From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-15 Date: 04-08-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. The Mouth is edited by Brian Mason and Tom Walton. All correspondence can be sent to them at: Brian Mason - mason@chara.gsu.edu Tom Walton - kazandar@aol.com First Word From Brian Mason Greetings, All! First of all, there is a minority of people out there to whom I may owe an apology. During the last week in March, I was working at Mt. Wilson Observatory, and in trying to keep up with various housekeeping duties for "The Mouth" it is possible that I failed to fill some requests for back issues or general info files (it is also possible that I sent them to some people twice!). So, if I messed up your request, or if you want to rattle my cage, send your request for back issues or the general info files to me at mason@chara.gsu.edu and I will get to it asap. In an effort to make our publication better, I've taken it upon myself to conduct a mini-survey. I'll enclose the survey below which you can cut and send to me. I'll tabulate the results, and send them along after I have the results. Below the cut-and-paste survey is an explanation of some of the questions: ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Email address: ___________________________________ 2. Name: ___________________________________ 3. Number of me-pbm games played: ___________________ 4. Number of turns played: __________________________ 5. Number of me-pbm games currently in: _____________ 6. Nations Played: __________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 7. Top 3 Finishes:___________________________________ __________________________________________________ 8. Rating of Editorials: ____________________________ 9. Usefulness of Editorials: ________________________ 10. Rating of Encounters: ____________________________ 11. Usefulness of Encounters: ________________________ 12. Rating of Dragons Section: _______________________ 13. Usefulness of Dragons Section: ___________________ 14. Rating of Q and A: _________________________________ 15. Usefulness of Q and A: _____________________________ 16. Rating of Wish List: _____________________________ 17. Usefulness of Wish List: _________________________ 18. Rating of How I got Shafted: _____________________ 19. Usefulness of How I got Shafted: _________________ 20. Rating of Strategy: ______________________________ 21. Usefulness of Strategy: __________________________ 22. Rating of Humor Articles: ________________________ 23. Usefulness of Humor Articles: ____________________ 24. Other Comments: __________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Explanation of questions: Questions 1 and 2: Believe it or not, we have people to whom we mail "The Mouth" whose name we don't even know! Question 3: This will give us an idea of the experience of the readership. Question 4: A probably more accurate gauge of experience. Question 5: How much does the readership play at one time. Question 6: What does the readership like to play. Question 7: How well has the readership done? Question 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22: How much do you like these sections of "The Mouth" on the following scale 0 = strongly dislike 1 = dislike 2 = neutral or no opinion 3 = like 4 = strongly like Question 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23: How useful are these sections of "The Mouth" to you on the following scale 0 = not at all useful 1 = rarely useful 2 = neutral or no opinion 3 = sometimes useful 4 = very useful Question 24: Your chance to sound off on on things that the survey does not adequately address. Thanks for your time. Brian A Special Note From Brian Mason To all readers of "The Mouth of Sauron:" The Periodic Table of Elvish Names which was printed in issue 14 of "The Mouth of Sauron" was done so without the permission of the authors or the editor of Mythprint. The publication of this within "The Mouth of Sauron" was an error in judgement on my part alone, for which I humbly apologize. Brian Mason Tom's Note: I, too, apologize for this breach (especially in light of my fire-and-brimstone tirade in Mouth 3 or 4 about a PBM magazine that published my "Blood and Glory" articles without asking my permission). While it isn't technically the responsibility of an editor to check on the legality of a submission (that's the burden of the person making the submission), it is indeed the ethical responsibility of the editor to have a look anyway. This I did not do, and I apologize both to the authors of the original article and our readers. After apologizing and communicating with one of the authors (Carl Hostetter) about this matter, he submitted the following article for the readers of "The Mouth." Now, those of us who want to tell Murazor in game 97 to "say your prayers" he knows how! And, notice, gentle readers, that the actual offering in Quenya numbers 37 words, well within the 40 word "Whispers..." limit. Enjoy! ================================ = "Attolma" = = The Lord's Prayer in Quenya = ================================ by Patrick Wynne (scudamour@aol.com) and Carl F. Hostetter (carl@class.nasa.gov) A modified, text-only version of an original article first published in the journal _Vinyar Tengwar_ #32 (November, 1993). "Attolma" composition and notes are copyright (c) 1993 by Patrick Wynne and Carl F. Hostetter. This text may be freely redistributed in electronic form so long as it includes this notice and is not altered in any manner. It may not be republished without permission. Attolma i menelessie, nai airitainieeva esselya. Our Father who is in heaven, be it that will be hallowed thy name. Nai ardalya tuluva. Be it that thy kingdom will come. Nai iirelya tyarnieeva mardesse ve menelesse. Be it that thy desire will be done on earth as in heaven. Anta men siire ilyaurea mastalma. Give (to) us today daily our bread. Ar avanta men raikalmar ve avantalme raikatyarolmain. And forgive (for) us our wrongs as we forgive (for) our wrong- doers. Ar nai uutukuvalye me mailenna And be it that thou will not lead us into overmastering desire naa fainu me ulkallo. Amen. but release us from evil. Amen. Conventions: A doubled vowel (e.g. aa) indicates that that vowel is long (i.e. has an accute accent in the original). A "\" following a vowel indicates that the vowel has a macron (i.e. "-") over it. A "_" preceeding and following a word or group of words indicates that it is to be italicized. Bibliographical abbreviations: VT: _Vinyar Tengwar_. The Bimonthly Journal of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship. Carl F. Hostetter, Editor. Internet address: carl@class.gsfc.nasa.gov OED: _The Oxford English Dictionary_ The following works are all by J.R.R. Tolkien. Page references are to the most recent Houghton Mifflin Co. hardcover editions. I: _The Fellowship of the Ring_ III: _The Return of the King_ L: _The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien_ LR: _The Lost Road and Other Writings_ LT1: _The Book of Lost Tales, Part I_ LT2: _The Book of Loat Tales, Part 2_ UT: _Unfinished Tales_ R: _The Road Goes Ever On_ S: _The Silmarillion_ SD: _Sauron Defeated_ Other abbreviations: Q: Quenya N: Noldorin 1: first person 2: second person sg.: singular pl.: plural adj. adjective nom.: nominative pp.: past participle <: "is derived from" *: indicates that a word or meaning is hypothetical, i.e. not actually attested in the published corpus. Notes: Line 1: _Attolma_ 'Our Father'. _atto_ is an affectionate form of _atar_ 'father' (LR:349 s.v. ATA-). Compare the New Testament usage of Aramaic _abba_ 'father', a term "borrowed from childhood's language to express filial address to God",[1] as Christ's words in Mark 14:36: "And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee..." (KJV) The exclusive 1 pl. possessive suffix *_-lma_ 'our' appears in the genitive _-lmo_ 'of our' in _omentielmo_ 'of our meeting' (L:265, 447). The exclusive 1 pl. pronoun does not include the person addressed as part of the we, us, or our; thus _Attolma_ 'Our (but not Your) Father', _anta men_ 'give to us (but not to You)', etc. _i_ 'who'. Cf. _i Eru i_ 'the One who' (UT:305). _menelessie_ 'is in heaven'. This consists of *_menelesse_ 'in heaven', locative sg. of _menel_ 'firmament, high heaven, the region of the stars' (R:72), to which has been added the copular suffix _ ie_ (= _ye_ 'is'), as in _maarie_ 'it is good' (LR:72) < _maara_ 'good' (LR:371) and _man-ie_ 'what is it?' (LR:59) < _man_ 'what?' (LR:63). A form closely analogous to *_menelessie_ is _nuumessier_ 'They are in the West' (LR:72) < *_nuumesse_ 'in the West' + pl. copular suffix _-ier_ '(they) are'. _nai_ 'be it that, may it be that, maybe' (I:394, R:67-68). _Nai_ is used with a verb in the future to express a wish, e.g. _Nai hiruvalye Valimar_ 'be it that thou wilt find Valimar' (cf. R:67 68). For further discussion, see the next entry. _airitainieeva_ 'will be hallowed'. This contains a present stem *_airita-_ 'hallow, make holy', from _aire_ 'holy' (I:394) + causative _-ta_ as in _tulta-_ 'send for, fetch, summon' < TUL- 'come, approach' (LR:395). The past participle is thus *_airitaina_ 'hallowed'; cp. _hastaina_ 'marred' in _Arda Hastaina_ 'Arda Marred', with bare stem _hasta-_ in _Alahasta_ 'Unmarred' (MR:254). With the addition of the future copular suffix _-ieeva_ (= _yeeva_ 'will be', LR:72) this becomes *_airitainieeva_ '(it) will be hallowed'. Cp. _hostainieeva_ 'is counted', lit. *'will be collected' (LR:72), < *_hostaina_ 'collected', p.p. of _hosta-_ 'to collect' (LR:364). Our translation of the Lord's Prayer is based on Jerome's Latin version in the Vulgate rather than on the Greek original, owing to our imperfect knowledge of New Testament Greek. Subjunctive verbs in the Vulgate version have been rendered into Quenya with the _nai_ + future construction. Thus Lat. _sanctificetur_ 'hallowed be' has been translated as _nai airitainieeva_ 'be it that (it) will be hallowed'. _esselya_ 'thy name'. This is _esse_ 'name' (III:401) + _-lya_ 'your', the 2 sg. possessive suffix, as in _tielyanna_ 'upon your path' (UT:22, 51 n.3). For the reverential sense *'thy', cf. the suffixed nom. form _-lye_ 'thou' in _hiruvalye_ 'thou shalt find' (I:394). Line 2: _ardalya_ 'thy kingdom'. Cf. _arda_ 'realm' < GAR *'hold, possess', "often in names as _Elenarda_ 'Star-kingdom', upper sky" (LR:360). Also used as a proper noun _Arda_ 'The Realm', "name of the Earth as the Kingdom of Manwe" (S:317). _tuluva_ 'will come'. Cf. _entuluva_ 'shall come again' (S:195), with prefix _en-_ 'again' (UT:317 n.43). Here _nai tuluva_ 'be it that (it) will come' represents the Latin subjunctive _adveniat_ 'may it come'. Line 3: _iirelya_ 'thy desire'. Cf. _iire_ 'desire' < *i\di 'heart, desire, wish' (LR:361 s.v. ID-). _tyarnieeva_ 'will be done'. The base KYAR- 'cause, do' yielded Quenya derivatives in _tyar-_, as _tyaro_ 'doer, actor, agent' (LR:362). We have assumed a p.p. *_tyarna_ 'done' on the basis of _varna_ 'safe, protected, secure', apparently a p.p. *'uplifted, saved, rescued' < BAR- 'uplift, save, rescue(?)' (LR:351). Here _nai tyarnieeva_ 'be it that (it) will be done' represents the Latin subjunctive _fiat_ 'let it be done'. _mardesse_ 'on earth'. Cf. _mar_ 'earth' in _i-mar_ 'the earth' (LR:72), with oblique stem _mard-_ seen in _Mardello_ 'from Earth' (ibid.) _ve_ 'as, like'. Cf. _ve raamar aldaron_ 'as the wings of trees' (I:394), _ve fanyar_ 'like clouds' (R:66-67). Line 4: _anta_ 'give!' (imperative). Cf. stem _anta-_ 'give' (LR:348 s.v. ANA1-). In Quenya there seems to have been no formal distinction between the bare stem of a verb and the imperative; thus NA\2- "Stem of verb 'to be' in Q" (LR:374) appears in _na\-i_ 'be it - that' (R:68). Here _anta_ represents the Latin imperative _da_ 'give!'.[2] _men_ '(to) us'. The accusative 1 pl. exclusive pronoun _me_ 'us' appears in _nuruhuine me lumna_ 'Death-shadow us is-heavy' (LR:56). The dative form *_men_ '(to, for) us' seems to appear in assimilated form _mel-_ in _nuruhuine mel-lumna_ 'Death-shadow us-is-heavy' (LR:47), lit. *'the shadow of death lies heavy for us' (cf. _lumna-_ 'to lie heavy'; LR:355 s.v. DUB-). _siire_ 'today, (on) this day', a neologism coined from SI- 'this, here, now' (LR:385) + the suffix _-re_ 'day' as in _mettare_ 'last day' (III:386) and _Cormare_ 'Ringday' (III:390). Also cf. _iire_ 'when' (LR:72), _enyaare_ 'in that day' (ibid.), _yaare_ 'former days' (LR:399 s.v. YA-). _ilyaurea_ 'daily, of the whole day', a compound of adj. _ilya_ 'all, the whole' (LR:361 s.v. IL-, I:394) + *_aurea_ 'of a day', adj. form of _aure_ 'day' (S:190, 195), just as adj. _laurea_ 'golden' is derived from _laure_ 'gold' (R:70). In the present context *_ilyaurea_ refers to a quantity of bread 'sufficient for the whole day'. _mastalma_ 'our bread'. Cf. _masta_ 'bread' (LR:372 s.v. MBAS-). Line 5: _ar_ 'and' (I:394). _avanta_ 'forgive'. No Elvish word meaning 'forgive' appears in the published corpus. The verb 'forgive' in Old English was _forgiefan_, from the prefix _for-_, denoting loss or destruction, and _giefan_ 'give'. We have used this as the model for a neologism *_avanta-_ 'to forgive' < the privative prefix _ava-_ (LR:349 s.v. AWA-) + _anta-_ 'give' (LR:384 s.v. ANA1-). Privative _ava-_ is translated as 'for-' in _avaqet-_ 'refuse, forbid' (LR:366 s.v. KWET-), lit. *'say away'. Thus *_avanta-_ 'to give away, for-give', appearing in this line in imperative *_avanta_ 'forgive!', as well as with the exclusive 1 pl. nom. suffix _-lme_ 'we' in *_avantalme_ 'we forgive' (cf. _laituvalmet_ 'we will praise them', III:231, L:308). _raikalmar_ 'our wrongs'. Cf. adj. _raika_ 'crooked, bent, wrong' (LR:383 s.v. RAYAK-), here used substantively to mean *'a wrong thing, sin, trespass'. _raikatyarolmain_ '(for) our wrong-doers'. *_raikatyaro_ 'wrong-doer, sinner' is a compound of _raika_ 'wrong' + _tyaro_ 'actor, doer, agent' (LR:362 s.v. KAR-). With the addition of the possessive suffix *_-lma_ 'our', this appears in the dative plural _raikatyarolmain_ 'for our wrong-doers', i.e. 'for those who do us wrong'. A direct object _raikar_ 'trespasses' is implied but unexpressed in this clause; i.e. _ve avantalme (raikar) raikatyarolmain_ 'as we forgive (trespasses) for those who do us wrong'. Line 6: _uutukuvalye_ 'thou will not lead'. Cf. _tukin_ 'I draw' < TUK- 'draw, bring', whence also N _tegi_ 'to lead, bring' (LR:395); here in the 2 sg., future tense: *_tukuvalye_ 'thou will lead'. The _Etymologies_ gives the negative prefix _uu_ 'not, un-, in-', "usually with bad sense" (LR:396). Use of this prefix to negate verbs is not yet attested in Quenya but appears in Sindarin, e.g. _uu-chebin estel_ 'I have kept no hope' (III:342). Also cf. Goldogrin _UU-_ "negative prefix with any part of speech" (LT2:346 s.v. Niinin- Udathriol). _mailenna_ 'into overmastering desire'. Cf. _maile_ 'lust' (LR:373), used in this translation to refer to excessive desire in general, not just sexual appetite. Cf. def. 5 of _lust_ in the _OED_: "Lawless and passionate desire of or for some object....Overmastering desire (esp. of battle)." That this more general sense also applies to _maile_ is implied in the _Etymologies_ s.v. MIL-IK-, where _maile_ apparently provides the basis for the name _Melko_ < *_Mailiko\_. The Noldorin form is given in this same entry as _Maeleg_, with which compare N _mael_ 'lust'. Other derivatives of MIL-IK- include Q _milme_ 'desire, greed', _milya-_ 'long for', and _milka_ 'greedy' (N _melch_). For the use of the allative to mean 'into', cf. _eari ullier ikilyanna_ 'seas should flow into chasm' (SD:247). Line 7: _naa_ 'but'. The _Etymologies_ s.v. NDAN- 'back' gives _na\_, _na\n_ 'but, on the contrary, on the other hand' (LR:375). Also cf. _nan_ 'but' with short vowel in "Fiiriel's Song" (LR:72). This is not to be confused with _naa_ 'is' (I:394, R:67). _fainu_ 'release!' (imperative). Cf. _fainu-_ 'release' (LT1:250); for imperative use of the bare stem , see the discussion of _anta_ in Line 4. _ulkallo_ 'from evil'. The adj. _ulka_ 'evil' appears in _henulka_ 'evileyed' (SD:68, 72 n.12), and is here used substantively as *'wickedness'. _amen_. A borrowing of Hebrew _a\-me\n_ 'certainty, truth', used adverbially as 'certainly, truly'. This might also be rendered into Quenya as *_anwave_ 'truly' < anwa 'real, actual, true' (LR:348 s.v. ANA2-) + adverbial suffix _-ve_ as in _andave_ 'long' (III:231, L:308). Footnotes: [1] John D. Davis, _The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible_, revised and rewritten by Henry Snyder Gehman (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1924). F. Wilbur Gingrich's _Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament_ (Second edition, revised by Frederick W. Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983) notes that Aramaic _abba_ is "a specially intimate term". [2] For a further discussion of imperatives cf. p. 5 of "Sauron Defeated: A Linguistic Review" by Carl F. Hostetter (VT24:4-13, July 1992). Riddles Well, boys and girls, I received another list of riddles from Keith Petersen, who diligently tracks such data on his own massive database (perhaps the largest and most complete in the whole game). Here are the ones that aren't already accounted for: Destiny & Pride reared their noble heads to stop the taint from so many beds and so it came to ravage and it tore the lives of so many in the war and after it ravaged and after it slew men came to realize what they knew and the name was not war or somesuch but a name that itself told so much ANSWER: Kin-Strife The last High one of the second of the three the first bearer of one of the three He fought the dark and besieged his seat but was undone by the searing heat ANSWER: Gil-Galad Water made from rare and set with white was kept in the second from everyone's sight Soon will it's power be shown as real when it is set to make the land heal ANSWER: Nenya Keith's Note: List list was edited and compiled by Keith Petersen with the help of his friends in Middle Earth and on Compuserve and Internet. The only restriction on this list is that new riddles (with or without the answers) and corrections be sent to me. You may contact me via mail at PO Box 448, Burke SD 57523-0448 or 71241,1206 on Compuserve. Editor's Note: We ask that if you find the riddle list to be of some use, that you comply with Keith's request and send him any new riddles you may encounter. What you see here is just a very small part of the effort he's put out (his other material was already in the files of the editors). Again, we thank Keith for the extensive list (especially since it just saved my bacon in game 117! - Tom). This also from Dave Holt: Alive without breath as cold as death, never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail, never clinking ANSWER: Fish Thanks Dave! Encounters Enchanted Pool: WATCH = no effect for neutrals. Radagast: there's a rumor that Radagast, much like Tom Bombadil, may be sighted by neutral and evil armies. However, while you get a message for your army commander, no options are presented and there's no effect on your armies and characters (simply an interesting interlude). Balrog: Description: Small ruined tower topping scorched hillock. Flames still lick at the sides of the charred tower, but the unbearably hot fire is clearly diminishing and promises to soon die..." Location: White Mountains, Misty Mountains, Rough near Mirkwood (example: hex 2214) Options SEARCH ENTER WAIT say 1 word ___ FLEE I recently received a deluge of material on the mysterious balrog. Here are the results: SEARCH = combat for all allegiances. ENTER = combat for all allegiances. FLEE = escape for all allegiances. I also have an unconfirmed rumor that if the character WAITs, the Balrog will exit the tower and attack the character. Note that the description may vary slightly (ruined tower/hut/house/etc.). Graveyard: this is an army encounter. It has no effect on the Dark Servants, but for Free Peoples and Neutrals spirits will come forth and ruin your food supplies. Hobbits: Hobbits can be encountered by Dark Servant armies, but they give no options and have no effect on the army or attached characters. Thanks to Dave Holt for providing the majority of the encounter results this time around. Thanks also to the people responsible for finding out, and confirming, the results of the Balrog encounter (Dave Holt included again). Dragons Lomaw: Offer TWO artifacts = combat for all allegiances. Thanks to Dave Holt for confirming this information. And readers: I'm about to offer up some new info on both Daelomin and Nimanaur, though not by choice. I'll pick a response that hasn't been confirmed in our database. Other Notes From Waller 91% Transport: If you wish to transport as much of a resource as possible, either using the 947 or 948 order, compute 91% of the resource and use that number. This results in slightly more than 90% of the resurce being moved, while specifying 100% results in 90% of the resource being moved. Less than 1% - big deal! - I know, I know...we obsessive/compulsives try to squeeze the least little bit out of everything.... Drones: The heart of the game is the number and quality of orders you have available to execute each turn. This is affected by; skill ranks, which increase the chances for success, but also increase the cost per order (higher skill rank characters cost more to maintain). A useful tactic, especially for the Dark Powers early in the game, is the creation of one or more "drones". Drones are commanders with skill ranks of 10/0/0/0. The idea is that you use the drones in your capitol to execute automatic orders, and some easy command orders. The drones cost 200 gold per turn in maintenance, os if you keep a drone in action for 10 turns, you get 20 orders executed for 7,000 gold, or 350 gold per order; this is well below the 1,000 gold/order rough guesstimate that we have established as the baseline cost or "value" of an order (considering only the cost of building and maintaining a character). When your position is more prosperous and you want to increase your point score for characters, you can retire a drone and create a more powerful character, or throw him into an army as a subordinate and build up his command rank. Tom's note: the previous suggestions by Waller were transcribed from a paper copy sent to me. All errors in spelling or structure are mine. Reply to Waller From Brian Mason Drones: the only problem with them is that they cannot just go BE an effective character if you need them to (due to death of other characters, or whatnot). It is just as easy to have starting 30 agents and emissaries executing the non-command capital orders (325, 947, 948) with one order while their other order improves their skill ranks to the point where you can use them offensively (Tom's note: more expensive, most certainly, but more flexible as well). ME-PBM Wish List From Alan Ray Here's something I'd like to see happen with this Middle Earth play-by-mail system: I'd like to see a computer game released with all the same orders and nations and characters. I would like to see the current setup mimicked. I would want this to have excellent graphics, great sound, and awesome Artificial Intelligence. The main selling point of this game though is I would want it to be modem playable with a friend, and also up to 4 players at least via a network. I would want to be able to play any nation and not just be limited to a couple of nations playable by the human player. I don't want this game if they're just going to half *ss do it. So what if it takes 25 megs, it would be well, well worth it. The price? Don't know about that, but I'm sure I'd pay it. That's what I'd like to see! Personals Hi, I'm playing in ME-PBM games 61, 116, and 129. I'm looking for any other players in these games to talk to & discuss options. I was in contact with several players, but I haven't heard from them in some time. So, I'd like to hear from anyone in these games, Good, Evil, or neutral. I play the Blind Sorcerer in 61, the Sinda in 116, and the Dark Lieutenants in 129. Send your e-mail to: cr792@ceveland.Freenet.edu (Leo A. Tischer) ***** I know you have a lot of back information on Middle Earth but do you have any back issues about the State of War that GSI currently runs. I have a friend who just joined a new game and wishes any help that anyone can provide. Once again thanks for any help. timex2@aol.com Tom's note: neither of us collects information on State of War. I played the game for about 8 turns once and thought it lame, never signed up again. Anyone else out there have info on State of War? News from the Net Editors' note: this is a new column suggested by Brian Mason. Brian uses his access to the newsgroup rec.games.pbm to digest the on going conversations and provide questions and answers that other people may have about ME-PBM. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Post #1 ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: brian@majiq.com (Brian Lowrey) Subject: ME-PBM (More Questions) Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 16:24:20 GMT Recently in Wispers a anoucment was made that Major Towns and Cities would start giving you recon reports. In game 152 a recon was given in the opening long rider setup for the Major Town in Southwest Mordor. This is the only example I've seen. Has anyone else seen examples. Will it only apply to new games or will existing games be affected? Reply from Brian Mason The impression I had was that, like the changes to Agent orders, they will effect all games, new and current. One thing for loyal readers of "The Mouth" to note, and inform us on, would be the depth of report and the loyalty of the population center (or the loyalty of the population center where you did not get a report). We will tabulate and provide data on this as it comes in. Reply from Tom Walton Also remember that the recon reports only apply to games RUN after 04-01, not games that arrived in your mailbox after 04-01. As my most current turn is from 03-31, I've yet to see the recon reports. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Post #2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: freeman@cae.wisc.edu (Samuel Freeman) Subject: ME-PBM: Capture Popcenter question Date: 31 Mar 1994 15:22:07 GMT The order for Capture Pop Center state that the PC is in effect under seige for that turn. The orders for recruiting and xfer food: PC to army state that the PC must not be under seige. Question: Can I capture a PC and with a sub-commander either recruit troops or xfer food to army ON THE TURN OF CAPTURE? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Answers below were supplied by bcash@bnr.ca (Brian Cash) ---------------------------------------------------------------- No. If you do a capture, the pop center is under seige for that entire turn. A threaten doesn't make the PC seiged, but it occurs after most of the relevent orders take place (recruiting, transfers, etc). Dragons Again From Keith Petersen Tom, (Feel free to use this for the next Mouth) While I understand your feelings on dragons, personally I feel that the DS cannot know win a challenge game vs. a competent FP team. In my humble opinion, a competent FP team can manipulate the market and through see economic force (and the characters and armies that it can pay for) overwhelm the DS. Almost every change GSI has made has favored the FP. Rumors: tell of character locations, telling them where characters are. (Remember that character strength is the DS strength; knowing where an army is and who is in command isn't any big deal). Here is a way to be told the name of the agent whose been stealing from you for the last few turns, killing your characters, etc. BTW, a recent new type of rumor tells of money transfers between nations. This told of Harad's friendliness toward the DS before he had declared. Suddenly, they hit him with everything but the kitchen sink. I'm sure the FP need money transfers far less than the DS from the neutrals. (Tom's note: christ, this hurts. Another nail in the coffin of the DS). Harder agent actions, more deaths: certainly favors the FP. In early games, DS agent powers were able to help their weaker brethren with gifts of gold. This is much more difficult. Recently I have seen FP use their economic base to field decent cav armies. Since DS have trouble fielding all cav armies, much less feeding also feeding them, these cav armies present a real problem. (Try to catch a cav army with an infantry army with no food). I have seen a new (and terrifying) tactic in a recent game. Without going into the details (because I don't like it and I fear that its use could lead to automatic FP victory in every game), but they have discovered a tactic that causes one or two failed DS sells almost every turn. Needless to say, DS who can't sell anything in a given turn have serious problems. We have lost 3 DS to this in just 7 turns of a new game. And truthfully, there wasn't anything we could do about: the market just refused to buy their products. And since you can't predict who it will affect ahead of time, you can't do anything about it. (They'll go bankrupt before you can transfer them money). Tom Walton expressed the same opinion (that it was difficult to impossible for the DS to win a challenge game vs. competent competition). Middle Earth, as it is currently is setup, is the economic-military might of the FP vs. the character strength of the DS. (Do you realize that the five neutrals have more economic might than the 10 DS put together?) The agent changes gave away some of the DS character power while doing nothing to reduce the FP economics. Put another way: the DS average about 6 pop ctrs each. They own *no* cities and the avg size is about halfway between a village and a town (156 total pop ctr levels); the FP avg little over a town as the avg size and avg 10.5 pop ctrs each (322 total levels). (If my count is accurate, it is 62 vs. 105) Let me put it another way: add up the taxable levels of those pop ctrs at a 40% tax rate, and the DS' income is 94,000/turn and the FP's is 217,000. That is an AVERAGE difference of 12,300 gold (at 40%) between the avg. FP and the avg. DS at game start. You can always say it didn't happen that way in the books. (I've heard that one too many times about assassinations). But unless GSI is willing to totally rewrite the game, add DS pop ctrs or subtract FP pop ctrs, the dragons are necessary. (Alternately: give the DS free armies with no upkeep). You do realize that the same argument against dragons can be made against agents? You have a super agent. You started with some agent artifacts or picked up one awesome artifact (Ring of Wind) and you can know destroy the well-planned and carefully orchestrated attacks of your enemy. How much skill does it take to do a 615 order? I feel the balance of power is already more than sufficiently in the hands of the FP. Removing dragons WITHOUT MAJOR CHANGES to the game would only make this much, much worse. (How about making Sauron recruitable? I'll bet that he'd toast some FP armies!)Reply to Keith Petersen From Tom Walton Keith is right on all points (except perhaps that comparison between agents and dragons). As was stated in the article in Mouth #14, removing dragons would cripple the DS in most games. To truly restore the balance, making skill the most important factor in ME- PBM, would take a major rewrite of the positions. At the very least, a number of Free and Neutral pop centers would have to be reduced in size, or eliminated altogether to bring things into balance. This is rather funny, I think; while most players agree that the DS are badly outgunned, my latest issue of "Whispers" contains six or seven ended games - with the DS winning all but one. Are the Free in all those games really that incompetent?! Do Free positions attract dorks as a rule? What do you non-dork Free-players think? An interjection from Brian: Brian gave me his own experiences among Free Peoples to outline the problem: Game 62: Woodmen dropped, Eothraim out, Northern Gondor lost and Dwarves completely ineffectual. Game 97: Woodmen dropped, Northern Gondor lost. Game 131: Woodmen, Eothraim, Arthedain, and Noldo ineffectual. And this does not even list just plain boneheads. The point being, that at least in my limited experience, the Free Peoples are more often burdened with either new players who have to work on a fast learning curve (as some of my redoubtable allies in game 97 have done), or they are toast - Brian. There's some speculation and rumor that one of the reasons that GSI isn't particular interested in revamping the 1650 game is that the 2940 game is soon coming out. They expect a major 'defection' to the new game, with interest in the old rapidly dropping off. From a business standpoint, it makes no sense to correct the imbalance in the 1650 game if the number of new players drops below a certain critical threshold. So it may be that we're stuck with things the way they are. On the other hand, I also heard that Bill took the opportunity to correct the problems inherent in the old game with the release of the new, and that the nations will be much more balanced (as will be the allegiances). I also heard (rumor, mind you), that it'll take longer to build up military power (longer games - groan), and that both encounters and dragons have been completely rewritten. It may no longer be possible (or perhaps only under rare circumstances) to recruit dragons in the 2940 game. I certainly hope this is the case; of all things that people complain about, dragons are the biggest bitch that I see in my mailbox (this includes people who play Dark Servants and see the dragon as a 'cheat' to balance the inadequacies of Mordor, one not available to newer players