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April 19, 2003 - April 25, 2003

4-25-03 Latest News

Hall of Fire Chats This Weekend
Demosthenes @ 9:14 pm EST

Ents, Entwives and all things Treeish

Ents - the Onodrim - are among the oldest of living creatures. But how much do we really know about these creations of the Vala Yavanna and the trees that they care for? Whatever happened to the huge forests of old, and how did the Ents come to be isolated in Fangorn Forest? Were they too passive in protecting their charges - and neglectful of the Entwives - dooming themselves to eventual extinction in the process?

We'll also discuss the Old Forest, and enigmas such as the walking tree of the North Moors that Sam mentions in Fellowship of the Ring. Finally, what exactly are Huorns, and how are they related to Ents?

Join us this weekend at one of our chats as Hall of Fire goes green!

Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net's chat room Barliman's and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Suggested Reading:
Two Towers - Treebeard
Silmarillion - Of Aule and Yavanna

Upcoming Chats:

May 3-4
RoTK Book V, Chapter 6
Battle of the Pelennor Fields

May 10-11
Denethor, Steward of Gondor

May 17-18
RoTK Book V, Chapter 7
Pyre of Denethor

May 24-25
The Valar, wise counsels or strategic dimwits?

Points of interest include the retreat of the Valar to Aman, bringing the elves to Valinor, the ban of the Noldor, setting up the Dunedain on Numenor and despatching the Istari to Middle-Earth.

Although the Valar were really nice guys, they seem incredibly naive in their decisions at times, creating as many problems as they solve. And did they care more for their Valinor than for the well-being of all Arda, forsaking the job Eru had given them.

Times:

Saturday Chat:
5:30pm ET (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday (07:30) AET]

Sunday Chat:
7:00 pm (19:00) CET
[also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 3:00am (03:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA's East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AET = Australian East Coast

Having trouble working out a time zone near you? Try this page.

Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at halloffire@theonering.net. And don't forget that you can check out previous chats here.

New Lotr models from Games Workshop
Luthien @ 5:45 pm EST

The news is flying fast and furious here at Gaming Havens. HavensSpy Glorfindel just sent us a link to pictures of forthcoming Lotr models for the Lord of the Rings Tabletop Battle Game by Games Workshop, including models of Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel: More

Thanks for the update, Glorfindel! And remember to keep sending us the latest at havens@theonering.net

Vivendi FAQ
Flinch @ 2:39 pm EST

Since coming home last night and posting how happy I was with 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring', we have been bombarded with e-mails asking more questions than I've seen in my entire time here at Gaming Havens. Let me tell you, KEEP IT UP! So for your enjoyment here are the answers to the most frequently submitted questions last night!

Leon writes:

I've just read your accounts on the Electronic Entertainment Expo and was interested to know what format the The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring game will be played in ie:is it like Baldurs Gate, Two Towers for PS2, or Age of Empires? Do you know what consoles it will be released on?

'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring' is a PC title comparable to Warcraft, or Command and Conquer: Generals. It is a Real Time Strategy game only in the respect that you command a large number of forces rather than concentrate on one character throughout the game. What will make 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring' stand apart from other Real Time Strategy [RTS] games, is that they aren't using the same tech tree for each culture. Obviously Tolkien didn't make Soldier Class 1 Gondor, Soldier Class 1 Rohan, but each with their own very different strengths and weaknesses that can be found in game form with 'War of the Ring'.

As for platform, which was one of the most asked questions we had, 'War of the Ring' itself will be released for the PC, and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard

Timmy writes:

I really want to know and which i'm sure you can tell is the genre of these games: war of the ring and treason of isengard. are they rts or fps or rpg like the two towers? also will these titles be released on the pc or not?

Timmy also asked:

Could you also post some pics of these games if possible?

For Concept art of 'War of the Ring' Click Here, we are compiling our screenshots now and should have them ready for you by the end of the day. Do continue to send in your questions and comments on this and all of the games based in Tolkien's Middle-earth to Havens@TheOneRing.net!

Orlando is Done? + Serkis' MTV Speech News
Xoanon @ 2:23 pm EST

From AICN: Spy Johnny Bartlett tells us that Orlando Bloom has finished up his reshoots on RETURN OF THE KING. This would probably wrap him up for the entire production (ADR not withstanding, although he won’t need to don the ears again). At the moment, Andy Serkis is in New Zealand filling in the Gollum/Smeagol gaps currently in the ROTK rough cut. During his stay, Serkis recorded a reportedly hilarious in-character acceptance speech for the MTV Movie Awards... so everyone responsible for voting, VOTE FOR SERKIS! Screw the Oscars! MTV has the REAL integrity! Also, we want to see the speech.

LOTR Costumes Head Back to Middle-earth
Xoanon @ 2:12 pm EST

erather writes: I finally got around to going to the exhibit of 2002 movie costumes at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) gallery in LA.

I had been looking forward to seeing the Two Towers costumes. But, although the exhibit was otherwise extremely interesting, the section marked for Lord of the Rings was completely vacant.

