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...In case you lot haven't been paying attention to Blizzard, StarCraft II is now free. Like, totally. Well, sort of... You actually get, by my understanding:

-The entire Wings Of Liberty campaign. That is, the original SCII campaign at launch.

-All multiplayer content. That is, free play, competitive ladder, arcade, all co-up campaigns (I think).

So if you want anything you had to buy before, or Heart of the Swarm, or Legacy of the Void - the two expansions/other campaigns - then you'll have to buy them, but if you want to get in on the RTS fun, there should be more than enough content.

Oh, and for the Windows users in the crowd, the original Starcraft and its expansion, Brood War, have been free for a while now and work fine on modern PCs. Blizzard doesn't advertise it very loudly - they're trying to sell you the remastered version, after all - but it's available in the downloads on your battle.net account if you dig a bit. So, if you want to party like it's 1998, go right ahead.

Discussion? Requests for multiplayer partners? Talking about RTS? Fun map suggestions?

Hm.

I guess I'd like to see the story of the Rohirrim, myself. I dig the pseudo-Norse aesthetic, and also horses.

I wonder, given the plural "storylines," whether they might not do a different thing each season? And seasons can be pretty short these days, so it wouldn't necessarily have to be spun out ridiculously.

I dunno, I'm kinda wiped out with people messing with Middle-earth. Probably because so much of it has been awful. Don't want to get my hopes up, but I'll judge it when I see it.

~Neshomeh

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE
HOPE NOBODY MAKES YOU BLUE
AND YOUR CAKE DOESN'T EXPLODE IN GOO!

*blows noisemakers*

An IGN article from 2007 (here) does indeed put it at number one, and lists the full acronym. Of course, they don't get the capitalisation quite right - it should be TLotRTBfMEIITRotWK.

It's almost as bad as some old-fashioned novel titles:

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest and died a Penitent

... or those very '60s album names:

My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows

Amazing.

hS

True adulthood, not that pseudo stuff you get at 18 :p

Happy Birthday!

You're actually still 18/16/whatever age you think of yourself as. The past 3/5/x years have been an elaborate illusion set up by, uh... [rolls dice] the programmers of this simulated reality we live in. It's part of the beta release of the upcoming expansion; once they reset the timeline, you'll find it's really [rolls dice] December 21st 2012, and you've just had a very restless night's sleep.

But since we're still in the scenario right now, I wish you a happy birthday and hope no end-of-quest boss monsters interrupt it.

hS

Because, besides from being an awesome game, IIRC it also has the longest title for a video game.

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king

That's phenomenal isn't it?

It's not necessary for your agents to specialise - they could join a Freelance division of their preferred department, working across multiple fandoms. (Most agents do, these days.) They could also join the Department of Floaters, which doesn't specialise in anything (though that does mean you should make an effort not to turn everything into a Mary-Sue hunt).

It's not necessary for you to know everything about a canon before you write missions there - no-one does! Even Jay and Acacia made mistakes occasionally (they claim once that Legolas left Middle-earth immediately after LotR ended, for instance), and there are such things as reference materials. Heck, I've written a mission about a movie I'm not sure I've even seen, just by asking people who knew it and glancing at a scene on YouTube.

It's also not necessary for your agents to know everything. The 'agent is sent into canon they know nothing about' plot is established enough to qualify a trope - and again, there's reference material available. It can even make it more interesting - send your agent in with a printout of the relevant fan-wiki, and see what it does to the plot! (They could drop it, complain about how incomplete it is, find it's been edited to be flat-out wrong... let the imagination run wild.)

So there you go; three answers to two questions. ^_~

hS

I love that expansion. ^_^ I think Angmar is actually a better faction than it seems at first glance. When I play as them (single-player - I don't know if there even /is/ a functional multiplayer...), I find that once I can get a few Dark Rangers with upgraded bows, I can usually hold my own. The Thrall Masters and Sorcerers are excellent for rapid-response, too - keep a few of them hanging around, and you can beat back cavalry or infantry alike without having to wait for your counter-units to build. (They're also the best units in the game to regenerate: if you can keep the Thrall Master himself alive, you get a full army back by the next attack.)

