[Bêthberry]

If I may interject here, my two excellent Writers of the Mark, I think there are things to be said for both your approaches. Why? Because, as writers, while we strive to capture the feel of Middle-earth, we also must listen to our own imaginative voices. There is a time and place to learn about character, about plot, about description, about interaction, and there is also a time and place to recognise the role of the creative imagination.

I don't really see any reason why there has to be one definitive form of, say, Middle-earth ship, or wagon, or sword, or armament. What is important is consistency within each game, but I don't think we have to say that all games need to use the same terms of rerference for styles.

What are those words which help flesh out the vision of the particular game you are playing in? Maybe in one game you will want to describe the Viking longboats with their particular shape of sail and oarsmen and prow. Maybe in another you might be inspired by visions of Chinese junks. I can't see U boats in a Tolkien game--well, I'm sure someone might, for the sake of argument, try to see if a 'modern' game of sea warfare could be written with the ethos of Tolkien's heroic ideal--but I think the really important point is not to say definitively that there is one particular style for each race, but that a legitimate case can be made, game by game, for a particular vision. Maybe someone has built a boat by hand and would want to contribute that knowledge to a totally unique sense of ship. A case could be made.

To me, the defining issue is "does this inspire in me a sense of the values which Middle-earth represents?" If no, why not and how can that be accomodated? If yes, then, what is it that creates such a sense? Sometimes it might be the writer's skill at evoking in the reader's mind an idea; sometimes it might be the writer's skill at taking one aspect of Tolkien and extrapolating it; sometimes it might be the writer's skill at catching the very flavour and tone of Tolkien's world.

As an example, let me refer to a quote on another thread. davem offered a passage from a soldier in WWI describing his batman, in demonstration of the historical accuracy of Tolkien's depiction of Sam's fielty towards Frodo. Yet Fordim questioned that quotation as being too patronising. Both 'readings' are, I think, equally valid, but I would not expect to see them in the same game. In separate games each might have its place.

Must away--I will return to provide a link to that thread.