who don't have the huge database files). Strategy & Tactics: The Cloud Lord From Brian Mason It is, once more, with a certain degree of trepidation that I begin this strategy and tactics column. First of all, my experience with character-based nations is minimal: the only good agents I've ever had have been killed by even better agents. Secondly, once more my submission is being followed by one which is going to be much better; Tom has played the Cloud Lord, and played him quite well (Tom's note: flattery will get you everywhere, Brian...need a new major town in game 97?). So, like last weeks offering, this one is intended to mostly consist of observations which might assist the novice at the position. How does the nation of the Cloud Lord compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #3): item for comparison among all among Dark Servants =================== ============== ========================= Total Tax Base tied for 18th 3rd Resource Base 22nd 9th Combat Strength 9th 2nd Character points 14th 9th Artifacts 12th 7th The above are pretty misleading. Looking at these results, you might be led to believe that the strength of the Cloud lies in his military, not his characters. However, the truth is that his troops are far removed from the "front" and that is will take him time to get them there. Also, he does not have the recruiting centers that other, more military, nations of the Dark Servtants have. The Cloud Lord has pretty poor production. Expected production (Population Center Development, Brian Mason, "The Mouth," #2) which has not been adjusted for climate for the nation of the Cloud Lord would be as follows: material le br st mi fo ti mo go =========== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== production 705 391 171 15 2277 103 165 2773 The Cloud Lord has fair production of most commodities he might need. His major shortfall is in the area of timber. Three of his population centers (3626, 3428, 3528) start the game with no fortifications. Not so much for defensive purposes, but rather, to protect them from being degraded if loyalty drops, it is important that these population centers have towers built on them. Because of this shortfall in the area of timber production, and also because the climate modifiers are usually better, I would encourage the Cloud Lord player to create new camps in Hill & Rough hexes; first at 3529 and 3729, and then south of the Ephel Duath, between the 33 and 36 columns (the 33 column being the western limit to the Cloud Lord map and the 36 column being the western limit to the map of the Easterlings). While you do not have a backup capital, your capital is rather secure. Attack from the northwest or north is virtually impossible as the attacker would need to go through Mordor to get to you. Attack from the northeast would first pass through the area of the Long Rider and Blind Sorcerer. Attack from the South is the only significant threat, and even then you would have many turns advance warning. In the table below is shown the number of turns it would take a cavalry army force marching to reach 3630. The first column list the possible starting location, the second column lists who the probable attacker could be, the third column lists who you could possibly get advance warning from (i.e. the starting location is on their map), while the fourth column lists the minimum number of moves from that location to your capital (3630) force marching a cavalry army. Starting Probable Advance Turns to from attacker warning? reach you ============== ============== ============== =============== 3231 South Gondor Fire King 2 Haradwaith Quiet Avenger 3232 South Gondor Quiet Avenger 2 Haradwaith 3436 Haradwaith Quiet Avenger 3 Corsairs 4133 Easterlings none 3 4022 Northmen Long Rider 3 Eothraim 4225 Northmen Blind Sorcerer 3 Eothraim Easterlings The bottom line here being that you can have at least two turns to recruit once you are aware of an army moving on you. Therefore, you should keep in your capital the materials to recruit 800 (if you do not improve your capital to a city) heavy cavalry. Why heavy cavalry? It has the potential to not only reach you, but once a target is identified you can then go after it. The Cloud Lord is one of the strongest, most fun nations in the game to play. The win the game more often than any non-neutral (Winners & Losers in Middle Earth, Tom Walton, "The Mouth," #8). Without a doubt, your agents are your greatest advantage. You should develop a plan early on to make sure your agents are constantly improving their skills. This is a list of below of Cloud Lord characters, their starting abilities, and suggested assignments. Name co ag em ma st assignment ============== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==================== Ar-Gular 10 20 improve skill ranks Araudagul 40 20 army commander Erennis 40 agent #1 Gontran 30 agent #2 Grasty 30 army commander Ji Indur 20 40 40 30 agent #3 Kadida 30 agent #4 Shoglic 30 mage Of the first four character slots, three should be new agents while the fourth should be an emissary to place camps in the locations listed above. The army should be split, leaving 100 hc behind at the capital. This army should be increased in size whenever production is sufficient in the needed commodities (leather, bronze/steel, mounts). The remainder of the starting army of the Cloud Lord, 5300 strong, should be marched to and attack Northern Gondor. The Cloud Lord should never think of himself as a military power, rather, his starting army should go into the field to assist the military might of Mordor and once lost should not be replaced. The true strength of the Cloud Lord is in his agents. Both the four he starts with and the three he names. To march from 3630 through Mordor to Osgiliath will require one forced march and three regular marches (assuming the Fire King takes Minas Ithil, which he should). Once the army is lost, the army commander should return to execute the capital only command orders or to improve the fortifications of the towns on the plains when the necessary timber is available. Consider the following financial turn of events: tax rate revenue maintenance reserve Turn 1 40% 13773 25800 40000 actions - raise taxes to 60%, name a 40 agent and a 30 emissary. Turn 2 60% 19273 26840 12973 actions - name a 40 agent. Turn 3 60% 19273 27880 406 So, as you can see, given this conservative turn of events something has to change. The Cloud Lord should lose most of his troops on turn five, putting him in good financial shape. Also, his gold production may be better. Even so, he will be in poor financial shape for camp placement and tower building unless he gets more gold. Fortunately, this goes hand in hand with improving his agents. From turn one he should, after naming a 40 agent, begin moving his agents out where they can begin stealing gold. If not from the neutral wealthy Harad, then from the Gondors, preferably South Gondor as Northern Gondor will be, despite their troop losses, in poor financial shape due to the losses of population centers in Ithilien and Rhovanion. There are other attractive nations to go after early on, but only the Gondors are likely to have the gold production that you will need to keep your own economy going. The agent improving should go something like this, guard until the agent rank reaches 40-50, then move to a hostile population center, steal gold until the agent rank reaches 50-60 then move to where poorer enemy characters are, kidnap and assassinate until the agent rank gets above 80, and then go after the primary commanders. After your army is lost, consider an adventure into Eraidor to take agent actions against Arthedain and Cardolan. This will inspire fear in these nations for several turns and will help keep them off guard, and possibly waste orders. Fear is a very important weapon. Your adversaries will, after being the victim of agent attacks, will (or should be) constantly be on the lookout for your agents. Having their own agents ScoChar rather than improving their ranks by guarding. Send your enemies threatening messages. Tell them you are coming and don't show up. Tell them you are coming and do show up, but make sure you win. Tell them you're stealing gold. Boast. To truly use fear as a weapon you must establish the game persona of the invincible agent. From Tom Walton This is the first time I've gone into detail on a character-oriented nation. I tend to favor