I think Angmar is designed around early raiding: build four or so Thrall Masters and send them out to harass your enemy and keep them from getting off the ground. Then get your Rangers online as fast as you can, and use them to take out the enemy base. Don't get caught up in a long slog - Black Numenoreans and Snow Trolls are okay, but the other late units tend to die pretty easily. Especially Dire Wolves, for some reason.

Stepping away from the game, conceptually BfMEII Angmar is... dubious, but so are most of the other factions. Black Numenoreans really shouldn't be hanging about in the icy North (they were based in Umbar, down in Harad), but neither should Rivendell be fielding a massive cavalry army, or the Goblins of the Misty Mountains(?) be sending out Fire Drakes(???). (I will not hear a word said against the Dwarves, though. "Let's go building what we can build... away we go, away we go...")

As for Arnor, it is a shame, but on the flip-side they would reasonably have the same army as Gondor. You'd have to make a few modifications - take out the Rohirrim, add Hobbits - but they really shouldn't be much different from their southern cousins.

For my part, I really love the names in the last days of the North Kingdom. I can really get into a war between Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur; the transition from gleaming Annuminas to utilitarian Fornost is properly evocative; and if you speak a little Elvish, the fact that the last rulers of Arthedain are 'Last-King' and 'Mortal Maid' is incredibly tragic. It's much more exciting than Gondor squabbling with Umbar and Rhun yet again.

Plus, the whole decline of the North is a direct counter to all those fantasy kingdoms which fade away only to be revived by the hidden king (Gondor included): Arnor falls, and its successor kingdom fails to restore it. In fact, Arnor never does rise again - when King Elessar takes the throne, it is over a Reunited Kingdom spanning both North and South. Arnor, for all its nobility, failed.

hS

"Didn't really want to start anything. Just making conversation."

Arnor and Angmar are two places I'm really curious about in Middle Earth, and... Okay part of it also comes from the Battle for Middle Earth expansion with Angmar (Always thought it was a waste of not creating a proper Arnor faction for the game. Or that GW couldn't be bothered to properly supports an Arnor with more than one type of troops, or a better Angmar).

Still, Arnor and Angmar are always those two places I'm looking for when I search for game mods and contents related to Lord of the Rings. I'd like to see quality content about them. Final death to the Half-Nazgul

(Well, that and Black Numenoreans, and just Numenor actually, but like you said, they're taking the Silmarillion over Christopher's Tolkien destroyed ghost. At a minimum. Must be one of the reasons I really like the Angmar faction in BfME, come to think of that.)

Can't believe I'm 21 now.

It's official: Amazon will be making a Middle-earth TV series. But it's not going to be The Lord of the Rings; the press release is very clear that they're looking elsewhere for their stories:

"We... are thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.”

“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings,” said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trust and HarperCollins. “Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”

Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’sThe Fellowship of the Ring.

(Emphasis mine.)

So what story are they planning to tell? Something that precedes the War of the Ring - if we take them at their word, something that precedes Bilbo's famous party. I have seen a comment that it "must be" something from Silm/UT, since the Tolkien Estate doesn't have the movie rights to Hobbit/LotR any more and therefore wouldn't have been involved, but I think that's probably wrong - the TV rights look likely to be separate to the film ones. So what will it be? In lieu of actual information, here are my top five guesses for what they could do.

(The honorary 6th place goes to 'The Hobbit', and the connected story of the Fall of Erebor. It would fit the bill, but I don't think it's likely. Not so soon after the movies.)

5: The Silmarillion

To be clear: the only way Amazon have gotten hold of the Silm is by tying Christopher Tolkien to a tree and running away giggling. But it's going to be the title on everyone's lips, so I thought I'd best discuss it.

