Chris Seeman published the 12th issue of Other Hands in January 1996. Artwork for the issue was provided by Sophia Caramagno, Jeff Hatch, and Patrick Wynne. Sonia Seeman assisted with editing and Lisa Disterheft handled Layout and Design. Contributors included: Fredrik Ekman, Patrick Wynne, Wesley Frank, Tommy Martin, Luke Porter, Anders Blixt, Mark Thome, Steffen Solomon, Jason Mulligan, Chris Pheby, Bernie Roessler, and Jason Vester.
EDITORIAL: BECAUSE WE CAN
Inaugurating as it does the third year of our publication’s existence, I am proud to announce that with this issue Other Hands is now available on-line as part of the Vast website (vastus.com). We have high hopes that this will greatly increase the size of our subscription base, and that it wall advance our vision of a global community of Middle-earth gamers. We are still committed, however, to producing OH “the old-fashioned way” — as a high quality, hard copy, gaming fanzine.
Let us cut to the chase. Since our last (double) issue we have reestablished an exchange with Estel, the journal of the Sociedad Tolkien Española, and (as our bibliography addendum makes clear) many articles from OH have been translated into other languages and are being discussed within Tolkien societies in Europe. Not only that, but several articles, essays, and reviews devoted to Middle-earth gaming are beginning to appear in journals like Estel, Terra di Mezzo, and elsewhere. Let us hope that this trend will continue.
In addition to the return of Fredrik Ekman’s highly informative “Digital Hands,” I’ve decided to establish two new regular columns for OH. The first of these I have dubbed “A Taste of Things to Come,” whose function will be to showcase a particular MERP author’s work on a current module project. Wesley Frank inaugurates this series with a prospectus of Near Harad, the module that will create an interlocking “land bridge” at the intersection of the Southern Gondor-Umbar-Khand bloc of new realm modules (undoubtedly the most collaborative effort to date in the history of the MERP series).
The second new column getting its send-off in this issue is “Arda Lore,” a place for ideas-in-progress on any Middleearth topic. The concept is that each contributor poses a question or issue of interest, and then attempts to draw the broad outline of an answer. So, for example, we have in this issue’s column questions such as “What ever happened to the Blue Wizards?” “Whom did the Free Peoples believe the Necromancer to be?” “Was Harondor ever forested?” and so on. Since “Arda Lore” does not require a definitive solution to any topic, I hope it will encourage more folks who would otherwise not have enough time to contribute to OH.
On to the main pieces for this issue. Luke Potter has given us a richly detailed portrait of the Balchoth and their invasion of the West (much of which I hope to incorporate into the Northern Gondor module).
On-line MERPlisters Mark Thorne and Jason Mulligan have joined forces to create elaborated MERP/Rolemaster character development templates for the three cultures described in ICE’s 1st edition Far Harad module. This will certainly be of great practical value to any GM running a campaign in southern Middleearth. Bernie Roessler returns this issue with yet another in-depth piece — this time a new rule idea for managing NPC combat behavior. Keep up the good work!
As promised, I am continuing my interview series on “The Making of MERP.” In this issue I converse with master cartographer Pete Fenlon on what he does best. I think everyone will find his remarks of great interest. Next issue we’ll see whether we can land an interview with Jessica Ney-Grimm, the MERP series editor and art director.
As always, we round the menu off with some reviews of recent MERP releases: Dol Guldur, Angmar, and Mirkwood.
For next issue, I will be submitting a voluminous piece on the Kin-strife campaign I have been running, complete with synopses and character stats. In addition to the interview and the regular features already mentioned, I also hope to coerce Jason Beresford into giving us “A Taste of Things to Come” for his revision of the Umbar module. There is also a good chance that someone from the MERPlist will be submitting an article on a Númenórean campaign set in eastern Middle-earth. See you all in April!
Chris Seeman
January 31, 1996
You may download Other Hands Issue 12 for free either from Other Minds’ Other Hands archive or MERP.Com’s Other Hands archive.