I asked an attendant where they were, and he said they were being used! A person came from New Zealand a few weeks ago, packed them tenderly, and took them back for the reshoots. They'll return next year, he assures us!

EA Announces ROTK
Calisuri @ 1:44 pm EST

EA RETURNS TO MIDDLE-EARTH WITH THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE RETURN OF THE KING ON MULTIPLE GAME PLATFORMS

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 25, 2003 - Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) officially announced today the development of The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Return of the King(TM) for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox(TM) video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance, and the PC. All versions of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King game will be released worldwide in fall 2003 under the EA GAMES(TM) brand.

Based on New Line Cinema's upcoming film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King video game will let players journey through multiple gameplay paths, taking control of the motion picture trilogy's heroes including Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Sam, and Frodo. Set in all of the breathtaking locations from the upcoming movie, The Return of the King's third person gameplay will include immersive action and epic adventure elements based in rich, interactive levels. An all-new multiplayer co-op mode will let players form their own Fellowship before embarking on their journey through Middle-earth(TM).

Under an exclusive licensing agreement with New Line Cinema, EA has the rights to create and publish interactive entertainment games based on the movie trilogy. Currently under development, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King game is the second installment in a series of licensed The Lord of the Rings games from EA. The console and PC versions are currently being developed by EA's Redwood Shores Studio. The Game Boy Advance version is being developed by Griptonite Games, an Amaze Entertainment Studio. For more information on EA's The Lord of the Rings games, visit the official product website at http://lordoftherings.eagames.com.

The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King film from New Line Cinema will be released in theaters nationwide on December 17, 2003. For more information about The Lord of the Rings movies, please go to www.lordoftherings.net.

Vivendi's Commitment to Excellence Continues
Flinch @ 2:57 am EST

Hey folks, fresh in from the Vivendi Universal Pre-E3 Press Event today here in Hollywood, CA. What was special about today was our first chance to get some hands on time with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring. Let me tell you that my expectations for this game were very high, and to come out of an event like this so overjoyed that I couldn't quite form my sentences, really leaves me feeling that this will be the end all Tolkien Game this year. Also among the viewing was Black Label Games' The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard which takes materials directly from the book and brings it to you in its entirety.

Over the coming weeks leading into E3 we're going to be bringing you some very exclusive content, including interviews from the Vivendi Universal team, and hopefully have a chance to answer all of your questions and discuss all of your hopes and dreams on what would make the ultimate Tolkien Gaming Experience. On behalf of myself and Gaming Havens Staffer Vapors, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring hands down stole the show. We'll have more details on this as it is released, and more from the show floor at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this May.

Such a rewarding experience to see so many enthusiasts of Video Games simply entranced by the content shown from War of the Ring. I can't describe to you how beautiful it was to watch Legolas and a cadre of Mirkwood Elves chasing Gollum through the woods, or to watch a Balrog spring to life and begin to lay waste on the fields of battle. All of this considering that the game we were shown was only 60% completed. So send in your questions and comments as always to Havens@TheOneRing.net and stay tuned as we continue to be your ONE Resource for Tolkien Gaming Online!

4-24-03 Latest News

Chicago Fellowship At the Tolkien Archives
Demosthenes @ 11:35 pm EST

The Chicago Fellowship visited the Tolkien Archives at Marquette last month. This is a report from Ringer Spy Jocelyn.

Sing hey! for the bath at the close of day
That washes the weary mud away!

The original draft of The Bath Song is on display at the Tolkien Archives, housed at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fourteen members of The Chicago Fellowship saw this and other treasures during our second visit on Sunday, March 30.



You can read more about the Marquette Archives here and here.

We started with second breakfast at Miss Katie's Diner (excellent omlets). We know Orcrist's RW name! And True-Hearted Easterling, Lizzybit, and others. Getting acquainted was delightful. Our Red Book was passed around for everyone to write in. We are, of course, all obssessed. As a friend of mine says, "Step away from the Ring." Why?

After breakfast we walked to the library - Smaug's treasure is nothing compared to this.

The collection includes the complete manuscripts for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Farmer Giles of Ham and Mr. Bliss (and more). The archivist, Matt Blessing, explained items from six files (out of hundreds). We saw notes Tolkien wrote (on whatever paper was available) about the lunar phases and dates, so the text would be accurate. There were also notes on how fast hobbits can walk - four miles an hour (or maybe that was orcs carrying hobbits!). The latest acquisitions include a Tolkien letter purchased by MU, and a box of goodies associated with the movies donated by D. Anderson
during his visit last November (press kits, book jackets, candy and more).

The exhibit is divided into several sections: The Imagined World, with pages in Tolkien's handwriting about the Speech of the Rohirrim and other topics; In the Mines of Moria, featuring Tolkien's colored drawings of pages from the Book of Mazarbul; The Poetry and Songs of Middle-earth with The Bath Song, The Old Walking-Song, The SOng of the Mounds of Mundberg, and the Song of Beren and Luthien among others; The Family Trees of Hobbits (very detailed and delightfult o read); The Epilogue - with a letter wriiten by Aragorn to Samwise in Sindarian and the COmmon Speech (ha! we saw the King's handwriting!), and finally, Illustrations for a Manuscript, with sketches. Sigh.