The Silm would make a great 'Game of Elven Thrones' series. You could do the Fall of the Noldor, with all that delicious infighting; or you could start at the Dagor Bragollach, and focus your series on the collapse of Beleriand. The big downside is that there's no protagonist - not unless you go super dark and make a Sons of Feanor series (yikes). The best other option would be to start very late - with the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Then you can focus on the tales of Turin and Tuor, and feed into the Fall of Gondolin and Doriath.

Things to look out for: Dark & brooding Turin, cameos by Galadriel and Sauron, significantly enhanced roles for the women (which isn't a bad thing; Melian and Idril could do a lot in their respective stories).

Potential spinoff: 'Beren and Luthien' is probably the best option, if they start at the Nirnaeth. It's backstory for Elwing, and also a neatly self-contained story. Also it has its own book these days, so bonus!

Chance of happening: Snowball in Orodruin.

4: The Fall of Numenor

This is a good one, because it ties directly into the LotR story. The One Ring, Sauron, the Nazgul - all the baddies we know and hate are around. It has Elendil and Isildur, and multiple huge battles - the capture of Sauron, the fall itself, the War of the Last Alliance. There is a partial movie treatment by Helge Fauskanger of Ardalambion that shows how it could look.

But... it's all from the Silm and Unfinished Tales, so see previous comments about Christopher Tolkien. I think he'd be more likely to let go of this one, since Numenor has always stood a little apart from the main body of the legendarium. But not by much.

Things to look out for: Pharazon's fall to the dark as an early plotline. Significant buildup of Isildur (of "'s Heir" fame) at the expense of his family. Thranduil played as close to being Legolas as possible. Worryingly suspect interpretation of 'Black Numenoreans'.

Potential spinoff: 'Aldarion and Erendis' is a Numenor story from Unfinished Tales, but it's a bit bleak. It might be better to tap into the Shadow of Spinoff fanbase and do the fall of Eregion, with Celebrimbor.

Chance of happening: Roughly equal to that of a ship making it through the Shadowy Seas to Valinor.

3: The Rise of Rohan

An excellent story to tell. It uses locations we already know (Gondor, Rohan), lets you use orcs as the villains, and doesn't have too much magic to strain the budget. It's also partly from the Appendices, with the rest being in Unfinished Tales - CT's iron grip on the Silm wouldn't have to slacken an inch. And the Ride of Eorl would be fantastic.

The big problem? It's not a long story. Orcs attack western Gondor - Cirion the Steward calls for aid - it looks like it won't come - it comes. It would work as a standalone film or single season, not as a multi-season epic.

Things to look out for: Eorl Lord of the Mark and Cirion Steward of Gondor as our two protagonists. Also Eorl's suspiciously Eowyn-esque female costar.

Potential spinoff: Probably another story from the histories of Gondor and Rohan. The Kinstrife in Gondor would be good, as would the time of Helm Hammerhand in Rohan (so long as he doesn't turn into a Ringwraith...).

Chance of happening: What's the chance of a messenger to the Mark making it both there and back? Roughly that.

2: The Strider

Assuming we take them at their literal word, this is the most likely option. Aragorn's youth lets you visit all the lands we already know, explore his romance with Arwen, and (since it takes place between The Hobbit and LotR) watch the buildup of Sauron's forces prior to the War of the Ring.

The big problem? There's no war. The Misty Mountains were cleared out by the Beornings, and Mordor and Isengard didn't march to open war until LotR. The only way you could get pitched battles is by taking the story down to Harad to fight the Corsairs of Umbar. (Or by just making stuff up, I guess...)

Things to look out for: Cameos from young versions of every member of the Fellowship or other significant LotR character, except Gandalf (who will make occasional appearances as a mentor figure) and Legolas (who legions of fanwriters have shown us will be Aragorn's bestie).

Potential spinoff: I would love to see them jump to a completely different genre and make a lighthearted comedy about Bilbo trying to raise his young cousin Frodo. Oh, the hijinks that would ensue...!

