1. What is a FAQ?
Your mother. Er. No, frequently asked questions. It is where you might
find the answers to the questions that had been bugging your mind for
sometime now.
2. What is tolkienrpg?
An email list where we role play through Tolkien's magnificent world during
the War of the Rings. Each player controls at least one character and and
make them do whatever the story (and their own imagination) requires them
to do.
3. Who is Tolkien?
God. Er, the author of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings (or
LOTR for short), The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. Yup, he's God all
right, at least in Middle-Earth.
4. Do I really have to read all of Tolkien's book to join?
You need to have an understanding of at least the LOTR trilogy. But it
could be beneficial to you if you have read The Hobbit and
The Silmarillion too.
5. What is a mailing list?
Umm. Well, basically, it's like this: You email a certain address
(tolkienrpg@yahoogroups.com)
and everyone on the list receives the email you sent to that address.
Including yourself.
6. How do I join the list?
Go to the YahooGroups site (
http://www.yahoogroups.com/), search for tolkienrpg, and click subscribe.
Or email to
tolkienrpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
You can also join the list via the "How to Join" page
here.
7. Are there any requirement in joining the list?
You need to have registered with YahooGroups, which means that you should
subscribe to Yahoo! e-mail service, an understanding of the LOTR trilogy,
a little bit of imagination and creativity and the capability to read and write.
8. What is a RPG?
RPG stands for Role-Playing Game. Please read the answer to FAQ #2 to for
an example of a Role-Playing Game.
9. Is this like those role-playing games like AD&D (Advanced
Dungeons & Dragons)?
Not exactly. We don't use dice, stats, etc. Just the plain old mailing
list to get the story running.
10. Exactly how do we play here?
We just type in our character's reaction and actions to the last person's
post. It's like typing story where each person is the author of a
different character and we're not allowed to control other people's
characters.
11. How can I make a character for myself?
If you are a new member, you'll notice that a character profile
questionnaire is included in the welcome message that is automatically
sent to you by the list. By filling this up, you'll build up the character
you are to play with. This ensures that each member will have at least one
PC (playing character). If you are a member already and would like to make
another PC (but please note the limits of the number of PC in FAQ#14), the
site webmistress have put up that questionnaire in the "How to
Join" page. Copy that questionnaire, answer it and then send it to
eowyn@edsamail.com.ph.
12. Can I get an existing but abandoned RPG character?
Yes, you can. Just make sure that the character's owner had unsubscribed
to the list already. Post a note to the list about your intentions and one
of the list moderators would give you his approval or not. But I really
suggest that you create your own character, just in case the original owner
comes back to the list. And it wouldn't hurt to creative and original, wouldn't
it?
13. Can I use characters from Tolkien's book?
No, you cannot. These characters are much too important such that it is
asking for trouble if only one player can control them. Let me illustrate.
Imagine the council of Elrond where Elrond is asking if Frodo would bear
the Ring. What if Frodo was controlled by a player who cannot reply
immediately? Then the council would have to wait for days for Frodo's
answer...which should never happen. But this rule don't prevent players
from using Tolkien's characters as a Non-Playing Character (NPC). That
is, one can introduce the character in the story but everyone can
"play" that character that will best suit his/her reply but within
that character's personality. So please, Sauron saying "I did it just
because I needed a hug" is a big no-no!
14. How about characters from other books, movies, etc?
It depends. You must ask yourself this question: "Can I weave the
character into the storyline smoothly and give them a logical reason for
being on Middle Earth?" As a fellow list member had said, "Well
[might] have Spock, Darth Vader, Mulder and Scully or-- help me-- vampires
like Lestat..." In short, the character should blend well into the
Middle-Earth setting. But this does not mean it is not allowed totally. If
you want to have a character derived from other works it's okay but only if that
character submitted isn't ridiculous nor out-of-place.
15. Can I have more than one characters?
Yes, you can but each player can only have 2 major PC
at a time. A major PC is a playing character which you will control
forever... or probably until Middle-Earth is destroyed or you decide to kill
of the character, whichever comes first. But you can create as many NPC
(non-playing characters) or minor PC as you want provided that you
really think that these characters should really be included in the story.
Minor PCs are characters that have names and some sort of history, but
don't last long, or aren't actually maintained by a player. They're just
like NPCs (non-playing characters), pretty much.
16. Are there characters I can't use?
No using gods or all-powerful, all knowing creatures. This means that not one
character can dictate what other character will do or say, must not be able
to wipe out the world in the blink of an eye or challenge Iluvatar for an
one-on-one match. Also, you can't use something that's out of place in
Middle Earth like a cyborg from the year 201215 or a T-Rex straight from
Jurassic Park. Try to stay in the fantasy genre.
17. Can we control other characters?
You cannot control other players' PC (playable character) except your own.
In other words, you cannot control the characters of other players more than
absolutely necessary. For example, if the elf mentioned here is not your own PC,
"The elf looked on with shocked horror as the man drew out his sword"
would be an acceptable post but "the elf looked on with shocked horror, before
turning tail and fleeing far into the Misty Mountains to never be seen again"
would quite obviously, not be so. But as I said in FAQ #15, you can have and
control as many NPCs and/or minor characters as your post can need.