The archives close in mid-April, as they prepare to move to the new library next door. They expect to re-open in early July. There will be one major change, however - no pages from the original manuscripts or notes will be displayed (only photocopies). The new space has windows, and the precious records cannot be exposed to sunlight. If you live nearby, go soon!

IMPORTANT NEWS: For the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Lord of the Rings, Marquette is hosting a major conference. Dates: October 21-23, 2004. A website for pre-registration should be up by late summer.

On our first visit, we noted that they do collect written materials. This visit, Mirza presented the following books to the collection on behalf of the Chicago Fellowship: A Tolkien Compass; LoTR, volume 1 and 3 in Spanish; and the J.R.R. Tolkien Trvia Quiz Book.

IMPORTANT NEWS #2: We are adopting the Tolkien Archives as our project, but anyone can help. The supplementary collection includes versions of the LoTR and The Hobbit in various languages as well as earlier editions, calendars, other books published about Tolkien and his works, and a growing collection of letters written by Tolkien. There are also collections donated by Tolkien scholars, such as Blackwelder. Currently, the new publications are purchased as funds are available. Please check the holdings at www.mu.edu before donating -- but complete sets of the Decipher and Topps trading cards would be nice! Funds are also needed to purchase more of the letters - or if you have one, please consider donating or loaning it.

We ended our journey with a visit to the Joan of Arc chapel (http://www.marquette.edu/places/joanarc.html), the spiritual heart of the campus (and very close to the library) - a medieval building transported from France (yes, it does look like it should be in the movies!).

Will we go back? Of course - to see the new archives room, and to the 2004 conference. See you there!

Jocelyn

TTT wins Nintendo Power Awards
Luthien @ 12:20 pm EST

HavensSpy Christian writes in with good news from this month's Nintendo Power magazine:

I thought you might like some LotR news from the video gaming world. I am a subscriber to Nintendo Power and in this month's issue (released to the general public in about a week or two) the Nintendo Power Awards were announced. Different categories with preselected games were voted on by readers via mail-in card and online response. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for GameCube and GameBoy Advance were able to take a few
awards and were runners-up:

Best Cut Scenes: GameCube
Best Music Based on a Preexisting Source: GameCube
Best Voice Talent: GameCube
Best New Character: Aragorn - GameCube
and my favortie...
Best Use of a License: GameCube

TTT beat out the Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
AND Spider-Man games in this category (and all
others).

TTT also recieved the first and second runner-up for
the following categories:
Best Graphics - GameCube: 1st Runner-Up
Best Graphics - GameBoy Advance: 2nd Runner-Up
Best Game - GameBoy Advance: 2nd Runner-Up
Best Sound: 2nd Runner-Up
Ugliest Character: The Uruk-Hai (GameCube) 2nd Runner-Up

Thanks for the report, Christian! Check out this month's Nintendo Power to see for yourselves, and remember to keep sending all of your Lotr gaming news to havens@theonering.net.

4-23-03 Latest News

More On Elrond's New Movie
leo @ 3:20 pm EST

Hugo Weaving has been busy Down Under shooting for his upcoming film Peaches. Ringer Spy WebDog sent in the following, short, article from 'The Courier' about a location for the film.

HILLS PUBS HELP SET SCENE FOR NEW FILM

Two pubs in the Hills have been used as sites for filming a new Australian movie, Peaches. The Crafers and Stirling Hotel have been a hive of activity over the past fortnight, as SA (South Australian) Film Corporation crews moved in to film the movie starring two well-known Australian actors.
Two-time winner of the Australian Film Institute's best actor award Hugo Weaving and Jaqueline McKenzie, perhaps best known for her role in Romper Stomper, have been on site filming Peaches - a love story dealing with accepting loss and change and learning how to move on.
Craig Monahan who directed The Interview, has been directing Peaches, written by Sue Smith.

LOTR Cast at UK Events!
leo @ 2:48 pm EST

Ringer Spy and all around nice guy Irascian emailed us some information about two upcoming events in the UK that will feature some Lord of the Rings-cast: Collectormania 3 (I wish I could be there) and a Q&A with Sir Ian McKellen!

It never rains but it pours, for LOTR fans in the UK and May Bank Holiday weekend has a couple of interesting things going on for movie fans.

Collectormania 3 at Milton Keynes (which is free), has two special screenings (which aren’t free) planned. On Saturday 3rd May at 6.15pm FOTR will be shown with John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Billy Boyd, Bruce Hopkins and Sala Baker all taking part in a 30 minute talk immediately afterwards. Tickets are £15 each and strictly limited to 120 places. On Sunday 4th May the whole process is repeated but with TTT being the film under scrutiny. You can find details about how to get tickets (email/phone to check for availability before sending cheques) at: www.ShowmastersOnline.com/CollectormaniaEvents.html.

