The Tolkien Society wishes to announce to the world :
Tolkien Reading Day!
25th March is to be “Tolkien Reading Day”, an event aimed at encouraging the use of Tolkien’s works in education and to get schoolteachers and library staff to participate in reading Tolkien to their classes and in their libraries. 25th March already has a significance to Tolkien’s readers, as it is the day of the Downfall of Sauron at the conclusion of the ‘War of the Ring’ in “The Lord of the Rings”.
EDUCATION PAGES LAUNCHED ON THE INTERNET
Tied into the Tolkien Reading Day event is the recent completion of the Education Section within the Society’s website TolkienSociety which Tolkien fans in education (pupils and teachers) can use to assist learning and teaching. The pages can be downloaded and printed off free of charge by educationalists. Please note the texts on these pages are copyright of the Tolkien Society and East Lothian Museums. The Education pages comprise a range of ideas for teachers of Citizenship at Key Stage one (infants) using “The Father Christmas Letters”, to ideas for university lecturers working on Middle English texts like “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. Some of the information has been developed from our responses to questions the Society has been sent by schoolchildren from around the world. Many other questions fit better in the Frequently Asked Questions section and so have been left where they are easy to find.
Who can use it?
Everyone
Which age ranges is it aimed at?
5-years old to postgraduate level
Which educational systems?
Non-specific, English and Scottish
How much is transferable?
All of it, apart from the quotations from the English National Curriculum, for which copyright permission is needed before ‘translating’ it to another educational system or language.
Press Contacts
Tolkien Society Publicity:
Ian Collier, 45 Caldew Maltings, Bridge Lane, Carlisle, UK.
e-mail publicity@tolkiensociety.org
Telephone 07974-987340
Tolkien Society North American Representative:
Mike Foster, Rt. 5, Box 315, Metamora IL 61548, USA.
e-mail americas@tolkiensociety.org
Telephone (Work) 309-694-5349; 309-367-2772.
Tolkien Society Australasian Representative:
Michael Kennedy, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA
e-mail pacific@tolkiensociety.org
Any queries regarding this Press Release should be addressed to:
Ian Collier, Publicity Officer, 45 Caldew Maltings, Bridge Lane, Carlisle, CA2 5SW UK
e-mail publicity@tolkiensociety.org
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Hey gang…Lao of Gondor here with a major exclusive!
Have you ever been curious to learn exactly how things evolve in a trading card game? Are you interested about the future plans of our beloved Lord of the Rings TCG? Well then, here’s your chance to sneak an exclusive peek behind the curtains at Decipher and see why their slogan “The Art of Great Games?” fits as nicely as a Hobbit in a Hobbit-hole.
I recently had the great opportunity to pick the brains of senior Lord of the Rings TCG designers Tom Lischke and Joe with a host of questions regarding the soon to be released Battle of Helm’s Deep expansion (and more).
Here’s what they had to say:
Lao: During the design stage of Battle of Helm’s Deep, how would you describe a typical day on the job? Who would you meet with and what would be the goals of the day?
Joe: Depends on the day. Some were spent on our own, figuring out a minor mechanic or getting an individual card to work. Other days involved meeting with other designers in order to pass some roadblock we’ve come across. Other days we could be spending much of our time with our lead playtesters listening to their feedback on cards.
Tom: Or playing a few games with those playtesters.
Lao: What was the most difficult obstacle to overcome designing Battle of Helm’s Deep? Do you find it difficult to keep ideas fresh and exciting to avoid certain design pitfalls and redundancies?
Tom: Definitely Gollum. We probably tried six or seven different approaches on him. Normally, there will be incremental improvements on a given issue, but with Gollum, we were back at the drawing board several times. Frustrating, but it all turned out ok.
Joe: Yeah, it?s safe to say that Gollum was the big obstacle for the set. I wouldn’t describe him as difficult though. It’s more of a challenge that I enjoy working on everyday. Whenever something new comes along, I enjoy trying to create something new and fresh for it.
Tom: I?m glad someone enjoyed it, ha ha.