18. Can we kill other player's character?
Yes. But you should and cannot kill anyone without first consulting the list managers
(listed below at FAQ #29) and receiving confirmation of the legitimacy (or otherwise)
of your action(s).
19. Can I kill my own character?
As easily as one, two, three. Just tell the list your intentions to murder your
own character. Don't worry, we won't tell anybody, especially the police. But if
your character does die (either you kill it or somebody else did), you can make
another one. You don't have to go away and unsubscribe when that happens. As to
how to do it, please read FAQ #11.
20. Can my character have unlimited strength/power/magic?
No. As I explained in FAQ#16, you can be powerful, you can use magic, you can be
strong, but unlimited powers would make you a god, and take the fun out of things.
21. How do we know which turn is it to continue the story?
The one who replies the fastest. This is to free the players from the
obligation of replying everyday. But I do require everybody to reply
regularly whenever they can.
22. Is there a format in how we reply to the posts?
Yes, there is. The replies you write should be in the third-person, that
is, you cannot use "I" or "you" for the characters, but
"he", "she" or the name of the character.
Ideally, you
also should not delete the post of the player immediately before so that the
story must continue in a readable way. But in case that the resulting mail
will become very long, you can truncate it, it will depend on your
discretion on how you will make your post understandable.
Also, keep the your mails in text format. That is please
keep html codes out of your posts since some browsers out there cannot
handle html.
23. How do we do combat scenes?
It all depends on what kind of combat the characters are in, that is, if
they're fighting some random, typical bad guys/creatures or if they are
fighting a distinct character.
Let's give for example, the battle between the gang and
Kaskarut and her brood of great spiders (those who weren't here when that
happened, read about them in the storyline page). When the gang fought the great
spiders, each player could kill them without needing the approval of anybody.
So in a post, one can say "_blank_ had killed a dozen great spiders
without breaking into sweat" and that would be fine. But when they fought
Kaskarut herself, they're fighting another PC. Therefore, each attack/defend
reply must depend on the previous attack/defend reply, whether coming from the good guys (Theomer,
Carisan, Glorielin, Karla, Elenluin, etc.) or from the bad guy, Kaskarut
(which I controlled).
Now as for the results of the battle. It don't necessarily
mean that since there was a battle, somebody should die. But as your
character's player, you should know the limitations of your character (now
if you claim your character don't have a limitation, well that's a violation
of FAQ #16). When your PC had suffered too much and you can't get help from
anybody or anything who can cure him/her/it, it's probably best to let
him/her/it die. Which is why, going back to my previous example, I let Kaskarut
die even if I don't want to (The poor evil spider, she doesn't really mean
it when she tried to kill and eat them do-gooders. Honest ;) ). Anyway,
there's no limit on how many other characters you can get to make in this
mailing list, right?
24. What is OOC?
Out-Of-Character. It's a notation used to let people know we're talking as
us and not our characters. In other words, it isn't part of the storyline.
If not you post is not a continuation of the storyline, place <OOC>
before the subject, for example: "Re: [tolkienrpg] <OOC>
non-RPG subject". If a player wants to place a non-RPG text, like
comments and suggestions, in a RPG post (i.e. posts which contains a
player's continuation of the storyline), the non-RPG text should be
enclosed in square brackets with the "OOC:" tag in the start of
the text. Example:
---RPG text here----
[OOC: ----non-RPG text here----]
25. Can I start my own thread or storyline?
Yes. May I suggest you get a few other people to start it with you. In
fact, this could prevent the current storyline to become boring as well as
show of your creativity.
26. Is there an end to the current storyline?
Probably, but we can drag this out forever but I hope that won't happen.
The current storyline will eventually end and me or anybody on the list
can think up a new adventure.
27. I don't know who are the other characters!
Just read! You'll figure it out. But for your convenience, this site have
a characters section in the Characters link.
28. I'm confused as to what's currently happening in the story!
You can either read past post in the Archive at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tolkienrpg
or for ease of mind you can read summaries of them here at the
"TolkienRPG" link.
29. Is there a set of rules or guidelines for the game?
Yes, there is... you are reading them! Yup, I've integrated the list rules
in the FAQ page so that I won't have to repeat them all over again but in
a more formal sort of tone.
30. Who and what is the list moderators?
There are currently two list managers Liam and gahladriel:
"I'm the list manager, Liam Craven aka Billy Stupendous
(liamtheruiner@softhome.net).
My character right now is Carisan. A list manager is the guy who is
notified of things like who's subscribed and unsubscribed, when there will
be down time for the list (in other words, egroups is doing maintenance on
their computers, all the lists go down--this is rare), etc. I also have
the power to unsubscribe people (so if ya do something bad, I can kick you
off--this probably won't happen, unless you do something like send a virus
to the list or something horrible like that). Umm. anything else?"
The other list moderator is
me, the webmistress of this site. Just call me gahladriel. You
can mail me at eowyn@edsamail.com.ph,
gahladriel@yahoo.com or
tolkien_rpg@yahoo.com.
31. Where do I go to know more about the list?
This site is a good start. If you want to other information like the
archive of past messages, go the tolkienrpg YahooGroups archive,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tolkienrpg.