And on Sunday, 4th May at 7pm Ian McKellen hosts a fund-raiser for The Open Space (formerly St Paul’s) in the Isle of Dogs, London, entitled “An Audience with Ian McKellen”. Tickets cost £30 for front rows and £25 for the rest and the audience are encouraged to show up and ask questions about Sir Ian’s role playing Gandalf. More information can be found at: www.TheSpace.demon.co.uk/!

Tickets for both were still available when I checked yesterday.

4-22-03 Latest News

Lotr mod on Neverwinter Nights
Luthien @ 11:58 pm EST

Luthien here with a tidbit for all you Neverwinter Nights players. HavensSpy Archaic sends in a link to his Lord of the Rings-based mod: the Dunedain.

Here's what he wrote:

You may or may not be interested in my shameless self-promotion, but I just wanted to let you know that (as LoTR gaming has been a bit dry lately) I posted an LoTR mod for the game Neverwinter Nights at the NWN Vault today. The address is: http://nwvault.ign.com/index2.shtml

A full copy of Neverwinter Nights is needed to play, of course.

Backstory:
The Third Age, 2956 Upon learning of Sauron's renewal, Elrond reveals to the child 'Estel' his legacy and destiny in turn: that he is Aragorn, true son of Arathorn II and bearer of the burdensome blood of weak-willed Isildur. Aragorn leaves Rivendell unsure of himself, but intent on disavowing the notion that Man's fate is already decided. Meanwhile, Gandalf the Grey continues to focus his wanderings around the Shire, south of ancient Eriador. He is aware that Saruman has taken up in Isengard, but does not know that the White Wizard has set spies upon him...spies that even now seek the source of Gandalf's interest in that backwater region. Amidst all of this, drawing in and out of civilization like waves upon a shore, are the Dunedain. Rangers are they, of an order that has outlasted their own Kingdom by a thousand years. The evil that rises to prominence in the East once fell their homes within the North. And they will not suffer it again without response.

Includes:
1. Play as Gandalf and Aragorn in a post-Hobbit, pre-Fellowship adventure, one which was only intimated in the appendices of RotK.

2. Dialogue composed by an English teacher...

3. Abilities, side-quests, geography, and fauna molded as closely as possible to Tolkien's world...

4. Two heavily scripted battle sequences: one, an outpost under siege; the other...well, you'll see.

5. Uses some nice community content, including, but not limited to: Forest/Rural/Wayland Hills tileset, Lisa's clothing hak, Arcana&Blackmoon's light horses, Jason Robinson's smoking pipe, Greycloak's capes, etc. (all of this is included in the combo hak, which is in turn included in the main download).

6. Appropriate (not excessive) cameos.

7. Note: This module is dialogue-heavy, and, while not light on action, don't expect a lot of random encounters.

You can check out Archaic's "The Dunedain" by clicking here, and don't forget to send in all of your Lord of the Rings Gaming News to Havens@TheOneRing.net!

Star Trek Second Edition
Flinch @ 8:33 pm EST

…to boldly go where no man….where no person has gone before. An extremely famous quote, if you’re a Star Trek fan, which if your reading this you probably already are. This is going to be an article that will give you a base summary of the new Star Trek 2E (Second Edition). So sit back, drink your Romulan Ale and enjoy.

As game mechanics go, Star Trek 2E is quite different from its counterpart Star Trek (1E). When Star Trek came out in 1995 it brought a completely new type of CCG, asides from what was currently available, Magic: The Gather, Star Trek brought a different format. It had a design with it that made it unique unto itself. With Star Trek 1E you would bring with you to a game, 6 different Mission, a deck of at least 30 cards and a side deck of Dilemmas… as the game progressed along there were more “side decks” added. A Q-Tent, Battle Bridge and a Tribble side deck. These were not necessarily needed to win, but they helped in some way shape or form.

In 1E the game started by people showing their Missions then picking their dilemmas and placing them under the Missions as they saw fit, this was a good concept for the game and very original, but as it went this one of the most boring and time constrained parts of the game. As everyone was running similar dilemma piles, you pretty much knew exactly what you wanted and where you wanted to put it. You could make the killer Wall (which means that you would have a way to kill a personal or two, then you block them with a wall that they can’t pass) this was a simple concept in 1E because you knew exactly which dilemmas to pair up with which dilemmas. Well that’s all about to change in 2E as you’ll see in my article

With that the game went on and people started making their decks. Everything from Classic Star Trek with James T. Kirk to Voyager with Tuvok. Everything was out there and everything could be made… Borg, Cardassian, Hirogen, Holographic and of course Federation everything was available. Essentially if you wanted to run through a series of events that were like a TV show you could make your deck do that. As the game progressed people started straying because there was too much of the same thing and everyone started playing similar decks. This became a stagnant for the game, but Decipher, the creators of Star Trek and other games, made its changes as well. Instead of continuing down this road with the old game, and everything making its new change as well Decipher decided to make a new game as well… thus Star Trek Second Edition was born.

Turn Sequence of the game is another new factor that makes the game more streamlined.
With that being said, there are several different steps.