Lao: Is it important for you to work closely with the actual graphic designers in order to achieve a successful synergy between mechanical design and artistic design?
Joe: We don’t communicate with them on a daily basis, but when the time comes around for image selections, we do tend to be in contact with them a lot.
Tom: We also did a fair amount of work with them on the Gollum templates. That is actually when we have most of our contact with them, when it is time to come up with a new template.
Lao: Was there a significant amount of unused material from The Two Towers premiere set and did any of those extra resources spill over into designing Helm’s Deep?
Joe: Absolutely – most of the Sauron Orc cards from the set were originally designed for The Two Towers premiere set. There were other cards that got pushed forward here and there, but the entire Sauron culture was the major block of cards that got pushed forward.
Tom: We also pushed some of the effects-heavy shots, as we didn?t see them until very late in the design process for Towers. Those will be sprinkled all over Battle of Helm?s Deep and Ents of Fangorn.
Lao: Do you feel that there is more at stake now in designing expansions sets like this; trying to anticipate the players’ demands?
Joe: I don’t really see it as ‘more’ at stake. I feel a lot is at stake every time we put out a set. We want players to be excited about the cards and it’s our job to make that happen.
Tom: I?d agree with that. Every set we try to get a little better with how we do things, give players good gameplay.
Lao: How often do you use direct examples from either the books or the films as inspiration and direction for card design?
Tom: It is pretty unavoidable. At the most basic level, every card has to have a picture on it, and the gameplay can?t be completely unrelated to that image. That being said, it is usually really fun to do cards that are based off of my favorite moments from the book or movies.
Joe: I’m not sure I can give an actual percentage. I do know there are times when I want to try and capture a certain story element in a card, and other times cards are created solely for mechanical reasons. It does happen though, quite a lot in the sets I help design.
Lao: Where do you draw inspiration for the creation of mechanics such as DAMAGE +1, VALIANT, FIERCE, AMBUSH, SITE CONTROL and other such dynamics?
Tom: We try to separate out the different cultures in the story. Each of them needs to have their own feel and these keywords are one of the tools to accomplish this.
Joe: This actually somewhat connects to the previous question. Site control had a strong story feel behind it. We wanted to capture the feeling of minions ‘swallowing’ Rohan. On the other side of the spectrum you have something like ambush which is more mechanical-based. The cultural strength of Raiders revolves more around pool adding, and ambush is one of the ways they accomplish this.
Lao: How many different creative teams are involved in creating a card set either as large as the 365 card Two Towers premiere set or the smaller 128 card Battle of Helm’s Deep expansion?
Joe: Let’s see, we have a team designing the cards, a team playtesting the cards, a team creating titles and lore for the cards, and a team working on the images for the cards. That makes 4. Tom did I miss any?
Tom: No, I think that covers it.
Lao: What was the most outrageous card ever designed for Battle of Helm’s Deep? In other words – what was the one card which at the concept stage seemed like a great idea, but over the course of the development became far too powerful?
Joe: Others may recall things more outrageous, but for me I had a companion that said, ‘Each time you assign this companion to a wounded minion, you may heal him.’ This basically read that this companion took no damage from minions with zero damage bonuses! The lifespan of this card was less than 48 hours.
Tom: I liked the bomb that exerts every character. Oh wait, that made it into the set.
Lao: When you’re not designing cards, how do you like to spend your free time?
Tom: I?m a devout fan of the Packers, Brewers (mourn for me) and the St. Louis Blues. I?ll also muck around with the occasional computer game.
Joe: Playing cards, whether it be TCGs or Poker, and the occasional night out with friends.
Lao: Did you choose to release the WARGS and WARG-RIDERS in Battle of Helm’s Deep as opposed to The Two Towers premiere set, or was this a decision made by New Line Cinema in order keep certain elements secret until the film’s release?
Joe: Pretty sure it was New Line’s call on this one.
Tom: Even if we had wanted to do it for The Two Towers, the effects shots just weren?t in our hands in time. Not a big deal, as there were plenty of other things to show.
