed to.

-Maikafanawen

The rules for RPGs in The Shire and Rohan stipulate that magic is not to be used, nor any form of super-powered character.

Evidence for why not can be found in several threads in the Books forum which discuss the problematic nature of magic in Tolkien.

Thanks for not posting.

Here are some pages I have found quite useful, for one reason or the other...

Can't think of a good character name? Check Babynames or Behind the Name, also Last Name Meanings. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

Ever thought of playing a herbalist? Take a look at
The English Physitian - 1652 and Herbalism.

~Annun

Here's a link to something I'm actually really interested in-ME heraldry. After looking around, I'm not sure how much of it's authentic- would someone more knowledgable check it out?

These songs are the ones used in LOTR. Characters might repeat bits of them I guess! I actually used this site for the A-Z of ME topic in the quiz room... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Info on the dwarves. This is really good!

Some maps are really big, but if you want more specific things, try the map page of the encyclopedia of arda here. They also have good family trees.

I know it's not relevant, but having looked at the beginning of this thread I'm glad the RPGs section became like this!

EDIT: Pio's link below shows the same heraldic signs, therefore I assume the ones from my link are authentic after all.

[ July 06, 2003: Message edited by: Lyra Greenleaf ]

[ July 07, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]

All of the information has been categorized and transferred to this thread:

~*~ RESOURCES FOR RPG’s ~*~