neutrals, who in most cases have lousy characters; and of the Dark Servants, I generally opt for those with a strong military presence. Characters to me are unique, but more commonly adjuncts to the primary concern - the conquest of the enemy via brute force. I say this as a cautionary note to my suggestions for the Cloud Lord nation. While my own experience as the Cloud Lord in game 115 has turned out remarkably well, I've done much worse as the Dragon Lord in 117, where I can't seem to get the military and character aspects of that nation to mesh in a coherent fashion. So, while I can say in all honesty that I'm fairly decent with strategy and armies, I can't make the same remarks with respect to those nations for which characters, and not armies, determine victory. In light of this, my suggestions might not be particularly good, and may only have worked for me out of sheer luck. Buyer beware. The following is a run-down of the exact strategy I used in game 115, and which has put me into the number #1 slot for the Dark Servants (and fairly high among the Free and Neutrals as well). Since the strategy never failed at any point, I can't think of anything better to recommend. I would, of course, love to hear an alternate point of view from someone who primarily players character nations and not military nations. Onward: The Cloud Lord is arguably the strongest Dark Servant nation in Middle-Earth. This may sound strange: the position has a so-so army, a poor character set, and only a few mediocre artifacts. This is off-set by a strong economy, but even here the Cloud Lord doesn't compare to the Witch-King or to the stronger Free Peoples and Neutrals. What set of factors, then, is responsible for making the Cloud Lord the top Dark Servant to take a winning position in all games of Middle-Earth? In playing the Cloud Lord, I identified a few minor strengths which turned out to be major assets right off the bat: - economic power. Though the Cloud Lord is a minor economic entity in comparison to many nations, he ranks third among all Dark Servant nations. Once the Cloud Lord loses his army to the Free Peoples, he can generate a nice surplus of gold each and every turn, something very few positions in Mordor can do even if they too lose their forces (although this is in part due to the fact that most of the Cloud Lord's characters suck). - economic bonus. Being the Cloud Lord, acquiring the 'excess' gold of other nations is fairly easy to do. Indeed, judicious agent creation and use will give the Cloud Lord more gold than he knows what to do with. In 115, this allowed me to ship over 100,000 gold to allies in the space of four turns, without which one of these might have gone bankrupt. In any event, this gold not only will strengthen the Cloud Lord, it'll also help his allies keep up the good fight against the enemy. - isolation. Unless Mordor has some real boobs running the show, the Cloud Lord is situated such that he doesn't have to worry about his pop centers coming under attack. This means that once his army is disposed of, he doesn't have to raise significant forces for home defense. And, as Brian pointed out, imminent invasion will still give the Cloud Lord at least two turns of warning prior to the attack, allowing him to raise forces to counter the threat as it approaches. - agents. Pretty obvious, eh? Even with the changes to the orders made by GSI, Cloud Lord agents are still very effective even when first created. Being able to make 40-pointers capable of stealing gold, possibly with a high stealth bonus, allows the Cloud Lord to get them into action right away without first training them up. Though assassinations and kidnappings may be out of the Cloud Lord's league during the opening of the game, gold theft and sabotage are not. The opening turns tend to be critical for Dark Servants; a mistake can result in disaster for the entire team. This is what I suggest for the Cloud Lord: - retire Ar-Gular immediately. He's a worthless emissary/mage who won't be effective in any way for at least the next 15 turns. Get rid of him and replace him with a brand-new 40-point agent. - name 3 more agents asap. This will give you four new agents within the first couple of turns, increasing your stable of agents to 8. - use the last character slot to name a pure emissary. - Once you have your eight agents, split them into three groups. Have two agents hit up one nation for gold (your worst agents are good choices), with two others doing the same to another nation (note: do NOT do this with 30-point agents. Train up the two low agents you start with to 40+ before sending them out to wreak havoc). This guards against a single target running out of gold and leaving you in the lurch. Take the remaining four agents and create a company under Ji Indur. This company will steal gold, sabotage fortifications, and kidnap minor or unprotected characters. Many people think that making Ji Indur the company commander is a waste. Note, however, that he's the best agent available at start, with a potential 90 skill rank for kidnappings/assassinations (40 skill + 30 stealth + 20 bonus). On the other hand, he's fairly lousy at his other skills, and will take turns of training to get up to decent skill scores (while crawling up the track in agent skill by doing 'Guard' orders). From my point of view, it was a waste not to have him on the offense right away, and so I choose to make him the company leader rather than blow 10,000 gold and a character slot on another commander-agent. - the Cloud Lord army is a major drain on the economy, and it's difficult to run a military campaign while leaving open enough character slots to create an extensive agent network. I'd suggest taking that army to the Ithil Pass immediately in support of the Fire King and neighbors against Gondor. Attack the enemy as quickly as possible and try to lose the army early. Your forces at Ithil can be the determining factor in whether or not Mordor is bottled up by the Free or whether it breaks out into the Ithilien and Rhovanion. - begin recruiting a small force of heavy cav at the capitol once the main army is gone. This will act as the home defense force for the Cloud Lord, and an emergency response team in case the Free Peoples break through the Pass or Morannon, or come in through the East. Heavy cav are the only troops capable of reacting fast enough to an invasion, so a smaller force of cav is more effective than a larger force of heavy infantry. - After your agents are on the offense, you should have gold coming out of your ears. Don't hoard it; this will only hurt your allies, and indirectly, yourself. Send excess gold to those which need it the most (probably the Witch-king and Dragon Lord). The stronger your allies are, the less likely it is that the Free Peoples will come looking to bash down the gates to your capitol. Since these allies will be bearing the brunt of the military campaign (in effect fighting for you), it only makes sense that they have the funds required to do a good job of it. - As for stealing gold, the best choice for this is the Gondors. The Eothraim and Northmen have gold at the start, but they tend to lose their treasuries quickly. Aside from which, they also happen to be favorite targets of other Dark Servants. The Gondors, on the other hand, are usually running a surplus (all those troops dying in the Ithilien), so they often have cash in the vaults. There's also the possibility of stealing from the rich southern neutrals, but I'd avoid this if I were you. Having played southern neutrals 5 times (and getting hit by the Dark Servants 4 of those 5 times), I can tell you that more often than not the name of the offending agent showed up on my pop center report. Even if the character was new, a simple spell would reveal who that character belonged to, identifying the fool who thought he was being so clever. I've also doubled enemy agents to find out which nation they served, as well as captured them and interrogated them. In all, if you hit the neutrals be prepared to incur their wrath and possibility a change of allegiance to the enemy side. - The use of the agent company under Ji Indur is probably your most critical decision. I'd advocate hitting nations with poor characters (such as the Eothraim or Northmen), leaving the Gondors alone for the opening game. While this was my plan in game 115, the refusal of the Gondors to guard their characters, and the first-turn drop