1. Play/Draw A Card – When your turn starts you get the 7 points of which you can play personal, ships or event, or if you want you can draw up cards. You MUST spend all 7 points. If you can’t spend them by playing cards you MUST draw and if you get something you can play then you may, or you can continue to draw. Just remember at the end of your turn you MUST discard down to 7.

2. Order phase – This is when you can use cards that have an Order phase on them or when you move your ship, attempt a mission or begin and engagement or combat. (Engagement – Space Combat, Combat – Ground Combat)

3. Discard – This is when you dump extra cards from your hand if you still have more than 7

This is a more streamlined version of the Turn Sequence of the game, for a more detailed look please check out decipher.com and click the Star Trek section of their website and that will lead you to more information.

Star Trek 2E brought back a lot of what Star Trek 1E had when it came out. A lot of fun and uniqueness to it. It brought back the Mission (what’s Star Trek without a mission) and it brought back the Dilemmas, again what’s Star Trek without Dilemmas… but this time however Decipher changed that. Instead of picking the dilemmas that they wanted to put under a specific mission they have their own separate pile. This makes the game more interesting in the fact that it’s more random. Allow me to explain what I mean. If you beam down to attempt a mission you will most likely bring enough guys to attempt that mission. So let’s say they beam down 7 guys to attempt a mission. That then allows you to draw up to 7 cards from your dilemma pile… which consists of a minimum of 20 cards, but I find that 35-40 is a good number…then you look at what type of mission it is, either Space or Planet then you look through your dilemmas and in the upper left hand corner of the dilemma there’s a number ranging from 1 to 5 that’s a point cost. You get 1 point for each person attempting the dilemma so 7 go down you gets 7 points. So lets say you draw into your 7 dilemmas and get 4 planet and 3 space, well you can’t use the 3 space since they are attempting a planet mission so those ones are placed back under your dilemma pile, face up so that they can be used again later (when you encounter a face up dilemma you reshuffle and continue to draw) so lets say the 4 dilemmas you draw total up to 7 points, 1 3 point dilemma, 1 2 point dilemma and 2 1 point dilemmas. For this example we’ll use the following dilemmas: Trabe Grenade Randomly select a personal who has Leadership or Security. If that personal has Cunning <7, he or she is killed. Chula: Echos Randomly select 3 personal. If the highest Cunning among those 3 is even, then all 3 are stopped. Chula: Pick One Save Two Randomly select 3 personal. Choose to return one of those personal to opponents hand, or to have all three of them stopped and finally Assassin’s Blade Unless you have 2 Security or Cunning >26, your opponent chooses a personnel (except Android or a Shape-shifter) to be killed, then all your other personnel are stopped and this dilemma returns to it’s owner’s dilemma pile.

So now are dilemmas are chosen and our order follows: Chula: Pick One Save Two, this will hopefully stop all the people that are attempting the mission. Or at least stop 1 personnel so you have 1 of the 7 stopped. Trabe Grenade will go second, hopefully pulling a Security and killing him off, this way it will be harder to get past Assassin’s Blade, finally we’ll follow it up with Chula: Echos to hopefully stop 3 people, a lot of the people in the game have even Cunning so your chances are pretty high there. Why, you say wouldn’t you put this one first… no specific reason, I just think that making them hit this wall before the final dilemma is better, no specific reasons, just my choice. And the coup de grace Assassin’s Blade, by now your opponent should only have 3 or 4 people going on and will most likely have only 1 Security and the Cunning should be low enough that you can kill someone. Also, you’ll notice that this dilemma says return to its owners dilemma pile. There are several that say this, and a lot of the good dilemmas that get a lot of use do this. The problem usually falls to them not getting stopped and the dilemma getting stacked under the mission, which brings me to my next thought on Mission Attempting and Dilemmas. Oh, another thing those 4 dilemmas that you encountered, after each encounter you stack that dilemma under the mission and it remains there for the rest of the game.

After you’ve hit the wall of dilemmas the first time out, your stopped, that means that those people that attempted the mission can not do anything until the beginning of your next turn. So if you had more people on the ship that could beam down and attempt you could do that before you end your turn, but let’s assume that you don’t. So now it’s your next turn, you deploy more people, draw more cards or play events… you’re now ready to attempt that mission again. As you remember those 3 dilemmas that are stacked under the mission are passed (Remember, Assassin’s Blade returned to the Dilemma pile) you attempt the mission again with 7 people however this time instead of getting 7 points worth of dilemmas you only get 4 points, this makes attempting the mission a little easier for the person, but still poses some problems … will he be able to get past it again, or can you stop him with 4 points. Either way he will eventually get passed all the dilemmas and have enough skills to solve the mission. Thus getting him 1 step closer to winning. Oh, to win you need to solve 1 Mission that is Space and 1 that is Planet and still have 100 points (that usually means another mission or bonus points, explained later)

This first on our list is the Bajorans they bring the wonderful Bajor which is their starting Mission. As well Bajorans bring diversity of skills, but mainly from what I’ve seen a lot of Resistance, which is good for getting the higher end strength missions. As well the Bajorans bring us a Benjamin Sisko, Odo and a Kira. Set them up with a small amount of non-aligned personal and you could start making some Resistance runs.