Lao: Do the card images supplied by New Line Cinema play a large part in the overall concept behind the card? Or are the images you choose for the card complimentary in spirit rather than in function?
Joe: Depends. Most of the time image selection comes after we design a card, but sometimes we’ll see an image and gain an idea from it, in which case image selection comes first.
Tom: Yeah, it really does depend on the situation. A general rule is that if we do a mechanic that involves there or four cards, we?ll do the card first, and match the images later. If we have a picture of just one important character, we sometimes design a card around that picture.
Lao: What was your inspiration behind creating the dynamic among Frodo (Master of the Precious), Sam (Nice Sensible Hobbit) and Smeagol (Slinker)?
Tom: Uh, sure. We wanted to give players the tools to put together a Frodo/Sam/Sméagol deck. We didn?t want to spoon-feed them a strategy, but just let them consider the strategy. This really dictated that the functions on them had to be at least somewhat compatible.
Lao: With Battle of Helm’s Deep, there are now a significant number of cards that enhance the corruption strategy. Was there a consensus among the designers to elevate burden-building and why?
Joe: I think burdens took a back seat in the Two Towers premiere set, so I know I personally wanted to bring it out more as a theme in this set.
Lao: Victory through corruption has never been hailed as a “winning” deck archetype compared to throughout the Tournament circuit. Do you think that corruption is now powerful enough to compete in the tournament scene?
Joe: While it’s definitely possible, I think you’ll see more people using burdens as a trigger for other powerful cards, such as Gollum.
Tom: The thing about corruption and burdens is that it doesn?t have to be a game ender by itself. It is enough that it slows an opponent down and denies them tactical options by attaching a burden cost to them.
Lao: The Easterlings from The Two Towers premiere set and now Gollum: Stinker from Battle of Helm’s Deep truly enhance the corruption strategy more than ever before. Was this a conscious design decision on you part – in order to emulate how the ring weighs even heavier on Frodo in The Two Towers.
Tom: I?ll let Joe talk about this, as he is the Easterling guy.
Joe: I never thought of it on that level, but like many things in LotR TCG we try to emulate certain story aspects. Since Easterlings and Gollum were two separate ‘burdensome’ scenarios to Frodo in the movie, you now have these two themes coming together to simulate the greater burden Frodo now bears in this movie.
Lao: Are you concerned about how powerful certain Fellowship of the Ring expansion cards like Ulaire Enquea, and Enduring Evil have now become due to the new enhancements created for burden-building strategies?
Joe: Not really, in fact we’re excited that these cards will get a second look due to new burden strategies in this set.
Tom: It is fine if new cards give some new and different dimension to past cards. It just makes deck building more fun.
Lao: Why were Legolas and Eowyn chosen to represent the pre-constructed Starter Decks for the Battle of Helm’s Deep expansion?
Joe: We wanted a Rohan and an Elven companion for the starters this set, since it has a Helm’s Deep feel to it. Legolas then became an obvious choice. We had already used Théoden and Éomer was slated to be in Ents of Fangorn, so that left Éowyn.
Lao: Beginning with Battle of Helms Deep, Starter Decks will now come with three FIXED Alternate Image rare cards as opposed to the 3 randomly inserted rare cards. Why was this decision made?
Joe: We wanted to have more control over the starters. When new players were buying starters they’d get rare cards that would be little to no help to them at that point in their LotR TCG life. Now those new players will receive rares that not only help them, but will be a whole lot of fun to play with!
Tom: One thing to keep in mind is that the primary role for the starters is to help new players take a jump into the game. It is nice if old players buy a copy or two to get the AI cards or the premiums, but we really need to focus those for new players. Also, the $10 purchase level is a big deal, and this is the only way we could reach that.
Lao: This is Orlando’s (Bloom) second time gracing the cover of the coveted Starter Deck box. Is it safe to say that Decipher is aware of Legolas’ appeal to the youth?specifically female youth?market?
Joe: Actually I don’t think this has anything to do with that. I’m sure you’ll see everyone getting their fair share of starter deck fame in the future.
