"A story must, literally, be for our good, though good must be understood in the widest possible way. Stories don't necessarily make you a nicer or more ethical person - though many can; they draw out of you more of what makes you a feeling, giving, thinking, creating, laughing, curious human being. Not every story must improve us - stories are valuable on other scores - but we should be different and better because of the cumulative effect of the stories in our lives." -Daniel Taylor

I have always been a reader and have loved stories since I was small. My wife shares that quality with me and we have definitely passed it along to our daughter, who I cannot believe will be entering high school in just a few short days. I do believe that the stories we enjoy have drawn out better things in us. And thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien, our lives are richer. His characters and plots have given us many lessons about hope and endurance, good and evil, right and wrong, and true friendship.

I believe this has also affected the way I approach all heroic roleplaying games. I find myself preferring the heroic. It is more satisfying. When I sit around a table with a group of people to begin an adventure, I love the thrill of feeling that we are about to tell a story together that will not only leave impressions on paper in the form of character advancements, but it will also leave an inner impression on us as players - our personal character advancements.

To not include meaningful answers to plot questions in a game of TOR would be to deprive players of the kinds of wonderful lessons that Tolkien provides in his narratives. It wouldn't seem like Middle-earth if you excluded these things. For when you read the stories of the characters in Middle-earth, you learn to appreciate their emotions and wit, their heart and their motives. You learn from their mistakes and struggle with them through tough decisions and loss.

As a Loremaster, pay special attention to plot and heroic development. It will take you far in gaining the feel of Middle-earth. If your players are not heroic, then maybe you can create some Loremaster characters that will mentor them and a plot to drive them toward the lessons they need to learn.

Also: good stories have different levels of plots. There is the A-plot, the current adventure, the B-plot, linking several adventures together, a C-plot describing how the world evolves, independently of the characters' actions, and many other plots for each character, depending on their backgrounds, callings and objectives. A good story has a good A-plot, but doesn't forget the other ones, and has a little for every character.

Wisdom such as this, though of common knowledge isn't commonly accepted and far to rare at times. Bravo! For this is the fundamental purpose of the story, no, this is the fundamental purpose of a GOOD story.