of the Fire King, forced me to concentrate my agent power and start butchering strong enemy leaders. This wouldn't have been possible against an experienced set of players, but I lucked out in 115 (damn good thing, too, because three Dark Servants dropped by turn 2). - Many players spread out their agents among a host of nations. I think this is a waste. Any Free nation can take one or two agent attacks a turn and shrug them off as annoying; no Free nation can hold up long against the attentions of the entire Cloud Lord agent set. I've used massed attacks with good results against the Gondors, kidnapping a host of characters, disbanding armies, and sacking treasuries. It has, so far, allowed my nation to hold the Ithilien against all-comers, even with the Fire King out and no one else inclined to come help. An example: I recently sent both my company of four agents under Ji Indur and four other gold-theft agents to Minas Anor. All identified characters present were kidnapped or killed, and the treasury was gutted. In the space of one turn, Gondor's entire war effort was crippled. Even should my agents leave, what will the paranoia inspired by a possible return do to his plans? - A common tactic is to send agents to Eriador to help out the Witch-King. This can be a good move, as neither Cardolan nor Arthedain are set up to repel enemy agents. However, this also puts most of the Cloud Lord's agent power far from Mordor - too far to deal with a sudden thrust by the Free against the Dark Servants, or with the declaration of a southern neutral for Good. I'd caution against sending your agents so far away until both the Ithilien and southern Rhovanion are secured militarily by your allies. - This last suggestion will probably generate some controversy. Many players advocate stacking artifacts to create super-agents, those capable of blowing through guards and killing the best of characters. I do not. Stacking the artifacts means you have one really good agent (or two or three) - but that's it. Instead, I believe that artifacts should be spread out to create a half dozen or more decent agents which can sabotage pesky fortifications or eliminate average-rank characters. This allows you to make many more disabling attacks against the enemy each turn, which I think will prove much more a hindrance than losing a single nice character every turn. It's something to crow about when you off Tarondor or Elrond, but really, what the hell difference is it going to make if 10,000 Free troops are trying to barrel through the Pass? In doing this, agents aren't used to kill the best characters among the enemy, but those which are most critical to the war effort. Those left in the capitol, for example, are generally not very skilled; yet they're trusted with buys, sells, transport orders, and raising troops. Kill these guys and the plans of the enemy go to hell in a handbasket. Kill his army leader, and the subcommander takes over and keeps on trucking (as friendly Ice King opponent in game 97 just found out). Other examples: off the enemy emissaries and put a halt to his camp creation/upgrade efforts; nail one of his mages so he can't 'Scry' or 'Locate' anymore, depriving him of needed information; make a counterattack against his guarding agents, leaving better characters exposed to kidnaps on the following turns; steal all of his artifacts and drop the 'good' ones in the Sea of Nurn. How nice is Tarondor if he doesn't have all those neat command items anymore, eh? Hardly worth the effort of assassination! - Some final suggestions: create two agents and another emissary on turn 6 (the latter in support of economic expansion); destroy minor bridges to train up new agents and really piss off the Free when their movement is screwed up; waste the fortifications of Gondor and point out the vulnerability to Harad and the Corsairs ("gee, the castle at Pelargir just disappeared - you guys want the city?"); drop in on the Woodmen for a short visit; nail the fortifications of the two Dwarven towns in the Grey Mountains (3002 and 2904) and watch them degrade due to low loyalty; do the same to Goblin-Gate and Gundabad if the Free have captured them. The Cloud Lord is vulnerable in a couple of areas: - Some players still operate as if the old agent rules are in effect, thinking they can kill hordes of guards and take out the primary target without working up a sweat. Then they complain to high heaven when their efforts fail, or worse, their agents are killed in the attempt. The old agent rules are OUT! To play the Cloud Lord effectively, you now have to work up to these wondrous feats, avoiding the 'targets of glory' and working on more mundane tasks. This fact is one that a few Dark Servant regulars have difficulty in accepting, and so they go from being good players to poor ones. - Agents are generally challenge-bait. The main reason I formed a company was so that my agents could refuse and do an action while the company commander moved them (Ji Indur refuses and moves). Any good commander can kill the best of agents, especially if he's toting around a glowing sword. Betting on the enemy not seeing you, or not challenging you, is dangerous. - Avoid enemy emissaries. These guys can double your agents PRIOR to agent actions, rendering your characters ineffective. And they remain ineffective until you conduct counter-intelligence (while giving away loads of information to the enemy). I've used this tactic on a number of occasions against enemy agents, with the enemy being none the wiser (I've yet to have someone 'un-double' one of my targets). - The Cloud Lord is lousy at scouting. If you scout with only one agent when entering a new area, you'll likely miss a few characters no matter how good your agent is. To counter this, have two agents move in and scout at the same time. It's rare for them to both miss the same character, so the scouting reports often overlap and catch characters you'd otherwise not see. This is true even if the agents aren't very good (two 50-point scouts are better than one 80-point scout). That's it for me. Since it's only turn 14 in my game, I really can't say much else about the use of the Cloud Lord after the initial stages of the game. COMMENTARY by Leslie Foreman The time has come to put pen to paper. I choose to discuss the GSI caper. On considering the options available to me Concerning The Game - Oh, my - Let's see. A narrative, a poem or an article with style - Making the decision did take a while! A poem was selected as the form of choice To use rhyme and rhythm to echo my voice- A poem seemed appropriate when discussing The Game Since they're in the novels from whence The Game came. There are numerous aspects to this gaming endeavor - Folks see a plan work and think "O, How Clever!" The importance of strategy cannot be overstated: (Planning and information are often underrated.) Luck plays a part - we know it is true- In dragon encounters and abilities, too. Dragons are things players would rather not meet Their characters resemble a tasty, crunchy treat! Planning hex movement can be confusing - (Listening to the numbers is often amusing.) The alliances of the players are neutral, evil and good - The neutrals can be courted with promises of wood. The secrets of the neutrals can make The Game fun. Rhudaur, the Easterlings and always the Dun(s). Then there's the neutrals who make a rich pair With ships and good gold - the Harad and Corsair. The Game has aspects which we have discussed - The turnsheets and phone calls are also a must. When I answer the phone and a voice says "Hello" I don't know if its neutral, ally or foe. Turns can be submitted in a whole bunch of ways - If you send it by mail, it may take too many days. If you phone in your turn you're running the risk That the order's listed wrong - tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. The wave of the future that makes life so easy Is your own personal fax - I think I feel queasy. With all this in mind, I have one thing to say - Good Gaming to you as you continue to play! The New Game - Email Style From Alan Ray Ok here's my idea: An all internet game. I would like to form a group consisting of 25 people (including myself) completely from the internet for the new MEPBM II coming out in the summer (if there's enough interest, even a group for the current MEPBM). This will have a twofold effect. 