The next group on our list, and my personal favorite, the Cardassians and they bring us to Cardassia Prime that’s their starting Mission. As everyone knows Cardassians are famous for capturing and torturing their captives, well Decipher didn’t leave that out for them… everyone from Madred to Garak hang out in the normal Cardy deck. The implore cards like Condition Captive and Torture to make themselves better and they have regular Cardassians that allow themselves to get bonuses when you kill a captive. Capture = Cardassians plain and simple.

Now we move to the Federation Decipher set them up with three different sub-sections. First there’s the famous Next Generation crew which has Data, Picard, Riker, Worf, Troi and Beverly which is famous from the TV show and movies, then there’s the Deep Space Nine crew which brings us another Sisko and Worf, Miles, Julian and Judzia and finally the Earth faction which has Admiral Janeway, Luther Sloan and others that were secondary characters from the TV show. Now with each faction they have their homeworlds. One Earth allows Earth Faction and Federation DS9 characters and ships do deploy there. The other Earth allows for Next Generation characters and ships to deploy there and there’s Mouth of the Wormhole which allows DS9 characters and ships to deploy there. So that being said if you wanted to play with both Miles O’Brien and Beverly Crusher you would have to use both Mouth of the Wormhole and Earth so that they can deploy to their respective headquarters, once they’ve deployed then they can meet up in space and work together.

And now Klingons, weird that Worf, who’s a Klingon, isn’t Klingon, he’s Federation. But I’m sure somewhere down the line he will get his Klingon colors. If you want to fight, this is the group for you. Pure strength, plus they have one of the best cards in the game Warrior’s Birthright it’s an event… To play this event, you must command three (Klingon) personnel. Plays on your mission. You may meet Integrity and Cunning requirements of this mission and each dilemma you face at this mission using Strength instead. Now if that’s not an AWESOME event for someone who prides themselves on strength then I don’t know what is.

Next up Non-Aligned this is the group of people that work in any deck, they can be deployed to any headquarter and so can their ships. This faction really doesn’t need the assistance of anyone else as they are the only group that has a majority of the people that have 2 skills for example Kamala, The Perfect Mate has 2 Anthropology which means she has Anthropology x2 which is need for one specific dilemma, but she’s also useful for other reasons because at the beginning of your order phase you can duplicate any other skill that you have in play.

And finally the Romulans, they bring us our Treachery and deck manipulation through their treachery. Romulan decks tend towards attack in space, unlike Klingons who attack on the ground, the Romulans have higher attack rated ships so that they can make more use of their superior firepower in the skies above. If you want to make a good Romulan deck I would make sure that I included some attack cards since their just so good at doing that.

So with that being said, and a little information on Star Trek Second Edition (2E) you now need to check out h and see what they have to say on their game. As for me the comparison between Star Trek 1E and 2E is a HUGE difference they made 2E so much better, less complicated and more fun. If your looking to get into a new game that relates to one of the oldest and by far one of the best TV shows then look no further to Star Trek Second Edition. Head down to you local store and pick up your Starter deck and booster packs today and then you can boldly go where no one has gone before.

Chapter XI: Sean Astin at the DGA's
Xoanon @ 3:34 pm EST

TORn Digital DGA Awards Special - Jackson & BlanchettTORn Digital DGA Awards Special - Quickbeam

TheOneRing.net went to the Director's Guild of America Awards ceremony recently where Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson attended. Quickbeam caught up with Sean and asked him a few questions. Meanwhile PJ answered a few more at the press room for the event. Be sure to catch Sean's 'TORN song' at the beginning of the video! Produced by Asfaloth

TORn Digital DGA Awards Special - Sean ATORn Digital DGA Awards Special - Sean A

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Games Day Schedule Confirmed!
Flinch @ 12:50 pm EST

Games Day Los Angeles 2003 Seminar Schedule

9:30-10:30 Videorama & Trivia Contests
10:30-11:30 Warhammer Fantasy with Alessio Cavatore & Jim Butler
11:30-12:30 Black Library Presentation & Readings with Bill King
12:30-1:30 The Lord of the Rings with Alessio Cavatore & Dave Gallagher
1:30-2:30 Warhammer 40,000: The Eye of Terror with Jim Butler
2:30-3:30 Forge World & Specialist Games Combined Presentation
3:30-4:30 Sabertooth Games Presentation
4:30-5:30 TheOneRing.Net Presentation
5:30-6:00 Break for Golden Daemon Awards
6:00-7:00 The Games Workshop Community
7:00-8:00 Overview of Presentations (for those who missed them)


Seminar Descriptions

TheOneRing.Net Presentation
Join TheOneRing.net in a special talk about the history of Tolkien Gaming! From the dark ages of MUDs and Boards Games, to the modern day Console Game and Tabletop Battle Game! They will also be revealing the inner workings of TheOneRing.net, the #1 online source for all things Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. The visiting TOR.n panel; including Scenario Author Stephen Grant, will be on hand to show off the site and answer questions on upcoming events.