Chance of happening: The odds of a Ranger of the North finding the right path.

1: The Fall of Arnor

This... would be perfect. I've previously written a brief treatment of how this could be made as a film trilogy (Middle-earth: Fall of Kings), and it would work just as well as a series - perhaps even better, as you wouldn't have to chop the story up as much to get it to fit.

It's the tale of the fall of the North Kingdom before the Witch-King of Angmar. It has romance, betrayal, politics, war, nemeses, stupid heroes and scheming villains, and even a dose of prophecy. It even has hobbits - the only item on this list to canonically include them. Finally, it draws exclusively on the Appendices, so no need to crack open UT.

Things to look out for: Gandalf and Legolas cameos, along with at least one hobbit named Baggins for Gandalf to chat to. An Arvedui-Firiel-Earnil love triangle. And, for Season One only, the tragically doomed King Ondoher of Gondor and his sons.

Potential spinoff: Anything from the Rohan section would work (or the Rohan story itself), but I'd pin my money on the division of Arnor into three. It's written as fairly amicable in the books, but you could easily spin a war out of it. Alternately, the fall of Cardolan takes place a few hundred years before this time, and would be stuffed full of hobbits.

Chance of happening: Same as the chance of a prophecy being accurate. "Not by the hand of man will he fall..."

So that's me, but I bet I've missed something super obvious. So what is it?

hS

Is specializing in a series required, and is 100% knowledge required? There are a few series that I have some understanding of, but not thoroughly. There are a couple of badfics that I like from continua that I don't know a lot about, but that I know enough about to spork if possible.

Sweet! It's always fun to meet someone and know their parents were as big nerds as you yourself are. I met an Arwen once. I was excited about it and she was thrilled that I recognized the name's origin.

I have a friend whose middle name is Locke, not after the actual philosopher but after the character from Ender's Game.

Hey, a theater group I'm part of is doing She Kills Monsters right now! It's a really fun show. I am making the poster and helping build the set (although we do need extras to be some of the monsters, so perhaps I will do that, as well).

Hello newbie! Here, have some chocolate and enjoy your stay!

"No RPGs," said Jenni. "That's too meta even for me. But, if you lot want to start something, go ahead! I should get going soon anyway; the boys are probably about done trick-or-treating. ... Bets on whether the eight-year-old or the Andalite will have the worst sugar rush?"

(( Sorry, had a heck of a time trying to think of how Gall and Derik might answer the question of what games they know. So I decided not to. >.> ))

"I don't, but Ix totally does." Her grimace disappeared and her eyes lit up. "Waitasec! Are you looking for a game, by any chance?"

"Lottie..."

"Because Ix is super into the really dorky stuff but she, like, never gets out of the RC—but if you got her into a game...?" Charlotte trailed off, raising her eyebrows meaningfully.

"D&D? 40K? Magic? All of the above?" He shrugged. "I'd be the latter. Human Wizard, Guardians of the Covenant, and Blue/White, respectively."

((Well, I was imagining her cuddling up to Charlotte... XD.

Anyways, I guess I may as well give the 50 Zorkmids to you Ix. Use them well.))

She'd been hoping to escape unnoticed, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. "N-no," she stuttered, "I'll... I can stay."

Charlotte turned, frowning. "Ix? You alright?" Her eyes widened. "Oh, god, Ix, I'm sorry, I didn't think..."

"You're fine," Ix said, forcing a smile. "You should... you should tell them about... um."

"How about someone else takes a turn?" Charlotte asked, going over to Ix and wrapping her arm around her shoulders.

((Both of you are wrong, they'll go back to the RC, wipe off their makeup, and then Ix will cuddle up in a blanket and they'll watch Rocky Horror together. :P))

Derik thumped her back in a would-be helpful manner, and she swatted him off. "I'm fine, I'm fine!"

Gall shook her head at them and turned to Ix. "You leaving, Bucktooth?"

(( If by "comforting" you mean "snogging"... Nah, not taking that bet. {X D ))