Tom: That being said, if someone is going to appear more than their fair share, why wouldn’t it be Orlando?
Lao: Several ROHAN Companion cards with the Keyword VALIANT have the ability to play possessions after the Fellowship Phase. Does Valiant somehow relate directly to this ability and will this be revealed in Battle of Helm’s Deep?
Joe: It’s somewhat related, but not directly. It’s a very loose relationship.
Lao: What are the more prevalent criticisms about the card game up to this point and what steps have you taken in order to fix them for the current and future expansions?
Joe: I feel the biggest issue we have at the moment is a tournament environment without enough different deck types. Players are frustrated at having to play the same decks over and over again. Since we want players to be excited about tournaments and other events, we are looking into ways to create this excitement.
Tom: That is really the big one. We are dealing with a Free Peoples half decks where players just play the best cards from each culture. We have to undo that a little bit (have a look at Gríma).
Lao: If somebody asked you, “What’s the hardest thing about learning how to play this game?” – what would you tell them?
Tom: Hard to say. I don?t think there is any one thing that really sticks out in my mind.
Joe: Understanding the adventure path. The path isn’t even that complex to begin with, but from what I’ve heard it’s the thing people are having to think twice about when learning the game.
Lao: After Battle of Helm’s Deep comes Ents of Fangorn. What can we expect to see in that expansion?
Tom: Fell Beasts.
Joe: Cave Trolls, a Balrog and other large minions.
Lao: Have you started the process of designing Return of the King and its subsequent expansions or is that still too far down the line?
Joe: In my head it’s already begun, but nothings on paper yet.
Tom: We?ll pick that up right after Ents wraps up at the end of February.
Lao: Tom, Joe…thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions. I know that all of the loyal readers on TOR.n’s Gaming Havens will truly appreciate this opportunity to really understand how dedicated The Lord of the Rings TCG design team truly is. It is comforting to know that Professor Tolkien’s literary work and Peter Jackson’s visionary film are in such respectful and trustworthy hands. Keep up the great work. We can’t wait to see what’s next!
Tom/Joe: My pleasure!
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This appeared in Australia’s Herald Sun:
Hobbitat could be habit forming
By SAMANTHA AMJADALI 09feb03
J. R. R. Tolkien wasn’t only a brilliantly eloquent and imaginative writer, he was avant-garde and a visionary — though he probably didn’t realise it.
According to one world-renowned dwelling designer, Tolkien’s vision of a hobbit-hole, the partially sub-terranean dwelling of the creatures in his novels, was revolutionary and, frankly, we should all be living in one.
Roger Dean, an English artist turned industrial designer, says a hobbit’s residence personifies comfort and provides preferable living conditions for those of us accustomed to living above ground.
For almost three decades, Dean has been designing and studying houses based on the principle of “defendable space”, the concept of living in which people feel strong and completely secure.
His research, which focuses on eco-friendly construction, led to him design a dwelling that looks not unlike Tolkien’s ultra-comfy hobbit-hole. It is curvy, earth-sheltered, grassed over and based on small, partially underground chambers built from rows of domes — as a typical hobbit’s residence might be.
“Round doors might have been a problem — they tend to trip people up — but Tolkien was writing for a fairytale, so he didn’t bother solving lots of the little problems, like ventilation. If he’d drawn instead of written he’d immediately have seen the issues,” says Dean, who rose to fame in the 1970s for his fantastically weird album covers, most notably for the band Yes and, recently, Pink Floyd.
“You could build something that looked like Tolkien’s descriptions and drawings that would function perfectly well. There’s no reason why, from an engineering standpoint, you couldn’t. It would have to be built to a human dimension, but it would be a fine house, not ideal, but it would be warm, dry and safe.”
Dean’s current project is a village of similarly comfy “domes”, located in Bishop’s Wood environmental education centre in Worcestershire, England.
Each of the homes, which look strikingly like a cross between the Tellytubbies’ dwelling and that of a hobbit, is touted as being far more environmentally friendly and healthier for human habitation than conventional above-ground housing and far easier to construct.