1) No longer will we have to call long distance but simply get on the internet and write our allies, enemies, or nuetral territories. This means LOWER phone bills. 2) From the 25 people that participate we will be able to gather info. a LOT faster on the MEPBM game coming out in the summer. I have already talked to some people about this and they seemed interested. I have talked to GSI about this new game and they said that startup would be 12.50 for current players. Of course, he said, the rules have changed a little and a new rulebook would be 5.00. So a total of 17.50 with the new rulebook. If interested contact Alan Ray at: aray@cwis.unomaha.edu Let's make it happen! If you have questions write me at the above address. See ya! The New Game - Another Viewpoint From Brian Mason I remember first hearing of and registering for Middle-earth Play- by-Mail in late 1992. I recall poring over maps of Middle-earth from the books of Tolkien, reading the annals closely, and trying to pick up any clues I could which might assist me in my upcoming game. My first and greatest shock, was finding, a couple of turns into the game that all my work, while it was interesting, and allows me to role-play nations then and now quite well within a historical context, was virtually for naught, as almost everything was already known. To try to make the tables as even as I could, I then became a pack rat of the first order. With the invaluable assistance of Glen Mayfield (to whom I owe a deep debt of gratitude) I acquired all the information I could: nation setups, encounter, riddle, artifact and dragon lists. All of this in an attempt to allow me to have the same starting advantages as my adversaries in the game (alas, it was not just information I lacked, for I was facing my co-editor, Tom of the silver tongue, who seduced both Rhudaur and the Dunlendings to his side). Nevertheless, this has always been one of the goals of "The Mouth of Sauron:" to even the table. If you win a game, it's not because you have more starting information, or because you have better encounter lists, it's because you are a better player. However, in this goal of making things more fair, much has been lost in the taking away the mystery of the game. Allow me to digress. I remember in my senior year of high school, my good friend, Eliot Lee took the day off to wait in line to see the premiere of "The Empire Strikes Back." I, being a nerd of the first order, was not willing to miss calculus, so I stayed in school. On meeting Eliot, I asked him how the movie was. He said: "Oh, it was real good. Darth Vader is Luke's father." I wanted to slug him. In a moment, the drama that the movie could have built for me was taken away. While I then enjoyed the movie, and watched the devlopment of the plot closely, the drama of the moment was lost. This commentary on the new game is then an appeal to maintain the mystery. We have always made it a point to publish anything non abusive that is sent to us. I can't think of a more fine example of Tom and I publishing anything we disagree with more than the spirit of Alan Ray's suggestion above. It is this very thing, early team games, and agreements to exchange data that can and will destroy the mystery and excitement of the New Game for me, you, and me-pbm'ers out in the wings. While all we can do is be advocates, and the fact remains that eventually the New Game will be known as well as this one, it will start off very unknown. I am firmly committed to not openly discussing the game until about a year has passed. Tom and I have discussed this point extensively over the past few months. Because of how strong we both feel on this issue, and because of the drought that me-pbm 1650 will experience after the new game starts, we will cease publication of "The Mouth" sometime late this summer, and it will be in hiatus until such time as we feel that it is time, once more, to "even the tables." We both realize that some of you will not share these opinions. It is our hope that, on reflection, more of you will opt for keeping the mystery in the new game. Last Word From Tom Walton A few things from me: Data files: As I was sitting around doing the intensely boring chore of reformatting my files to ASCII text (something I've been avoiding for the last two months), I realized that my encounter file has a couple of bits of information that most likely never hit the Mouth. These are minor things (e.g., confirmation on a suspected result, a blank response filled in here and there, etc.) and in all likelihood won't affect your games; but if you want the file, you can request it from Brian or myself. Yep, with the conversion of dragons/riddles/encounters to ASCII text, I can now send these files to you from AOL without the mailer moving everything around and making them unreadable. The response from me won't be instant (allow a week, I like to do these things all at once), but you WILL get the file. To dispel a rumor, and I don't know how the hell this one got started: I have no inside track with GSI, wield no influence with Bill, and am not being invited to work for the company. I recently heard this craziness and dismissed it - until someone called and asked me to 'talk to Bill' about getting him into a dropped position in a game, when GSI had already refused to place him in that position. Seriously now, if I had an inside track would my characters ever get attacked by dragons? I'd appreciate it if you could squash this rumor should you chance to hear it, as it leads to all sorts of unpleasantness over favoritism and access to restricted knowledge on game mechanics. I DO NOT GET ANY SPECIAL TREATMENT!!! (Don't even think about using that excuse if I kick your butt in a game). And also, over the editorial comments Brian made concerning the new game: I agree with Brian whole-heartedly. As my first game was 54, the mystery for me was shattered almost right away once I realized that everyone I was fighting had the setups, encounter and artifact lists, etc., and that I would have to acquire these to have any hope at all of survival. I did, and the first 6 turns of 54 were the only turns in all 12 games that I've been in where I didn't have most of the game information at my fingertips. This, of course, killed the sense of discovery right off. In the new game Brian and I will shut down the Mouth and refuse to participate in large efforts to gain information on these items. We'll still exchange information with our allies in our games, but we won't attempt to form networks for the sole purpose of cataloguing everything in the game. In this manner, we hope to keep some of that lost mystery alive, even for a little while, enhancing the enjoyment of ourselves and others who feel likewise. There will, of course, come a time when people who don't see things the same way we do start getting a marked advantage because of the lists they've compiled. When the differences start becoming apparent between new players and old (probably a year, we think), we'll once more jump into the fray and try to level the playing field, as we've done in some small way with the Mouth. I apologize in advance; we had no intention of disclosing the retirement of the Mouth, to take place late this summer, until much closer to that date. But Alan Ray has jumped us here and we thought it best to lay out our plans now. While the loss of the Mouth may prove irritating or an inconvenience to some of our readers (especially those nifty data files!), I hope you can understand why we want to try to disable the info-networks in the new game for as long as possible. Since the Mouth has, approximately, two hundred or more readers (who really knows anymore, what with it appearing in places like Denmark, Germany, and Singapore), putting it on ice when the new game opens will, we hope, dissolve the largest info- gathering team in the ME-PBM community. Again, in all likelihood we WILL be back and running assuming that both Brian and I are in good health and still playing this silly game, probably around Christmas of '95. And the Mouth will continue to run for the 1650 game right up until the 2940 game starts; so there could be another 20 or so issues in your future here. It's awhile yet before this puppy bites the dust. While we don't want to start cataloguing the new game, we've an intense desire to finish up the lists for this old one (anyone want to help me with the dragons? What, no takers?). Until the ghost of Adumir is avenged, and Urzahil's head rests upon a pike in game 97, Tom