Black Library Presentation & Readings
Come hear all the plans for the publishing arm of Games Workshop, the producers of our novels, comics, artbooks, technical manuals and other cool stuff. We'll have authors at each event doing readings and signings plus answering questions from the audience on their upcoming works too!

Forge World Presentation
Head of the Forges himself Tony Cottrell will be showing off upcoming models for Imperial Armor, Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40K, and more plus getting your feedback on new projects!

The Games Workshop Community
Ever thought of joining the Games Workshop team, either as a staffer or an Outrider? We'll have people ready to answer your questions about both, plus info on the "Regiments of Renown" Gaming Club Support system, the Rogue Trader Tournament program, and all other aspects of the GW Community such as ever-expanding GW Website. We'll also be taking your feedback about the show, and ideas
for future events!

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Beyond!
Find out what's going on for The Lord of the Rings, with news about upcoming expansions, plans for The Return of the King, and more! Get the latest info on the movies and the games here, plus sneak peeks at some of the development artwork and the amazing figures we'll be releasing!

Sabertooth Games Presentation
The folks who brought you the new Warhammer 40,000 Collectible Card Game are here to show off Warcry, the new Warhammer Fantasy Battle-based CCG. Come and find out all the latest news and find out what's planned for the future!

Specialist Games (Fanatic) Presentation
The crew from Specialist Games (including Head Fanatic Jervis Johnson, sculptor Mark Bedford, and writer Steve Hambrook) will be here with the news on magazines, miniatures and supplements. Find out the latest plans for Inquisitor, Blood Bowl, Mordheim, Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic, and more!

Videorama & Trivia Contests
Start the convention with Games Workshop videos! We'll be alternating the short clips with Trivia Contests too. You think you know your rules & background? What about Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop history? Put yourself to the test and maybe win some prizes!

Warhammer 40,000: The Eye of Terror!
Our Studio guests will be shedding some light in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, with special info on the Eye of Terror worldwide campaign event. Find out the latest on the Chaos invasion, new Cadian forces, Codex: Imperial Guard, and more!

Warhammer Fantasy: The Old World Under Siege
Get all the behind the scenes info on what's happening for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Not only will you get the latest info on the Lizardmen, Beastmen, and other upcoming releases but inside scoop on the secret plans of Chaos and the new hopes for the Empire!

4-21-03 Latest News

The TORn Book - Waiting Almost Over!
Demosthenes @ 11:31 am EST

TORn Staffer Anwyn writes in response to an increasing number of e-mails from LoTR fans awaiting the release of the People's Guide:

For anybody waiting with bated breath for the release of TORn’s book, The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Tehanu, written by Tehanu, Quickbeam, Anwyn, Turgon, and Ostadan, your wait will not be much longer. We don’t have an exact date, but we expect the book to be shipping from Amazon and other sources within just a few weeks.

And if you just can’t wait for your copy to ship from Amazon, or even if you can, don’t forget that Tehanu, Quickbeam, Anwyn and Ostadan will appear at the L.A. Times Festival of Books this coming weekend, April 26-27, at UCLA! We will have copies of the books available for sale and signing, will be answering trivia questions, and lots of fun things.

In addition we will also have TORn T-shirts, including Two Towers, One Party T-shirts, and other Tolkien-related stuff. If you’re in the L.A. area, we’d love to meet you!

The waiting’s almost over ...

Weekend Roundup
Xoanon @ 12:31 am EST

Weekly Cast Watch

FOTR Wins Nebula Award!

Jackson goes ape over air show

GAMING: Who would you most like to Game With?

Who Is The Sexiest In Middle-earth?

Inside The One Ring

TTT DVD Release Dates Confirmed

Monaghan and Boyd are Punk'd

Haldir, Lorien Elves, and Helm's Deep

John Rhys Davies IS the King

McKellen Heavily Featured in X2 Trailer

Ready for a Viggo Quiz?

TTT on Pay Per View

Lord of the Rings Bow Ties

BitofEarth's Project Elanor Report

First Edition Hobbit Under The Hammer

Gaming - The Hobbit Is Coming

Billy Boyd On IGN - Reprised

Hall Of Fire Chats This Weekend

Inside The Weaving

New Cast Projects
Xoanon @ 12:10 am EST

Ian Holm (Bilbo) is working on the latest Roland Emmerich (Godzilla, Independence Day, Stargate) film 'The Day After Tomorrow'. The film follows a climatologist who tries to figure out a way to save the world from abrupt global warming. He must get to his young son in New York, which is being taken over by a new ice age. The film is being shot in a number of places including Los Angeles, Washington, El Paso, Montréal, New York City, and Toronto.

Ian Holm (Bilbo) is also working on another film called 'Large's Ark', also staring Natalie Portman and Zach Braff ('J.D.' from the hit TV series "Scrubs"). The drama revolves around the story of a young man who returns back home for his mom's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.

Marton Csokas (Celeborn) stars as 'Redding' in the John Dahl (Rounders) flick 'The Great Raid'. The film also stars Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, and James Franco. This film is currently in Post-production.