Inside, there are no harsh lines, there is no darkness and, most importantly, no harsh chemicals such as those found in the paint and wooden foundations of modern homes.
Lines of undulating walls, gentle, rounded windows and low ceilings give the illusion of space, when in fact none are markedly bigger than a typical four-bedroom home.
Everything is rounded, or “curvilinear”, as Dean, 69, prefers to describe the style.
“These aren’t underground, they’re buildings above the ground, which are grassed over,” says Dean.
“They offer incredibly stable internal temperatures: they’re warm in winter and cool in summer,” says Dean.
“Such dwellings are not only viable, they’re desirable. Every time we build a house we’re concreting over the country. From an environmental point of view, these buildings are healing the country.”
While Dean’s vision of 21st century living sounds a little far- fetched, he is in excellent company. Some of the architecture world’s greatest minds, including the late Buckminster Fuller, espoused similar partially subterranean dwellings.
Even Turkey’s 1400-year-old Hagia Sophia, which has withstood more than 15 major earthquakes and hundreds of minor ones, is based on similar principles to those of Dean’s buildings. Its use of intersecting domes, considered the strongest form of construction in the world, is what Dean tries to offer, on a grander, larger, above-ground scale.
More than 300,000 people, some queuing for up to three hours, have visited Dean’s prototype village. Dean says that the cost of creating one of his eco-friendly homes is identical to creating the equivalent home above ground.
His semi-subterranean village includes a 150-bedroom hotel, health spa, schools, even, ironically, a petrol station. Sustainable power sources such as wind and water power the village, but there isn’t a solar power source to be seen anywhere. The decision has nothing to do with Britain’s lack of sunlight. Instead it offends Dean’s aesthetic sense, he didn’t want to spoil the beauty of his pristine village with “ugly solar panels”.
But while Dean takes an academic, environmental view of the benefits of living like a hobbit, there are many, many Tolkien fans whose interest is spurred purely by their love of his books and desire to live like the most famous hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, whose home was reputed to be the cosiest of hobbit-holes.
One avid Tolkien fan, who dubs himself Storm Bear, has set up BagEnd 2, a website devoted to building a hobbit-hole in a suburban back yard.
Storm Bear has researched the logistics and costs surrounding building a back yard hobbit-hole and shares his theories on the process with equally zealous fans, many of whom regularly visit the website.
After a year’s research, Storm Bear has discovered the most cost-effective way to create his own hobbit home: dig a dirty great hole, whack in a few concrete pipes, cover it over and, voila, you’ve got yourself a cosy home.
Unfortunately, Storm Bear appears to have forgotten to address one issue — ventilation.
Roger Dean: RogerDean.com
Bag End 2: BagEnd2
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Lostfiniel sends in this article from ‘The Union Jack’ about Billy Boyd and his mission to help young actors.
BILLY BOYD, an actor in the Lord of the Rings movies who grew up in one of Britain’s poorest areas, said last month he wants to reduce the obstacles the indigent face in entering his profession.
Billy Boyd, 34, who portrays the Hobbit Pippin in the films, said he has been in talks with the acting union equity in a bid to get more disadvantaged children involved in acting.
“It’s difficult enough getting into acting, but when you come from a place like this, your chances are even more limited,” said Boyd, who grew up in Easterhouse, an area of Glasglow, Scotland, that is one of Britain’s most deprived areas. “There’s definitely a stigma when you want to take up acting or drama, and I hope this can change.”
Boyd spoke to reporters after returning to his roots to view an exhibition in the John Wheatley College Library in Easterhouse that features his achievements to date.
The display, by local residents, looks at the history of the poor area os Glasglow and includes information on various celebrities from the area, including Billy Boyd and actor Gerard Kelly.
Boyd said he was flattered to be described as a local hero and used his visit to encourage youngsters to follow in his footsteps. “I am living proof that you can make it if you try,” he said.
The actor, who studied at Glasglow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, recently landed a role in the forth-coming movie Master and Commander, costarring with Oscar winner Russel Crowe.
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