Hugo Weaving (Elrond) is currently filming 'Peaches' in Australia (where one of intrepid spies recently caught up with him). The drama is being helmed by Craig Monahan (from 1998's 'The Interview')

David Wenham (Faramir) plays 'Spitieri' in the comedy/crima drama 'Gettin' Square'. Set and filmed in Australia, the film also stars Sam Worthington, Gary Sweet, Freya Stafford, and the great Timothy Spall

Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) stars as 'Maggie Gilkeson' in the Ron Howard drama 'The Missing'. The film also stars Tommy Lee Jones and Val Kilmer. Look for that to be released in early 2004.

And finaly John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) stars as 'Porthos' in the mini-series 'La Femme Musketeer'. The show also stars Gérard Depardieu, Michael York, and Nastassja Kinski. It is being directed by the same mastermind of 'Timecop 2' and 'Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice', Steve Boyum.

4-20-03 Latest News

TTT DVD Release Dates Confirmed
Tookish @ 12:42 pm EST

From Ringer Sylvan:

Greetings!

I work in a small independent rental video retailer, and was quite pleased upon arriving at work today to find we had received an official release date for The Two Towers! This came in the form of a CD-ROM "Digital Announce Kit" which contains everything from upcoming TV & radio promos, ad slicks and product images (including packaging art and DVD menu images), to computer wallpaper and icons, as well as two "countdown" screensavers. It also had a hi-res poster scan, very clever interactive menus "hosted" by Gollum featuring a 3 minute retailer trailer outlining the upcoming Merchandising Campaign, and most importantly, all of the pre-order and release date information. Release date for the Theatrical Edition will be August 26th, and the Extended Edition will be November 18th. I have uploaded a few of the images for your perusal. Enjoy!

UPDATE!

Ringer Spy Sylvan sent in this EXCLUSIVE! selection of fantastic high-resolution wallpapers for the Two Towers theatrical DVD release - as well as the DVD and VHS artwork! You'll get a sneak peak at our as-yet unannounced new and improved Scrapbook as well! [More]

Bonus! Ringer Spy Sparrks sent in these fabulous top-quality menu screencaps from the theatrical DVD of the Two Towers.... even [More!]

UPDATE II!!

Also courtesy of Ringer Spy Sylvan, we got our paws on this 30-second TV spot that will be promoting the theatrical DVD release. It's encoded in Quicktime, so take a look! [More]

Correction: Insider sources tell us, 'that the 30 sec. TV spot listed on your site isn’t made for TV. It was created only for the CD-ROM.' Thanks for the note!

JRD Plays King Priam Tonight in Your Livingroom!
Tookish @ 11:46 am EST

One of our newest Barliman's Chatroom Operators dropped us this: If you wish to see our ever cheery, ever brave master dwarf, John Rhys Davies will appear tommorrow night in the miniseries "Helen of Troy" as King Priam. It starts at 8:00 pm EST/7:00 CT on the USA Network, with part two airing Monday. You can catch the making of the series tommorrow at Noon also.

Here is a link to the character gallery in which you may see John Rhys Davies in full Kingly Garb: [More]


Enjoy! And a VERY Happy Easter to You All!!! :)


PippinSkywalker, Jedi-Hobbit-Geek

4-19-03 Latest News

Hall Of Fire Chats This Weekend
Demosthenes @ 2:52 am EST

Hall Of Fire Chats This Weekend

This weekend, Hall of Fire focuses on one of Tolkien's more mysterious creations - the Druedain. If you're somewhat mystified as to who these people are, the name Ghan Buri Ghan (from Return of the King) may ring a few bells.

Just what was Tolkien's inspiration for the creation of this "unlovely" and secretive people? A forest people with no writing system and "guttural languange", they seem uniquely placed among the Free Peoples of Middle Earth. Tolkien was at pains to point out that - despite their primitive nature - they were not a breed of orcs or had ever been corrupted by the Dark Lord - Morgoth. In fact, they seem more akin to hobbits or dwarves than other human tribes.

You might also not have known that the Druedain were one of the tribes of Edain that they went to Numenor at the end of the First Age! But how did did they get to Druadan Forest? And what is their connection with the strange Pukel statues of Dunharrow?

Join us at one of our chats this weekend as we investigate one of Tolkien's most intriguing enigmas.

Suggested Reading:
Unfinished Tales - The Druedain
RoTK - The Passing of the Grey Company
RoTK - The Muster of Rohan
RoTK - The Ride of the Rohirrim

Upcoming Chats:

April 26/27
Ents, Entwives and all things Treeish
Not entirely sure what this will involve yet, but expect lots of book talk ... old forest, origons and fate of the ents and entwives, rumours of trees wandering the moors and what the heck are huorns?

Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net's chat room Barliman's and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Times:

Saturday Chat:
5:30pm ET (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday (07:30) AET]

Sunday Chat:
7:00 pm (19:00) CET
[also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 3:00am (03:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA's East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AET = Australian East Coast

Having trouble working out a time zone near you? Try this page.

Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at halloffire@theonering.net. And don't forget that you can check out previous chats here.


Go back to Special Reports Archives